Children and lying Does the Peter and the Wolf story

The whole boy who cried wolf story has worked better on my kids when applied to the times that they created "drama" over something minor. Like shrieking as if a bloodthirsty pirate was after them, only to find a cricket had wandered into the house. When my kids have lied, I listen patiently and ask simple questions, like "Wasn't it raining outside then?" or "Were we running errands around that time?" - things that I know happened (or didn't happen) around the time of the "crime" - it really makes them squirm. They used to concoct elaborate stories and back stories, but the simple questions have nailed them every time. As they've gotten older and have seen that the consequences of being truthful are better than getting away with something, their rare lies are accompanied with a minimum amount of words. So I prompt them to tell me more about whatever the situation was - the ol' "give 'em enough rope and they'll hang themselves with it" routine. My oldest has finally figured it out and has said, "I might as well tell the truth - you'll get it out of me anyway."

My son does not lie very much. Mainly because he realizes that he will almost always get caught in a lie and be in more trouble than if he did not lie to begin with. I have told him this flat out since he was about 4 years old. The lesson for the most part has worked.