Children Lying habit is a destructive habit, especially children lying. It affects their lives to an extent that is beyond general imagination.

Most of the people take children lying casually, as they are not aware of the serious consequences of lying on children’s lives.

Today we are going to talk about

• Reasons for children lying
• Effects of lying on children’s life.
• Solutions to curb children lying.

Reasons For Children Lying

Reasons for children lying are as below:

1. Extraordinary High Imagination Power

Many times children with very high imagination power develop stories or plots which never exist.
This is a boon if identified and channelized in the proper direction. If not then it may turn to a nightmare.

In certain countries, competitions are organized and the best liar is awarded a project of fiction writing which gets published with his / her name as the prize of the contest.

2. For the Sake of Fun

Many times children lie just for the sake of fun with no negative intentions due to low maturity and understanding. Here though it is unintentional, it needs to be curb or else gradually it may become his / her habit.

3. To ِِAvoid Any Negative Situation, Occasion or Conversation

Children often use lie to escape from any negative situation, occasion or conversation. They do so as they find it the easiest way to get rid of any negative situation.

4. Trying to Imitate Someone

Children are keen observers and they learn quickly from their surroundings. He/She might have learned lie either from parents/anyone whom they have come in contact with.

5. To Boast Himself/Herself

Sometimes children lie to boast themselves for the sake of becoming the center of attraction amongst others. Explain to him/her that our actions speak louder than our words and boasting is not helpful in the long run. He/She might tarnish his/her image when the truth is revealed.

6. For Concealing His/Her Flaws

7. With a Motive to Gain Profit

Instill strong moral values to overcome this problem.

8. With a motive to avoid the loss

Instill strong moral values to overcome this problem.

9. To ًWin Any Argument

Instill strong moral values to overcome this problem. Also, make him/her understand that s/he will tarnish his / her image when the truth is revealed.

10. To Take Revenge

This is seldom but it happens in real life. Instill strong moral values to overcome this problem. To save himself/herself from scolding, punishment or corporal punishment. Teach them to face everything and rise bravely to overcome this problem.

Effects of Children Lying on Children’s Life:

1. Children will cultivate a habit of speaking lies with no hesitation in the long run and hence he or she will speak lie every now and then and many times unnecessarily.
2. As we have seen above lying is a shortcut to avoid any negative situation; whereas it requires courage and effort to stand with the truth.
3. When a child is lying every time he or she is searching for a shortcut which makes him/her a person who avoids effortful works and always searches for shortcuts in life. This is a big hazard to his or her career, as there are no shortcuts to success in real life.
4. Truth needs the courage to stand, hence lying child gets gradually week from inside resulting in a weak personality. Truth gives one courage and experience to face and rise in life. Bravery gets instilled gradually in the child speaking truth always whereas lying child gets coward in the long run.
5. Liars need to face negative consequences whenever the truth is revealed. Hence Liars are always under the pressure of been getting caught, which disturbs their inner peace.
6. Children being less mature, they are not aware of the severity of the negative consequences which are tentative to arise from their lies.
7. Lies they speak to save themselves from temporary punishment at the initial stage maybe, later on, end up in some deadly serious problem.
8. This could have been easily avoided/controlled if he or she would have said the truth to their elders at the initial stage itself.
9. He/She will lose his or her credibility in the long run. Due to the habit of lying, people will look at them with suspect every now and then, leading to a poor social image.

Solutions to Children Lying

1. Very first and foremost action required at your end to curb Child Lying is that you stop speaking a lie, especially in front of your child. If you lie then, it will build your negative image in the mind of your child as your words and actions do not match.
2. Gradually child may start disobeying and disrespecting you as you yourself put your credibility in question against him/her.
3. In case, you need to speak lie to deal with any practical situation, clarify it to your child that it is for the sake of genuine reason and you are not intended to cheat or harm any person.
4. Build a smooth communication between you and your child since their childhood. Be a good listener to them every time they come to you. Give them patient listening.
5. Always respond constructively on whatever your child says to you. Never react negatively. Negative reactions will gradually discourage your child to approach you for any of his problems/issues.
6. If your child had lied to save his face and if it’s a reasonable matter then allow him to do it temporarily.
7. Later when alone, talk to him/her in detail about it. Provide them with an amicable solution of how to deal with such a situation in a constructive way.
8. Assure them all safety in advance and encourage them to talk freely with you on any topic (positive or negative).
9. Even if they ask/speak on adult topics (out of their curiosity) deal with it in a constructive manner rather than scolding and discouraging them.
10. Whenever they come to you and speaks the truth, even if it is the matter of loss or something negative, appreciate them first for being truthful to you. Then go ahead with the matter. Soften the punishment for him or her as they spoke the truth.
11. Note: Confessing or speaking truth never means it is a license to do wrong things. The liberal approach is just for unintentional/accidental incidents and not at all suggested for deliberated acts.
12. Appreciate him/her in front of others whenever they speak the truth. Make them feel like a ‘Hero’ of that incident.
13. Share with them descriptively, the would-be negative consequences, from which you all were saved because he/she chose to speak the truth.
14. Always acknowledge their bravery. Support them in a negative situation arising out of their act/deed and where they chose to speak the truth, rather than false.
15. Never blame or scold them for whatever they are truthful otherwise they will gradually start lying with you.

By following the above steps feasibly, you will definitely create a win-win situation with your child and it will ultimately lead you to a Happy Parenting.

God Bless