Latest news with #whitelies
Yahoo
18 hours ago
- General
- Yahoo
1 in 5 Parents Admit They Lie to Their Kids Just to Get Through the Day
Some of the little white lies we tell our kids make perfect sense to us. The mental load of parenting in today's modern world requires many survival skills, and one of these might be bending the truth to the kids to make the day a little easier. Skylight, the company behind the all-in-one smart family calendar, reveals that you're not alone if you've lied to your kids. It's actually pretty common. Continue reading to discover what parents are lying about and why. Parents Confess by the Thousands Skylight collected more than 3,000 anonymous confessions from parents across the country to discover how they cope with back-to-school season. They report that 35% of parents feel overwhelmed and run on empty, resorting to various coping mechanisms to make daily life with their kids a bit easier. "We heard over a thousand parents say the same thing in different ways: Parenting is really hard, and none of us has it all together," says Michael Segal, the Founder and CEO of Skylight. Through this campaign, they aim to give an honest view of parenting and make 'invisible work visible.' One aspect of this more truthful perspective is that sometimes parents feel the need to lie to their kids from time to time. The Parent Confessions Report reveals that one in five parents makes up excuses to their kids just to grab some much-needed time for themselves, and 17.5% of parents resort to bending the truth in some way to their children just to make it to bedtime. Parents are in Survival Mode Skylight's report underscores the burnout so many parents face under the demands of the modern parenting. How does being in this constant state of survival mode lead to lying? Parents need their own time Even though parents are surrounded by their kids, 14% feel secretly lonely and disconnected from the other parts of their lives. They may say they have a work call or an urgent meeting just to steal away for a few peaceful moments. Perhaps they need to be alone or want to have coffee with a friend. I've missed some bedtime stories and songs for a so-called trip to the grocery store that, in all honesty, was my evening yoga class. Sometimes you need to escape and breathe after a full day, and can't wait another moment. That being said, the guilt of leaving for me-time creeps in for so many parents at the end of a long day. Parents make mistakes and forget With so much to do in the day, it's hard to remember it all and remain organized 100% of the time. One mom confesses that after forgetting to grab that tooth under her daughter's pillow overnight, she told her that the tooth fairy had met her quota. I once unintentionally donated my daughter's favorite stuffed animal in a frenzied effort to declutter and later felt so guilty that I told her I didn't know what happened to it. Luckily, I was able to track it down 'under the couch' and bring it back home! It seemed easier to go with this version of events than to deal with her inevitable tantrum otherwise. Parents feel tired and overscheduled Parents' lives revolve around our kids' sports, lessons, tutoring, and playdates 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Sometimes we're at capacity and can't do it all. I once promised my son a spot on a travel baseball team for 'next season,' but when the season arrived, the idea became completely overwhelming. It seemed better to tell him we had already missed the tryouts for that team than to admit I simply couldn't handle the demands of another activity. That way, he could still think I was Superwoman rather than a mom who couldn't deliver on her promise. Some other tall tales Here are some of the other funny little white lies parents have told their children, according to Skylight's report. 'To get my toddler out the door, I tell him the dog needs to be alone to go to work. He definitely thinks the dog has a job.' - Mom, 46 "I tell my kids the ice cream truck plays music when they are sold out." - Mom, 35 'When I'm sick of watching kids' shows, I tell my kids the characters are going to bed.' - Mom, 33 "If a toy looks complicated to assemble, I tell them it's not age-appropriate." - Stepdad, 29 "I told my kid that our town doesn't have a hockey team because lord knows I'm not waking up at 6 am on Saturdays to take him to practice.' - Mom, 37 'I convinced my son that when he lies, his forehead turns purple. So now whenever he lies, his first instinct is to cover his forehead.' - Mom, 35 What the Confessions Teach Us Skylight's report suggests that the tendency to lie comes from the challenges of everyday parenting. Juggling so much at once, including work, chores, and everyone else's needs, can make parents feel stressed and overwhelmed. Sometimes a lie can simplify something that, in the moment, feels complicated. The need to protect ourselves from our kids' judgment and protect their feelings fuels the need to lie. Sometimes it delivers us from a difficult conversation that we're too exhausted to have. Luckily, confessions like these remind us that we're not alone in this human, albeit imperfect response. Read the original article on Parents Solve the daily Crossword
