10 Lies Most Parents Tell Their Children
11 Apr 10 at 05 51 am
Ratings:
4.7/5.0
65 comments
(out of 55 votes)
1.
There is a Santa Claus, but he'll only visit you if you're good.
The threat of Santa is enough to keep many kids' behavior in check all year long. Parents tell their children that they keep in contact with him throughout the year, so they better behave. This also applies to the Easter Bunny, Tooth Fairy, and other made-up characters we tell our kids are real. When our children find out we've been lying to them, it can be devastating. It might even make them question everything you've ever told them throughout their childhood. Or maybe that's just me.
2.
This is going to hurt me more than it will hurt you.
How stupid of a statement is that, really, when you think about it? How could getting a shot at the doctor's office hurt you more than it hurts your child (physically, that is)? Sure, seeing your little one cry and get all upset over a shot, or being punished, having something taken away, can be emotionally gut-wrenching, but really, will it hurt you more than it hurts them? I think not.
3.
Mommy and Daddy are taking a nap.
Only those who are parents will understand the double entendre behind this little white lie. Yes, Mommy and Daddy are in the bedroom, but no, they're not really sleeping. When the bedroom door is closed, most children have been told, don't come in without knocking. What goes on behind closed doors doesn't have to be shared with the youngins, right? Of course, as kids get older they usually figure out why Mommy and Daddy's bedroom door is closed. By that time, the "ick" factor keeps them from barging in.
4.
If you tell me the truth, you won't get in trouble.
Almost every parent has probably told their child this lie. Yes, maybe telling the truth will get you in less trouble than if you don't tell the truth and it comes out later. But you're still getting in trouble, no matter what. When kids get old enough to figure this out, they become pretty consummate liars themselves.
5.
Eating your vegetables will make you grow up big and strong
We tell our kids all sorts of untruths to get them to eat their vegetables, fruits, and nutritious stuff. One of the classics is that eating spinach (or other vegetables) will make you grow up to be a big, strong man (or woman). Vegetables can only go so far, however. Genetics are going to play a huge role in how big and strong you will really grow up to be. Luckily the kids don't know this, or we'd never get them to eat any healthy foods!
6.
If you play with your privates too much, they'll drop off/you'll go blind.
Your parents want you to emulate the Seinfeld episode and become master of your own domain. I'm not sure if this lie is as common now with parents as it was way back when, but most parents would prefer that their little ones not sit around "discovering" their privates in public. And most parents also don't want to risk walking in on Johnny playing with his Johnson in his bedroom. So this lie is most likely still in widespread use.
7.
If you keep making that face, your face will stay that way.
"If you cross your eyes, they'll stay that way" is another lie related to this one. Parents use this one simply to get their kids to stop making wacky faces, or to get that surly, dejected look off their child's face. (Good luck with that one!) This is a lie that most savvy kids of this day and age probably won't believe.
8.
Mommy and/or Daddy never took illegal drugs/drank underage/had premarital sex.
In an attempt to make sure your own kids don't make some of the same mistakes you made in your teenage/young adult years, you probably have told them a few untruths about things you did or did not do. No, of course we didn't have premarital sex, that's wrong. You should wait till you're married. We never did any illegal drugs when we were your age. I didn't drink alcohol until I was 21, and only in moderation after that. This category of lies may be the biggest and most popular lie that parents tell their children most often.
9.
SpongeBob's not on this week/the TV is broken/our cable is out.
Unfortunately, most kids are technically smart enough to figure out that this one's not true, no matter how often and how vehemently you tell them that. In an attempt to have some peace and quiet, you might tell your kids their favorite show was canceled or just isn't on television anymore, that the cable is out, or that the satellite dish is broken. Then, your little techie will volunteer to fix it, and voila, SpongeBob once again rules the family room!
10.
The stork brought you to us.
