Come On… You Don’t Say An Adult is Lying

That ‘Aha’ moment when your child has caught you red-handed.

“Mommy Now… you said all liars will go to hell and you’re lying…”

I know it’s common practice for parents to cook up a story for their kids just to pacify them, but is there ever any reason good enough to tell your child a lie?

So, he wants to go out the door with you and you tell him, “I am coming back now,  I just want to buy you some biscuits”.

Fast forward that scenario a few years and you have a child who doesn’t trust whatever you say because well…they are used to you promising and never delivering!

Losing your child’s trust should be motivation enough for you to never tell them a lie. Your child won’t be any worse off if you just tell them the truth about certain situations.

For instance your child desires a certain gift and you can’t afford it, rather than letting her believe that you’ll buy that gift, why don’t you tell her instead that you may not be able to get it but you’ll do whatever you can when you can afford it.

Yes, your child may be unhappy for a while but she’ll get over it. And even grow to respect the fact that you only say what you mean.

Our kids watch us and look up to us to be an example to them. So, next time let’s keep our horror stories intended to scare them into submission (for example ‘Ojuju Calabar’ and the rest of our other scare tactics).

Believe me,  they’ll soon outgrow them.

Let your child’s heart safely trust in your words.

Your Fellow Striving Mom,

Oluseye Ashiru

This Post was first published on www.strivinigerianmom.com