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As someone who still devours bread crusts in the hope it'll make her hair curly, I can attest: those little white lies parents tell their children can have a lasting effect.
Why do parents tell their offspring something that isn't true? Well, the reasons vary from trying to improve their behaviour ('Santa Clause is watching!) to their diet ('Eat up those carrots, and you'll be able to see in the dark!') to just not having a clue what to say when they ask you those totally awkward questions.
The top white lie told to kids has to be about their pets after one dies or has gone missing, when “Your pet has gone to live on a farm in the countryside” is employed.
And then there are the common lies ALL parents tell like Father Christmas, the Tooth Fairy or the Easter Bunny or replacing a child’s dead pet with an identical looking one!
We've compiled a list of the top 20 white lies we tell our kids - do you agree?
Father Christmas is watching you
We’ll see
We’re almost there
We’ll come back another time
Carrots will make you see in the dark
I always know when you’re lying
We can come back and buy that toy next time
I didn’t bring my purse with me today
If you watch the television too much, your eyes will go square
If you keep making that face, the wind will change, and it will freeze
If you tell lies, your nose will grow
If you touch it, it will break
They don’t sell replacement batteries for that toy
If you swallow chewing gum, it stays in your stomach for seven years
There are fairies at the bottom of the garden
When the ice cream truck plays that music, it’s run out of ice cream
If you leave the house with wet hair, you’ll get sick
This is medicine; you wouldn’t like it
Father Christmas prefers a beer and crisps to a mince pie and milk
Your pet went to live on a farm in the country
Nicole Kidman, Reese Witherspoon and Shailene Woodley star in the upcoming series, Big Little Lies – a tale of three mothers whose apparently perfect lives unravel to the point of murder. Big Little Lies starts at 9pm on 13 March, exclusively on Sky Atlantic.
Big Little Lies ©2017 Home Box Office, Inc. All rights reserved. HBO® and all related programs are the property of Home Box Office, Inc.
