ENCOURAGE HONESTY
The next step? Encourage honesty. Don’t yell at the kid, don’t call them names like “liar” and for the love of la Virgin de Guadalupe do not go ballistic and start telling your kid how much he or she reminds you of their sinverguenza (shameless) father. Don’t keep asking questions about the lie if you already know it happened and why. State clearly that you know a lie was committed, instead of questioning the child in order to get a “confession.” This isn’t about shaming your child, it’s about teaching them. Let the kid know that you know they’ve lied, describe the problem, and then ask your child to help you come up with solutions to the problem. The calmer and more reasonable you stay, the better example you will set.
