I’ve nannied for this family for 5 weeks, but don’t know how to handle the kids. How do I discipline/ guide them to be better humans?

I’m 5 weeks into nannying three kids and I feel like I’m failing. How do you handle constant disrespect and lying?

I’ve been nannying three kids (7M, 6F, and 4M) for about 5 weeks now, around 36 hours a week. I’ve worked with kids before, but this is by far the most challenging family I’ve had.

The 4-year-old is honestly the easiest because most of his behavior is just typical 4-year-old stuff, so I can usually roll with it.

The 6-year-old lies constantly. Not little exaggerations—she’ll make up completely random things. She’ll tell me Mom said she can have cookies for breakfast, or that Mom said she doesn’t have to change clothes for a week. She’ll accuse her brothers of hurting her when they didn’t, deny taking something that’s sitting in her room, and just lie about things that don’t even seem worth lying about. It happens all day long, and I genuinely don’t know how to respond anymore.

The 7-year-old is probably the hardest. Every single request turns into a meltdown. Asking him to brush his teeth, read for a few minutes, stop eating candy, or clean up after himself becomes a huge fit. He’s also incredibly rude to me. He’s told me he hates me and wishes I wouldn’t come back, purposely sprayed me with the hose, eaten the lunch I brought for myself, thrown things, and seems to go out of his way to be disrespectful.

I feel like I’m correcting behavior from the moment I get there until I leave. It’s constantly “don’t hit your brother,” “don’t throw things,” “don’t scream,” “don’t lie,” “please listen the first time,” and it feels like the word “no” has absolutely no meaning to them. They also struggle academically more than I’d expect for their ages. None of them can really read independently yet, so even when I try to redirect them to reading or a quieter activity, it usually turns into another battle.

The parents have actually been supportive, which makes this even more confusing. Whenever I tell them what happened, they believe me and they do discipline the kids. The problem is that I don’t know what to do in the moment. They don’t have tablets, video games, or TV time, so it’s not like I can take away screen time. I feel like I have no meaningful consequences to use, and after five weeks it doesn’t seem like anything is improving.
I’m really not looking to yell or punish them all day.

I want to help them become respectful, kind kids, but right now I feel like I’m just surviving each shift. How do you handle constant lying? What do you say to a child who’s throwing a massive fit over a completely reasonable boundary? How do you get kids to actually respect your authority when nothing seems to matter? I’d really appreciate any advice because I’m starting to dread going to work.

Hoping some advice from parents will help me!!!