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meme
23-10-2006, 13:48
my girl is 10yrs.
she often hides things from me and doesn't like to answer direct questions. nothing big, just little things like not eating her school lunch and then not wanting to fess up to it, and then i find the mouldy lunch under her bed.

i admit i feel it is because i havn't always been the greatest mum, i parented through fear a lot more when she was younger and i know she does it coz she is scared of getting into trouble. i don't hit her or anything nasty, just lose my temper and yell.

today it was her phone, i asked her if she was texting people and she said no, then her phone beeped and she admitted she was texting her nanny (my mum). this is soo no big deal, only that she is lying to me.:banghead:

then she was cleaning her room and had the vaccumm and i asked her if there was anything left under her bed and she said no. i asked if i went and looked would i see anything and then it changed to 'hardly anything'. this was nearly straight afte ri had told her not to lie to me about things:banghead:

then i found some mouldy lunch. this has been an ongoing issue trying to get her to eat lunches. i often ask her what she ate for lunch and she tells me 'i don't know' ( another lie, she just doesn't want to admit the truth).

i am scared about her being a teenager that lies to me. on the whole i think we have a very close and open relationship. it is just these situations where she thinks i will be angry that she lies or tries to avoid the truth .

i asked her what i could do to help her change this behaviour and she suggested a reward chart for telling the truth.
do you think this would work? what else could i do?
the thing is most of the things that she doesn't want me to get angry about, i know about/find out about anyway and then i am doubly upset, not so much for whatever it was, that's usually trivial, but for the lie.

what do you think, how should i handle this.??? please help i have utterly no idea and really want to turn this around asap.

meme
23-10-2006, 17:34
please....

Bubsta
24-10-2006, 09:37
Hi there meme.

I Don't have any children around your daughters age, but i know how you are feeling about the lies.... May not be the same but my sister is exactly like that (she is now 18) and still does it. It really bothers and annoys me, because as you said the things are mostly trival, but the point is they lied.
I think the rewards chart is a good starting point, it gives her something to look forward to when shes doing the right thing, and by getting a sticker or something small to put on the chart and then when she reaches a certain number say 10 then she gets a reward whether it be time with just you and her going to the movies of her choice, or shopping for a new shirt, or new pencils etc. It might give her more incentive to see she gets attention in a good way for telling the truth, and bad attention for lying to you. Maybe another idea is sitting down and talking to her and asking her why she lies to you about small things, and that it hurts your feelings that she cant be honest with you and all your trying to do it help her to do the right thing. Hopefully with age she will grow out of it. My sister hasnt because shes the baby, and she's always been babied and now its too late cause its just a normal thing for her to do. Hopefully this might help you a little bit. Take care :)

Minke
24-10-2006, 10:31
Let me know if it works!

We have the same problem with our DD (and she's only 5!) She's only just started doing it A LOT! and it's driving us nuts... She's really good at it though - she can even back up her lie (whether its a believable story is another matter :rolleyes: ).

We've talked to her about it repeatedly, but it hasn't helped.

Talk about being scared of teenage years :eek: Here's hoping it "just a phase"...

werdxela
24-10-2006, 11:35
I too have this problem. Mine is my seven year old son. I have tried and tried to explain to him the lying causes more problems and gets him more trouble but he doesnt understand. We have tried everything but he just doesnt get it.

MumOfTwoBoys
25-10-2006, 16:59
I too have this problem. Mine is my seven year old son. I have tried and tried to explain to him the lying causes more problems and gets him more trouble but he doesnt understand. We have tried everything but he just doesnt get it.

Same here. :thumbsdown:

Lila
27-10-2006, 09:37
LOL

mouldy lunches ---- me too!!! with both my older ones- although my eldest is better now....

i think we have to talk, talk, talk- reward charts are a great idea!!

donīt worry too much....let her feel you love her no matter what!!!

bekkyboo
27-10-2006, 09:42
I do this... :cough:

My hubby gets really annoyed because he asks something - say the whole is there anything under the bed - id say no without it even processing in my head, by the time he asks again my brain has ticked over and then id say the 'oh nothing much'....


My biggest problem is speaking before i think it through - Sometimes the thought comes mid sentence so "no i dont, Oh yeah i do know!". Hubby gets rather annoyed...

bekkyboo
27-10-2006, 09:46
I know the situations are different - but i think its interesting - I was like that as a child...

I can actually remember hiding lollies in the trolley at shopping then "helping" with putting away so that i could get the lollies back...

Ill ask my mum and see if she has any thoughts on it...