My five year old lies to me all the time. How to discipline?

He needs to learn that lies are not-acceptable, start with things that are easy to prove (like the examples you provided) then make him flush or clean up while you watch him. I would then remove a favorite toy or activity as a punishment for his lies, imposed for a day or so to reinforce your standards.

My 7 year old daughter does the same thing but thankfully we kinda have it nipped in the bud... All children will lie at some point but I know it's fully frustrating when it's a very small thing and we as adults know better than to lie like that. Trying to get a child to comprehend that lying is not a good thing is also very frustrating. About the toys being put away the one thing I found effective was if you ask your child to put the toys away and he says he has and he hasn't... wait for him to leave his room and then quietly go in and take the toy/s and hide them somewhere so when he asks for them again you just tell him "Well look where you put them away". If he says well I left them here on the floor I didn't put them away and then confront the issue right then and there. I told my daughter that well I guess because you lied to me bad things happen like your toys disappearing.

Hi

When my girls were younger and i caught them lying, i would tell them i know they have lied and to try again, if they still lied, i used to reminded them of the Boy who cried wolf story, i would make it known that if they told me the truth then the punishment would be less than if they lied and i found out the lie, the punishment would be worse or longer.

I am lucky they seem to have grown out of this type of behaviour though now they tattle on each other : )

edit

I just had a thought

what about this :

I.e he has eaten a biscuit and has biscuit crumbs around his mouth and he denies eating a biscuit, explain that he was going to have a treat after dinner, but wont be now as he has had the treat already.

Just an idea i would use.

I have a 5 year old son and he lied to me. What I did was sit him down and explain why it was wrong- that it destroys trust so i will not be able to believe him anymore or stick up for him, that trust cant be rebuilt with an 'i'm sorry', that it hurts feelings, that it makes me very sad and disappointed that he doesnt value me enough to tell me the truth, and so on. Then we wrote a paper about lying using all the reasons it was bad and posted it on the fridge. Every day we read that paper together. Everytime he went into the kitchen, he seen it and remembered why it was hanging there. After 10 days we took it down and put it away. He fully understood that next time he lied, we would be calling all the grandparents, uncles, aunts, etc, to read that paper to them and tell them why he had to call them and do that. It worked, I haven't had any further lying issues.

Choose a punishment. Pick something he'll be mad about - For example, missing some television time or taking away an electronic toy. The most important thing is to be consistent!! Stick with it. If you know he is lying - ask him "Are you telling me the truth?" If he lies - punish him. By asking him the question you're giving him an out and he will soon realize that the consequences are coming if he lies.

Make sure you do not punish him when he is honest with you, even if he did something wrong.

Hopefully this will help!

Just call him out on it. Make sure every time he lies you prove you are not that dumb.The punishment, aside from him learning he'll get caught should be something that is associated with whatever he's lying about. If he lies about eating the cookie he doesn't get any for a week. If it's about putting up toys, make him clean up extra things, little messes you make etc.

being a kindergarten teacher, i've had my fair share of 5 year old lies : )

it's always important to explain to kids why they cannot do certain things. with my students, i would always explain to them that telling the truth is often hard. sometimes when a person tells the truth it may cause them to get in trouble, but if a person lies about the truth it can be much worse, not only when the person get in more trouble for being dishonest, but they will also lose my trust and losing someone's is not a good thing.

for some of my perpetual liars, i would often reward any "truth" telling. for example, if someone accused a child of taking their pencil and i would look firmly in the eye of the accused child and ask them, and if they admitted to the crime (reluctantly usually) i would say something like, "thank you for telling the truth. i'm proud of you because i know you had to be very brave to admit that. now, what can you do to make so and so feel better?"

i know i used a lot of child talk, so forgive me, but i hope this helps. rewarding positive behavior, in this case honesty, can work wonders.

They all seem to go through this phase and I tried various things. The one I had the most success with was telling my son I would do something nice for him (such as buying him sweets), then when he asked for the treat I said "sorry, I lied". I then asked him how he felt and we talked about the consequences of a lie for the person being lied to. I only had to do this twice with him, and just the once with my daughter - very effective. Warning though, my daughter cried inconsolably because she realised how upset she had made me by lying to me!

He sounds clever. By lying he gets some advantage. He will not know why he lies - it's a pattern that he copied. Always tell him the Truth about things, (leave Santa for later!). I would immediately confront him gently about the chain and food and whatever. He then knows that he can't fool you.

I think the catching the lies id the most important part! Sometimes it can be almost unbelievable.

Then it gives you anopportunity for the ever important talk about trust and honest. And of course add the punishment of your choice.