As part of his friend’s birthday celebration, my 8-year-old son, Adam, went to the Mets game last Saturday and then to a sleepover. Double score! And as if that wasn’t enough, at the game itself he caught a foul ball and generously gave it to the birthday boy. Naturally, I couldn’t have been more proud when Adam recounted the story for me on Sunday. The only problem, I later learned, was that it wasn’t true.
As far as I know, Adam isn’t in the habit of telling big lies. (Though he certainly isn’t always forthcoming with accurate accounts of whether he brushed his teeth or read a book.) When he was talking about catching the baseball and giving it to his buddy, I was so excited by both aspects of the story that we spoke about it at some length—and he came up with a reasonable-sounding account of how it all transpired. At some point, I know I asked him if the tale was really true, but my tone was probably more believing than doubtful.
But I must have had some lingering doubts because later that night I emailed the father who hosted the party, and he assured me that it never happened.
When I asked Adam about the discrepancy, he thought about it and said, “Oh, yeah. It must have been a dream.”
A dream! Yeah, it must have been.
My wife and I, have since had follow-up conversations with Adam about the importance of honesty. If there is a silver-lining, maybe it’s that he told a lie that he knew would make us proud. (He also showed good narrative sense.) But, I feel like I’ve been put on notice: Do eight-year-olds lie a lot?
–Eric Messinger
