Child’s dilemma in speaking truth
When our child is small we want to cultivate all the good moral values in him or her. One of them is to always speak the truth. But we all know in the practical life always speaking truth approach sometimes doesn't work and there are situations where we take the support of lies in making things easy for us. Sometimes we also have to hide the truth out of good intention so that our near and dear ones do not feel hurt or get shocked or depressed when there is some bad news.But there are some casual lies also which we speak like "My husband is not at home", "I was not able to reach your mobile", " I am not well today, so not able to come to office", "Tell your teacher that you were not well if she asks about your absence from school" etc. When the child is innocent it is OK but when they grow up they start understanding these things. They get puzzled as to how come their parents who preach them to speak the truth are themselves telling lies. So a child picks up negative message from their parents and may cultivate a habit of telling lies. They are in a dilemma whether to speak the truth or a lie?
So as per me practically there are "Good lies" and "Bad lies". Good lies are spoken out of honest and good intentions and to avoid difficulty while Bad lies are just spoken for anything without any reason. So as a child grows up as a part of parenting we should not be too idealistic in telling them to follow truth irrespective of circumstances because we know we ourselves are not doing it. Instead, we should explain to them that a lie told for the sake of good sometimes is better than the truth but otherwise, telling lies is bad. A child needs to develop this understanding.
Let us not be hypocrites and preach our child what we do not always practice.