My Eldest Daughter Is Getting Sneaky

The long light evenings are playing are playing havoc with bedtimes at the moment. Little is going to bed an hour or two later than she did 6 months ago, thanks to the the light persuading her that it is absolutely not time to sleep. Baby Boy is going through a sleep regression which means his naps are at the wrong time and he is fighting bedtime too despite being obviously tired. This frustratingly means G and I have no evenings at the moment, but spending all the time trying to persuade the younger two to sleep also means M is on her own for an hour or more each evening.

A patch of white wall with part of it it painted a mocha pale brown colour
Thanks for painting the wall "mocha" when left alone kid

During this alone time M (aged 8) is busy investigating and scavenging downstairs. I often come downstairs to find various foods missing; I’m sure she eats half the calories of the day after 7pm. Last week I opened a packet of fizzy strawberry laces and left them behind the toaster. There were 6 left. When I finally got down after getting Baby Boy to sleep (it took and epic amount of time) I checked the laces and there were 2 left. None of the children are meant to have sugary foods after 6pm because it makes getting them to sleep even harder, but sweets are more exciting than sleep.

M had gone upstairs to read so I headed up to confront her. Sitting down on the bed I asked “do you have something to tell me?”. “What do you mean?” M replied defensively. “Have you been doing something you shouldn’t?”. There was a long silence before she started to move away and said she was worried about me getting angry. I reminded her that I am angrier when I find out myself.

Eventually M shared that she had dropped my bronzer on the floor and it smashed.

Ok, not what I was expecting, but I am glad she told me. What else?

“I mixed some lemon juice with water”

“I had one of those nuts that are like a walnut, but smaller”, a pecan then.

“I had a couple of blackberries’, 

Then she goes quiet after claiming that’s everything.

“It’s fine” I say, “you can have as many blackberries as you like, we have loads in the garden. What about my laces?”

“Oh yeah. They are too tempting. You need to leave them where I can’t reach them”

I left asking her to let me know if she thought of anything else.

Not long afterwards M appears downstairs…

“Yes” I said.

“I thought of something else. I tried some of the mustard powder”. 

“Okaaayyy”, but why on earth would you do that when you think mustard is awful I think to myself. “Anything else?”

“I tried some sesame seeds too”

“Oh and while you are at it, what happened to me drink?"

It turns out she sneezed in my orange squash and rather than pour it away she just left it on the side. Thanks my darling daughter.

A couple of days later I discovered she had used a tester pot to paint some patches of the kitchen wall “mocha”. It makes me wonder how much she gets up to each night that I never discover. M was always my child that I could leave pens around without worrying about wall art, she was never one for intentionally being destructive. The food I completely understand, although I wish she would tell me rather than leaving me to discover items are missing. I am more worried by her painting the wall and other actions which aren't sensible and show either intentional trouble making or a lack of consideration she generally doesn't show. Is it boredom or a taster of what is to come as she enters the Tween and Teen years? 

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