# 7 year old lying **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 20, 2006, 6:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/7-year-old-lying/345295 "2006-02-20T06:02:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Missy2U](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3bc359/32.png) [@Missy2U](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Missy2U)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2006, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/7-year-old-lying/345295/41 "2006-02-21T16:02:43Z")
**Uvula Donor** , agreed, 100%. I can’t even imagine torturing a child like that. I rank that up there with emotional abuse. Sorry. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2006, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/7-year-old-lying/345295/42 "2006-02-21T16:43:32Z")
> [@Missy2U](#): > > **Uvula Donor** , agreed, 100%. I can’t even imagine torturing a child like that. I rank that up there with emotional abuse. Sorry. ☹ I don’t know where she’s from, but it sounds to me like a very Chinese thing to say. I had several first-generation Chinese friends rowing up, and read a lot of Amy Tam - mothers say things like that to their daughters all the time. Seems way harsh to me, but I can’t deny that it works to extinguish unwanted behavior! ---
**Author:** ![Missy2U](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3bc359/32.png) [@Missy2U](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Missy2U)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2006, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/7-year-old-lying/345295/43 "2006-02-21T16:56:58Z")
**WhyNot** , that’s very interesting - is it like a cultural thing? Like an acceptable parenting method there? ---
**Author:** ![Go\_You\_Big\_Red\_Fire\_Engine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/eada6e/32.png) [@Go\_You\_Big\_Red\_Fire\_Engine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Go_You_Big_Red_Fire_Engine)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2006, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/7-year-old-lying/345295/44 "2006-02-21T20:42:17Z")
> [@Ca3799](#): > > I didn’t say "lying is a vlauable life skill that will “ **take her far** ”. I simply said “lying is a valuable life skill and she is practising it”. Well someone’s being a little self-centred. I wasn’t even quoting you. Why did you think I was? ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2006, 6:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/7-year-old-lying/345295/45 "2006-02-22T06:57:26Z")
Face it, there are times when simple social interaction requires you to tell a bald-faced lie with a smile on your face. I am reminded of the Talmudic scholars who declared all babies and all brides to be beautiful by definition. And on a more serious note, yes, your child should be taught to lie if someone telephones and you’re not there, or in similar circumstances. Back to the more general parenting issue. I don’t think there’s really a whole lot you can do about it, aside from using some common sense and staying the course. I was generally a manageable kid, but I told hundreds of lies to my parents. The majority went undetected; my parents weren’t unattentive, but they just weren’t in a position to check up everything, especially when the lie was a matter of buying time, or when the result made no difference. Whe I got caught, naturally, the result was an uproar of biblical proportions, but I didn’t stop doing it until I was a little older, couldn’t think up a good lie for some damn thing, made a clean breast of it, and realized little came of it because I admitted what I had done. It’s a discipline issue you’re plainly concerned about, but I don’t think it’s the end of the world. It may just be one of these things that has to come with age. (I still don’t clean my room, though.) ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2006, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/7-year-old-lying/345295/46 "2006-02-22T20:19:39Z")
> [@Uvula Donor](#): > > Did she ever wet the bed? Did you threaten to make her wear a diaper outside her school clothes and have her wear a sign around her neck that said **“I WET MY BED”**? > > Yep. Nothin’ like a little psychological terror to make the little bastards toe the line, eh? > > _They fuck you up, your mum and dad. > They may not mean to, but they do. > They fill you with the faults they had > And add some extra, just for you._ > > - Philip Larkin I got the impression, at least until the “well stop lying!” that the poster was teasing. I could see my parents saying that in a joking manner and I’d probably say, “No no, I’ll be good!” playing along. Hell, my parents used to threaten to sell me to the gypsies. But just saying, “Well stop lying!” without a smile and a wink is a little over the top. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/7-year-old-lying/345295.md?page=2)