"Where do babies come from?" or, even more difficult, "Where did I come from?" is a common question that young, prepubescent children ask their parents. Parents choose to answer this in a variety of way. The straightforward, honest approach would probably be best, but many parents still rely on folklore and legend to explain this phenomenon to their offspring. Depending upon the age of the child, he or she probably won't buy the stork metaphor, but I'm sure there are countless other creative and untrue ways to explain the birth process to your child.
If you enjoyed this post, please consider to leave a comment or subscribe to the feed and get future articles delivered to your feed reader.
Rate :
Comments (65)
-
David11 Apr 10 at 06 59 amYeah, I ve told a few of these to my kids, but not most of them. With the veggies, I make a point of leveraging every sickness they get to get them to eat better. My youngest asks, "Why doesn t Daddy get as sick as we do?" Ah, it s the veggies. But we do tell them they need to drink their milk and eat their proteins to grow up with strong bones, to run faster, to do the monkey bars, etc. -
-
11 Apr 10 at 04 08 pm"Genetics are going to play a huge role in how big and strong you will really grow up to be." While somewhat true, if a kid drinks his milk and does his squats, he will be much bigger and stronger than the kids who don t. Growing boys and girls need a lot of calories, more protein than most people think is safe, and vegetables for their nutrients. Telling a kid its all his genetics is just giving him an excuse to not try.
-
11 Apr 10 at 04 11 pmDo people really still tell their kids that body parts will drop off from too much manipulation? Or that the stork brought them? Or say ridiculous things like, "This will hurt me more than it hurts you?" I ll continue to let my kids have Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny, but the rest of this list sounds incredibly out of date and out of step with modern parenting.
-
11 Apr 10 at 04 14 pmOh, and vegetables -- telling kids that vegetables help them grow up to be strong is true enough. Having a healthy diet that includes fruit and vegetables certainly contributes to a stronger, healthier body.
-
11 Apr 10 at 04 16 pmWow, I ve never told my kid any of those lies and the truth is I didn t have a significant amount of alcohol until I was 25 years old and I haven t had any in the last four years, and I ve never done drugs nor smoked for that matter. As for premarital sex who cares. You left out two lies. One: That civilization s definition of "success" and "failure" is anything but a myth. And Two: That the conditional love most parents inflict upon their kids is all they deserve.
-
-
11 Apr 10 at 04 25 pmYou forgot "There is a God" and "A dead zombie jewish carpenter loves you".
-
11 Apr 10 at 04 40 pmYou forgot the BIGGEST lies of all: THERE IS A GOD, THE BIBLE IS A GREAT BOOK, AND A GIRL 2000 YEARS AGO HAD A BABY NAMED JESUS WITHOUT EVER HAVING SEX THAT LATER WAS KILLED BUT CAME BACK FROM THE DEAD 3 DAYS LATER.
-
11 Apr 10 at 04 48 pmso wait.. what you re telling me is, my parents aren t taking a nap right now? I ll go see what they re really up to
-
11 Apr 10 at 04 48 pmYou know I m an atheist. But I don t make it a point to shive that into everyone else s face like some of these other posters. You make being an atheist as obnoxious as being a catholic. Grow up. Believe what you want, let others believe what they want.
-
11 Apr 10 at 04 49 pmMost of my children are grown and the only lie I used on the list was 3.Mommy and Daddy are taking a nap. There are ways to explain things to children so we don t have to lie but I m not explaining that one!
-
11 Apr 10 at 04 50 pmRead "The God Delusion"... it will teach you how to be an atheist and not be an arrogant prick in the process
-
11 Apr 10 at 05 14 pm@David:Unfortunately "Daddy doesn t get sick because he eats his vegetables" is probably more of a lie than "you ll grow up to be big and strong by eating vegetables". Daddy probably doesn t get sick as often because he s had a lot longer to build up his immune system to viruses. It could also be because he doesn t sit around sticking toys in his mouth that other friends and coworkers have recently had in their mouths.
