Don't Feel Bad About Fibbing to Your Kids About These Little Things

Lying, my friends, is not nice. Now that the cat’s out of the bag, let me break the ice by saying that I just thought of at least three ways in which I’ve lied to my kids in the past five minutes (the biggest one being that a certain 5-year-old will not be going to her monthly sleepover night at Grandma and Grandpa’s with her cousins this weekend if she doesn’t stop picking on her sister…because mommy and daddy don’t like to punish ourselves…).

Lying isn’t nice, but for some reason it’s a form of survival and a necessary evil when you’re parenting. I can’t think of one parent who hasn’t lied about something (I’m talking to you, Miss “Sorry sweetie, there are no more cookies”). So, how do you know if you’re lying is downright wrong or if it’s okay? If it makes you feel any better, here are a couple of common lies we tell our children and a breakdown of why they are okay (really, I don’t condone lying).

You’ll Throw Something Away

Okay, so when your kids don’t clean up their rooms before bed and you threaten to pick up all their toys for them by placing them in a trash bag and walking it to the street so the nice guys in the big garbage truck can have them in the morning, it’s a lie. Those toys were expensive. You’re not throwing them away. It’s not a nice lie, but it’s an effective one so therefore it’s okay in mommy years to lie about this. If it gets your kids motivated to do their chores, then so be it.

The “Insert Name of Bakery/Toy Store/Attraction Here” is Closed

Sometimes you just don’t want to stop for yet another day of looking at dinosaur bones in the same old children’s museum, so you lie. It’s okay. Your kids aren’t going to lose out on anything by not getting to go to the dinosaur museum for the 78^th time this month. You’re good to go.

Santa’s Watching

Technically, you are Santa. So technically, this is not a lie. There. Enough said.

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