There is nothing as bad as a child who constantly lies, either to get out of something or simply just for the sake of it.
Lying can be a dangerous habit to get into, especially as your little one grows up, but thankfully, there are things you can do to help them stop doing it:
House rules
Put the house rules on a notice board in the kitchen or in a place that everyone will see them. Write in big clear words 'No lying'. This will be a constant reminder to your child not to lie. If you want, put the consequences for lying beside it so that your child will know it simply isn’t worth not telling the truth.
Talk about it
Talk to your little one about how lying affects everyone around them. Give them an example so that they can put what you are saying into perspective. Talk about how if they lie about breaking something that someone else will get the blame even though they didn’t do anything. Ask your little one how they would feel if this happened to them.
Be honest yourself
Try to be as honest with your little one as much as you can. Don’t make up excuses to get out of things and try not to be dishonest with your youngster by saying the park is closing even though it’s not or the television is broken even though it isn’t. While they may seem like little white lies to you, to your child a lie is a lie.
Discipline
When it comes to disciplining, point out the lie to your child and give them the opportunity to be honest and come clean. If they don’t, give them a warning. If they still don’t come clean you need to discipline them to show them that lying is not accepted.
Encourage honesty
Try to encourage honesty as much as you can. If your son or daughter breaks something but tells you out right that they did it, while you need to discipline them for being careless, you also need to thank them for being honest. To show them how important being honest is, tell them that the punishment will be less severe because they came clean about it.
