Why do kids lie?

I thought I'd cross-post this from the Blue Rose Girls blog:

Is it Monday already? Let me start off with a joke. An oldie but goodie (I first heard this from my Dad):

What do George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, and Martin Luther King Jr. all have in common?



?



?



?


They were all born on holidays.


Anyway, I've been enjoying my three-day weekend and so once again was caught unprepared for my day to post, so I'll leave you with this fascinating article that is the cover story in New York Magazine. (I originally saw it via Educating Alice.) It's all about why kids lie, when they first start lying, and what it all means. One tidbit I found fascinating is that kids actually have to be pretty smart to lie: "A child who is going to lie must recognize the truth, intellectually conceive of an alternate reality, and be able to convincingly sell that new reality to someone else." These more advanced kids start lying at age 2 or 3. So...if you catch your kid lying at that young of an age, take consolation in the fact that he or she is really smart.

The article asks if kids are copying adults when they lie--they observe adults telling white lies all the time, and they're also probably confused when adults coach them to lie--for example, when they're told to say they like a gift they don't really like. And, of course, they lie to escape punishment.

I also loved the description of the "Peeking Game" experiment.

Anyway, just read the article, I'm not doing it justice. But a warning--the photographs that accompany the article are pretty creepy.


And Congratulations to the winners of the 2007 Cybils!

Awwwwww.

My friends Jon and Loretta are finally engaged--and the proposal was a first on I CAN HAZ CHEEZBURGER. Check out the proposal here.

(excerpt posted below)


moar humorous pics

Congratulations and Best Wishes, Jon and Loretta!

Just for fun, here is a video of Jon and Loretta playing Wii boxing:

Books Discover Children for Poetry Friday

J. Patrick Lewis sent me this lovely poem that I thought I'd share in honor of Poetry Friday:

Books Discover Children
by J. Patrick Lewis

Yes, children do discover books,
But books find children on their own,
And then can’t wait to get their hooks
In kids who think they’re all alone.

For instance, Goodnight Moon knows why
That girl is thinking to herself,
How can I ever say good-bye….
The rabbit pulls her to the shelf.

And Frog and Toad hops to the child
Who almost lost his closest friend:
The only way pain’s reconciled
Is by the letter that you send.

When Charlotte’s Web bumps into you—
A girl who’s fastened to a farm—
The simple life you thought you knew
Is spelled out in a spider’s charm.

As children hurry to the page,
The picture page talks back by turns,
Capturing kids of every age
For whom imagination burns.

Another Animoto China video--this one is ALL FOOD

Food was one of the main highlights of the trip, so I thought I'd honor that with this new video. Does this make you hungry?