[Balin] Taking his work home with him

[Balin]

How does Clark's job allow him to prevent his children from lying?

EDIT - alternate/additional puzzle statement:
To stop his children from lying, Clark told a lie. How?

[invisiblemimsy]

Lying generally, or about one specific thing, multiple specific things [list of numbers], a group of things, things within a certain theme?
Is it relevant what Clark's job is? Number, names, sexes, ages of children if relevant?

[wolfier]

Lying: not telling the truth? telling falsehood? withholding some facts?
Some particular lies? All kinds of lies?

Does his job give him visibility to the truth?

[Balin]

Lying generally, or about one specific thing, multiple specific things [list of numbers], a group of things, things within a certain theme? Lying generally
Is it relevant what Clark's job is? Yes Number, names, sexes, ages of children if relevant? All irrel except ages - assume they're younger than 10

Lying: not telling the truth? telling falsehood? withholding some facts? Could be any of these
Some particular lies? All kinds of lies? Any lies

Does his job give him visibility to the truth? In a way

[Earnest]

Is the way in which he educated his children relevant? When his children will grow, would he be able to prevent his grown children to tell lies?

Will his children continue to tell lies in general (not to him)? Will he be aware if his children told lies to someone else if he is not present? Are face signals relevant? Does his job allow him to be always present at home? Tell lie = verbally? Or also if they write lies on facebook for instance? Does he work with children? With babies? Is him white collar? Pink collar? Blue collar?

[invisiblemimsy]

Job = management, white collar, blue collar? Employed, self-employed, contract, working from home? Retail, wholesale, health, medical, transport, clerical, sports, teaching, arts, research, parenting, science, service industry, military, security, police, agricultural, food production, other?

Is it relevant where his children go to school or what kind of school it is? Are they home-schooled? Would the lying potentially occur at school, at home, elsewhere?

[Balin]

Is the way in which he educated his children relevant? No When his children will grow, would he be able to prevent his grown children to tell lies? Not in this way

Will his children continue to tell lies in general (not to him)? Possibly Will he be aware if his children told lies to someone else if he is not present? No Are face signals relevant? No Does his job allow him to be always present at home? No Tell lie = verbally? Yes Or also if they write lies on facebook for instance? No Does he work with children? Yes With babies? No
Is him white collar? Pink collar? Blue collar? See below

Job = management, white collar, blue collar? See below
Employed, self-employed, contract, working from home? Retail, wholesale, health, medical, transport, clerical, sports, teaching, arts, research, parenting, science, service industry, military, security, police, agricultural, food production, other? He is a science teacher

Is it relevant where his children go to school or what kind of school it is? No Are they home-schooled? No Would the lying potentially occur at school, at home, elsewhere? At home

[invisiblemimsy]

Do his children go to the school where he teaches? Does he teach them science, at school, at home? Are they each in different classes or the same? Does the science prevent them from lying? Would it work if he taught another subject, e.g. geography? Does he teach chemistry, biology, physics, other science?

[wolfier]

does his job as a science teacher inherently empower him with such ability? Or is it something he did specifically? If latter, was it done with the intention to achieve this effect, or is the effect an unintended consequence?

does the job somehow give him the ability to turn an already-told lie into reality so the lie becomes a non-lie?

are motivation of any kind involved - rewards, punishment, some innate drive?

would the puzzle still work if he was a teacher of subjects other than science? mathematics? language? geography? chemistry? biology? physics?

[Balin]

Do his children go to the school where he teaches? Irrel, assume No Does he teach them science, at school, at home? No Are they each in different classes or the same? Irrel Does the science prevent them from lying? No Would it work if he taught another subject, e.g. geography? Not necessarily Does he teach chemistry, biology, physics, other science? Relevantly, chemistry

does his job as a science teacher inherently empower him with such ability? No Or is it something he did specifically? Yes If latter, was it done with the intention to achieve this effect, or is the effect an unintended consequence? Intentionally

does the job somehow give him the ability to turn an already-told lie into reality so the lie becomes a non-lie? No

are motivation of any kind involved - rewards, punishment, some innate drive? No

would the puzzle still work if he was a teacher of subjects other than science? Not necessarily mathematics? language? geography? chemistry? This is the important subject biology? physics?

[invisiblemimsy]

Are chemical names or formulae relevant? Is it a theoretical thing which stops them lying, or an actual thing? Is a pun, or something similar, involved?

[Balin]

Are chemical names or formulae relevant? OTRT! Is it a theoretical thing which stops them lying, or an actual thing? An actual tangible thing Is a pun, or something similar, involved? No

[Balin]

HINT (which I'm adding to the puzzle statement):

To stop his children from lying, Clark told a lie.

[WiZ]

Did he lie about lye?

[Balin]

Did he lie about lye? Nye... I mean No

[biograd]

Did he claim that some chemical could detect lying, e.g. by changing color or bubbling? Or, did he tell a story about someone who had lied about what a chemical was, with disastrous consequences?

[Balin]

Did he claim that some chemical could detect lying, e.g. by changing color or bubbling? Right on.

****SPOILER****

Clark brought a jar of pH strips from his chemistry classroom to his house. When he suspected his children were lying, Clark told them that the papers were "truth strips," and if they turned purple when he put one on their tongues, it would prove they were lying. Believing this, the kids stopped trying to lie to their dad.

[invisiblemimsy]

Brilliant!