Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.1 6/24/83; site aesat.UUCP Path: utzoo!aesat!rwh From: rwh@aesat.UUCP (Russ Herman) Newsgroups: net.kids Subject: Re: Truth Message-ID: <356@aesat.UUCP> Date: Sat, 9-Mar-85 22:39:20 EST Article-I.D.: aesat.356 Posted: Sat Mar 9 22:39:20 1985 Date-Received: Sun, 10-Mar-85 00:10:11 EST References:, <166@unc.UUCP> Organization: AES Data Inc., Mississauga, Ont., CANADA L5N 3C9 Lines: 28 > We don't want to teach our kids to be fanatics about telling the truth. > After all, sometimes lying is very convenient. The trick is teaching > the child to tell the truth to us, the parents, not that the child > should necessarily tell the truth to everybody else all the time. > > Frank Silbermann > University of North Carolina > unc!fsks You, sir, are in for some unpleasant surprises. If your children see you lying when convenient, you can be certain they will do the same. Except it will be when THEY think it is convenient, not when YOU do. And you can be equally certain that they will initially overestimate their abilities to get away with it, which potentially can get them into DEEP TROUBLE. Now, when kids are older, they can develop judgment around not blurting out hurtful (to themselves or others) truths unnecessarily. But if you look at developmental stages (viz. Piaget's _Moral Judgment of the Child_), you will see that kids at first work only in clear-cut absolutes. So to the child, until around age 10 (or more), lying is either OK, or not OK. There's no such thing as a grey area. -- ______ Russ Herman / \ {allegra,ihnp4,linus,decvax}!utzoo!aesat!rwh @( ? ? )@ ( || ) The opinions above are strictly personal, and ( \__/ ) do not reflect those of my employer (or even \____/ possibly myself an hour from now.)