Who is lying about throwing away a slice of pizza?
I found a (seemingly) perfectly good slice of pizza in the trash. I became curious. So I asked both children if they did it. Both denied it. There is one other adult in the house. After questioning, I eliminated the other adult as a suspect. I know I did not do it (because it is not the type of thing I would do and I'm 99.9% certain I would remember doing it if I had). So that leaves two remaining suspects. Both children. (Ages 10 and 13). Both deny doing it.
Obviously, my concern here is not over the pizza itself but over the fact that someone is clearly lying to me. I questioned both suspects separately, then together, then separately again for approximately 30 minutes hoping one would "break" and confess. Neither did. I suspect one more than the other (call it 80-20) based on intuition and prior history (he lied last year about homework). But he vehemently denies throwing away the pizza to the end; neither suspect cracked an inch.
Also, a goal here is a learning experience. For example, there might come a time in the future when I have to determine which child is lying to me. So, I am searching for any "tells" or other behavior patterns that might be helpful in the future as well.
Has anyone else experienced a situation like this before? If so, how did you handle it and what was the outcome? Other ideas and/or advice is also welcome.
(2)2 Comments
Sorted by latest first Latest Oldest Best
I am not sure if the following is a good idea but I have tried it in the past: declare martial law and have them both grounded, the one who will take it easily is the guilty one.
The innocent one will try to resist as he/she has done nothing wrong.
The reason children lie is generally that they fear punishment. One way of getting the truth which I've used is to make it clear that no punishment is in the offing. In this case, you could say that there's nothing wrong with putting the pizza in the trash, but you just wanted to know why it was done - not enough refrigerator space, yucky pizza, or whatever - since that might affect what you do about it, such as whether to clean out the refrigerator or to order from a different pizza provider or order something other than pizza next time.
Terms of Use Privacy policy Contact About Cancellation policy © freshhoot.com2025 All Rights reserved.