We got a package in the mail this week.  Or as Hank calls it, “a pasket.”  It was a small bag of candy from the accountant I work with.  A treat!  Just for me.  Why was it just for me?  Because it was cinnamon bears…and I knew they wouldn’t love them.  (yay me!)

Naturally, they asked for them.  First Hank, then Gus.  The difference between two and three years of age at our house is this:  Hank knows when I am lying.  Gus always thinks I am lying – or knows and just doesn’t care.  So when I told Hank they were “spicy,” he asked for a graham cracker and moved along.  When I told Gus they were “spicy,” he said “I like candy.”  He then proceeded to grab a handful and shove them in his perfect little mouth.  What followed was glorious.

The first 10 seconds were nothing.  He smiled and chewed and was pleased to have taken candy that his brother so foolishly passed up.  And then it happened.  The spit.  The yell.  The dirty looks.  Because he had been tricked – by a treat.

This is why I ever lie about food.  If it’s pineapple, I tell them.  If it is beef, I tell them.  If it is hot, spicy, chewy, moldy (don’t judge) – I tell them.  Because when you lie about food even one time…they will NEVER trust you again!

Do not tell your child it is something they like if it is something they have never had before.  Do not tell them it is candy if it is not.  And never tell them “Yummy, Mommy loves it” when Mommy in fact does not – because that makes you a liar.