Lying is an unfortunate part of growing up. It can be hard to know how to react when your child lies to you. You may find yourself wondering what's really going on in their minds, and whether there are any steps you can take to encourage honesty. The best thing you can do is figure out how your child communicates most effectively with you, and then set up a plan for communicating with them about lying that will help them stay truthful. Here are some ways to get the truth from your child.
Step 1:
You've probably heard that you should talk to your child as soon as they start telling you lies so you can correct the problem before it gets out of hand. You can discuss consequences if they get caught lying, and get them to think about the impact their lies have on others, but they have to know the consequences. This can help, but it's not enough. You also have to go back and look for the lies that were told in the past. You can talk about what happened if the lies were never uncovered. You can also compare what they are saying now with the things you have heard them say before. Before you talk to your child, ask yourself some questions to get the right information: Do I trust my child? Does he tell me the truth most of the time, or is he capable of lying?
Step 2:
Explain how you'll be able to tell whether they're lying or telling the truth. Set Up a Plan to Try to Find the Truth Once you have a plan, you can start making small changes. You can also use these steps to help your child understand how they can get the truth from you. For example, you can introduce a "Choose the Right" game where you work together to ask a question such as "Should you hide your food?" to start teaching children how to think. Once you have your plan, you can start to practice the steps that are involved in getting the truth from your child. Yelling at them or shouting would only make situations worse. When you encourage your child to have a healthy discussion with you, about anything that they feel or think, it is really important that you give them an open platform to express the truth.
Step 3:
When you try to get to the root of why your child has lied to you, you need to understand the underlying emotional needs that have been driving the lie. You can then work out what it is that needs to change for your child to tell you the truth. You can explain to your children why honesty matters. When your child doesn't feel like they can trust you, it's a real blow to their self-esteem. It can leave them feeling worthless and uncertain about their future relationships, so they may feel the need to hide things, or be very secretive when in relationships. There is research to suggest that when people don't feel safe, they do all sorts of things to make themselves feel safe, like pretending to be the other person's friend, wearing disguises, or just telling little white lies to keep everyone happy. Let the child feel comfortable with you. If you just yell at them, it might be that your child will never admit the truth in front of you the next time. So be careful while handling them.
A child’s mind is still under a sculpting stage, make sure you don’t mold it in a proper way where your child is not afraid to express their emotions. This will not just affect it at that time, but would in turn have a long term effect on your kids.
There are a lot of steps parents can take to help their children avoid lying. By taking steps like these, parents can help their children avoid early or continuing problems with lying.
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