Tell me lies, tell me sweet little lies….

Doesn’t it feel a little hypocritical that we all want our children not to lie to us, but we lie to them!

When you think about it we potentially deceive our children a lot:

“Put that tooth in the glass of water and the tooth fairy will come and leave you some money!” – Well, yes there will be money, but it will be coming from mummy’s purse.
“If you keep pulling that awful face the wind will change and it will stay like that!”- I pulled a lot of faces as a kid and I think I look normal!
“If you sit too close to the TV you will get square eyes!”- My brother and I spent many hours sitting of an early morning with our noses pressed up against the TV watching ‘Thunderbirds’ and last time I looked, my eyes looked fine.

However what scared me the most as a kid was the classic, “If you tell the truth you won’t get into trouble”……yeah right, I always knew what really was to come if I did tell the truth!

Well, maybe they are not lies so to speak, they are fibs, a tongue in cheek falsehood, a bluff, a tall tale or a ‘white lie’.

I have been told that if you tell a white lie, you are actually lying to avoid hurting someone’s feelings. That is a nice way to put it.

We lie to our kids for a number of reasons; to protect them, to help them, to stop a tantrum, for make-believe, to make them happy; to avoid saying ‘no’, to get them to eat their vegetables……. the list goes on.

Whatever you choose to call it or however you say it, the majority of parents lie, for their own reasons.

Do you think there’s any harm in this kind of ‘lying’?

Or will our kids grow up saying: “Oh my mum tells so many white lies, she could ice a wedding cake!”

What are the common ‘white lies’ you tell your kids?

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117 Comments

- - crystalangela said
  - 09 Aug 2015
    4:32 pm
I don’t think it harmed me and I had no qualms on using them on my kids either.

- - mom94125 said
  - 01 Jan 2015
    3:11 pm
yeah it is incredible to think about when you put it all together like that lol. i love the santa etc ones though because it brings joy to my children and helps them be happy as children should be

- - shortaez said
  - 31 Oct 2014
    10:54 pm
That would be around holiday time

- - mom57522 said
  - 28 Sep 2014
    12:44 pm
I’ll be there in a sec!

- - mom56842 said
  - 24 Sep 2014
    11:41 pm
Let’s not kid ourselves, a lie is a lie. Santa, the Easter Bunny, Tooth Fairy – all lies lol!

- - neddie said
  - 09 Aug 2014
    2:22 pm
I think these are lies that we all have told our kids, they were told to us, and our parents before them – if it’s something that you grow out of it seems like a right of passage at times.

- - no1ladydj said
  - 06 Jun 2014
    10:25 pm
Parents have been telling white lies to their kids since the Garden of Eden, and will continue to do so for centuries to come. As long as the fibs aren’t major ones, I really don’t see the issue. Few of us would hate our parents for “lying” about the Easter Bunny or Father Christmas.

- - twinmum2 said
  - 30 May 2014
    9:05 pm
I did feel uncomfortable telling my kids re the Tooth Fairy, Santa and the Easter Bunny. I dreaded them finding out the truth and asking me why I had lied to them.

- - kazh said
  - 25 May 2014
    11:21 pm
I don’t think it is harmful, more like a humorous cliche handed down over generations

- - linaianna said
  - 25 Apr 2014
    7:43 pm
Great Article thanks for sharing

- - lisa4 said
  - 17 Feb 2014
    10:54 am
I got the white lie as a child from my parents, and no I dont hold it against them.

- - vikram77 said
  - 17 Jan 2014
    3:07 am
Thanks a lot for sharing. I loved reading it. Great article

- - memo said
  - 06 Jan 2014
    10:40 pm
Protecting a child’s innocence with a white lie is necessary at times

- - stacey_max said
  - 05 Jan 2014
    12:37 pm
This is so true but sometimes for their own good.

- - misschriss said
  - 04 Jan 2014
    2:59 pm
I think small white lies are ok, especially when it involves santa, tooth fairy, easter bunny etc. i never really thought about lying until I read this article though.

- - ljsalomon said
  - 03 Jan 2014
    11:11 am
Enjoyed reading – thanks for sharing.

- - meimei said
  - 30 Dec 2013
    8:35 pm
Thank you for sharing interesting article and funny too Ha Ha Ha

- - bankstownbrats said
  - 28 Dec 2013
    9:04 pm
a good read with some helpful tips

- - kathryn said
  - 24 Dec 2013
    9:31 am
I think character building is important – telling the truth gives a sense of responsibility and ownership of actions. Creating mystery and a magical world that includes Santa, the Easter Bunny and the Tooth Fairy is a bit of innocent fun. There is a big difference.

- - coppin85 said
  - 25 Nov 2013
    4:34 pm
I think it’s necessary most of the time