Story telling 7yr old..

Quite right Tanith, her mum needs to tell her. But the boundaries between stories and reality is a very fuzzy at that age. That is partly why kids make such poor witnesses. Think about the problems they have in understanding which things on TV are real and which are stories performed by actors. So not exactly naughty - just playing around with what is real. We tease children by saying things that are not true and she was probably giving some back.
My Nana used to tell us the story of The Boy Who Cried Wolf.
Hilare Belloc did a fine line in cautionary tales for children - rather scary. Matilda shouted Fire! Fire! etc. So next time you spend time with her you could run a few of those past her
My niece, grown up now, when 4 years old used to call me - international rate (more expensive 20 yrs ago), from Ireland. She also used to call my mum. She had memorised the 12 digit numbers, which had the same area code, and knew exactly which one of us she was calling. After having a lovely long chat sometimes I would think to ask "Does mummy know you're on the phone..?" . Apparently not.

I agree Anagram, I did dumb down my panic when I spoke to my daughter in the hopes that she wouldn't be too hard on the little monkey.. but I couldn't not say something..

That's the main thing - you know, and she knows you know, that it was just a story. Children have such great imaginations and it would be a shame if her mum was too hard on her.

Thanks both of you I've calmed down now and can see the funny side , indeed, what a little monkey.. she does tell a good story and maybe I'll buy the book 'The boy who cried wolf' for her to read , I hope Mum wasn't too mad with her , she's never done anything like that before but at least now I'm alerted to her tricks, if she ever does it again.

Oh, tanith, I had to laugh! I know it was desperately worrying for you at the time, but your post brought back memories for me. One of my GDs would regularly phone 999 and claim that she wanted an ambulance, as her sister had fallen down the stairs. She would also tell me a tale about her and her sister being left alone in the house, mum having gone to a club and her dad to the pub! She was a bit younger than 7 (probably about 4) but I think you have to just put it down to imagination and possibly a bit of attention-seeking.

Try not to worry - she'll grow out of it - mine did!

Oh what a little monkey but how scary for you! Glad it was all just a hoax.

I once , aged 7, gave a graphic account to my friends about seeing a child being killed by her nanny(carer not grandma). One friend went home and told her shocked parents! Police called to speak to my parents My father had to apologise and tell them it was just his daughter's over active imagination. I think I was told the story of the boy who cried wolf and not allowed to look at my father's books of real life crime anymore (he was a lawyer!

I think that she needs to talk about the potential danger of playing tricks like that but encouraged to keep her imagination going. Perhaps she could record stories she makes up, if she is a good writer put them down on paper or make a photo story usinga camera and writing captions..another outlet for her imagination!