Don’t freak out, talk to your teen and find out why he/she lied to you. Is there an issue that that you both can work out so as to prevent further lying? If so, handle that. Then give your teen a consequence for lying, nothing huge. Talk about trust and how much it means to you in your relationship with your teen. Give him/her a list of things that he/she benefits from because of that trust. Express your hope that your teen will not find the need to lie to you again and that your always open to talk to him/her about anything.
Do not fall into the 'but what if he/she is not lying' trap. If you feel your teen is lying that is enough to follow through with your parenting responsibility of discipline. Get past the guilt and realize that if you make a mistake here, it’s okay. You are human! Parents make mistakes. You can fall back and regroup. But if you continue to allow your teen to lie because you do not have large neon signs pointing you to undeniable proof, your teen will learn that lying works, which is a character flaw that will follow him/her throughout his/her life. This is much harder to fix.
What if I don’t know if my teen is lying? Try this quiz to see if it can help: Quiz: Is Your Teen Lying?