-
Mitch Graves11 Apr 10 at 05 20 pmWe N-E-V-E-R lied to our kids! Not ever! No Santa, they know I did and sold drugs. We did engage in deception a few times to keep vacation surprised or birthday surprises till the time of the event. And then we made certain it was discussed. Consequently our children tell us everything and we are able to help them avoid major errors that we made. They are all A students, musicians and, highly ranked athletes (5 US championships and numerous 2nd and 3rd between the 4 of them and more importantly, very very happy people. Honesty REALLY IS the best policy...
-
Mitch Graves11 Apr 10 at 05 27 pmjskiddjr, Read *Evidence That Demands A Verdict* by Josh McDowell. (BTW I was raised as an atheist) It will teach you why it is foolish to choose to be an unbeliever. There is more evidence and solid verifiable proof for the Bible and the facts of CHRIST s life, and esp HIS resurrection than for any other historical even from that era. -----"Many men have fancied themselves intellectuals due to their IQ or expertise in various arenas of this life. However, a true intellectual is one who willingly gives up any belief as soon as he is presented with a better one. He refuses to allow any emotions to influence his reason and hold him captive to lesser ideas. Further, when any challenge is presented, he works to find the truth of it without prejudice so that he may possess that truth. History shows us innumerable examples of nearly every great mind, in a given field, denying and even suppressing a new truth that they refuse to honestly review. The arrogance and cowardice of the powerful and intelligent pseudo- intellectual has caused an almost incalculable amount of loss and suffering in nearly every field of human endeavor."
-
11 Apr 10 at 05 33 pmMitch I m not asking to be preached to. Its the same story everytime. My point is that we, as atheists, really have no place to preach our beliefs (non beliefs if you will) to anyone. We get no extra brownie points for converting a believer. I m an atheist and I live my life happily. You re a believer and you live your life (I presume) happily. Why can t it just be left at that?
-
11 Apr 10 at 06 00 pmThese are funny stereotypes, that don t come up with most families I know. Sure most lie about Santa, but don t threaten his list.
-
-
11 Apr 10 at 06 20 pmThis article is about telling "White Lies" - telling your children that something is true when you KNOW it s not. Christians tell their children the truth about God and Christ because they believe it s true, not as a way to manipulate their children. As far as all those "white lies" go, we don t tell them to our children so that they trust what we tell them. As far as the "eat your veggies" one goes - genetics simply provide potential. It still boils down to nutrition. The Dutch will tell you that they know the age of a man who was a young child during WWII. That s b/c the Dutch were starving then and so those kids became very short men unlike young Dutch men today (generally quite tall). So, I don t think it s a white lie. Maybe needs clarification - eat your veggies and healthy food so you ll reach your potential.
-
-
11 Apr 10 at 08 07 pmtruth?! Do you have some secret evidence you aren t sharing with the public? Otherwise you re exaggerate quite boldly. What you meant to say was "Christians tell their children fanciful stories about God and Christ because they accept these stories to be true utterly without any meaningful evidence except the words of people whose financial security, moral authority, and life s work DEPENDS on people buying what they are selling and to avoid the terrible soul-crushing fear of final death, not as a way to intentionally manipulate their children." There, FTFY
-
houses in the philippines11 Apr 10 at 08 28 pmIf you tell me the truth, you won t get in trouble. In my personal experience, this should be number 1. And the children should know right away that this is a lie. Telling the truth will get you in trouble.
-
Math11 Apr 10 at 10 58 pmEncouraging children to use their imagination is an important skill, but I personally agree that a lie is a lie. Sorry Santa.
-
YES11 Apr 10 at 11 10 pm@Mitch Graves:Damn right! So many people think that they have to "protect" there children from the world, but the truth is, children that grow up feeling respected will respect in return...both their parents and themselves.
-
12 Apr 10 at 05 55 amThis is a terrible article and it leads me to believe that the writer hasn't ever had a child or has no soul perhaps.
