Maddie's First Job

Maddie earned her first ten dollars at the mall the other day. Unbelievable! Who would have thought that her opinion would count in market research, but it does. She took two surveys--one in which she identified cartoon and disney movie characters and another in which she had to recognize juice boxes by brand name. I let her go in by herself, but I sat outside the door in the hallway and listened. When the second survey came up, I thought she'd have to opt out because we only drink one brand of juice since she can't have corn syrup. I was amazed as I listened to Maddie go on and on about Hi-C, Kool-Aid, Sunny D, etc. in great detail. At the end, the lady paid Maddie five dollars for each survey. Maddie was delighted with it all.

Several hours later Maddie wanted to get into this "philosophical discussion" about the nature of truth and lies. What is the truth, really, she wanted to know. Is it okay sometimes to tell a little lie? She rapped up the conversation with the telling comment, yeah, I didn't think the lady would understand about corn allergy, so I just made it easier on her and talked about juice, even if I had to make some of it up.