advice please,, how to stop a child lying!

[mushpea]

this child (5yrs) constantly lies from silly things like 'i drawed this picture all by myself', then 2mins later ' not really I used a stencil', to other children ohurting her when i have seen they were no where near her to lying that she had the toy first and now we get,,,child L 'i want that ' child B 'but im playing with it', child L 'well if you dont give it to me I will tell', child B ' but i had it first', child L 'right well i am going to tell then' at which point child B gives in and gives the toy away.
its not fair on the other children and I am getting really fed up with this now,, i seriously dont know when to belive her or not , the other day she went to stand on a baby so i told her off , she got upset and went in the living room then suddenly cried really loudly and said shed hurt her foot, the next day i asked how her foot was and she said 'oh i didnt really hurt it'
how would you deal with this? I have spoken to the parents before but to be honest mum lies to the child so thats obviously where it comes from and I am going to speak to them again tommoro about it,, to be honest I am close to giving notice as its unfair on the other children that she does this all the time but it seems a trivial thing to give notice for so I want to try and work it out.
please help,, how do I deal with this and stop her lying and know when to start beliving her again!

[spowage]

my youngest went through the lying stage and still does to a point its just i recognise it more...they all do it....just tell her about the boy who cried wolf once too often!!! thats what we do i works!!!goodluck xxx

[Ripeberry]

Maybe she only gets attention from the parents when she makes something up? If the parents are not teaching her not to lie, then you've got a hard task.
Especially if they don't come on board. A little girl I mind after school always has to 'one up manship' on everyone.
She always has the same toy as everyone else and always has been to the same places (even I know they never have ).
It's as if they are scared to be 'left out'.

Lots of stories along of "Cry Wolf" would be useful I suppose, other than that the parents need to set an example.

[Louise0208]

i have the same problem with a 6yr old mindee, i only have her during school holidays so im looking forward to this week mum says its just because mum & dad have split up (although this gets the blame for everything)

she will hurt others on purpose and as soon as i approach the situation she bursts out crying that it wasnt her (even stuff she knows iv witnessed first hand) and then makes the victim feel sorry for her

[Bridey]

I have found that this seems to be a common stage around the 5/6 years age group. I have a child who is doing it now and am patiently explaining to him again and again that he musn't 'tell stories that aren't true'. However, his are more 'tall tales' rather than anything that is harming or distressing the other children. I do find quiet firm persistance pays off and they do grow out of this stage.