Kids starts lying at the age of 4, says book

Want to know when your kid starts developing the art of lying? Well, at the age of four.

According to new book Born Liars by Ian Leslie and published by Quercus, between the ages of two and four, children's lies are usually told to avoid punishment.

Dr Victoria Talwar, assistant professor of child psychology at McGill University in Montreal, has used a well-established experiment, the Peeking Game, to show the slight difference age makes to lying.

After meeting the researcher and playing a few games to establish a relationship, the child is introduced to a guessing game. He is asked to face the wall.

The researcher brings out a toy and the child is asked to guess what it is from the sound it makes (a police car, a crying doll) and then a deliberately baffling one, such as a cuddly cat that makes no noise while at the same time opening a musical greeting card.

The child is stumped. Then the researcher makes an excuse to leave the room and warns the child not to peek. Children invariably turn around a few seconds after the door is closed. The researcher returns and asks for the child's answer.

When they give it triumphantly, the researcher asks if he peeked. Generally, three-year-olds confess, whereas a majority of children aged four lie and say they did not. By the time they are six, 95 per cent of children tell this lie - wherever they are from in the world.

"The time to catch a liar is before eight years of age," the Daily Mail quoted professor Kang Lee of the University of Toronto and director of the Institute of Child Study, as saying.