Azure Jane Lunatic (Azz) 🌺 (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
azurelunatic) wrote2003-06-06 03:14 pm
azurelunatic) wrote2003-06-06 03:14 pm
Peeves (things I have generally managed to avoid)
The one thing that I could not stand when I was a kid was parents lying to their kids. I was not, as a rule, lied to. I was told an age-appropriate truth, always with the knowledge that it was not the complete truth, and I would learn more about things as I got older.
My parents tried the tooth fairy thing, and it worked -- until my mother gave me a quarter she had found lying on the floor. It was my quarter, and there was a spot on it so I knew it was mine, and the tooth fairy had given me my own quarter.
I angrily confronted my mother (I was five or younger at this point) and she admitted that yes, she was the tooth fairy, and that there was no physical little fairy that came around and did the tooth thing. I was mad at her for lying to me.
It's one thing to tell a kid that the stove is dangerous and they should not touch it until they are trained in its proper use. It is another thing to tell a kid that the stove has a monster that will hurt them if they go near it.
It may be frustrating as all get-out to tell a kid that they can't understand some of these things yet. Better that a kid be frustrated and try to learn more than intimidated or scared by a deliberately flawed understanding of how the world works.
My parents tried the tooth fairy thing, and it worked -- until my mother gave me a quarter she had found lying on the floor. It was my quarter, and there was a spot on it so I knew it was mine, and the tooth fairy had given me my own quarter.
I angrily confronted my mother (I was five or younger at this point) and she admitted that yes, she was the tooth fairy, and that there was no physical little fairy that came around and did the tooth thing. I was mad at her for lying to me.
It's one thing to tell a kid that the stove is dangerous and they should not touch it until they are trained in its proper use. It is another thing to tell a kid that the stove has a monster that will hurt them if they go near it.
It may be frustrating as all get-out to tell a kid that they can't understand some of these things yet. Better that a kid be frustrated and try to learn more than intimidated or scared by a deliberately flawed understanding of how the world works.