Lies Our Kids Are Believing…And How to Counter Them

‍What lies are your kids believing?

Even in the best families, kids today are plagued by lies about themselves (often suggested or amplified by media--TV, movies, games) that affect their self-image and self-esteem, and can lead to anxiety, depression, and even self-harm and suicidal thoughts.

What are the most common lies kids tend to believe? Four seem to be nearly universal:

I'm not good enough

"I'm ugly." "I'm stupid." "I'm too fat," "I'm too skinny," "I'm clumsy." So many negative media messages and unhealthy social pressures make it easy for kids of all ages to internalize such messages about themselves.

Nobody loves me

Everyone longs to be loved, and even kids in the healthiest families can feel unloved and unloveable on a daily basis as a result of playground taunts, relationship hurdles, and unrealistic expectations.

I'm bad

Humans make mistakes, and do bad things. But children often personalize and internalize a belief that they're a "bad girl" or a "bad boy," which can translate into feelings of being unloveable and inadequate.

I can’t

Regardless of age, kids have only been around for a few years, relatively speaking. Their aptitudes are still forming and being improved. And today's media often makes it seem as though everyone else is more able, even expert.

How to Counter Lies

Many well-meaning parents, teachers, and coaches struggle to know how to counter the lies our kids tend to believe. Pointing out their false beliefs can even deepen a child's sense of frustration and estrangement. But the lies our kids believe actually present an opportunity for attentive parents, if we steer them to a reliable source of truth: the word of God and the truth of what He says about them. There's even a game on the TruPlay Games platform that can help.

Ava and the Mirror of Truth

In the TruPlay game Ava and the Mirror of Truth, seven-year-old Ava is going through a lot in her life. She’s reeling from her parents’ divorce and bullying at school. She’s feeling insecure about her place in the world: Who is she? What’s wrong with her? Where does she fit in? When she journeys through her bedroom mirror and into the Rhymflection, she enters “the land of her heart,” where Moth, her favorite stuffed toy, offers the godly encouragement she needs. With his help, she learns that the lies that afflict her heart and mind can be not only countered with the truth of God, but utterly destroyed.

This slingshot game exposes the lies that afflict every child—such as, "I'm not lovable," "I’ll never be good enough," "Nobody wants me around"—and shows how to use God's truth to demolish the lies. As kids play the game and see and hear how Ava learns to recognize the sources of the lies and compare them to who God says she really is, they can learn to answer every lie with the truth of God's word.

Explore TruPlay Games

Ava and the Mirror of Truth is a perfect example of the reason the TruPlay mobile app—a platform of multiple games, yet with none of the concerning content or vulnerabilities of some other games—was created.

The TruPlay app offers many hours of games, comics, and animated shorts that feature high quality art, action-packed games, and thoughtful storytelling–and each offering is infused with God’s Truth, providing many, many hours of engaging content for children, youth, and adults.

TruPlay's website (TruPlayGames.com) clearly details the app's offerings, and free downloads and trials are available in both the Apple App Store and GooglePlay. Explore the following links to unlock a safer gaming experience for your kids:

● https://www.truplaygames.com/games-more

● https://www.truplaygames.com/user-registration

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Common Lies Our Kids Are Believing...and How to Counter Them