As the mother of a three year old, (charming little man), I've been introduced to the latest parenting challenge, lying. It's not all the time, but it is becoming more frequent. So of course I've been asking all my friends and co-workers for advice on how to handle this.
On the Pampers website they have some good information about why kids lie. They say that pre-school aged children see people, objects, and events as all good or all bad. Good people do good things and bad people do bad things. So when your child comes to you covered head to toe in blue paint, but says he didn't put blue hand prints on the walls, it's because he doesn't want to be a "bad" boy and face punishment. They don't fully understand the concept of lying per say, they just know they don't want a time out.
The parenting pointer from Pampers goes on to say the good news about lying is it shows your child has intellectual growth and sophistication, and you should view this as "creative coping." So basically, untruths shouldn't be supported, but it doesn't do parent or child any good to press a child to admit a lie.
It's funny how much this can vary from child to child, even within the same family. My step-daughter is VERY concrete and can't handle even the slightest fib; my own daughter will tell "fish that got away" stories all day long just to see how very unbelievable she can go. ;-)
Posted by: Melonie K. Murray | April 24, 2006 11:01 PM | Permalink to Comment