Stop Telling Lies
Teaching Your Tween the Importance of Telling the Truth
Have you wondered whether or not your tween is telling you the truth? Telling lies can become a nasty habit. Here are some tips to help your child learn to be truthful.
Telling lies is a habit everyone has dealt with some time in their life. If someone tells you they have never told a lie, guess what...they're lying to you! Of course, we want to teach our kids to be truthful in all situations, so here are some tips to help out.
Why Do Kids Lie?
The basic instinct to tell a lie is usually a way of getting out of a sticky or dangerous situation.
Scenario: A tween is invited to spend the night over a friend's house, and she agrees to go. Later that same day, she is invited to a slumber party with some really cool girls. She wants to go to the slumber party more, so she tells her friend that she cannot make to her house because she is not feeling well. Then, she goes to the slumber party instead.
Now this tween may find herself in an even more sticky situation, if her friend finds out she had gone to a slumber party without her. She should have asked if her friend could come to the slumber party as well, and if not, declined the party.
Why are Lies Bad?
Lying can become a nasty habit. A tween can start out making a simple lie to fit in with a particular crowd. Before long, he will need to keep building onto his lies to keep up his image. He will either:
- Get tired of having to make up lies and lose interest in his new friends.
- Eventually come to a point where he has to tell the truth, and hope that his friends will still accept him.
Putting this kind of stress on yourself at a young age can lead to depression, anxiety, and a constant state of being worried. Telling lies constantly leads to excuses of why you need to lie, and why lying is okay in particular situations. Telling the truth, on the other hand, does not need explanation. You simply tell the truth.
Skills for Being Truthful
Teaching your tween to be truthful takes patience. The first thing you must do is explain to your child that telling lies is not acceptable, and that there are personal consequences, as well as the probability of hurting others in the process.
Skills:
- Look a person in the eye when you are speaking to them. It is harder to tell a lie when you look someone in the eye.
- Do not leave out important information when telling a story to someone. Leaving out information can cause a lie, too.
- Admit when you are wrong about something, instead of creating another wrong by telling a lie.
- Keep practicing with telling the truth. If you do not practice it consistently, you will lose it.
- Understand that there is no difference between little white lies and big lies. A lie is a lie, no matter what.
Benefits of Being Truthful
Let your child know that everyone falls into the pit of lying. It is a natural thing for humans to do. But, if you genuinely want to better yourself and gain respect from your peers and authority, you will need to practice telling the truth every day. Let your child know that telling the truth can be hard at times, especially when you think you may be in a lot of trouble, but being caught in a lie doubles your punishment, and people will start to lose confidence in you as a trustworthy person. On the other hand, if you are known to be truthful, you will have more confidence in yourself, and others will know that they can count on you.
