Parenting and Lying

[xxlt]

(04-26-2016, 11:24 AM)fredtoast Wrote: I am pretty sure that XXLT does not even have children.  If he did he would understand the concept of "emotional maturity".  Young children are just not emotionally mature enough to understand certain concepts.  A 5 year old child will not be able to understand why sex is a good thing if it makes his mommy scream.

Children lie to their parents for lots of reasons.  There is no way you can claim that if a parent never lies to a child then that child will never tell a lie.  It just is not that simple.

Only a person who never had a 5 year old would claim that you can commmunicate with a 5 year old the same way you can with an adult.

It isn't A or B. You don't have to show the five year old a sex ed video or tell a blatant lie. You can say nothing, you can say you wouldn't understand, you can say when you are older we will revisit this. Or again, maybe you lie about some things out of necessity but reflect on whether you do so too often or too readily - if maybe sometimes it is not necessary.

You don't have to treat a five year old like an imbecile or a genius. There is a continuum. A five year old understands a heck of a lot in many instances, and pretending they don't may be detrimental to all involved. Does that mean treating kindergarten kids like adults? No, but it also doesn't mean treating them like vegetables.