Do your children lie to you? Or if they’re too young, are you worried they will in the future? I get questions about lying quite often, and in this episode we’re going to talk about why children lie and what we can do about it.  [4:13] Lying is a natural part of a child’s development.   [5:45] Younger kids sometimes don’t differentiate between reality and their imagination. [8:04] They start using their imagination to attempt to alter reality. [9:27] They start to lie because they’re aware of what we want to hear or to avoid trouble.  [14:58] Let’s try to be less offended and angry when our children lie. It’s part of growing up and it’s going to happen.  [16:11] We really don’t value the truth as much as we say or think we do. We lie to ourselves and others frequently.  [18:55] We even lie to our children.  [22:03] We often lie to protect ourselves. [22:37] Our kids lie to us because they think we can't handle the truth.  [23:25] We need to model honesty.   [25:22] Let’s show our kids that we value honesty over smooth sailing (and keep calm when they tell us the truth).  [26:03] When they do lie, it’s important to guide them back to honesty without shaming and punishing them.  [30:56] There’s a powerful link between truth and trust, and it goes both ways (our trust in them, and their trust in us).  [34:25] We can respond playfully and calmly when we catch our children lying.  This will set a foundation for connection with our kids, creating trustworthy and truthful relationships for years to come.  If you enjoyed this episode and it inspired you in some way, I’d love to hear about it and know your biggest takeaway. Take a selfie of you listening or a screenshot of the show, post it to instagram stories, and tag me @parentingjunkie or feel free to DM me on instagram, I try to reply to as many as I can!Are you subscribed to my podcast? Subscribe here so that fresh episodes are delivered directly to you. Those shiny 5-star ratings and sweet reviews have me all gushy, thank you. But more importantly, they help other parents discover the Parenting Junkie Show and spread the word about Loving parenting and Parenting from Love. If you have a moment to spare, those reviews mean the world to me, you can leave one here.   Want to connect to like-minded parenting junkies? Join our (free & awesome) FB community Love Parenting with Avital.  Links & resources mentioned: https://www.theparentingjunkie.com/events Show Notes: https://www.theparentingjunkie.com/41