-
Craig Miller12 Apr 10 at 07 51 amThis is a bit ridiculous, some of these are not entirely lies. You can tell your son he could play rugby and become the best athelete if that encourages him to do it.
-
Martin12 Apr 10 at 10 34 amAll though parents lie to children I would say there is a good reason for this. At all times though the parent must never conflict with their intergrity and values. We must remain intergral to our believes and standards at all times. Surely this is in the interest of the children?
-
12 Apr 10 at 12 50 pmWhat about the lies of Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny? Huh? This effects children and their ability to deliver faith and trust. electronic cigarette
-
-
12 Apr 10 at 11 52 pmThat s why I don t lie do my children ! The truth is always better when said correctly.
Daniel. -
13 Apr 10 at 10 25 am@Effie:Yes they do still tell those "white Lies". I still here them and i am 60!
-
13 Apr 10 at 10 34 am@jskiddjr:I know you say you are an athiest, but how many times have you said, "oh my G-D" or a similiar phrase? I ll bet many! think about it.
-
-
13 Apr 10 at 11 02 am@jskiddjr:The God Delusion was written by the king of the arrogant pricks. I m an atheist, but Dawkins sometimes makes me want to hurl.
-
-
14 Apr 10 at 06 59 pmJesus is not a myth like Santa. Jesus actually did live, preached and was crucified. It s the whole Son of God crap that is a lie. I ve read that Jesus never claimed his devinity but it was later added by the apostles/ Gospels and by the Emperor Constantine and his roman chums. Where would we be if this never happened. Flying in spaceships and living hundreds of years probably.
-
15 Apr 10 at 09 56 am@YES:You sound boring and your kids sound like the type with no personality, no offense.
-
-
-
25 Apr 10 at 12 27 pm@nate:Yeah, all the atheist parents lie saying God and Jesus are fake. You`d think they`d have compassion enough to give their children a chance.
-
25 Apr 10 at 01 01 pm@Kell:please, this post is offensive. I never told my children that Santa didn`t exist, and eventually they figured it out on their own. When my oldest child was ten, she calmly asked me if it was okay if she didn`t believe in Santa anymore. I told her that was fine, and that was that. We have a loving, healthy relationship. As for the `lies` about Jesus, that hurts me. I have told my children the story of Jesus and we are devout Methodists. However they understand that God`s and Jesus` teachings are to be taken metaphorically and not literally. For example, the story of Jesus tells us that while one can follow all of God`s `rules`, the actions mean nothing if not done with love. Therefore the message is: do what you think is right, and do it with the utmost respect for others. That is all I wanted to say.
-
28 Apr 10 at 09 35 pm@No God:Is that honestly necessary? Spread your athiesm somewhere else. Or nowhere else. Either one works.
-
19 May 10 at 03 24 pm
Err...I don't know. I'm celibate and plan on being so until I get married. Now that's all fine and good, but I would like to tell my children that, but the odds that they'll believe me seem astronomically small...of course I guess believing that I'm black and act as non-black as I do is hard to believe as well...hey, I guess as long as I know the truth...but I sure wouldn't mind my own kids believing me...even if it is a common lie.
-
25 May 10 at 07 31 pm@jskiddjr:
And personally, you should read 'The God Reality' it is a response to 'The God Delusion' written by Richard Dawkins. Once you read it, you'll see that Richard Dawkins jumps from one or two completely unrelated factors, includes a lot of faith and unprovable assumptions and somehow comes up with 'facts' that disprove God's existence.
I can't read anything written by Richard Darwkins anymore because it requires such overwhelming leaps in logic.
-
25 May 10 at 07 36 pm@jskiddjr:
And my apologies for spelling Richard Dawkins wrong in the last sentence. Please don't assume that my accidental misspelling indicates that I am stupid or ignorant.
-
-
15 Jun 10 at 01 34 pm@Reality:
johnf said "@No God i was thinking the same thing" just bc ur athiest that doesn't mean u should shout it out.
