[Begin with FACTS...]
Part of my "adolescent realization" became solidified when my closest friends--of differing religions--would get caught up in lunchtime discussions (arguments) about how each others' beliefs were "wrong."
I was five before I ever stepped foot in the Catholic church. Making it a weekly ritual after my mother re-married was not a welcome event to my carefree self. However, always the eager sponge for new information, I took in the new teachings, structure, "sit, stand, kneel" routine and was baptized. I received First Communion and it was a big family event with presents and I didn't quite get why.
[Keep FACTS and mix in FICTION...]
When I gave my first confession, I remember having to make up my sins to tell Father Carl Johnson. My self-image at that age was that I was a model student and a good oldest brother who did as I was told. I read over the Ten Commandments before confession and as far as I understood, I had not broken any of these rules. I first tried to tell Father Carl that I had no sins to confess. He told me that if I thought really hard I could probably think of a time when I didn't do what my mom or dad told me to do. I could read in his eyes and his tone of voice that he EXPECTED me to come up with something to confess...so, I said, "Yes. I was told to clean my room didn't do it.". "Is that all?" he said with an emphasis on ALL. "Yes." I was to go and say three Hail Mary's and then be absolved of this fictional sin.
I knelt in the pew. I said three Hail Mary's. I stood up, joined my mom & step-father. I was now sin-free but felt no different than before I had walked into the confessional. (Accept that I now had a lie already to tell Father Carl the next time I had to confess.)
:-)