3 Ways to Catch Your Child in a Lie

Have you ever wondered if your child was lying to you? Do you need proven ways to catch him or her in a lie? Having both a preteen and a teenager has equipped me with knowledge. I will share several ways I have caught my children telling lies. Sometimes these strategies are used as precautions. In some cases, they are used because I suspect I am not being told the truth. My children are wonderful, yet they are not without fault.

Challenge them

When you feel you are being misled, challenge your child to prove what they say. On one occasion, my daughter (I won't say which of the two) told me she had brushed her teeth before going to bed. Her 5-year-old sister ratted her out by telling me she hadn't. I went into the bathroom to find a dry toothbrush, which meant she hadn't brushed. After that, my daughter admitted to lying because she was tired and didn't want to get out of bed to clean her teeth.

Put their cell phone to good use

If your child has a cell phone, put it to good use. Children may think their cell phones are solely for their benefit, but they are also for ours. When telling our daughters they have to stay inside at a friends house, my husband and I will call them randomly and tell them they have 30 seconds to take a picture. So far, they have been honest in this respect and their truthfulness was proven.

Texts are a great way to find out who your adolescent is talking to and what they are talking about. My children don't like me reading their texts, but I do it anyway. They don't pay for their phones and they are minors. My job is to know what they are doing and correct them when they are wrong. They know that if they want the privilege of texting, their phones can be confiscated at any given time.

Unexpectedly show up

This is one of my favorites because my daughters have been caught this way on several occasions. My husband and I unexpectedly show up at events. Sometimes when we show up unannounced, everything is as it should be. I would say my children are doing the right thing 70 percent of the time. This means that if they hadn't been checked on, they would have gotten away with something 30 percent of the time.

During one incident, one of my daughters said she was at a friends house in the neighborhood next to ours. I had a gut feeling that something wasn't right. My daughter was told to give me the exact address of her friend's house. She tried to stall by making up excuses. She said, "Hold on, we're making cookies." As my child said this, her breathing was heavy and shaky. I thought she was just nervous. As my husband and I were driving to the neighborhood next to ours, we spotted our daughter running like the wind. Turns out, her breathing was so heavy because she was running from a neighborhood several blocks away. She was trying to beat us to her friend's house.

Many times, I feel like a detective trying to keep up with two middle-school girls. That is my job as a parent though, isn't it? I do feel it is my job to keep my kids safe and know where they are. They may not always appreciate being checked up on, but I have learned it is better to be a mother to my children than a friend.

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