What Lies Have You Told Your Children Because of the Inconvenience?
Lifehacker creative producer Heather Huss told me a story about a hermit crab that her 5-year-old son Theodore gave as a Christmas present last year. His name was Crabber, and he lived for two months. But the news of the disappearance of the crustacean has not yet reached Theodore. “We told him that Crabber was sick and he needed to go to the crab hospital to get a new shell,” Heather says. “And we told him all summer that the crab hospital is on the ocean, and Crabber was on a little sick leave, swam, tried new shells – you know, living that kind of life. Crabber even sent a postcard. ” The Crabber recently made a grand return home and everyone was happy to see him back. Heather resigns himself to the lie: “I would not suggest doing this for dogs or cats, but hermit crabs are mostly bugs.”
I’m pretty sure all mums and dads have lied to their young children at some point, usually out of convenience. A few parenting classic words: “The car won’t start until everyone is buckled up.” “They no longer sell the type of batteries your noisy toy needs.” “Ice cream trucks play music when they’re out of ice cream.” One day, a friend took her baby to a Disney store for the first time and said it was Disneyland – the child was delighted.
Some of the lies parents tell are remembered for decades, as evidenced by a Twitter thread started by writer Nicole Cliff earlier this year. People have shared the lies they believed in when they were kids, and these stories are pretty amazing. ( A woman named Keith wrote: “My dad told me that in every herd of cows there is always one cow named Herman, so every time we passed the cows, we would roll down the windows and shout“ HERRRRMAN! ”And we looked for someone who looked up. I was a teenager when I realized it wasn’t. “
Of course, lying to our children can have unintended consequences. They may grow up believing in false information or not trust everything we say when they learn the truth. But this random white lie that helps us get through our days is probably harmless – and may even be a source of fun down the road. (“This is what my dad told me … What kind of dad, huh?”)
What lies have you told your children for convenience reasons?