Life isn’t always exciting. Some of the things that adults and children do can be monotonous and feel a bit like ground-hog day. But when adults sit down with their friends and talk about what they have been up to, they tend to tell the truth. They share honestly and don’t embellish their adventures or makeup stories about what they have been doing. However, children don’t always. I find that there are children telling lies about their life. So why do some children do this? Why aren’t they being truthful about what they have been up to? Especially if it’s obvious to their friends that it didn’t really happen.
BUILD SELF-ESTEEM AND STOP CHILDREN TELLING LIES
If your child does this, ask them if they do it so that others will be impressed with their life. Perhaps they want to make others feel envious too? They may think that embellishing the truth will make them more popular, liked, and interesting to others. If that’s the case, parents need to work on their child’s self-esteem so that they are happy with their life and don’t need others to be in awe of their fantasy life. Teach them to stick to the facts and what really happened. If they have true friends, they will still be interested in what they got up to. No need to make it sound more interesting. Finally, we can discuss with them that telling the truth is important and that all lies get found out in the end.
Most people are wary about being friends with a known liar as they can’t believe what they say. And it’s not a great trait for building close friendships. The children telling lies will find that their friendships will be affected eventually. So, if your child has a tendency to try and make their life sound more interesting to others, try to talk to them about it. Do all you can to build their self-esteem and discourage their ‘fantasy’ life.
Some children can tell lies because they are envious of others. If your child feels like this read this article to help the green eyes monster stop. If you have no luck with stopping the lie telling then please do get in touch to find out how coaching can help.
