Liar, Liar!

Why are so many people getting all bent out of shape because politicians are lying in their recent campaign ads or speeches. Are we really that surprised? It reminds me of an old joke; How do you know when a politician is lying? When their lips are moving.

I am a liar. That’s the truth and if you were honest, you would acknowledge that you tell lies, too. Everybody lies to some extent. I have not told any lies today…..but there are many hours before I go to bed!

The people prone to telling the most fibs are parents and before you protest your innocence, do your kids believe in Santa? The Tooth Fairy? Hah! Those are lies, even if you consider them white lies, it’s still fibbing!

Those are the most obvious lies we tell our kids, and probably the ones we think of as being harmless; our kids are not going to grow up dishonest because we perpetuated a lie about a chubby guy dressed in red bringing gifts, and they surely won’t lose trust once they discover the truth, will they?

Why do parents lie? Speaking from personal experience, lies are told to avoid aggravation; “I don’t have any money on me so I can’t buy ice cream” may create less of a scene than “No.” What about telling them you are sick so you don’t have to have the entire neighborhood over to hang out in your house for the day. Who has not done that?

I have told my kids there was no candy/ice cream/junk food in the house because I planned to eat it when they went to bed. Actually I have told my husband that lie, too…

Do an internet search on parents and lies and you will find several blogs or websites where parents have confessed their worst whoppers; some of them will have you nodding your head in agreement, and some of them will leave you speechless.

So is it wrong to lie to your kids? After all aren't we trying to teach them to be honest? We reprimand them when we catch them out in a lie, but maybe they learned that behavior from us. Don’t kid yourself that your children don’t know that you lie. What about when you are paying admission in the museum and you claim your five year old is only four so they get in for free – newsflash, that’s a lie! When they overhear you telling your mom you loved the sweater she bought you, but your kids were there when you returned it – that’s a fib too!

Kids are like sponges; they are soaking up all the information around them and processing it for their own use. So when they fib about breaking a vase, ask yourself where they got that idea from?!

So before you start getting mad at one political party for lying, they are all doing it. I would like to think that sometimes it’s accidental, but I no longer believe in the Easter Bunny either so I’m not buying it!