ORANGE JUICE LIES FIVE STAR LIFT Edition

• Published in: St. Louis post-dispatch
• Main Author: Kim Esop Wylie
• Format: Newspaper Article
• Language: English
• Published: St. Louis, Mo Pulitzer, Inc 26.09.1999
• Subjects: Lying; Politicians
• ISSN: 1930-9600

SINCE the birth of my daughter three years ago, I've become a liar. I didn't intend for this to happen. But it has and it makes me a little uneasy. The "Orange Juice Lie" is an ongoing charade. My daughter is a wonderful kid. Her only real character flaw is a tendency towards the melodramatic. On nights when she doesn't want to go to bed, she'll hold her hand limply to her forehead and whisper in a weak voice, "Mommy, I sick." So I check her temperature and, of course, it's normal. Still, she begs, "I need medicine." So, wimp that I am, instead of just confronting her with the harsh fact that she's a hypochondriac, I take a small medicine cup and fill it with a teaspoon of orange juice, which looks amazingly like Children's Motrin. I giggle when, after downing the juice, she robustly declares, "I feel better now!" One time she even noticed the similarity. "Mmm. Medicine tastes like orange juice." These little lies haven't worried me much. I consider them charming deviations from the truths that don't really harm anyone and once in a while make a difficult bedtime a whole lot easier. But lately I worry. Where exactly is the line between a charming little lie and a bigger, more dangerous one?