Did the title get your attention!!?!
I really don’t think that parents intentionally teach their kids to lie…however, I think most parents unintentionally train their kids to lie.
Don’t understand? Keep reading…
Several years ago Jodie and I caught my youngest red handed!!
That’s right! Red handed!
There was no escaping. No white lies. No clever speeches to talk your way out of this one. No sliding past King Sprad!
Like prosecuting attorney’s with an air tight case, we confronted him…
And…he lied!!
Yep. Bold face, non logical, denied the brutal facts, stupid grin on his face, lied!
We eventually arrived at the bottom of the situation and the stupid grin did leave his face.
However, several days later the harsh, cold, spine numbing reality hit me like a brick in the face!
I am the EpicParent that has taught my son to lie!
The time he saw me get so angry that I hit the wall…I taught him to lie! (stop judging! that was years ago)
The time I traded in screaming for listening…I taught him to lie!
The time I chose manipulation and guilt instead of lovingly confronting the behavior…I taught him to lie!
The time I gave him the silent treatment instead of talking it out…I taught him to lie!
I believe that we teach our kids to lie when we over-react, explode, are too strict and the punishment doesn’t fit the crime.
Would love to hear your story. Have you taught your kids to lie? Do you struggle with over-reacting?
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Yeah, no doubt I over-react to things, “teaching” my kids that it’s better to lie. Thanks for this post.
And I see the long-term consequences of it. Just yesterday I met with parents of kids I teach. There was a dispute to whether the students were cheating, or that there was a miscommunication. But what I pressed on one of the moms about was how her child flat-out lied to cover up what he did (and I’ve caught him being deceptive about some other things as well).
I hate it for that student, the path that he’s on.
I didn’t get this one, how anger teaches them to lie? I think it teaches them that we’re human and mess up, letting emotions gets ahold of the situation isn’t the same as choosing to not tell the truth. Even in my anger I usually am honest. Now, if you would have said, “clicking ‘ignore’ on your phone when you’re really not busy” or “standing in the bathtub and having them tell the person at the door that you’re ‘in the tub’”, that I would have got…