-
15 Jun 10 at 02 02 pm@No God:
I like how you make it sound like your so smart! Yet your not. I could argue about this with u if you wanted. But im not going to.
-
-
20 Jun 10 at 10 42 am
-
20 Jun 10 at 03 31 pm
Hmm, here's another one!!
*Slaps/spanks child* "This is for your own good!!! You'll never learn otherwise!!"
Ask Social Services about this one. It just might get your child put in a better home!
-
20 Jun 10 at 04 41 pm
my didnt tell me the stork brought me... she sat me down and old me EXACTLY where babies come from =D
-
20 Jun 10 at 05 22 pm@Mitch Graves:
wow, you've grown your children into arrogent pricks, congrats. they probably bully and harass other people behind your back and act like angels with your around. or there just nerds who always act like bitches because there so smart. people like you are just killing the next genration.
-
21 Jun 10 at 10 45 am
Um, I've walked into my parents taking a nap several times before..and they were really napping...so there are some true ones, but most of these are false, sorry to break it to you...
-
22 Jun 10 at 11 28 am@Mitch Graves:
my Bible teacher LOVES that book, it's very interesting. shes read part of it to my Bible class (I go to a CHRISTian school) Josh McDowell is a very good writer, and his life story is amazing. It was very smart to bring him into this and I just wanted to thank you for being mature about the situation. God Bless.
-
24 Jun 10 at 08 40 pm
It's interesting that they put Santa Claus as number one, because there is one much more popular, and just a fictional. And that is god.
I bet they will find a missing first page of the Bible in the future that reads like this:
All characters in this book are fictional, and relation ship to persons living or dead are purely coincidental.
-
-
-
27 Jun 10 at 11 50 pm
my parents always told me that they bought me at walmart. they said my brother came from a stork. he even as a birthmark that looks like a beak picked him up on the back of his head and on his butt. my mom told me that, i never looked. haha.
-
Dave23 Aug 10 at 07 02 amI've known some people who were deeply traumatized by the fact that Santa is a lie, and strongly believe the lie should not be propagated because they see it as incredibly damaging, but I've never understood that. I dunno, maybe it was because when I found out, I was at that age where I was kind of cynical and it wasn't cool to believe in things like that anyway, but I just never understood why it would be so hard to get over. It's not like learning that Santa isn't real means you no longer get presents or anything.
-
03 Sep 10 at 11 19 pmSeriously, I wish this didn't turn into somewhere for all the athiests to be total jerks to everyone who believes in God or Jesus or the Bible. Really, that is just as annoying as religious people are to you, so maybe we could all believe what we want and let others believe what they want and not be rude idiots to each other. Also, I think it's funny that all the athiests posted about people "lying to their children " about god and jesus and the bible,but not any other religion, like buddhism or anything. Just sayin.
-
04 Sep 10 at 03 03 pmActually, us atheists can now gloat all we want, since the existence of a god has been disproved. Also, people who tell their kids that god exists should be hanged or burned like "witches" used to be. Maybe, in a better future, that will be reality :D
-
05 Sep 10 at 07 12 pm@Falcon:well i agree with you in a way. i am christian, but a relaxed one, i have no prejuduce against atheists, it's your choice, but i do get annoyed when athesists act like pricks, like a few people on this page. i mean really people, NO ONE CARES! and falcon, that will happen in the future, because of the antichrist, BUT when its over, EVERYONE who believes that will BURN IN HELL. have fun asswipe.
-
05 Sep 10 at 11 27 pm@Lizzi<3:Well, actually, since logic, reason and scientific and technological innovations are on my side, if for some reason someone should burn, it's you. If you believe in a god, there's no reason for you to live. There is no heaven, there is no hell, so I don't need to worry about anything. You should try it some time, it's quite uplifting to know that you don't need to bow down to anyone or anything.
Post Comments
Feel free to contribute
Name:
* 32 characters left
Email:
* Not published (32 characters left)
Website:
64 characters left
Message:
Become a fan
