9 year olds & lying

[mordernlifeisrubbish]

Is it common for 9 year olds to go through a phase of lying? My son is currently lying about everything, hurting his sister, being in the garden when he should have been in bed (we saw him through the window and still he lied!!!) and tonight he has drawn on his sisters bedroom wall and is now lying about it. I am at a loss, not only is the drawing on the wall completely unacceptable and the kind of thing I would expect from a toddler but he is lying again!!!! He has now lost computer time for tomorrow and I am thinking of making him repaint that bit of wall (I'm a bit concerned he may make more of a mess) but I don't know what to do about the lying. Is it just a phase that will pass?

I wouldn't focus so much on the actual lying tbh, it's not like he's going to say ' Yes mum, I drew on the wall and was in the garden when I should've been in bed' is he? He's trying to cover his back the little toe rag

Lay down the lawn and absolutely make him re paint the wall and let him suffer the consequences of misbehaving ( in this house it's loss of phone, Xbox, grounding)

Bloody kids

You say he's lost computer time for tomorrow , I would say that is quite a soft punishment for drawing on a wall! A week would be more like it.

Thanks he's driving us bananas at the moment!!!

I think you're right, a day isn't enough, think we need to ban the wii as well!

Can you make a real point of being less harsh punishment wise when they tell the truth. Maybe even thank them for their honesty.

I generally praise for telling the truth but it's very infrequent that this happens at the moment!