Liar- Liar- Pants On Fire

I feel like the last few months have been some sort of boot camp training for parenting in the teen years. I thought that I had nipped a few things in the butt (literally)... I thought we were done with the phase... but we're not.

I got Olivia's report card yesterday-- but I knew she got great grades so I let her go over her grandma's house before looking at it. Last night, I forgot to look at it... but today- the light bulb came on and I went to get it. I opened it up in some weird frenzy... I saw A... A... A... A... A... A... B. I didn't like the B- especially because she is not in gifted anymore... if you can get straight A's in gifted then you should ACE regular school. But, I didn't even have time to process all that information because my attention was drawn to the outer comment box....

"34 MISSING HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENTS"

I've got to be reading this wrong... I took another glance... Nope... my eyes are not deceiving me. I automatically assume that there is a typo. I call Olivia at her grandma's house to see what could have happened.

"Hi Mommy... whatcha doing?" Olivia's sweet little voice comes over the phone and I can't help but smile. I answer her question, "I just got done looking at your report card." She says, "Oh yeah?? Are you proud of me?" I now KNOW that this MUST be a mistake... as she had no fear in her voice.

I then begin to discuss the "typo" with her. I quickly realize that she is hiding something. She starts pausing when trying to answer my questions about homework. She agreed that it MUST be a typo. But, my mommy-dar went off and I continued to probe into her answers... then the story changes ever-so-slightly... but enough to tell me that she is not telling me the whole truth. I again ask about the homework but this time, I word it a little differently and throw in that I think I want to call her teacher on Monday... BAM... here comes the truth.

When I asked her every single day if she had homework she ALWAYS replied, "Yes, I did... but I already did it in school." I never thought that the words that were coming out of her mouth were lies. I never thought that MY daughter would lie straight to my face.... furthermore, I NEVER thought that she would be able to lie and I not know immediately about it. I was so wrong. I wish I wasn't... but I was so very wrong.

She lied to me. She lied every single day when she said she did it at school. She lied when she said she thought it was a typo... she lied when she said she MUST have thrown it out when she was cleaning the room... she lied... she lied... and she lied some more.

I am so mad... but more than that.. I am so hurt. I am disappointed. I have raised a liar? I'm not a liar... how could this have happened right under my nose? If this is any indication as to my parenting skills... I am in big trouble.

I've never dealt with this type of situation before. Ugh...

The silver lining? She missed 34 homework assignments and STILL managed to get all A's and one B. But I would rather her fail every class and be honest... but that may be just me.

No Worries

Ray