Yahoo
29-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Parents Are Sharing the Most ‘Unhinged' White Lies They've Told Their Toddlers
Who hasn't told their toddler a white lie or two, to cease a tantrum? 'My daughter doesn't like to eat meat, so I tell her that if she takes a bite of her meat, I'll give her a point toward Disney World,' Molly Brandt, the mother of a toddler, tells Brandt, who is taking her daughter to the theme park for her third birthday, adds that 'points' will be used to purchase souvenirs at the theme park. 'She's obsessed with princesses, so I said she could buy a Rapunzel dress,' says Brandt. In a TikTok video, Brandt called for the 'most unhinged white lie you've told your 2-and-a-half year-old toddler because I'm running out of ideas.' Parents dropped the white lies they've told their own children into the comments section: 'Elmo is napping, the park is napping, the pool is napping, everybody is napping. It works for now.' 'I use Google Translate, English to English, and type something like, 'The park is closed today, due to a fire' and then play the little microphone, so Siri says it out loud when I tell my daughter I'm calling the park to see if it's open.' 'You can only watch cartoons in cars. That's why they're called CAR-toons.' 'I let my daughter try black coffee and of course, she hated it. Now, if I don't want to share my food, I tell her it's coffee-flavored.' ''Blippi and Bluey are sleeping and only Curious George and Daniel Tiger are up. Do you want to watch them?' Less stimulating shows.' ''Every person has their own swear word. So, if you hear a grownup say one, it's theirs and you can't use it. You have to make up your own words' (Makes a nonsense word).' 'We can't watch 'Baby Shark' at bedtime/night because of child labor laws.' 'I told my daughter that spinach tortellini was green cheese and she loves it.' 'I told my daughter our family dog went on vacation to the beach and sent back sand as a gift. He actually died and those are his ashes.' 'When the ice cream truck plays music, it means they're out of ice cream.' 'If she sleeps in my room or I sleep in her room, we will both get smaller. We both want to get big and strong, so we have to sleep in our own beds.' 'Taylor Swift is her grandma. It's easier than explaining who her grandma actually is and it's low-key comical.' 'Sometimes, I explain the truth in so much detail, he just gets confused and forgets what's going on.' Brandt tells the points system tames her daughter's picky eating habits. It's also good enough for Brandt, who admits that lying made her uncomfortable in the beginning. She has since justified the light-hearted fib for a greater good. Telling children white lies is generally innocuous until age 3, Dr. Deborah Gilboa, family doctor and resilience expert, tells 'Very few people have really solid memories before age 3 or 4, excluding severe traumatic events,' says Gilboa, adding that in between the ages of 4 and 6, children start to apply reasoning to their lives. Gilboa says white lies can undermine trust between family members and pave rationalization for kids to lie to their parents. 'We don't want kids to ever wonder whether their parents are telling the truth,' says Gilboa. Instead of telling a white lie, Gilboa recommends these responses when kids ask questions that adults don't want to answer directly: 'I am not going to tell you that.' 'It's not yet a perfect time to talk about this.' 'It's none of your business.' 'The other problem with white lies is, they really only work with first children,' says Gilboa, adding that older kids may tell their little siblings, 'Mom and dad lied to you.' According to Gilboa, there are two times when parents shouldn't tell white lies, even when kids are very young. First: The death of a pet, which is traumatic. 'We want kids to count on their parents to talk about hard things,' says Gilboa. 'The more important the issue, the less valuable it is to use a white lie.' Second: Threatening to leave a child in public, for example, when parents say, 'If you don't get in the car, I'm going to leave you at the park.' The outcome of the threat is always negative: parents likely wouldn't leave — and their kids know it — or, kids might believe their parents will abandon them, says Gilboa, adding, 'Neither is OK.' This article was originally published on
