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35 Lies Parents Tell Their Kids That Other People Are Calling Great Parenting ‘Hacks’
Parenting is all about unconditional love, empathy, and family values. But it also involves a few bottles of wine, bribery, and lying. Fortunately, moms and dads aren't sugar-coating any of it.
To show you that being a hypocrite isn't necessarily a bad thing, Bored Panda put together a list of tweets where parents share the times they... stretched the truth with their kids. From the classic "I can see it from here" to the new-age "Hummus is princess food", we included them all. Enjoy!
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However, people should be really careful when it comes to lying to kids. Imagine this: An adult meets a child and says: "There is a huge bowl of candy in the next room. Want to go get some?" The child agrees and follows the adult into the room.
But there is no candy.
The adult admits it was a lie, explaining, "I just said that because I wanted you to come play with me."
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This was the first step in an experiment by Chelsea Hays and Leslie Carver. The researchers subjected 46 children to this trick, and as you can probably guess, these kids felt disappointed. But the children were polite and agreed to play with the adult anyway.
This leads to the second part of the experiment—a guessing game.
#4
Lauren Caswell 3 years ago
My dad is the only one of our family who eats Brussels sprouts: had a friend over for tea in high school, he asked her if she liked Brussels sprouts, she exclaimed "oh no, they're gross! But I do like those little cabbage things" (meaning the sprouts). Proud of my fam , none of them blinked an eye. I guess she just said "ew Brussels sprouts" coz we all did/other ppl do, without realising
For this phase, each child was asked to stare straight ahead while the adult held a toy behind the child's back.
The toy represented a familiar fictional character (like Winnie the Pooh, or the Cookie Monster), and the child had to guess the identity of the toy without looking.
After playing two rounds of the game, the adult suddenly told the child that she had to leave for a minute to answer a phone call.
She said she'd be right back and the two of them would continue the game. Meanwhile, she explained, she was going to leave behind the next toy to be identified (she covered it so the child couldn't see what it was) and put it on a table.
"Don't peek while I'm gone!" she said.
#8
#9
Jyri Hakola 3 years ago
Probably the next lie will be that daddy sleeps now in a sofa because there he can hear...
The adult was gone for 90 seconds. During this period, a hidden camera recorded the child's activities. When the adult came back, she asked the child to promise to tell the truth, asking "When I was gone did you turn around and peek to look at the toy?"
Hays and Carver recorded the answers, and compared the results to those of children in a control group (47 kids who went through the same procedure, but without the initial trickery).
The results were really interesting. Compared with older children, 3- and 4-year-olds tended to peek more often. But they also tended to tell the truth more often. Their responses didn't vary by the condition—being lied to did not make a difference.
But the behavior of older kids (ages 5 and up) depended on the adult's track record. The kids who had been tricked by the adult were more likely to peek. They were also more likely to lie about it afterward.
Now at least you know the potential consequences of lying to a child. Assuming they catch you...
#15
Lauren Caswell 3 years ago
Yes this lol, I'm currently in a long term battle of wills and I use this :D
#18
Nicola Roberts 3 years ago
Be careful, I'm a middle aged woman that can't leave the house, start work, go on a journey, join a meeting, without going to the bathroom first!
#19
troufaki13 3 years ago
Once my 3yo nephew had a sleepover at my house. When he woke up the next he asked me "why are you so beautiful?" I almost cried :D
#21
Lauren Caswell 3 years ago
Our computer and tv used to need naps, or they would be so tired they would need to sleep all of tomorrow. As evidenced by the computer having a sleep mode! XD it was good while it lasted, he's long since wised up but it worked for quite a while
#22
Amelie Peacock 3 years ago
this one's cute :) thats it, i definitely want to be a parent when im older
#26
Lauren Caswell 3 years ago
You'd be surprised how many toys we tried "new" batteries in, but sadly they didn't work! (Only on several really awful toddler toys, nothing he was attached to)
#27
Marcellus the Third 3 years ago
It should be. The fact that they're corporate sociopaths that keep it open is no reason to pay them.
#28
Draco Malfoy 3 years ago
"Go hide, I'll come find you." I can just imagine the child 3 hours later, just standing in plain sight like: "Mommy, can you find me?" and she just completely ignores them haha
#30
Alexa Hume 3 years ago
I am at work right now and this song is playing on the radio, how ironic
#32
KiwiBubbles 3 years ago
Oh my goodness, my brother used to be up at 6 or 7 any day we didn't have school, but on school days my mom had to go in his room multiple times and work SO hard to force him to get up! I probably did that too when I was younger (and had less appreciation for sleeping in) but he's younger, so I remember him doing it more recently.
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What do you think ?
Ray Martin 3 years ago
Is it just me, or are half of these just people being shitty parents, as well as shitty people?
Hans 3 years ago
Interesting that you also found it. I also perceive two different types of entries here: those that are funny because the parents do not take themselves too serious and realize parenting is a lot about improvising – I think most parents can relate, and it can be hillarious. And those who seem to excuse lies for situations when they were to lazy to actually care or refused to understand how children perceive the world.
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DC 3 years ago
A lot of these are just lazy. I mean ... your kids do trust you, don't they? You expect them to obey your rules, to tell you when they encounter problems outside, ... lying to them shouldn't be a daily habit, but kept for very rare moments where they really can't handle the truth. It simply isn't ok. Also, don't we have a huge global outbreak of facts-deniery at the moment? Where does it come from that reality is a mere opinion in a lot of people's view? How honest were the parents of that incel with the horn helmet? Did he mess up his mind totally on his own, or may it be that he had a mother who resorted to lies whenever stuff was unfomfortable? Also - if you're uncomfortable telling your children what you do, it likely is wrong anyway, so instead of lying yourself out of the trouble, you can do yourself out of trouble. By not doing what is embarrassing to admit to your kids.
Ray Martin 3 years ago
Is it just me, or are half of these just people being shitty parents, as well as shitty people?
Hans 3 years ago
Interesting that you also found it. I also perceive two different types of entries here: those that are funny because the parents do not take themselves too serious and realize parenting is a lot about improvising – I think most parents can relate, and it can be hillarious. And those who seem to excuse lies for situations when they were to lazy to actually care or refused to understand how children perceive the world.
Load More Replies... DC 3 years ago
A lot of these are just lazy. I mean ... your kids do trust you, don't they? You expect them to obey your rules, to tell you when they encounter problems outside, ... lying to them shouldn't be a daily habit, but kept for very rare moments where they really can't handle the truth. It simply isn't ok. Also, don't we have a huge global outbreak of facts-deniery at the moment? Where does it come from that reality is a mere opinion in a lot of people's view? How honest were the parents of that incel with the horn helmet? Did he mess up his mind totally on his own, or may it be that he had a mother who resorted to lies whenever stuff was unfomfortable? Also - if you're uncomfortable telling your children what you do, it likely is wrong anyway, so instead of lying yourself out of the trouble, you can do yourself out of trouble. By not doing what is embarrassing to admit to your kids.
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