PUBLISHED July 10, 2012

Natural Born Liar: How to Get Out of (Almost) Anything Part II

Post Two: You got caught shoplifting: what to say to your parents

The most horrifying thing about maybe or maybe not snatching up a little something that you had your eye on but didn’t want to spring for is the reaction of your parents. No use trying to lie to the pigs. They have an uncanny ability to sniff out of the truth. At least if you’re a relatively well-behaved citizen and are actually (though you may never admit it) afraid of the men in blue.

What mom and dad should understand is that you have never, ever done anything like this before. Your friends didn’t peer pressure you, (nothing worse than the ‘I think she’s a bad influence’ talk), and it wasn’t even anything expensive. The truth (heh) of the matter is everyone tries it out. Just like taking that first sip of beer, snatching something from a store is just a rite of passage. All you wanted to do was try it and now that you did you realize how absolutely stupid it is. It’s not like you planned on doing it. Your wild, undeveloped young adult brain hasn’t fully formed those neural connections that bridge action with consequence.

This is actually true. I found this report on the Marist College website…

“A National Institutes of Health study proposes that the part of the brain that restrains risky behavior, including reckless driving, and thinking skills is not fully developed until the age of 25.

Jay Giedd, the psychiatrist leading the study, told MSNBC earlier this year that this finding came as a surprise to him because he used to think that the brain was fully developed by the age of 18.

The continuous study uses magnetic resonance imaging to scan 2,000 people’s brains every two years. It has been found that teenage brains have extra synapses in the areas where decision making and risk assessment take place. Most of these synapses are useless and even get in the way of one’s judgment. Eventually, as teenagers become adults the synapses disappear, but the findings imply that many life choices are made before the brain’s decision making center is fully developed.”

*Insert innocent smile* So see mom and dad? My brain just didn’t know any better.

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