What do you do when your child makes up stories/lies

[Kmx]

My four year old son has started to make up stories which are untrue.

He will say things like "me and my friend done xyz..", "I went to the park alone yesterday", "i am going on holiday with xyz.."

These are all untrue but I don't know whether I should be correcting him and telling him those aren't true or just allowing him to use his imagination and play along with his stories.

 

[tommyg]

I would see it as he is using his imagination. Its a completely grey area sometimes I would correct, dig deeper, others I would let it go.

Going to the park alone, where was mummy, how did he cross the road, was he not lonely, etc use it to explore stranger danger, road safety etc

 

[Nibblenic]

I don't know. I think on one hand if he isnt lying for his own gain, ie to get out of being in trouble or similar.

However I would maybe talk to him about it and question him on the details see if he;s just playing games.

A few times a mum at school have been pregnant when they werent because of such stories, so just be mindful they can create difficult situations too

 

[SophiasMummy]

I just tell her she shouldn't tell Porkie pies, said in a nice way. make a joke out of it and she'll giggle about it and we'll talk about what she actually did.

 

[SarahBear]

Sounds more like "making up stories" than "lies." I wouldn't worry about it. I would probably just ask questions. For example, "oh, what did you do at the park." I might also ask "do you mean for real or for pretend?"

 

[londonangel]

I think the examples you cite are just instances of him using his imagination, which I would say is fine. My eldest told a few proper lies at the weekend though (e.g. tells no her dad I said she could eat something now when I said she had to wait until later and a couple of other things I have now forgotten). I read her the Aesop's fable about the boy who cried wolf to help explain that if she starts to regularly lie then we may not believe her when she tells the truth and it could be about something important.

Haven't heard her telling any lies subsequently so it seems to have worked for now!

 

[Cjayne]

We haven't had this yet. DS1 is only 4 but he's very honest so far.

With the things you're talking about, I agree it's more like imagination - pretending.