Why would my 4 year old say that I hit her?

[backofbeyond123]

At DD's nursery the children are all told that if someone hits them, or does something they don;t like, they should say, "Stop".
The nursery manager told me that they were discussing this at circle time yesterday when DD said, "so when mummy hits me, I can say stop."

I've never hit DD, or have even threatened to, so why would she say this?
Nursery manager says it may be to get a reaction because I'm expecting DC2 in a few months ... I don;t know ... DD lies quite a lot. From small things like saying she's washed her hands after going to the loo, to blaming other children for pushing her over. We've never really discussed it with her, just ignored it or told her we knew she wasn't telling the truth.

Any ideas how we should we approach it?

I don't have any answers but you're not alone - my 4yo DS does this (thankfully never at pre school only to family - so far). He has said that me and DH kick him, also he told my mum that I left him alone in the house while I took DD to the doctors.

It freaks me out in case someone e.g. at school takes him seriously and calls in SS.

I have told him he must never make up stories like this or the police will come and mummy and daddy will be in trouble, don't know if this has had an impact or not.

Hopefully someone with more answers will be along soon!

My daughter said something similar at doctors when she was about 4, she looked straight at me and said 'you're not going to hit me are you mummy'!!!!!! Luckily the doctor didn't take any notice but it could have been a real problem! She was never disciplined physically as we used naughty stair, my husband smacked her once when she was in a dangerous situation (trying to climb on the fire guard when the fire was on) but that was it. I think its just a normal part of them growing up.......not nice though!

Maybe she wasn't accusing you of anything but saying it I dunno how to word this erm... in passing? Like saying "if mummy ever did hit me I can say Stop" not "Next time mummy hits me I'll say stop"

Did any of that make sense?

I agree with BooJones the way you worded it, it sounded like she was just repeating their instructions so she knew what to do if it happened....