White Lies Parents Told Children Growing Up Posted by Hannah Loewentheil Last Updated: July 2, 2024 White Lies Parents Told Children Growing Up Of course, it’s never acceptable to lie…unless you have children, in which case it is one thousand percent necessary to have a few “fibs” in your arsenal. These are just harmless parenting tricks that are necessary for survival. So redditor u/TopRun8728 asked, “What’s the most unethical parenting hack you know?” Here’s what people said (including a white lie my dad used often when I was a kid that I still remember to this day). 1. “I recently flew internationally with my toddler, and to keep him chill in the long security lines and customs lines, I would tell him if he didn’t stay quiet, they wouldn’t let him on the plane. And then, once on the plane, if he started getting cranky, I’d tell him if he were too loud, they’d have to turn around and take him home. 😅 I made it through 12 total hours of flying with 10 minutes of crying, so I’m calling it a win.” 2. “Ensure your kids won’t bother you by telling them to wake you up in an hour so we can start cleaning the house. They will do anything to avoid waking you up.” —u/BabesTina_69_ 3. “We do something we call ‘toy rotation.’ When the kids start getting bored of the toys that they have out, we pack them up, pull the other boxes out of their closet, and unpack those. It’s like Christmas all over again. No new toys; they’re the same old toys, but they love them. We rotate them every month to two months.” 4. “Told our daughter that kids’ ears turn red when they lie, but only parents can see it. She would enter rooms with her hands covering her ears, and we knew we were in for a lie.” 5. “My mom would literally change the clock so that it would display our bedtime. And then she’d be like, ‘Oh, ten more minutes ’til 8:30, see?'” —u/Sharp_Memory 6. “I had a friend whose parents told him he was allergic to alcohol. They said they found this out when he accidentally drank some as a toddler. They told him he was in intensive care and nearly died. On his 18th birthday, they told him they made it up so he didn’t drink when underage.” 7. “If your toddler accidentally touches something hot, you have the opportunity to tell him that many things in the house are also hot and should be avoided.” —u/Yellowperil123 8. “I save all my ‘tax office’ envelopes (they are a distinct color in the Netherlands), and every time I hear my child swear…he randomly gets a letter fining him x amount from the tax office. He then hands the money over, and I pop it back in his piggy bank when he’s not looking. 🫣 It works!” 9. “Tell your kid that they snore in their sleep often; that way, you’ll know if they’re pretending to sleep because they’ll fake snore.” —u/GentleTina_778 10. “I pretended that certain foods that kids generally dislike (such as the skin-on steamed salmon and broccoli florets) are incredibly delicious, and I’d often ask my kids if I could eat theirs. Other parents found it hilarious that my kids would beg for slimy salmon skin and be delighted when I gave them cucumbers.” 11. “My dad convinced us that the sunroof in the car was an ejector button that could send us flying to the moon. He threatened to press it when my siblings and I misbehaved or fought with one another in the backseat, and it worked like a charm to get us to sit quietly. We were terrified. I will definitely be using this one on my daughter.” —Hannah Loewentheil 12. “My kid went up four reading levels during Covid lockdown. Everyone thought I was really putting in a big effort with his reading. The truth is, I just turned on subtitles on the TV.” 13. “I saw this one on Instagram: When it’s past their bedtime, Dad changes the language on the TV to Spanish. When the kids act confused, he says, ‘it must be because you’re tired.'” —u/MajorCompetitive612 14. “My nephew refused to vacuum, so I told him the thing about the vacuum sucking up ghosts. I said that vacuuming kept houses from getting haunted; that’s why haunted houses are so dusty. Ten years later, he is still a neat freak…and I feel responsible.” 15. “I tell them their tongues will turn purple if they lie to me. The hesitation when you ask them to show you their tongue if they’ve lied is a dead giveaway. The hack was ruined when my three-year-old had the rest of my kids all sit in front of the mirror, tell lies, and check one another’s tongues.” —u/Keljameri 16. “If your kid is upset and crying, have them drink some water and say, ‘It’ll make you feel better.’ They can’t cry and drink at the same time and generally calm down quicker, so you can actually figure out what’s going on. (Or they realize whatever they bumped doesn’t actually hurt.) It works great in a class full of four-year-olds.” 17. “One way my mom got me to stop crying as a child was to cover and uncover my mouth rapidly. The resulting noise I made never failed to make me laugh hysterically and calmed me down instantly.” —u/4C35101013 18. “My niece was told that when the ice cream truck made music, it was out of ice cream. She believed this until she was about nine years old.” 19. “Tell them you have Santa’s phone number. I still remember the time our babysitter told me that. She called him once when I was acting up, and I never forgot about it.” —u/CarlJustCarl 20. “Telling your kids that the car won’t start unless everyone’s seatbelt is buckled. It’s sneaky, but at least it’s for their safety!” 21. “Living on the West Coast, my friend would show the East Coast feed of the New Year’s Eve countdown to her kiddos. They were always in bed by nine. Brilliant parenting.” —u/komakozic 22. “My parents used to tell me that the tooth fairy comes every night to check for teeth. If you lose one, she takes it and leaves you money, but if you didn’t lose one, she would make sure you brushed your teeth; If you didn’t brush, she would pull out your teeth. It was kind of dark for my parents to tell me this, but I always made sure to brush before bed.” What’s a “parenting hack” you love to use on your kids, or something your parents did when you were growing up that you’ll most definitely try with your own offspring? Tell us in the comments or in this anonymous form. 