7 yr old wont stop lying.. can anyone help!

[Leahdaninorris09]

Afternoon :) so my son turned 7 in june his baby sister arrived in april x it was all sunshine and roses but he had a melt down last week and told me he wished it was just me and him again.. The problem we have now is he wont stop lying and its about anything and everything to the point we no longer anything he ever says.. How do we get him to start telling the truth?

[titchy]

You don't. Lying is a perfectly normal developmental stage.

[isthatpoisontoo]

Lying is normal at that age, especially to see what they can get away with, so don't worry too much about it. The best way to encourage him to tell the truth is to model it yourself (they don't get the subtitles of white lies or inaccuracies). Not putting them in a position where they lie to you is also helpful. So if you know that he did something wrong, don't ask him if he did it, he'll only lie and entrench the behaviour. Much better to just work with your knowledge.

There's lots of interesting info on children lying in Nurtureshock: Why Everything We Thought About Children is Wrong by Po Bronson, which you might like to look at. Well, I found it interesting, anyway. Good luck!