When Do We Begin Lying?

It's a fact that we all lie.  Most of us tell "little white lies,"  but many children and adults alike tell major lies.  You may lie to someone on the phone and tell them your husband is not home when he actually is but doesn't want to talk, or you may tell a friend that you like her new hairdo, when you really don't.  These are harmless lies.  It was amazing to me to discover how early boys and girls learn to lie.

As early as 30 months, children lie.  There have been many studies done on children, and as early as 2 1/2 they will try to deceive.  For example, psychologists have done the following study:  Put a toy behind the therapists back and make a noise like "woof, woof," and have the child guess what animal is hidden.  They do this several times with different animals.  Then they say they are going to hide the animal in box and they tell the child they are going out of the room for a few minutes, and not to peek in the box.  80% of the children peek in the box, and 40% of the children lie about it when the therapist returns.

When I discovered that lying was common in boys and girls at a young age and obviously carried over into adulthood, I wondered if this was an American trait, or a human trait.  It's a human trait.  As our children get older, they see their parents "lying" all the time, so even though we tell our kids that lying is wrong, they see us doing it all the time.  We are telling them to do as we say, not do as we do.

Here's a funny story that Ron has often told that goes under the heading of "Out of the mouths of babes."  Ron was about 5 years old.  His parents had a friend who was very overweight, and they had obviously discussed this fact in front of him.  When the friend came over one day, and Ron's mom introduced Ron to the overweight friend, Ron said, "Mom, she's not nearly as fat as you said she was!"  We all have to watch what we say in front our children.  They are listening.