Do you know that babies as young as 7 months old know how to pull the wool over their parents’ eyes? Believe it or not, young kids already learn to lie for various reasons.
The 5 common lies are:
• Bluffing – This is common especially when you threatened your kids with a punishment and they say that they do not care.
• Denying something – Your kids may deny something has happened especially when they are one of the culprits.
• Lying about someone else – Your kids may lie for the purpose of getting someone else into trouble, for example another sibling.
• Hiding a forbidden activity – Children are smart and they know when their parents disapprove of a certain activity. Hence, they will lie to conceal what they have done or to distract their parents’ attention.
• “It wasn’t me….” – Every parents in the world would have heard this one for every possible scenarios.
The reasons for your kids to lie:
Babies – Babies normally want to get attention and may fake a cry to get what they want.
Toddlers – At this age, your children are still unable to differentiate between reality and fantasy and they lie to avoid mummy or daddy from being angry with them.
Pre-schoolers – At this age, children are smart enough to know certain lies will not work. They are also adept at making up stories to suit their situation. What you can do as a parent is to teach them to understand that lying to prevent from getting into trouble is not an acceptable behavior.
As a parent, you have to judge the different situations that your kids lie and the best action to take. For example, telling your toddler that you saw through the lie is fine but it is best not to make a big issue out of it. Sometimes it works to praise and focus on good behaviors and play down the bad to get the desired effect.
With my three kids, I notice that my daughter tends to be truthful and not prone to hiding the truth, for now. She will readily admit making a mistake when asked. For my two boys, “It wasn’t me…”, is a commonly used lie to protect themselves.
