Self-preservation is an ingrained trait.
When Tia was about 2 or 3 years old, we lived on Summer Street in Hot Springs, AR. She was a tiny, beautiful girl. She was small enough to sit in her high chair pushed up to the table. One evening she was sitting in her chair eating supper. She has always taken a long time to eat and this evening was no exception. Periodically, I would check on her to see if she was finished eating. Finally, she called me to let me know she was finished.
While getting her out of her high chair, I noticed that the plate on the table was full of pepper. I asked Tia who poured the pepper into the plate. She pointed at Raylee. I knew Raylee hadn’t poured out the pepper because he had been in the other room. So I asked Tia again, “Who poured the pepper into the plate?” Once again, she pointed to her brother.
Knowing she was telling a fib, I got her down and cleaned her up. Her father and I then took her into the bedroom for a bedtime story. I told her a story about a brother and sister eating supper and a plate full of pepper. In the story, the sister had poured all the pepper into the plate but hadn’t gotten in trouble because she told the truth. After the story, we asked Tia who poured the pepper into the plate in the story. She said the sister did. Thinking we had made a point, her father asked her who poured out the pepper in the kitchen. Believe it or not, she insisted that Raylee was the one.
Tia is 15 years old today. That’s her story and she is still sticking to it!