Psychotherapist Philippa Perry delves into the world of
childhood deception to discover when and why children lie. Are we all
born liars? What role do parents and school play in developing our
ability to lie? When and why can it become problem behaviour?
Philippa
speaks to author Ian Leslie who believes that a child's first lie is a
cause for celebration. On the other hand, neuroscientist and philosopher
Sam Harris deplores all types of lies - even tiny white ones - and
tells his children the unvarnished truth about almost everything. Even
at Christmas.
We meet a group of excitable
seven year olds who describe with great gusto their experiences of lying
and being lied to. As Philippa observes, children receive very mixed
messages from parents - on the one hand they're told not to lie but then
they witness their parents lying all the time, often without even
realising it. Similarly, she asks TV critic and mum Julia Raeside if
television, particularly soaps, might be normalising lying.
Philippa
tracks down Margaret Connell, former headmistress of her daughter's
secondary school, to discuss the life-changing advice about lying that
Margaret gave to parents on the first day of term. Margaret believes
that parents put too much weight on truth-telling and teenagers often
feel pushed into an impossible situation. Students from Haringey Sixth
Form College also explain why they feel it necessary to lie to teachers,
parents and fellow classmates.
We also hear
about pioneering experiments by Dr Victoria Talwar of McGill University,
Canada, which are increasing our understanding of how children develop
their capacity to lie and the best ways for adults to foster their
honesty.
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