we have no doubt that children are born to be pure. they grow up, affected by their surroundings. although they take interest in almost everything, they haven＇t developed their own powers of independent judgement. they can＇t tell what＇s right or what＇s wrong. their powers of observation①, in contrast, are much stronger than their powers of judgement. and above all, they are good at imitating②. unfortunately, we adults sometimes lie. maybe we find it necessary or have to to do so sometimes. this is something like white lies③. the trouble is that most of us don＇t avoid doing so before children. thus, children＇s lying is, in a way, the result of adult＇s act.
we also believe that children certainly make mistakes. at first, they do have some interest in truth and honesty. a boy has broken a glass, and have admitted his mistakes; he is almost likely scolded instead of being praised by his parents. and when a pupil admits that he misses class one time, he is usually warned not to do that again another time by his teacher. gradually the child loses the courage to tell the truth; on the contrary, he feels it helpful to tell lies: at least, he can escape being punished here and now. and at last, he concludes that to tell lies is somehow a good way to get rid of trouble. before long the parents and the teacher will be complaining that the child is always lying, but they seldom realize that it is they who have brought this on the child.
telling lie is usually looked upon as an evil, because some people try to get benefit from dishonest means or try to conceal their faults. on the other hand, honesty is widely recognized as the best policy.
parents always try to prove the benefits of being honest when you are a little child. a good story in this regard is .one day the child washington chop down his father's favorite cherry tree; although knowing he would deserve to be punished, he told his father the truth. unexpected, his farther apprised him rather than executing a punishment; moreover, he was encouraged to maintain the good manner all the time. as known to all, the honest boy eventually became one of the greatest presidents in american history.
however, telling lie, despite its negative effects, sometimes is essential in our daily life. first, the liar itself will benefit from the lie by escaping from the pressure of unnecessary embarrassment. on the other hand, the listener will feel more comfortable by reasonable excuses. for example, if a little girl's farther died in an accident, her mother would comfort her by saying" farther has gone to another beautiful land". in such cases, a lie with original goodwill is like a naught angel who might make the cruel nice. furthermore, to some extent, the skills of telling lie can be regard as a capacity of creation and imagination.
