18 People Online Share The Lies That Their Parents Told Them And They Are Either Hilarious, Pure Genius, Or Scary

Parents typically lie because of their child's uncontrollable behaviors.

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• Published in Interesting
• June 17, 2022

A lot of parents tell children lies to correct their behavior. This was admitted by families during a study conducted in the United States and China.

Parents often threaten to leave children behind in public places if they don't behave (Of course, parents don't actually do so). They also try to convince children to live healthily by lying to them about the bad effects of refusing to eat veggies.

Although lying to your children may seem harsh, it is usually a harmless part of parenting. In American families, what they call "instrumental lying" is being practiced by 84% of the respondents, according to The International Journal of Psychology.

Parents lie to their kids for a variety of reasons, including avoiding an awkward situation or ending a public outburst. Generally speaking, it's up to the parent to decide the extent of lies they'll tell their children.

The fictional story of Santa Claus, for example, is well-known, and the little ones often hear it from their parents, which is fine as long as you're not threatening them with St. Nick! According to research published in Child Psychiatry and Human Development, children who eventually learned the truth about Santa Claus had a positive reaction to the news.

Today, we're looking at the lies told by parents according to online users. We compiled 18 of the best ones from an AskReddit thread.

When we were kids, parents would lie to us because of how mischievous we were.

Recently a redditor asked the community.

A user named bordemstirs posted this question:

What is the most ridiculous/fucked up lie your parents told you?

The lies parents told were unbelievably genius, some were sweet, and others were hands down evil.

1. Birthday slushies!

My birthday is the 11th of July. The gas station 7-Eleven gives away free slushies on 7/11. When I was 7, 8, and 9 years old, my parents just told me that the 7-Eleven wanted to celebrate my birthday by giving me free slushies, and I did not question it. I thought the gas station just really liked me!

2. Scary!

That if I ate too much candy, ants would come out of my ass.

3. Now it's obvious when this kid lied.

That my eyes turned orange when I lied. I always covered my eyes when I lied so my mom couldn’t see them!

4. Poor Barney.

My dad got fed up of watching Barney & Friends when I was a kid, so one day when I asked to watch it, he said: 'You can't. Barney died.

5. How to keep children behave inside the car

My parents said that my siblings and I had a sister named Alice. Apparently, she wouldn't stop talking in the car, so they dropped her off on the side of the road. We never spoke on road trips ever again.

6. If the kid doesn't want to leave the zoo

My parents told me we had to leave the zoo because they let the animals out at closing time.

7. Remembering the good old days

Around the time that Toy Story first came out, my dad drove an Infiniti and he told us that he could press a button and go 'to infinity and beyond' to jump over other cars. He'd have us close our eyes and press the button and he’d speed up and pass the car in front of us while our eyes were closed. As a kid, I thought he was magic.

8. How to stop kids from asking for ice cream every time

That the music meant the truck was out of ice cream.

9. How to lessen a child's pain

My cat died and my mom told me that he moved to Florida.

10. The Can

When I was a kid, my father told me about 'the can.' He said it contained a family secret of incredible value, and that when I turned 18, I could see it. On my 18th birthday, I asked my father about the can. He said 'The fuck is the can?' and after I reminded him of it, he burst out laughing, saying that he was fucking with me. For almost a decade, I believed that I would be privy to some cosmic secret on my 18th birthday. Turns out I'm just very impressionable.

11. Parents often used the authorities to scare children.

They told me kids came from a government agency called the CAA (Child Assignment Agency) and that they could exchange me whenever they want if I misbehaved. They told me they were eyeing a 'well-behaved little girl' but hadn't decided yet. They used it against me for years.

12. Imagine hearing this scary thing as child.

When I was little, my mom told me if I didn't finish my dinner, my stomach would get very hungry and come up and eat my brain. A few nights later, I woke her up at midnight crying because my stomach growled and I needed a second dinner or it would eat my brain.

13. How to stop kids from playing with the dome lights

That it’s illegal to turn the light on in the car while driving.

14. Be afraid, be very afraid of teeth goblins!

That if I didn't brush my teeth, tiny teeth goblins would sneak into my room at night and pull out my teeth while I slept. I was genuinely afraid of the teeth goblins!

15. This must've worked well.

If I ate too much Halloween candy, I'd turn into an Oompa Loompa.

16. No more pink cows.

There is no more strawberry milk ever. They killed all the pink cows (that's where strawberry milk comes from, obviously) to make the milk that I drank, and now they were all dead.

17. This dad is secretly evil.

When my dad wanted me to stop bothering him, he would send me on aimless errands. He'd say stuff like, 'Go to the shed and get me the chain stretcher.' I’d be looking for hours.

18. Children were always afraid of seeds growing inside them

I was told that watermelon seeds would grow inside me and sprout out of my head if I swallowed them. Needless to say, I cried until I threw up when I accidentally swallowed watermelon seeds.

Lying to children is okay, but only to some extent.

Overusing instrumental lying can negatively impact a child's behavior. In a research by the Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, it was found that there is a tendency for individuals to lie to their parents once they become adults.

Instead of lying, parents need to choose an alternative method to keep their children from misbehaving.

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