Lie

My daughter is being punished BIG time for lying right now. If I were a lair too that would make me a hypocrite.

I don't believe I lie to my children. Do I tease, yes. Do I joke, yes. Do, I tell half truths to protect their sweet innocent lives, yes. But I don't believe a half truth is a lie. For example, if my daughter asks why her aunt and uncle are "broken up"/ divorcing, I don't tell her the whole truth, the her uncle cheated on his wife with two other women and lied about the whole thing and that he is a sick man in the head, because I want to protect my daughters innocence. So, I tell her that her uncle and aunt had some adult problems that she doesn't understand and doesn't need to understand right now. I also tell her that when she is older I will explain more. Another half truth I tell her is how babies are made. I don't tell her all about sex, but I do tell her that it takes a man and a woman to make a baby, and that the baby grows inside of a uterus. But she's too young to understand sex or even to know about sex, so she gets a half truth for now.

I don't lie about Santa or the tooth fairy. She asked me one day if Santa was real, I couldn't bring myself to lie about it so I asked her what she thought, she said she didn't think he was real. I told her that some people believe that Santa comes to their home, and those people who believe are probably right...because in the minds of those other children who do believe, Santa is real. So, if you consider those half truths to be lies then yes I lie, I think it's important to protect my children's innocence. I always try to be as truthful as possible and never intentionally lie to my children.

We do a halfsies on the Santa/Tooth Fairy/Easter Bunny thing. So, it's up to them to think they are real or not, but we play along with the 'magic' of it all.

As for important things, no we do not. We may have to explain something a little more simply for them to understand, but we don't lie.

As for the candy issue, hell yes. If I say we are out of treats, that means we are out of treats for the kids to be eating today. That does not mean I am out of MY chocolate stash hidden in my top drawer.

"I don't have any quarters."

Yeah I'm a big liar, here are just a few...
"I have no idea why you smell chocolate on my breath. How strange"
"I don't know how to work that gumball machine"
"I'm sure all the children are going to bed now" (how would I know?)

Sure. Sometimes kids don't need to worry about adult problems. They will have those soon enough.

I lie and tell them I feel great when I really feel like death.

I lie about Santa, too.

If they catch me crying, I sometimes lie about why - they don't need to be concerned with adult things.

I tell my 2 year old that we are out of candy when we really aren't.

honestly i believe everyone lies.

Of course. All the time. Mostly by omission. Occasionally by redirection.

"Mommy and Daddy were just wrestling" at 3am when he had to pee, for example, and walked in on us as a toddler. Wrestling, Rasslin... C'est la vie.

Never lied about Santa, though.

Because. Santa. Is. Real.

Far more often than any of the above, though, I just say that "I'm not going to talk about that right now." There's an old saying in my family: You don't have to lie, but you don't have to run around shouting the truth, either. That's the lying by omission factor.

I don't tell him ANYTHING negative about his father. (Oh, that list is long).
I tell him my hopes, instead of my fears.
I 'spin' things an AWFUL lot... because perception often becomes reality
etc.
I gloss over an awful lot to make things age appropriate.

It's not lying. But it's also not the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.

I told them the ice cream truck was a "music" truck! Now I feel so guilty! ;)

I'm sorry, do you really live in the Marshall Islands? That is so cool. I hope you'll write something about yourself in your profile.

And yeah, sometimes you GOTTA lie.

:)

I told them santa was real.

Oh, I told them I was going to the bank when I was really going to the grocery store.

Santa is real, That if you don't wash your private parts they fall off and you become a girl ( he wouldn't wash it himself so I had to do something) Easter bunny, ok all of the holiday themed characters. I have lied about how I felt so that DS will not worry. ( I usually stub my toe!)

Never.

As parents, we lead by example.

My parents lied to me about little things and I realized that if they lied to me about those things, I couldn't ask them about important things.

My son was 5 when he asked me about Santa. I told him the truth. I was gentle, but I will not lie to my children.

Yes! "Mommy I need new batteries for my train" Me: " Sorry baby we're out of batteries right now" Reality: I just don't want to hear those damn trains right now!!

"What happened to my candy?" Me: "I don't know baby"
Reality: I ate it and it was GOOD!!

Seriously, I try to be honest as possible with my children. DD is 15, very sensitive so I " sugar coat" things for her at times. I try to deflect, if I think the truth would be harsh. Ex. although she is not big, she doesn't have the shape to wear bikinis, instead of telling her that I push tankinis. Stuff like that.

Little man will draw something that looks like....well I don't know what it looks like, but when asked I will always say it is great.

Stuff like that.

no we do not lie to our kids. If I lied to them, then how can they trust me? I need to be a good example and I would not want them to lie to me. My kids ages 5 and 7 both know that lying is a very bad thing.

Of course I do.

I tell my granddaughter that he dad lives far away and that's why she doesn't get to see him. I tell her that he sends child support every week because he loves her. He lives in Tulsa, about 100 miles away, and is married to an elementary school teacher that should know better than to manipulate him with her affections. She stated before he married her that she didn't want him to have anything to do with this child because that would mean interacting with my daughter. My daughter has not had custody of this child in many years but he still has nothing to do with her other than paying is child support religiously.

I tell them the tooth fairy is on vacation and will be back collecting teeth in a few days if we don't have any money to put under the pillow until a deposit comes in from SSDI or child support.

I tell them they need to think about their choices because Santa is watching.

I tell them that the Easter Bunny is coming to town.

So yes, we do tell fibs. Not outright lies that are harmful but fibs to let them enjoy childhood a little longer.

If I know, that per the age of my child and per how I KNOW my child and what they can or cannot handle emotionally/mentally... I will not tell them everything but perhaps an abbreviated, "explanation" of something.