Oh dear! How many 5-year-olds have you brought up? I can tell you (after 4 younger siblings, 3 kids and 2 grandchildren - so far) that that statement is simply not true. A 5-yo will instinctively lie if they think they are going to be in trouble when the truth becomes known. I recall a study a while back that suggested that more than 90% of kids that age tell lies.
If a kid told you that their bouncy ball is blue but you knew it was green, was that kid lying to you (telling you something that is not true) or telling you the truth (something he morally knows is true even though its factually wrong)?
If a kid put up five fingers and tried to make six but accidently put up seven, is he lying or is he telling the truth for him even thouvh it is factually wrong?
As we grow older we tend to understand what we consider as a lie and the difference between children and adults is we Know when we are lying most of the time and what what some of us consider a fact a contradiction.
A child is innocent of this as he is still learning and growing what morals and right and wrong the parent teaches them. Their lies are not moral. They ACTUALLY believe six fingers is seven even though they are factually wrong.
Adults dont give themselves credit and see the innocence of making a mistake and forgiving themselves as a child does at a young age given his attention span and uderstanding.
Some parents instil in the child he is always wrong and we see children as liers because of it. Its not the childs fault. He is morally right in His own view. Its the parents who take the innocence out of him and see him and tell him he is a lier. He grows to youth and tries to "rebell the innocence" because he was taughy one thing, he does another, and his parents chastise him for it. The youth becomes comfused.
Say the family is chistian. As an adult because of his upbringing he starts to see himself as a sinner because that is how he was taught about reality: when you do something morally wrong its a lie (something that isnt a fact).
Now you and many adults see children as liers. While children at their youngest are the most innocent. Maybe in Our hearts we want to be like a child again. I live with adults who are 60 years and older. One lady had her 100th birthday last year. Im only 35. So I understand and am innocent compared to them" because that thought of inherited lies is in them deep.
"Thats whats wrong with the world today" thinking the world is evil at heart.
"He should get the death penalty" death is death. Age makes no difference.
But some say it does. "A child doesnt know"...
"Okay, the child doesnt know. Is he a lier, then or is he innocent at a young age?"
"Hes a lier"
"Then why dont you kill him in death penalty."
Adults are so conflicted. And I mean adults. Go back to childhood. Maybe our perspectives would change.
Perfect Zen.
