This morning a mysterious ring reappeared. This was not the first appearance of said ring, but hopefully will be the last. It first surfaced three weeks ago, hidden behind our DVR – not exactly an obvious location to mistakenly place a ring. We questioned our children repeatedly, trying to determine the source, but to no avail. Did a friend leave it after a play date? Did someone pick it up on the playground? Did someone steal it? No one confessed, so my husband placed it beside our phone handset and continued cleaning the house. Later that evening, the ring was gone.
The following afternoon I noticed the ring on the coffee
table, next to a basket of TV remotes. I ignored it, assuming my husband had
again examined it, but later that evening he questioned me regarding its
location. The ring had again disappeared. We searched under the table, through
the sofa, and eventually through the house but is had again vanished into thin
air.
So today, my son emerged from our basement, ring in hand. “I
found it on the blanket,” is the only explanation I’ve received. This blanket
is not nicely folded in a pile, but draped across the floor. Yesterday it was
draped across a sofa. The day before that it was a tent. It is not a stationary
blanket. And the ring was not regurgitated by a cat, which indicates someone
either placed or dropped it there.
My daughter concurs, “He did. I saw it.” I don’t know if
that makes me feel better or worse. Is he lying or did he find it? Are they
working together?
It is a strange state of affairs when your children begin to
deceive you intentionally. I question, did I dream that? Am I losing my mind? Shoes,
homework, my little ponies – they all appear and vanish into the void at
random. At times I feel like I’m developing Alzheimer’s. Do I punish them so
harshly that they feel the need to lie to me? Or am I so lenient that they know
they can manipulate me? And what if I know they’re lying, but can’t prove it?
Should I be proud or worried that they’re smart enough to cover their tracks
and stick together? And what is the appropriate punishment for a lie?
Now, who hid my root beer?
How are you certain that you don't have a mischievous ghost living in your house?
ReplyDeleteSadly, I'm not a believer in ghosts. Odd tingling premonitions, yes. Ghosts, no. And our children have a habit of confessing a few weeks after the fact, so the clock is ticking. The guilt usually overrides their self-preservation instinct at some point.
ReplyDeletePerhaps the children are simply covering for the friendly, yet mischievous, ring stealing-root-beer -chugging ghost.
ReplyDelete