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Of course, it’s never acceptable to lie…unless you have children, in which case it is one thousand percent necessary to have a few “fibs” in your arsenal. These are just harmless parenting tricks that are necessary for survival. So redditor u/TopRun8728 asked, “What’s the most unethical parenting hack you know?” Here’s what people said (including a white lie my dad used often when I was a kid that I still remember to this day). 1. “I recently flew internationally with my toddler, and to keep him chill in the long security lines and customs lines, I would tell him if he didn’t stay quiet, they wouldn’t let him on the plane. And then, once on the plane, if he started getting cranky, I’d tell him if he were too loud, they’d have to turn around and take him home. 😅 I made it through 12 total hours of flying with 10 minutes of crying, so I’m calling it a win.” 2. “Ensure your kids won’t bother you by telling them to wake you up in an hour so we can start cleaning the house. They will do anything to avoid waking you up.” —u/BabesTina_69_ 3. “We do something we call ‘toy rotation.’ When the kids start getting bored of the toys that they have out, we pack them up, pull the other boxes out of their closet, and unpack those. It’s like Christmas all over again. No new toys; they’re the same old toys, but they love them. We rotate them every month to two months.” 4. “Told our daughter that kids’ ears turn red when they lie, but only parents can see it. She would enter rooms with her hands covering her ears, and we knew we were in for a lie.” 5. “My mom would literally change the clock so that it would display our bedtime. And then she’d be like, ‘Oh, ten more minutes ’til 8:30, see?'” —u/Sharp_Memory 6. “I had a friend whose parents told him he was allergic to alcohol. They said they found this out when he accidentally drank some as a toddler. They told him he was in intensive care and nearly died. On his 18th birthday, they told him they made it up so he didn’t drink when underage.” 7. “If your toddler accidentally touches something hot, you have the opportunity to tell him that many things in the house are also hot and should be avoided.” —u/Yellowperil123 8. “I save all my ‘tax office’ envelopes (they are a distinct color in the Netherlands), and every time I hear my child swear…he randomly gets a letter fining him x amount from the tax office. He then hands the money over, and I pop it back in his piggy bank when he’s not looking. 🫣 It works!” 9. “Tell your kid that they snore in their sleep often; that way, you’ll know if they’re pretending to sleep because they’ll fake snore.” —u/GentleTina_778 10. “I pretended that certain foods that kids generally dislike (such as the skin-on steamed salmon and broccoli florets) are incredibly delicious, and I’d often ask my kids if I could eat theirs. Other parents found it hilarious that my kids would beg for slimy salmon skin and be delighted when I gave them cucumbers.” 11. “My dad convinced us that the sunroof in the car was an ejector button that could send us flying to the moon. He threatened to press it when my siblings and I misbehaved or fought with one another in the backseat, and it worked like a charm to get us to sit quietly. We were terrified. I will definitely be using this one on my daughter.” —Hannah Loewentheil 12. “My kid went up four reading levels during Covid lockdown. Everyone thought I was really putting in a big effort with his reading. The truth is, I just turned on subtitles on the TV.” 13. “I saw this one on Instagram: When it’s past their bedtime, Dad changes the language on the TV to Spanish. When the kids act confused, he says, ‘it must be because you’re tired.'” —u/MajorCompetitive612 14. “My nephew refused to vacuum, so I told him the thing about the vacuum sucking up ghosts. I said that vacuuming kept houses from getting haunted; that’s why haunted houses are so dusty. Ten years later, he is still a neat freak…and I feel responsible.” 15. “I tell them their tongues will turn purple if they lie to me. The hesitation when you ask them to show you their tongue if they’ve lied is a dead giveaway. The hack was ruined when my three-year-old had the rest of my kids all sit in front of the mirror, tell lies, and check one another’s tongues.” —u/Keljameri 16. “If your kid is upset and crying, have them drink some water and say, ‘It’ll make you feel better.’ They can’t cry and drink at the same time and generally calm down quicker, so you can actually figure out what’s going on. (Or they realize whatever they bumped doesn’t actually hurt.) It works great in a class full of four-year-olds.” 17. “One way my mom got me to stop crying as a child was to cover and uncover my mouth rapidly. The resulting noise I made never failed to make me laugh hysterically and calmed me down instantly.” —u/4C35101013 18. “My niece was told that when the ice cream truck made music, it was out of ice cream. She believed this until she was about nine years old.” 19. “Tell them you have Santa’s phone number. I still remember the time our babysitter told me that. She called him once when I was acting up, and I never forgot about it.” —u/CarlJustCarl 20. “Telling your kids that the car won’t start unless everyone’s seatbelt is buckled. It’s sneaky, but at least it’s for their safety!” 21. “Living on the West Coast, my friend would show the East Coast feed of the New Year’s Eve countdown to her kiddos. They were always in bed by nine. Brilliant parenting.” —u/komakozic 22. “My parents used to tell me that the tooth fairy comes every night to check for teeth. If you lose one, she takes it and leaves you money, but if you didn’t lose one, she would make sure you brushed your teeth; If you didn’t brush, she would pull out your teeth. It was kind of dark for my parents to tell me this, but I always made sure to brush before bed.” What’s a “parenting hack” you love to use on your kids, or something your parents did when you were growing up that you’ll most definitely try with your own offspring? Tell us in the comments or in this anonymous form.
