We’re always taught that it is much better to tell the truth then to tell a lie. We grow up hearing sayings like “honesty is the best policy” and “the truth shall set you free”. But I’m here to tell you that it’s okay to lie. I mean come on who among us hasn’t lied to our kids.
Now I’m not talking about just flat out lying to your kids about everything and anything. I’m talking about little lies to keep them safe or happy. You know like the Easter bunny or Santa Claus. Simple and harmless and nothing wrong with it.
You want your child to eat more food but he/she insists on eating the same things over and over. What do you do? Well if you are me you lie about what is for dinner and say it’s something they like. For instance my son doesn’t eat pork or steak, won’t even try it, but when we say that pork is chicken and steak is deer he eats it. No harm done.
How about when your kid is very grabby and likes to touch everything and anything. How do you stop that? We say don’t touch it, it’s hot. Bam no more touching things that he could get hurt on or break.
So you have a snack that you want to enjoy but your child is standing there drooling at your feet and saying no just makes him/her cry, what do you do? Say it’s adult food or no you won’t like it, it’s yuck. We even gave him something that we knew he doesn’t like so he wouldn’t want it. Mean I know, but we all do it.
At the store and your kid is screaming for a toy or treat. We’ve all been there. And most likely have all said the same thing, “sorry we don’t have money for that right now” or “we’ll get it next time”. Or you get the times when you walk in the store and your child cries for something they know is at the store but can’t see it. Like asking for ice cream when you’re in the diaper section and you say “they are all out of ice cream” or “they don’t sell ice cream here”.
It’s bedtime but your kid doesn’t want to go to sleep. Maybe he/she wants another bedtime story, a snack, a drink, sing, or just flat out play. How do we get them to bed? Say it’s bedtime and that mommy and daddy are going to bed also, works pretty good most of the time. But we all know that we are not going to bed.
Bribes, we all use them. Your kid doesn’t want to clean, put on their shoes, eat their dinner, get their jacket on, or just listen to anything you are saying so you bribe them. Offer them a new toy or a snack to get them to do what you want and hope that by the time it’s over they forgotten the bribe.
As parents we all do it and sometimes we don’t even think about it when we do it. It doesn’t make us bad parents at all. Yes even if you are lying so you can eat the last cookie, you are not a bad parent. We do it to keep our kids safe, healthy, and happy. And yes sometimes we do it just to help our sanity.
There’s probably a million other things that we fib about to our kids that aren’t in here (new article idea). But the main thing to remember is that as long as you are not lying maliciously or just because you don’t want to be bothered with something then IT’S OKAY. There’s no reason to feel bad at the end of the day, especially if your child goes to bed safe, happy, healthy and loved.
