Kids- difference between a 'lie' and an 'incorrect/mistake' statement ?

cha1 · Oct 3, 2012

few weeks ago during one of our story reading time, i was reading a moral based story for 'not telling lies'..yesterday when my little one asked something from her daddy, he told an incorrect statement which was not a lie but a mistake on his part(memory loss i guess ) ...And my little one comes running to me telling that 'Daddy is telling lies' ..the same thing happened when she was playing with her friends and during the game they had to tell the names of 'colors'...but 1 kid told 'apple' during this game ....and i could hear my daughter telling that kid...".'you are lying....apple is a fruit and not a color' " and Now i'm caught up in a situation wherein i am not able to explain the difference between a 'lie' and an 'incorrect' statement to my little one...so how do i handle this...

Induslady · Oct 3, 2012

Hi,

Interesting! How old is your little one?

I would explain lie as...if you are not telling what you are supposed to say, or hiding something, then it is a lie.

I would explain incorrect as...if you are telling something wrong instead of telling the right one, then it is incorrect.

Give examples in both the cases.

Like if Daddy says he will buy you a new toy if you finish all of your lunch at school on all days of the week. But you didn't finish one day, still you come home and don't tell Daddy/Mommy that you didn't finish it one day, then it is lying. You don't want to do that.

When you were playing, instead of giving a name of a color say red, someone said apple, then that is wrong. They don't know colors, they are telling fruits. That is not lying. It is just that they don't know.

Hope my response helps you!

I understand it is getting tricky with kids these days to explain certain things

vjbunny · Oct 5, 2012

Dear Induslady
thats an interesting explaination Kids really makes us refresh our knowledge...

Dear Cha1
Induslady has given good explaination Hope your doubts are solved

cha1 · Oct 5, 2012

thanks ! tried your examples but she is still stuck to her assumption of 'lies' for both.... i guess it'l take still some more time for my little one(she will be 5 soon) to understand it herself...

Sanvee · Oct 7, 2012

I can imagine how hard it is to make kids discern such subtle differences that are so obvious to grown-ups. Now that you have already told her stories, why not try to kindle her imagination into understanding the difference through play? During a roleplay of "school" with her dolls, dumb down one doll a little as a kid who keeps making silly mistakes, like mistaking fruits for veggies, or jumbling the alphabets or reading a book upside down. Try various scenarios and keep emphasizing that the doll has made a mistake, and ask your daughter to step up and show the doll the right way.

Designate another doll in the classroom as the fibber, who lies about little things like homework/ eating chocolates/ bunking class and emphasize how the doll knows she not being truthful, about how the teacher takes the doll to task for lying. When you designate two different dolls for mistakes/ lies, she'll soon understand that they are two separate things. Roleplay with various scenarios, keep quizzing her about what the dolls said/did, whether she thinks it's a mistake or a lie, and I'm sure she'll assimilate the point with time.