...Why Parents Lie To Their Children About People Who Don't Exist!

"Eating carrots would make your eyesight better, and then you'll be able to see in the dark!"
"If you don't eat your greens, the big bad wolf is going to come and have you for breakfast!"
"If you don't make Mommy a card for Mother's Day, you will be forever alone and no one will ever love you!"

We've all heard lies like these before (though I sincerely hope that none of you have heard the third one). Parents lie to their children all the time, mostly to get their children to do what they want them to do. As a child, you are incapable of knowing what is best for you and therefore it is your parents job to decide what you should be doing or eating. If such lies didn't exist, half of us wouldn't be eating spinach, the other half would have super weird sleeping habits and I think brussels sprouts would have become extinct by now.

Parents also lie to protect themselves from having extremely awkward and unnecessary conversations with their children - "oh no dear, Daddy is sleeping on the sofa because that way he can talk to the magical elves at night". I once read that there was this kid who was watching TV with his dad and an ad about condoms came on. As inquisitive as children are, she asked what those rubbery things were and her dad told her they were used to protect cow's udders. This is all so very understandable - children at that age do not need to know about the birds and the bees and what not.

However, there is an aspect of lying to children that confuses me. After viewing this matter in a strictly logical point of view, I question why it is that parents lie to their children about Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy and all the other famous fictional characters. Aren't you basically setting them up to fall? Do you know how devastated some children are when they find that it's just their dad stuck in the chimney? That it was their mother who drank all the milk and ate all the cookies? That the Tooth Fairy doesn't exist? Dreams are shattered. Trust is broken. Life is never the same. And for what? Nothing. You may as well nip the bud instead of letting your children be immersed in these lies.

Although it is impossible to eradicate this sort of behaviour, nor is it ethical and acceptable to ban these figures from a child's life, just take a moment and think - can't we just tell our kids the truth about Santa etc. to begin with? I never believed in any of these figures and I've had a wonderful childhood.