What will you do when your child tell lies often?

Right now I'm having this problem with my pre teen, and I know were he learned it from, and we are working on that problem but it just really ticks you off when it happens. My oldest is 12 and is going through this whole lieing and stealing thing and it is really stressing us out. I've had to turn my own child into the police so that he knows there are consequences for his actions

I think the lying kind of comes automatically even without an example. They do it because they want to avoid getting in trouble. If it is successful they keep on doing it. Of course a negative adult example will facilitate the discovery that a lie might keep you out of trouble. After all kids do learn by example. We explain, why a lie is wrong, what the outcome would have been, if they wouldn't have lied, and who got hurt because they lied. We make it clear that the easy way out is not the right way out, and lying does have negtive consequences although they might not always be immediate consequences. As to punishment. I'm not as strict as my husband. The have to remedy the situation, if necessary like apologizing to the person they lied to and make up for any damage they might have caused. I think the embarrasment is punishment enough. However, my husband stronly detests lying. If our kids lie rather than telling the truth, especially if they lie to him, he may punish them more severe as in grounding and loss of privileges. In bad cases it will also include cleaning duty. My oldest one time ended up having to clean the entire bathroom, including scrubbing the toilet and tub. She hated it so much, she won't lie again, lol.