We’d all like to think our children are little angels…but we know they aren’t. But would they really lie to their parents?
Kids lie…. at least a little bit. That’s the conclusion of a new study, which examined lying across the entire lifespan. The main finding? While adolescents tell the most lies, college-age and young adults between 18 and 29 are the best, most successful liars.
Young children between ages 6 and 8 and adults over 60 were found to be the least dishonest age groups and also the least skilled liars, according to the study, published in the September issue of the journal Acta Psychologica.
On average, the study participants told two lies a day. Yet that number increased throughout childhood, with frequency peaking in the teen years. Parents respond to this with some unusual actions of their own.
A father in South Carolina found a unique way to punish his young daughter for allegedly plagiarizing her school work – he made her wear a sign on the side of the road admitting her mistake.
The sign read – “I lied about my grades, and stole someone’s schoolwork.”
Unfortunately, disciplining kids with public shaming has become an increasingly popular trend lately. Recently, one barber even advertised his services for giving misbehaving kids “old-man” haircuts. In many cases, parents post pictures of the shaming tactics to social media—like a mom who shared photos on Facebook after she made her daughter shave her head or the dad who made his 10-year-old daughter dress her age when he learned she was secretly starting to date.