I told a lie when I was 8 years old.....and it's eating me up...

[NCforthisone12]

I told a stupid lie to my parents when I was 8 years old.

It was regarding an ailment / synptom which required lots of medical investigation and time of school. It caused great stress to my family.

I kept the lie going for a good few months and honestly.... I simply don't know why I did it. I had a happy, stable childhood with no reason to cry for help or do something like this. Eventually one day I just said it was better and everyone was relieved.

I think I just made it up one day for a bit of attention and then didn't know how to get out of it.

Anyway I'm now well into my adult like (35) and it eats me up. I feel so guilty. Sometimes my family talk about it and how worrying it was and I just feel so terrible.

I've considered telling them but I just feel it would be so hurtful to them. I don't think I could.

What should I do? Is this a normal child behaviour? Anyone else had any similar experiences?

I was desperate to break a bone too, I had read somewhere that bones didn't have nerves and that meant breaking bones was obviously pain free and came with the bonus of a plaster cast and no swimming......

I never did manage and was so jealous when my friend broke her arm. 🙈

A friend’s niece claimed to be experiencing problems with her vision to the extent that she was diagnosed with a degenerative condition and her parents were told she would eventually be blind. It was all completely made up. I think the suspicion was it got her out of doing PE which she hated and then it just snowballed.

I am pretty sure my niece also falsely claimed to be having problems with her eyesight and was prescribed glasses. It was likely due to an overly strict and shouty teacher. When she moved to a new class she suddenly didn’t need the glasses any more.

I work in a primary school. It's very common for children that age to display either fabricated stomach or other pains etc or psychomatic pain if they are anxious nor unhappy about something in their life (can be school, or it can be something outside of school, or just general worries about life).

You did nothing morally wrong. You were just doing what some kids do at that age because you couldn't vocalise how you were feeling. You didn't even UNDERSTAND how you were feeling. And your parents were just doing what parents do in those circumstances and getting you properly checked out medically. Because actual medical complaints HAVE to be ruled out first (as as small percentage of those "stomach aches" will turn out to have a very real and distressing cause).

I wouldn't bring it up with them now. If they ever do I'd just say "well, they found nothing wrong so it was probably just growing pains or anxiety about something that I didn't even realise I was anxious about." Because that last thing IS true, probably.

Please forgive yourself, it was WAY in the past and no lasting damage was done to anyone. The only thing that really mattered to your parents in the end was that you were actually ok and there was nothing seriously wrong.

I wouldn't worry about it. I used to lie that I had severe headaches so I didn't have to go to school. (Age 9), I ended up having an MRI which came back clear.

I still complained of headaches so I ended up having my tonsils out (they used to whip them out willy nilly back then). I never had tonsillitis.

Don't beat yourself up xx

All children lie at some point or another. It's part of their normal development. It doesn't make you a bad person as an adult.

Yay! I’m not alone in this weirdness! Laughing at the no nerves idea 😂

I've not been in this position personally, but I do know of friends that have! They were also very young kids, and a silly little made up story escalated but lucky no harm was done.
Ask yourself what is possible outcome of saying anything.
I'd guess that the confession will only come to no good. Luckily you are in a position where the lie hasn't affected anyone, nor has it impacted on the character of anyone either... so by telling the truth isn't helpful.
Let sleeping dogs lay. Don't mess with the 💩
It's obvious that you have since matured, and self assessment has pinched your guilt. As long as you have learned from your mistakes it's probably best all round just to say nothing and forget about it.

My DD used to tell me she’d put something in her ear every time she fancied a trip up to the nice doctors at the walk in centre instead of going to bed. It’s really common, I think it’s just luck of the draw whether your made up symptom correlates to a potentially worrying cause or not