Bill Cosby once joked about people who praise the honesty of children. He said those are people who do not have children. To a degree, I see what he means. I think we all learned a lesson this week about the true honesty of children from Falcon Heene. If you have been on a mountain top somewhere, Falcon is "The Balloon Boy". His parents, though I use that term loosely on these two, told him to hide in the attic while they staged a media event. We were all worried about him, all oddly relieved when he wasn’t in the balloon and once he was found, just thought he was a scared kid who had screwed up and hidden. The cynic in all of use thought something in the milk wasn’t clean, but were ready to go on with things and be happy the kid was alright. Then this happened on national television.
Hey, Dad. You asked. What we saw there was a child who was put on the spot, asked a question and just told the truth. He didn’t know there was anything wrong with that. Later as the parents tried to cover it up on morning show after morning show, Falcon began vomiting, also on national television. It was the physical reaction of a freaked out little kid who was taken advantage of by the people he trusted the most. (I’m with you, Falcon. It makes me want to puke too.)
Honesty is a tricky thing. We teach our kids to always tell the truth, except when we don’t want them to. We tell them one thing, but we expect them to know when to clam up or even lie. I would like to think I would never knowingly involve my child in deceit the way the Heene’s did, but I have said something ugly about someone around Lily and then told her not to tell anyone about it.
Thank you Richard and Mayumi Heene. I think you may have taught us parents a lot by showing us how nasty it looks to encourage dishonesty in our children. Hopefully, we can remember it next time we wish our little angel would know to just say they liked the dinner grandma made instead of answering, "not really".
Hey, Dad. You asked. What we saw there was a child who was put on the spot, asked a question and just told the truth. He didn’t know there was anything wrong with that. Later as the parents tried to cover it up on morning show after morning show, Falcon began vomiting, also on national television. It was the physical reaction of a freaked out little kid who was taken advantage of by the people he trusted the most. (I’m with you, Falcon. It makes me want to puke too.)
Honesty is a tricky thing. We teach our kids to always tell the truth, except when we don’t want them to. We tell them one thing, but we expect them to know when to clam up or even lie. I would like to think I would never knowingly involve my child in deceit the way the Heene’s did, but I have said something ugly about someone around Lily and then told her not to tell anyone about it.
Thank you Richard and Mayumi Heene. I think you may have taught us parents a lot by showing us how nasty it looks to encourage dishonesty in our children. Hopefully, we can remember it next time we wish our little angel would know to just say they liked the dinner grandma made instead of answering, "not really".
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