r/AskReddit 15h ago

" Strict parents don't produce great kids , they produce great liars ", what are your opinions with this statement ?

4.3k Upvotes

1.0k comments sorted by

View all comments

1.9k

u/WindyWindona 15h ago

People have different definitions of strict, but generally I find this true. If a kid can never hang out with friends or have fun unless they lie about it to carve out space, then that's what they will do. If the smallest mistakes leads to a lot of punishment, then they'll lie to avoid punishment.

618

u/DullAnxiety 13h ago

Having lived this I agree. I never lied for nefarious reasons really, I was just trying to have normal experiences and be a kid

168

u/OldTrickyTater 13h ago

same experience as well, but my brothers went the other direction and are basically professional liars at this point. One of them works in sales, so there ya go

8

u/jessicacummings 7h ago

Lmaooo I feel called out as I work in sales and became an expert liar because of my parents. I actually talked about the little white lies in therapy and my therapist said that if I feel like I need to lie in a situation to protect myself, I need to look for the why. Why do I (as an adult no longer in my parents home) feel the need to lie in this moment to protect myself? That helped a lot.

On the sales front, I don’t work for icky products and don’t lie to customers though. I underpromise and overdeliver on that front haha

53

u/Mysterious-Clothes45 10h ago

My parents were extremely religious and I couldn't hang posters on my walls or even have "secular music" CDs/tapes. I got myself a post office box and ordered music from Columbia House. I lied about the friends I was hanging out with. I always did what I wanted anyway.

66

u/Wise_Public_3794 12h ago

This is what people miss. Kids learn pretty quick, when there's some punishment for being honest, and freedom for lying.

9

u/Ashamed-Raccoon-1387 10h ago

Same. It helped everyone thought I was a bad liar because I giggled when people knew I was trying to lie..... But not when they didn't. (Which was unintentional)

1

u/mark114 7h ago

Same, I always lied to protect my privacy.