Parenting Stack Exchange
Parenting Stack Exchange

Questions tagged [lying]

Behavior when someone is intentionally speaking falsehood, for example to deceive others.

37 questions
141
votes
15 answers

Should I punish my teenage sister, whom I have full custody of, for lying to me in order to secretly see her boyfriend?

I'm 24 years old and have full custody of my 16-year-old sister. She has been living with me for the last 3 years. I found out today, from her, that she has been lying to me about spending time with a female friend in order to spend time with her…
danninta
  • 1,297
  • 2
  • 8
  • 14
109
votes
10 answers

If my 5yr old is an exceptional liar, should I expect that she will continue lying as she gets older?

I have a gorgeously adorable 5 year old daughter who over the past 6 months or so has developed a bent towards lying. Adorable + lying = bad recipe for a pushover dad (I'm really not, I may be mushy but not a pushover. honest.). I get that all young…
MrDuk
  • 2,055
  • 5
  • 17
  • 19
93
votes
20 answers

Why would you lie to your children about Santa?

Christmas is an awesome event for children with lots of presents, but I've been thinking: Aren't the negative things it brings (telling them the truth eventually) worse than the good things? You can still give them presents at this given date…
Micha Sprengers
  • 1,230
  • 1
  • 9
  • 15
31
votes
3 answers

My toddler has started "lying"

Recently, my almost two year old has started lying. It has taken us by a surprise; we are not sure if she means to lie, or if she doesn't understand what she is talking about. I'll give some examples... The other day she was in a room by herself and…
Swati
  • 6,556
  • 5
  • 37
  • 61
17
votes
6 answers

Five year old lying

We send our 5yo boy to kindergarten with a packed lunch most days. Every once in awhile we let him buy lunch. Kids have an account that we can pay into, so there is no need for cash transactions. (Which I don’t agree with but that’s not the focus…
FrancisJohn
  • 597
  • 1
  • 7
  • 16
15
votes
3 answers

How to figure out which of my children is lying to me?

I'm looking for advice on how to determine which of my children is lying. I have 4 kids, 12, 12, 8, 6. About once a week, something bad will happen, (this last incident, somebody poured a bowl of cereal with milk and left it on the table uneaten). …
raterus
  • 640
  • 4
  • 10
13
votes
3 answers

What do I do when I walk into a room with a broken item and both children shrug their shoulders and say "Wasn't me"?

I'm trying to get my kids to be honest and take responsibility. I'm seeing a repeated pattern where one or both of my kids will lie to get out of trouble. They're starting to see that they can deny responsiblity. Our current system of reward…
hawkeye
  • 2,233
  • 2
  • 18
  • 22
12
votes
1 answer

How to break the cycle of lies?

My six year-old son has recently started lying almost constantly. This is somewhat puzzling to us, because: He almost never gets away with it. Fortunately for us, he isn't very good at it yet, but he is getting better. It causes him to lose the…
Karl Bielefeldt
  • 36,138
  • 10
  • 71
  • 178
11
votes
3 answers

My 16-year-old daughter has new personal items she hides - how can I make her to be more open?

I am a single mother of one 16-year-old daughter and I am very attentive to how my daughter develops as a person. We both work on it with constructive approaches. But from time to time I discover in her school bag or drawer unfamiliar items and when…
Sofiko
  • 379
  • 2
  • 7
10
votes
2 answers

5 year old lying and stealing

My 5-year-old son has recently developed the habit of lying and stealing. All of this in the span of 2 weeks. It started with him getting a small toy from his school classroom. We made him understand that it was not ok to take things without…
Anthony Marston
  • 103
  • 1
  • 1
  • 5
9
votes
5 answers

My 5-year-old is stealing food and lying

My 5-year-old has begun stealing food and lying about it. Most of the time, he takes sweets. Therefore, in my household, we limit the amount of sweets he may have. If he does not receive it, he waits until we are not looking and then takes it. I…
Kisha
  • 91
  • 1
  • 1
  • 2
9
votes
1 answer

What to do with a teenage girl who won't stop lying?

I have a 16 year old I am raising...I am 29 and have a 7 year old son. She is my baby cousin...her dad had a stroke and is being taken care of by family in another state. Her mother abandoned her with me to go be with a boyfriend in another state.…
Elizabeth
  • 91
  • 4
8
votes
3 answers

Praise leads to lying - what should be done?

Situation: A 13-year-old was honest and open with the parents. The parents praised honesty regarding a tricky subject and thanked the child for confiding in them. They agreed with the child that some thinking time was needed on the parent's side…
Edd Turner
  • 527
  • 3
  • 9
7
votes
2 answers

Where to draw the line between joke and lie when 4 year old says little sister did something?

My goddaughter has for some time now jokingly said her younger sister did things that she clearly didn't. At first it was always situations where I clearly witnessed her do something and was myself jokingly asking who did something and she would…
dsollen
  • 4,291
  • 14
  • 24
7
votes
1 answer

Is there any research on whether punishing more for lies is effective?

In order to dissuade my kids from lying to cover up when they did something bad, I have long adhered to the policy (made clear to the kids) that whatever the bad thing they did, and whatever the punishment for it I consider appropriate, - if they…
user3143
  • 6,029
  • 5
  • 34
  • 46
1
2 3