By Jaime Herndon

Children learn to lie from around the age of two, and by the time they are three, they become familiar with “white lies,” or those little lies we tell even as adults just to be polite. Lying develops as kids develop cognitively and emotionally and they begin to realize that other people may not think the same way they do.

When kids don’t learn when it is inappropriate to lie it can cause social problems, especially in older children. Frequent lying can hint at poor social and cognitive development, and kids who lie consistently are more likely to be aggressive and display disruptive behavior.

The good news is that Savvy Aunties can help nieces and nephews tell the truth.

A recent study by Victoria Talwar, Cindy Arruda, and Sarah Yachison published in the Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, looked at children between the ages of four and eight to better understand  what adults can do to help kids be more truthful. When children were not faced with an appeal for honesty, more than 80 percent of kids lied, whether or not they had a threat of punishment for lying. But when the children were told that telling the truth would make them feel happier, only 40 percent of children lied. It's not a perfect science, but it's twice as good as a threat of punishment.

So, honesty is the best policy, still and always.

Have you talked with your nieces and nephews about telling the truth? What works for you?

Photo:Sura Nualpradid
Published: December 16, 2014