Johnny's mother discovers him in the kitchen grasping an empty bag of cookies shortly before supper. The child pauses, his face pinched with concern. The mother's heart sinks. She is dismayed that her son has not told the truth. The younger a child is, he says, the more likely he or she is to be confused about how knowledge is formed.
Children can lie without intending to create false belief in another person.
Instead, it is the wish to avoid punishment, Lyon says. Experience tells him that his prospects are probably brighter if he denies eating the cookie. Many young children become upset when a parent cannot locate a lost toy, even though the adult was not in the room when the toy was lost. The reasons that young children tend to assume their parents are all-knowing, Lyon says, is because they do not understand how knowledge is acquired. Parents of preschoolers can expect major changes between the ages of 3-5 in their children's ability to understand the role the mind plays in interpreting reality, Lyon says.