I have faced this question throughout my life. Neither my mother had the answer nor I have the answer as a mother. The question is : “Whether to tell the truth or a bit of lie is fine.”
That day there was a chaos in Adi’s class. Few kids from his class did some mischief, which apparently was seen by Adi. The teacher knowing that Adi always tells the truth asked Adi, to identify the mischievous kids. Adi was confused to tell the truth or not, as his best friend Akshaj was also a part of that group. He told the truth and from that day these 5 kids started bullying Adi. His best friend also told him that they are not friends anymore.
Adi was shattered, he told what he knew. He told the truth. But the truth costed him a lot. He even lost Akshaj’s friendship.
Now came the role of a mother. I consoled him and told him, “May be Akshaj is not really your true friend, otherwise he would have understood your intention. Even if you guys had been friends, he would have landed you in some or the other trouble. And I am sure you will get better and nicer friends”.
Adi got convinced and was happy and chirpy again.
But that left me with my old confusion. Was it even right to convince Adi to tell the truth, or I would have told him to be neutral or may be even lain sometimes. May be to be quite rather than telling the truth. But wouldn’t it be helping the wrong and wrong doers.
My perplexity is still there. But after a lot of contemplation I reached a conclusion that Adi will understand what is good for him and what is not by himself. My teachings are the base of his character. He tells the truth or keeps quite will be his choice as per the situation.
But as a mother I will stand by him and show him the right path…
