When a child has the ability to con an adult, you begin to wonder, "what kind of parents raised this child?"

In all honesty, a child is by all means impressionable. They pick up on the things their parents do. I remember a friend posted a link to me on Facebook.com of an ad about children learning from their parents: from smoking, abusing spouses, cursing people, to throwing things around. The ending was brilliant. [link]

I knew from the moment my daughter was born, she was going to make me a happy parent. Despite the negative environment we were dealing with before I left her father, she can still make me laugh and feel happy. The one thing I have noticed about her, is her ability to plot schemes to get what she wants; including her father. Sometimes this amuses me, but I have to do my part as a parent. She still has much to learn, that manipulating others to get what she wants isn't right, fair and just.

Her history lies with her father and what it entails has begun to show light to the truth. As a child I was aware of the different types of deception. I have my valid reasons for doing so. My daughter on the other hand, she has yet to fathom the consequences of her actions. One example I can share, when we were visiting my relatives, she indulged herself with the attention she was receiving. I warned my relatives of her behavior. Unfamiliar with what I forewarned them about, they continued to lavish her with their sincere compliments and gifts. My mother had a dog pen of puppies; since she breeds cockapoos. Unfortunately for my daughter, she developed a rash after playing with one of the puppies. My fiance and I told her not to touch the puppies until we find out the source of her rash, since we had a dog of our own. After careful examination of one of the puppies, I too broke out with a rash. We confirmed it with my daughter that she cannot touch the puppies anymore.

She did not like it one bit. She wanted to desperately play with the puppies. After learning what my mother enjoys doing the most, she took advantage of the opportunity. My mother had cooked a delicious meal. She lavished my mother with gratitude and poise while her cousin, on the other hand, whined and demanded for things. She kindly asked my mother, "Grandma, can I play with the puppies?"
My mother asked, "Did you ask your mommy?"
She paused. She replied with a smirk, "I'll go ask"
She went inside the house and asked my sister if she could play with the puppies.
My sister responded, "Sure, but I thought they give you an allergy?"
She then replied, "Well, yeah.."
My sister then replied, "It's up to you."
She perked up and went outside to report to my mother, "Yeah, she said I could play with the puppies."
My mother, of course, knowing my judgment on things such as these, trusted my daughter's words, and gave her a puppy to play with.

In her mind, victory!

As I came downstairs to get myself a drink, I found her pushing the puppy aside and sat herself at the corner edge of the couch. My response was, "What were you doing with the puppy?"
She replied, "Nothing, just looking"
I gave her a solemn look and sternly responded, "If you were looking, why were you touching it? Your face is swollen now. You can't do that to a puppy! What if it fell off the couch and broke it's paw? You're going to have to pay for that puppy! I don't have that kind of money!"

She winced and whimpered. All I could do was sigh. I went to look for my mother and asked if she had any cream to remedy the swelling. My fiance and I had to ask my daughter why she had decided to disobey one simple request.

After my mother learned that she had been deceived, she was infuriated. The one thing my mother hates the most in this world is deceit. I requested her to calm down and my fiance informed her that we would take care of her disobedience and deception. Both my daughter and mother learned a valuable lesson that day.

After our visit, my daughter continued to deceive us. Whether or not she had picked this up from me or her father, she needs to understand one thing: deception is not worth the loss of a good friendship of others.