Separating fact from fiction

Paulo is a very creative child. He can spend entire days as someone else, playing "pretend people" is his all time favorite thing to do...with me. Most of the time I'm a willing participant but honestly sometimes I do need to tell him that Momma needs a break from being Papa Bear!

His other creative outlet is story telling. He tells great stories, I can't wait until his writing/spelling skills catch up with his imagination, I'm looking forward to reading his short stories and perhaps, someday, even books. For now though we are limited to oral story telling. The trouble that I'm having though is separating fact from fiction. Most of the time it is totally clear that he is being creative. For instance when he tells me that he went outside the night before in his bare feet to do cartwheels and then jump into a tree to play with a Bushbaby, I'm **mostly** certain that he's being creative. Or when he tells me that he made an invisibility potion so he could travel at night to go to Disneyland, yes that's obviously a made up story. Sometimes his potions let him visit friends at night too! He's very fond of his potions. (On a side note, I'm really looking forward to reading Harry Potter with him, he's going to love those books!) His nighttime travels also take him to other planets on rocket ships that he builds. I love his story telling.

Yesterday though we had a couple of times where he told me something that happened during the day, only to admit minutes later that he was telling me a made up story. First he told me he'd eaten his lunch in the hallway, then minutes later told me he was just making up a story. He also told me that he was very angry at another boy who had accused him of taking a classmate's hat and then when Paulo denied it, said "liar, liar, pants on fire"...yes the kids in 2010 are still using the same line as they did when I was in Kindergarten in 1980. When I asked him what he'd said to this boy, how had he handled the conflict, he told me he was just making up a story. Later he told me that a classmate was sad because his pet rat died. I asked him if anyone comforted this boy and he said that yes, he did. He'd hugged him and told him that he was sorry Buttercup died. I was so proud of him for showing empathy and caring for another child. He told me that Kathy, a classroom helper, saw him being kind and gave him a recess star sticker. The first part of his story he swears was true but the second part about the sticker was not. He was adamant though that the death of the rat and the ensuing comfort did in fact occur. I tried to explain to him that while I love his creative stories he shouldn't tell me things that could realistically have happened during the day only to then turn around and say just kidding. That there is a difference between creative story telling and fibbing. I should never have to question if he's telling me about a real experience or a made up story. But I'm not sure he gets it. I don't want to discourage his creativity in any way but I also have to be able to trust that when he's telling me about a conflict that happened that day in class that he's telling me a true story not a made up one.

So, where's the line between creative license and lies? How do you teach a 5 year old that difference? I love his creative mind but I have to be able to trust him when we talk about what happens during his day. In the meantime I've signed up my creative one for a two week theater summer camp at Oregon Children's Theater. I cannot wait! I hope he loves it as much as I think he will.