When my son was nearing the end of primary school, he admitted that he’d known for many years that Santa was, in fact, just his parents sneaking around on Christmas Eve, and that he’d kept the ruse going because he hoped it meant double the presents. At the time, I laughed and reassured him the present count wouldn’t change just because he’d busted me. But afterwards, it got me thinking about why I’d lied in the first place and why I’d kept it going for so long.
Teenagers are biologically driven to break away from their parents. Credit: Getty Images It wasn’t only the concept of Santa that I introduced to my children. I also wrote letters from fairies, left a coin under their pillows when they lost a tooth, and hid Easter eggs around the house.
As soon as my children were old enough to believe, I began lying to them. It is not only adults who lie ; children do too. In fact, it is an important developmental stage when children understand their parents cannot read their minds, and so they begin inventing untruths.
When he was little, my son would eat all the biscuits in the jar and then feign surprise when I asked about it. I always knew it was him, but he tried hard to make me think it was his sister, his dad or even the rat that lived in the backyard. Loading As parents, we are masters at justifying why we should lie to our children.
I know I have lied to exert control when I am afraid for them. We lecture on the dangers of alcohol, smoking and drugs like we’v.