Monday, August 23, 2010

Any advice on how to get a five year old to stop lying?

She never used to lie, Now all of a sudden she lies al the time. Sometimes she blames things on her 3 yr old sister that she does. I can't always tell when she lies. How do I stop this. And how do I punish her when I find out the truth about something days after the incedent?Any advice on how to get a five year old to stop lying?
I think it would help to figure out why she's lying. Is she doing it for attention, to get out of trouble, because it can be fun being ';creative';. Sometimes children lie to gain some sort of control in their own lives. Have you had any major changes in your life? Sometimes kids get frustrated and don't know how to express their frustration, so they end up with ';bad'; behavior. If you can't pinpoint anything that's changed or upsetting in her life then it's probably a phase. My daughter went thru this at 4. After I was sure she really understood what a lie was and it was wrong...she started having consequences. First....don't react! Remain calm. WHenever she told a lie, she would be sent to her room until she could come out and tell the truth. Your right...sometimes it's hard to tell if they are lying....In that case you add ';i'd like to believe you, but you've told too many lies and now I don't trust you. That's what happens when you lie. Now you have to earn my trust back by telling the truth.'; The consequences that work well with my daughter was sending her to bed early with the explanation that only big girls got to stay up ';late';, and big girls don't tell lies. Then we'd tuck her in and leave the room. Whenever I knew she was lying, I'd stop her and tell her she had two choices....start over and tell the truth, or continue the lie and go to bed early. Our phase lasted about 2 months. Good luck.Any advice on how to get a five year old to stop lying?
Your welcome Report Abuse

lies occur when it is discovered that rewards can be gotten for lying. you must make sure she knows there is a penalty that you will consistantly enforce for lying.





This will have one of two results: she will stop lying, or, she will learn to lie really well. Good luck.
Do what my mother did...she either tied me up on a chair or this one time, I broke her favorite vase, and told her out cat did it,she hid a camera...O_Ops
I can't give advise on the punishment but I will say be consistent with the punishment. Don't let her get away with it sometimes and punish her sometimes. She must see that every time she lies she will have to face the consequences. She is old enough to remember what she did or said a week ago. When you find out, talk to her about the lie and punish her as if she just told the lie.
Make sure you are setting a good example. Sometimes it is a stage they go through. Take things away for lying, video games, TV, etc... for a certain amount of time. She will stop when she sees you mean business!!!
Amazon.com seach for ';Sesame Street'; there's a video abotu telling the truth.
whatever you do, do it now before she gets older and it gets worse
Turn it on her. Start using the most blatent lies that you can think of against her and see how she likes it. Sometimes you have to be cruel to be kind!
5 year olds aren't capable of ';lying';--not as we as adults understand it. They only start to develop a true conscience around puberty.





This is not to say that you shouldn't start to teach her that blaming others for her actions is wrong. Just don't expect it to *fully* take for a number of years!





For now, try to be concrete. Explain to her how her actions of saying something that is not true affects others. Most of the time, this means disappointing you, but there may be other tangible effects as well. If, for example, she tells you that she saw your car keys in the bedroom when they're in the living room, you wasted a lot of time, and now it's too late to stop at the playground on the way home from running errands. (Or whatever.) Try to be specific.
Don't model it.
typical.u just have 2 keep telling this is not OK and there r consequences if she keeps this up.u cant really punish days after the fact because by then...it's way gone and she's forgotten abt it already.she will think it's smthg she did recently and this will only confuse her.good luck!!
What if she were confronted with the truth (not in a harsh way). Then she come to realize that she will be found out.





I'd love to know why they do this.
Show her what will happen if she continues to speak lies. Tell her that one day will come when no one will believe her.





It will be not good to punish a young girl.





Convey my personal message to her.





';IF YOU WANT TO ENJOY YOUR LIFE SPEAK TRUTH.';
If you have a religion, or are open to one, this is the best time to start teaching it to your child.





When my 4 year old boy lies, and boy does he ever, I give him the ';God is watching'; speech. It is hard for a child to understand the difference between right and wrong, but giving them a feeling that nothing goes unseen or unheard may make them think twice before doing something bad in secrecy.





By the way, this has helped me with my biggest problem, my 4 and 3 year old have discovered that they have private areas, and I cannot handle the exploration thing without feeling sick to my stomach.
my daughter was the same way.. and what worked was... she was punished more harshly for her lies then what she had done wrong... she soon learned it didnt pay to lie... and even to this day, shes 17, she tells us the truth even when she knows we will be ashamed or hurt..
i would personally ignore it, i have 4 children and at some time or another they have all told lies and if we all think about it everybody tells little white lies, for children it is there way of being in control especially if you pay attention to it yhey think they will get away with things if they lie so by ignoring them the situation will go.
With my grandson they would reinforce the lying with having things he enjoyed like his X-box taken away or no friends allowed over and not just for an hour or two, but a day or two. Then would give positive reinforcement when he told the truth. He now will come and tell on himself because he knows the consequences are better. Although he still gets reprimanded for what he did and learns from it the punishment is not there.


It works.
One of the main reason is in your question itself:- you said that she never lie, but suddenly she is changing, the same please think yourself also a bit, what have changed from you to her relation with her from previous stage of her not saying lie and now, so it can make her a bit far from you and lead to afraid from you and can say lie.
maybe this is her way of trying to get attention, could be jealous of her younger sister.. you could always go to your local library and find her favorite book or cartoon that talks about it..

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