Lying

Executive Member Joined: Mar 14 2010 Posts: 487

My 3.5 yr-old DD has started lying to me. I think she actually learned about it in school, as she said her morah said we don't lie.

The examples that come to my head (because she uses them most often) are: "I didn't make" (because she doesn't want to have to wash her hands) or "I have soap on my hands" - same thing. There are other things she says also, but it's hard to draw a line between being silly/sarcastic ("The baby's going to swimming class and I'm going to bed early" or "My brother is a girl and I am a boy") and lying.

What to do?

Silver Member Joined: May 07 2009 Posts: 591

I don't think kids at this age fully understand the concept of lying. She's saying what she knows will get her out of doing what she doesn't want to do, but don't let her get away with it. If you know she didn't really wash her hands, tell her she needs to tell you the truth and then bring her to wash her hands. She'll learn that whether she tells the truth initially or not, she's not going to get out of it. Any time that she tells you the truth, really reinforce it! Hooray you told the truth!

My kids sometimes lie to get out of trouble. Whenever they fess up right aaway, the discipline is much less severe so that it reinforces them being honest.

Lying is totally different from being silly or making up stories. A lot of young kids do that when they're trying to figure out and understand the world around them.