How to Handle a Child's Dishonesty

Categories: Behaviour

Lying is a stage that every child goes through. With this in mind, how do we deal with our little story tellers and help them understand that lying is unacceptable? Should there be a harsh punishment? Yelling? Privileges taken away? The truth is you have to find what works for you and and your child.

When trying to teach your child that lying is wrong, don’t tell them any fibs, because you are not really teaching anything in that matter. Here are some tips from some mums that have had to deal with lying and how they worked addressed it with their kids.

Reading the child the story “The Boy Who Cried Wolf” is a classic. This story explains what happens when someone lies. After reading this story to your child, have a conversation about the book and the message that it passes on.
When your child is truthful about things reward them and thank them for being honest. This helps the child learn that the truth is far less painful than a lie.
When your child tells a lie about something give them a chance to tell the truth before jumping all over them. Once they have told the truth thank them, and then proceed with a punishment if it is needed.
Explain the consequences of lying. Lying may mean they get double the punishment. If they tell the truth, there may still be a consequence, but not as much as if they tell a lie.
Have the child stand in the mirror with you and tell a story. They will be able to see their own face when they are doing this. You can explain to them that you know when they are lying because you can see it in their face. They will know you really can because they have seen it for themselves. This will encourage being truthful.
Explain that telling a lie makes others sad, and that they will have a hard time believing them when they are actually telling the truth because they have lied about other things.
Be consistent in the way that you work with your child, and try to involve other adults that are in their life (other parents, grandparents, teacher ect.) so that they can work with them as well.

When it comes to a child and lying, punishment may not always be the best solution. It is far better to encourage the truth by using gentler means. We all know that yelling at children really doesn’t help, but to simply sit them down, and talk about what lies can do to others, is a great method.

For your child’s safety, don’t put any kind of soap or detergent in their mouths, this can be very dangerous, and can make them sick due to the chemicals that are in the soap. Soap is for external use only.

They Say It Takes A Village To Raise A Child … HERE IT IS!

Here at ParentTV we have a specialist team including psychologists, dietitians, paediatricians, family counsellors, sleep experts and experienced specialists. Here’s just a few of them!

Navigating the world of child-rearing can be a pretty tricky task. As lovable as they are, every age your kids enter throws up new challenges for you as a parent.

Every year brings new technology, trends and transitions for your children, and every day involves new feelings and fears. As a parent, you want to help them through it all in the best way possible.

But, you can’t do it on your own.

With ParentTV, you don’t have to. ParentTV is your expert parenting support network, here to answer all your questions and share our trusted advice and experience. And, we’re only a few clicks away.

Join up now for just $49/year (normally $120).

You can cancel your membership anytime but if you do get in now you will lock in $49 / year for the duration of your membership. We have just started working with the Sydney Anxiety Clinic who specialises in kids and anxiety and will be launching an online course with them on ParentTV soon. For now you are able to access over 400 videos on the platform with the click of a button.

All of our videos are around 2-5 minutes giving you the information you need exactly when you need it in the most efficient way possible.