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Show If Child Lies When Asked Point-Blank Question, It's Just Natural Escape 'i Yonr Baby By MYETLK METER ELDRED Our frea leaflet on "Lying, Its Cause and Correcton.' suggests ether reason for chronic untruthfulness. Send your request with S-cent stamped, self -addressed envelope to Mr. Eldred of the Your Baby and Mine department In care of the Salt Lake Telegram. One mother said to me: "I can't ' nderstand how my child can look me right In the face and lie. I've never known anyone whs could do I that." Someway, w all feel that a child, ' sensing the enormity of his offense, of-fense, ought to be incapable of looking us In the eye. We sll hate K when children 11. W can understand un-derstand deceit In adults wb have grown old in Its use. But children would seam to us Incapable of thinking up ways of putting us off the track. We forget how necessary It Is for children to stand in well with us. They don't want our disapproval disap-proval and they realize, quickly, whn they have done wrong, that that ta whet they wilt get. Beared and shivery at the thought of what will happen to them they lie as aoon as questioned. "No, mother, I didn't wear your skirt to dress up In," even though the tell-tale duit around the hem and the wrinkles are staring at both of as. Mother might have couched her question leas menacingly and received re-ceived a more truthful answer. "I'd rather you didn't use my best skirt to play in. Ask me the next time and I'll give you one you can't hurt" That statement would have brought an excuse and an apology but presumably not a lie. Children do make mistakes and when parents discover them they should feel hire that, corrected wisely, the child will not repeat them again. The mistake cannot be rectified by punishment and punishment often arouses such resentment re-sentment that the child no longer feela sorry. The parent seems as guilty sa he. But faced with a blank question. "Did you do this?" the child Is almost certain to ssy, "No, I didn't," fearing punishment. There are many, many reasons . why children get into the habit of lying, but, caught off guard and with a parent hot on the scent of a culprit, almost any child will lie. The lie is the one road of escape from certain censure and if our questions offer that meana of escape, es-cape, we shouldn't be surprised when the child takes It. |