Part of me really enjoys the sneakiness of my children. It shows that they are intelligent and have initiative to concoct a scheme to get around me. And I understand my role perfectly, to provide that level of difficulty for achievement. This is done by watching them, listening to them, anticipating their movements and intercepting them, depends on what they are trying accomplish. Stealing a cookie is pretty low on the rung of sneaky, but slipping out to go to a party, ranks pretty high and requires a lot of due diligence on my part.
I love to watch them mentally work out the dynamics of their master plan, devising their scheme of action, their necessity of accomplices and their required tools for their goal. It's a lot more apparent with the little ones, they haven't learned the art of masking their intentions, so it's a lot more apparent and easier to read. The older they get, the more impressive they become in their deviousness and ingenuity.
It's a delicate balance between ensuring their safety, allowing them to use their intelligence and thus building upon it, and providing just enough challenge to be interesting.
Don't get me wrong, this is just the "normal" stuff kids will do to flex their proverbial wings in their growth to adult. I am not talking about the seriously scary stuff that comes with drugs or alcohol. That is a whole other topic and is not any fun at all.
Mmmmm...better go see what they are up to now.
