telling your child the truth

Telling the Truth is good but there are some things we can just gloss over.  I think we can be too honest with our kids at times and yes I agree life can be hard and a realistic prospective is a great thing for a child to have, but when my son asks me if his father did x or Y and I know he is going to judge his father (we are seperated) in a negative way because of it, I will tell him truthfully yes or no but add an explanation of rational so that my son does not form a negative opinion in his little 7yr old black and white world.  We need to understand that our children do not have the maturity to see all the greys and in their world things have a much more simplistic view, it they are either black or white or mum said no or teach said this so it must be right (EVERY TIME) how often do we hear or see our children inapropriatly respond to a situation based on what teach or mum said?  I see it an awful lot with many different children at many different ages and while the concept may have been right in the manner the Teacher or mum was referring it was not right in the new situation.  So sometimes telling the truth is not enough, you need to remember the maturity level of the child and in teens the hormone development and target the audience.  Some times when my son is on one of his run my father down missions because I am agry with him for what ever reason, I will just let him finish then say "Honey you don't know the full story and we should not judge" or  "We can talk about it later or when you are a bit older may be as there is a lot to it" or even why don't you ask daddy why x or y" .  My x-husband is not always the best dad but he tries to the best of his ability and often that falls short of my sons expectations, given he has other role models he holds in higher esteem, and the Truth is yep his dad is all those things and possibly more that my son thinks but he is his dad and at 7 I want my son to still respect and know his father and to not judge him too hardly.  I know that when my son is older if I can maintain a kindr focus on his fathers activites that he will be able to better understand that his dad is Not bad just very mixed up and there are lots of reasons for things, not so black and white as his little hero directed world is right now.  Children do not always need the truth, they don't need lies eaithe, so I figure don't lie but you don't always need to tell the truth either, after all sometime in a childs world the truth can lead to some pretty sad conclusions which can impact on that childs relationships with individuals for the rest oftheir life.  Think hard before tell the Whole truth and nothing but the Truth.  But Never lie.

It is very important to tell your child the truth whenever possible. i think it is another way of showing respect to them. My daughter asks a million questions every day and i do my best to answer them truthfully and in a way that she understands.

Truth is always good.. And as elizabeth said only make promises that can be kept

Truth and only making promises we know we can keep.