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66 brparents.com | march 2016 types of
lies
all
lies
are not created equal.
child
ren may embellish the
truth
, which is often referred to as a ?tall tale.? stories like, ?i saw a unicorn in my closet today,? or, ?my [imaginary] friend drank your coffee,? are positive signs of intelligence and healthy imagination. of- ten, the
child
telling the tale really believes what he is say- ing is the
truth
. i often respond to these with my own tall tales: ?i saw the unicorn, too! i?ve named him harold.? or, ?your [imagi- nary] friend, livy, ate your cookies. sorry!? ?en there?s fibbing: small, intentional
lies
. ?e
child
is aware that he is not telling the
truth
. generally, the
child
is telling a fib to avoid disap- pointing the parent or facing a consequence?which was the case in our house the day that the toilet was stopped up for the third time. ?all
child
ren tell
lies
,? says dr. emily s. grezaffi of red stick pediatrics. ?
child
ren four and under often have a hard time sorting out reality from fan- tasy. if you catch a young
child
telling an obvious lie, reframe the situation for them in a calm manner. remind them of the difference between telling the
truth
and making up stories.? causes for concern as your
child
gets older, occa- sional lying will likely happen, but serious, repetitive, or vin- dictive lying (with the inten- tion to hurt others) is a cause for concern and may require professional intervention. counseling can help uncover any underlying conditions such as attention-deficit/hy- peractivity disorder (ad/hd), bipolar disorder, or learning disabilities. pathological lying often ac- companies serious psychiatric i was on my knees, with my hand down the toilet, trying to fish out a plastic toy to no avail. it was the third time this month that this had happened, and i was livid. ?who did it this time?? i asked my three
child
ren. they all stared back solemnly. ?nobody,? offered my four-year-old. ?nobody,? agreed my oldest. i stood in front of them? rubber gloved hands on hips, disheveled hair, frumpy clothes, and a frown on my face?every bit the clichéd image of a frazzled mother, waiting for the
truth
. someone knew, but no one owned up to it. not only was i about to call a plumber to my home for the third time this month, but also, my kids were lying to me. somewhere along the line, i?d clearly screwed up this motherhood thing. what do you do when your
child
tells a lie? at what point is it a cause for concern? and most importantly, how can we encourage them to tell the
truth
? by harmony hobbs problems, which normally have their onset during ado- lescence.
child
ren in that age group who use lying as a pri- mary means of avoiding per- sonal responsibility may be attempting to cover up more serious problems. how to respond stress the importance of tell- ing the
truth
when your chil- dren are still small. tell your
child
that the conse- quences will always be worse if she
lies
. and, teach your
child
ren that the
truth
always comes out eventually. as a parent, i find it helpful to give my kids real-life ex- amples of times when my own
lies
ended up causing me em- barrassment. i?ve told them about the time that i lied to my parents about writing another girl in school a mean note, only to blurt out the
truth
without thinking. ?ey marched me directly into the what do you do when a
child
lies
? liar, liar, 66 brparents.com | march 2016 pants on fire
apologize-telling-lie-67.html