Welcome to the WIRE Differently podcast where we chat all about how to best support exceptional children.

I'm your host, Holly Blanc Moses, the mom psychologist who gets it.

Welcome everyone to Lying Part 2. Today we're going to talk about the I Want Attention

lie. Now, some children exaggerate a little, making their real stories into something

untrue. And sometimes these stories are completely untrue and it gets a little bit

outrageous. Now, you know, most children at some point engage in the I want attention lie. But if it

continues, it can definitely damage their relationships. So if children continue to do this

type of lying, it might lead to others not trusting them. It may lead to peer rejection and even

bullying. So in the last episode, part one of lying, I talked about the importance of understanding the why,

the reason behind the lying. And again, that's the foundation of prevention and how we can help.

Now, lying is often due to a lack of confidence, low self-esteem, desire to fit in.

Now, the child may feel like if he lies, then he'll be liked by others.

He'll be more likely to be accepted.

But this type of lying, the I want attention lying, can also be due to

social skills differences. Now, interacting with others can be complicated. It can be confusing.

It can be challenging. And when social skills are a challenge, children may feel like they need to

exaggerate or lie about what they have or what they've done. Okay? So here we go. Something else to

consider is that differently wired children may likely continue to engage in the

I-Wen Attention line because sometimes it actually works. So I'm going to tell you a story.

My oldest son told me the other day when we were talking about lying and I told him that I was

going to be recording

this episode. He said, you know, I just remembered something that I lied about a few years ago.

...