About Jennifer Hamilton
Having learned to write before she could walk (or so goes the story), Jennifer Hamilton has finally found an outlet as our SweetMama Editor. Don’t miss her weekly victories and slip-ups as she raises a son who is almost as obstinate and witty as her; using snuggles, derision and propaganda to survive.
Lying to Kids
mother she wrote: true lies canada
(Jan.25.12)
We all lie to our kids. Every. Last. One. Of. Us. Don’t even try to deny it, you know it’s true. You lie to your kids, quite possibly every day.
Oh, don’t feel guilty about it, that wasn’t my intention. Honestly, I just wanted to point out that you are all doing it so I could make myself feel better about the fact that I do it too.
It’s a rite of parenthood. You suddenly know how to spin yarns and make up giant fish tales once you have some form of human off-spring. It’s like knowing your baby has a dirty diaper before looking, growing eyes in the back of your head once your child reaches the crawling stage or deciphering baby cries. It’s an innate parenting skill.
In case you’re still in denial, I’ve done some research and listed the top lies parents tell:
Santa / The Easter Bunny / The Tooth Fairy / will only come if you’re good.
First, we are the above fictional characters. Second, no kid is good all the time. Third, we like being the above characters and bringing secret presents / money / candy to our kids. It’s the only thing that kept us going through all those years after finding out that those characters were indeed fictional ― the idea that we get to be them for a while.
This is going to hurt me more than it hurts you.
It won’t and we know it, but it sounds existential, which parents love.
The TV is broken / the batteries are dead / we don’t have cable / I didn’t bring my bank card.
Simpler than saying “no”, but much less effective, these are the lies that we tell when “no” just won’t cut it with our kids.
Your father / grandmother / aunt / uncle and I aren’t fighting.
Yeah. Right. Even kids don’t buy this lie, but they accept it most times.
We sent your goldfish / dog / cat / gerbil /spider / pet rock to live on a farm.
Grown-ups hate to tell kids about death, and tend to avoid it at all costs. Surprisingly, young children accept death much more readily than adults do.
If you don’t eat your dinner / do up your seatbelt / comb your hair / brush your teeth, a monster might come and get you.
If monsters do exist, we don’t want them in the house any more than our kids do.
There is no such thing as monsters.
Even we know this isn’t true, but hopefully there aren’t any under the bed or hiding in the closet.
What lies have you told your kids today? Which ones are your favourites?
Image Credit: sara
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