The Lying Standoff

[IrishSea]

What do you do when you have a ?he said, she said? situation?

Last night DS (7) swore blind that he didn?t say something and DD (5) swore blind that he did. The whole thing was tiny and it was bedtime so I sent them to bed with firm warning that it?s wrong to tell a lie.

The problem is that I have no idea who was lying! This is the first time that (a) I wasn?t able to tell who was lying and (b) they have two completely opposing views on what happened (and stuck to it!). I know it?s downhill from here, I?d be interested to here what others do in this situation.

Thanks
IS

I tell me dd to stick her Tongue out and that I know if she's lying as her Tongue gets a tiny bit different colour! I can tell when she's lying as she refuses to poke her Tongue out! Haha

Yes my mum use to do that too, but my brother and I quickly worked out she was lying as we couldn't see the 'black spot'! We use 'your cheeks are getting red', which usually works but not last night!

One said 'duck' the other heard '*uck', they're both telling their truth...

Just impress on them another time how important the truth is, so that if they tell you something that they need you to act on, you can trust their word implicitly. If they say they are being bullied, the teacher hit them, the dinner lady stole their crisps... One lie found out will mean you can never trust their word.

(But don't bring up the tooth fairy or Father Christmas at the same time!)