18 People Who Turned Lies Into Genius Parenting Hacks

Parents telling little white lies to their kids is almost a universal truth, especially if it can avoid a meltdown or have the child behave better. While many psychologists today suggest that parents avoid lying and rather use tough situations to teach kids more about life, things were different even a few years ago.

Here are some rather innovative parents on Reddit, who lie to their kids, for different reasons. While some make for cool parenting hacks, others are simply the most hilarious childhood anecdotes.

• My kids were getting the vaccinations, and the whole trip there I told them that getting shots in the eyeballs was the most effective way. They were terrified! When we got to the doctor's office and the nurse came in with the needles, I said, “Isn't it true that getting your shots in the eyeball the most effective way to prevent future illnesses?”
  She said she heard about a study they were conducting and didn't know the results. She then looked at my kids and asked if she could give them their shots in their arms instead. You never saw kids so happy and excited to roll up their sleeves in your life. All smiles and no tears.
  © Yall-Crybabies / Reddit
• The toy monster steals their toys at night. Specifically, the ones that aren't put away.
  © imade_a_username / Reddit
• When my daughter was 4, she decided she really wanted a horse. I told her that since horses eat money, and I don't earn all that much, we simply couldn't get one. She believed that horses actually ate money until she was 14.
  In my defense, I have a cousin who has horses and given how much she spends on them, I'm convinced to this day that they do actually eat money.
  © playswithf1re / Reddit
• As a child, my parents told me if I did something bad, I was going to “baby jail”. I believed in baby jail until I was like 12 years old. If I started crying in a public place, my dad would say, “Mary, stop that. You don't want to go to baby jail, do you?” And then I would just scream louder, like, “I don't want to go to baby jail!”
  I was kind of a well-behaved kid until I realized baby jail wasn't real. Then I turned into a teenager, and they told me that Juvenile Detention was a thing, and I didn't believe them.
  © Unknown author / Reddit

• My sister was about 8 and was asking my dad about buttons in the car while Mom and I were in the store. She asked him what the seat-warmer button did, curious because it had a picture of wavy lines above a chair.
  Dad told her not to press it, because if she did, it would eject her from the car. She acted like she didn't believe him but kept asking about it until Mom and I got back in the car. She immediately went for a second opinion.
  “Mom, what does that button do?”
  “What, this one?” presses it
  “Noooo!”
  Dad still tells that story 15 years later and can barely get through it without wheezing. My sister is less amused. © ichigoli / Reddit
• "Your ears turn purple when you lie." My best friend's mom told her this when we were little, and she covered her ears or took down her ponytail every time she lied until she was 8.
  © BlackLeftHand / Reddit
• My child believes that a red dot appears on your forehead when you lie. He rarely ever lies, but the few times he's tried, he covers up his forehead. © munchkickin / Reddit
• My wife and I have convinced our 6-year-old that you can only go to Chuck E Cheese if you're invited by someone else for a birthday party. So far, none of his friends have asked for a Chuck E Cheese party. © johnwalkersbeard / Reddit

• When my brothers and I were kids and complained about something, my dad would go to the phone and say, “Hello? Complaint department?” and describe our grievance. He said the complaint department for everybody was in Calgary and was run by someone called Chief Owakanoake, and he was getting tired of our complaints. I believed that for the longest time.
  © Unknown author / Reddit
• When my son was little, I told him that the ice cream truck was actually a music truck. You know, a truck that drives around playing music for everyone to enjoy. Then one day, my husband bought the kiddo an ice cream cone when the ice cream truck came through our neighborhood. My son was so excited to tell me that the music truck also sold ice cream.
  Thanks husband. I got harassed about buying ice cream from the music truck every day for the rest of the summer. © ShinyRatFace / Reddit
• The human body is only allotted so many words a year, and if you talk too much now, you might not be able to talk for the rest of the year. © Foothillsgirl / Reddit
• Also, it has a limited amount of energy and if you exercise, you are draining it, like a battery.
  © U******R******Rebel / Reddit
• I was at my friend's and his 4-5 year old nephew was over, and he stole my friend's phone. So me thinking it would be funny go, “Hey Brian, I'm gonna have to call the invisible cops on my invisible phone!” So he starts laughing, saying no, you won't.
  And I pretend to hold my invisible phone up to my ear and go, “Hello? Invisible cops? Ya, Brian is stealing his uncle's phone. Oh, you'll be here in 5 minutes to take him to invisible jail? Ok, I'll keep him here.”
  Immediately he starts freaking out, crying. © Voiir / Reddit

• My mom would bring me and my sister to the mall with her while she shopped. Of course, being kids, we were bored out of our minds so we would hide in the clothes racks and play.
  My mom got annoyed with that because that made it hard for her to keep track of us. So she told us that the mannequins are actually kids that misbehaved. If the cameras caught us doing something other than standing close by her, we'd also turn into a mannequin.
  It backfired on her. We ended up hiding in the clothes racks some more so that the cameras couldn't see us. © kittencrumbs / Reddit
• When my youngest was in infants school (aged 5-7), I could see his playground from our living room window, and when he came home from school I used to say things like “Did you have a good game of football after lunch today?” Or, “I saw you playing tag with Steven.”
  He used to be amazed, and I just used to say, “Mums know everything.” This lasted for a couple of years, and now it's a family joke, but it's changed to “Nana knows everything!”
  © Purplescouser / Reddit
• I read about a father who told his daughter she was half human, half mermaid. But she had the top half of a mermaid and bottom half of a human. Maybe not the funniest, but it's sure cute that they get to believe they are half mermaid! © jedi-duo / Reddit
• I remember that when I was 6, my dad once turned on the PC. He made me play a game where it displays random pictures of random places, and a red dot appears in each pic. You had to click the red dots. He said, “This game shows you what happens to the kids that browse the internet without their parents' permission.”
  After a while of clicking on the red dots, the face of the girl from the exorcist appears screaming on the computer screen, and I started crying and closed myself in the bathroom. © leafyfire / Reddit
• So the lie itself isn't all that funny. My parents told me a car couldn't start until everyone's seat belts were buckled. One day, my grandmother started her car before I was buckled, and I started screaming how the car was broken. I imagine if I was an adult in the car, I would have a hard time not laughing. © Redsox933 / Reddit

Clearly, parenting is both an art and a science, and these Redditors are experts at walking the fine line. Just like these dads who had equally amusing fatherhood fails.