There are a lot of fun things that go along with being in the role of a grandparent. But there are things, too, that aren’t so fun but necessary, like coping with children when they have emotional meltdowns.

After all, I signed up for the long haul here.

Emotions are hard, and what you do with them when you are a child can be even harder. You might not always tell the truth. It’s a pretty common denominator, a coping mechanism when you don’t know what to do about your feelings. So, sometimes, the truth gets lost in the middle. I went through it with my kids, I am sure, but I have to re-school myself on the appropriate reaction to chaotic emotions from the children I love now.

I don’t pretend to be any kind of parenting expert. I am sure that many of you have been down this same road.

Sometimes, it just helps to listen and hug them, and remind ourselves it’s just one more block to stumble over to get those kids to adulthood.

There is nothing inherently wrong with children who do this, especially young ones who may not have yet developed other ways to deal with what’s going on. The key is not to overreact, but to deconstruct what happened, why it happened, and acknowledge the child’s feelings and offer alternatives for next time.

I think when a child reaches first or second grade, they can tell they are deliberately making up a story to either avoid something or to get what they want. They don’t know what else to do — so fiction it is. But, they still have to be taught that lying is never OK. It is almost always hurtful, and it can make things worse.

I am not even sure I’m doing it right, but I think my advice to my grandkids is this: Take a breath and try — really, really hard — not to say anything that you know isn’t true. It is OK to be upset; try to think about what made you upset, and talk about that instead. Ask for help solving a problem.

Practice this at home. Over and over. Let kids know that it is safe to admit mistakes. Everyone makes them, even grownups, maybe especially grownups.

We are all still learning, every single day, if we are living a good life. Things like telling the truth, having empathy, and showing that the world is not all about YOU is something that I want to instill in my little people, but I can only do that by doing it myself.

I love children with imaginations, when they tell you about dragons and pretend they are going on adventures to made-up places. I love how kids can hear stories from books and grow their own ideas about what might happen on future pages.

I also love children who understand that it is important to tell the truth about what is going on in the real world, their world, and that it is normal to ask for help if they need it.

Louise Hoffman Broach is the Sunday editor and a reporter at the Times. Contact her at lbroach@fltimes.com or 315-789-3333, ext. 253.