Lessons

I've mentioned that when my daughter was younger, I had no problem lying to her. When I grow up, can we go to the moon? Yeah, sure, I don't see any reason why not. Now that she's older, I don't -- and not just because she's more capable of detecting inherently implausible statements. What, without any solid-lift earth to orbit capabilities in the near future? And what about sustained habitation on the lunar surface? Or even beneath it? Mostly, it's just because the level of what I think will work with her has changed as she's matured.

I had an experience of a sort with that yesterday.

An acquaintance of my daughter had gotten a new iPhone (actually, a year old) when her mother upgraded her own phone. That evening, at a school function, the girl said that she'd lost it. They spent a half hour or so looking for it, but it was not to be found. This morning, my wife said that the woman told her that it was her who'd taken the phone. She'd seen the kid's backpack just sitting open, and the phone was easily accessible. She took it to teach the kid a lesson. In a few days, she'll give it back.

My feeling is, by the time the kid gets to high school, it's a little late for lessons like that. By that point, the only way you're going to learn them is if you're permanently harmed by them. And possibly not even then.