lying 11 year old

[momandmygirls]

My 11 year old daughter constantly lies and hides food in her room we have grounded her sevral times but NOTHING works. What else can I do?

[lumi167]

My niece is 11 and doing the same thing apart from the urination! We're so confused and we think she's trying to control her surroundings.
She's seeing a counsellor but she's claiming that nothing's wrong with her.

[momandmygirls]

Her Dad is on the same page as me. I did make her a doctor's appt. and am definatley looking forward to it. I appreciate all of your help after all i am only 26 raising a near teenager. I will keep you posted.

[margypops]

Reading your reponse I would definatly say this young girl could use some help, she sounds unhappy at home , it would be a good thing to find out why, perhaps some counselling would help her.I doubt very much she has a mental problem , does her Dad think so ?.

[specialmom]

I would consult her doctor if possible.  Hiding food in her room (and eating things there that you don't know about) is interesting behavior.  Eating disorders can start early and hiding food, eating secretly, and lying about it could be involved with this.  The urinating in a cup (5 cups!)  is behavior I'd wonder about as well.  Younger kids would sometimes do that (especially in the middle of the night if they are afraid to go around in the house by themselves at night when it is dark) but she is a little old for that.  And she is a girl, peeing in a cup isn't our most natural thing.  I don't know what that would indicate but I'd be concerned to be honest about it.  It may be nothing at all, but I would be concerned as well.  I'd investigate further.  Good luck.

[momandmygirls]

She has had a lot of things happen in her life for an 11 year old. We are not strict parents but we do enforce our rules. One rule we have is no food in your room. I will find dishes of ramen noodles, empty bag of chips, and any other kinds of food in there constantly. She tells her father and I she doesn't know why she does this. Now I am her step mom and have been for 10 years but her mother has a history of many mental illnesses and im kind of wondering if mabey this could have something to do with an illness. She does excellent in school, all a's and b's, the only problem we have with her is her lying and hiding food. Or possibly could this be an act of laziness? Yesterday I found urine in 5 cups in her room. We had a family meeting last night and her answer for that was she was to lazy to walk upstairs and use the restroom.

[Harmond]

Children may lie because of fear. The child may fear of the consequenceies if he/she will tell the truth. The usual thing to do if a child lies is to punish him/her, but to punish a child prematurely would not help at all.

[margypops]

Have you tried to find out the reason why, what is she lying about, why hide food in her room, have you asked her. Perhaps she is unhappy about something how is she doing at school, has she any siblings any new happenings in her life, new house, new school new Baby.It wont work till you have found out what the issue is punishment cant really work if she doesnt know what she is doing wrong.