We often lie to our own kids too, threatening them with all sorts of weird visits such as policemen, and bogeymen if they do not behave. We also string them along for several years lying about Santa Claus and the tooth fairy. The kid realizes when he discovers the truth that lying cannot be so bad after all!
So, it should come as no surprise and also because the influence of the media where honesty is not regarded as a marketable commodity. We can see that lying is tolerated by much of our society and not roundly condemned as it used to be. Children tell lies for a reason. It’s not fun for children to tell lies because they need some skills to do it without you noticing! They often feel guilty or may even regret doing it. Here are some reasons why children lie.
1. Escape from Confrontation. More often than not, they tell lie to prevent from further questioning or to escape from confrontation. If daddy raise his voice and yell at Ben ‘Why did the vase break?’ Ben would answer ‘I don’t know. I didn’t break it.’ It simply appears to us that Ben doesn’t want to own up because he was afraid.
2. Escape from Being Penalized. Well, in a separate occasion, Ben accidentally tore a library book and didn’t know what to do. He tried using the sellotape to mend it but it wasn’t tastefully done. When angry dad find’s out, he became afraid and said ‘he knew nothing about it’.
3. Being Nonchalant. Some children lie because that want to avoid a task like ‘Have you wash you hands’ and they answer ‘yes’ without much thought because their eyes are glued on Nickelodeon.
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We just have to address the issue head on if they are doing it because they have broken a rule and they do not want to admit it and therefore avoid getting into trouble. If this is the problem, then you have to explain why that rule is in place and add another consequence for lying.
