ABSTRACT

The discussion of children's occasional and habitual lies takes so important a place in practical pedagogy, yet closer analysis reveals the remarkable fact that this subject of untruth belongs quite as much to adult psychology as to children's. For a large number of so-called children's lies are in truth only misconceptions on the part of their adult judges; other real untruths on childish lips are but the product of their teacher's influence. Lies are consciously false statements whose purpose is to achieve certain results by the deception of others. The worst forms of childish lies of fear are to be found where there is not only a lie or deceit, as far as a child himself is concerned, but where other innocent people are dragged in by false accusations. An occasional lapse from truth is not proof of a lying disposition, and psychological analysis proves the assertion that lies are usual and normal in childhood to be erroneous.