I don't believe you

Sometimes kids have a hard time telling the truth when it comes to sharing stories. I think adults might be guilty of doing this as well. Being able to tell the best story in a circle of listeners seems to give the teller an imaginary trophy. Congratulations, you had the audience captivated. It is almost like you need to one up the story that was told previous to yours. If you do, you get that imaginary trophy. You are the most intelligent and interesting person in the room. 

On two different occasions I have had students raise their hand and lie in order to win their classmates' approval. Neither student seemed to have an sense of guilt after telling these lies. How do I know they were lies? Read the following quotes and see if you can pick out the two lies.

1. "I was on the Titanic."  

2. "I am going to be Indiana Jones for Halloween."

3. "I touched a star when I was on an airplane."

Choices 1 and 3 are the lies. Easy to figure out? Not in second grade. Those two students won the respect of their classmates with these stories. 

Here is my reasoning for why they are lies. 

Unless the student was either Kate Winslett or Leonardo Dicaprio they are not old enough to have been on the Titanic. If the student had  white cotton ball hair and the heart of the ocean hanging around their neck, I might have believed them.

For the second lie, I knew the kid was lying because he was still alive. Stars are hot. Survival after touching one seems like an unlikely outcome.