Fess up: what fibs do you tell your children? - £200 voucher to be won.

[EllieSmumsnet]

What fibs do you tell your children to make parenting a little bit easier? From saying carrots help you see in the dark, to pretending the ice cream van has run out when the music plays – three-quarters of parents admit they tell little white lies to their children.

But with criminals becoming increasingly sophisticated, it’s more difficult to spot when someone’s telling you a big lie. In the run up to Christmas, fraudsters will try to trick you with “too good to be true” deals on products that never materialise. One in four parents have been tricked by a purchase scam, so don’t get caught out this festive season!

• Share your family fibs in the thread below to be entered into a prize draw.
• One lucky winner will win a £200 voucher for a store of their choice.

Here is what the Take Five to Stop Fraud campaign has to say:

“Stay alert to criminals targeting you with purchase scams. Only 26% of parents always research a new retailer before making a purchase, but doing your homework this Christmas season could help protect you from scammers.

Use secure payment methods recommended by reputable retailers and be wary of bank transfers. Pay by credit card for purchases over £100 if you can.

Shop savvy in the lead up to Christmas, find out more about protecting yourself from purchase scams at: www.takefive-stopfraud.org.uk”

I know this is awful, but my youngest was being asked for kisses by boys in her class. She said yes to one and then had impetigo the week after. I may have suggested a link ..its worked to reduce the boy kissing though 😅

When my eldest was little I told him he needed to stay away from the swans as their favourite food was little boys’ fingers… (he always wanted to run up to stroke or hug them).

Obviously worked as many years later we were out for a family walk and I overheard ds1 (mid teens) admonishing ds2 (early teens) to stay away from the nearby swans as they liked to eat boys fingers… 🤣🦢🖐️

i Also managed to inadvertently tell a fib to ds2…. Talking about foods we liked/didn’t and said that ds2 liked fish. He was horrified, said he hated it. Nope, I countered, you love fish fingers. Well duh, it’s not like they have fish in he replied.
Pointed out that of course they do, why did he think they were called FISH fingers? His reply - ‘It never occurred to me they had fish in, just like they don’t have fingers in. Wait - do they have fingers in too?’

Had to explain that it was real fish in small thin strips that gave rise to the name, not that they looked like bad impersonations of gold fish. And that were no real fingers involved either.

10 years later and he still hasn’t touched another fish finger - and he still hasn’t forgiven me for (inadvertly fibbing) about the fact that fish fingers didn’t have fish in!

I used to tell my son that his cottage pie had no carrots or onions (i'd grated them into the mince) It's the only way I could get veg into him at an early age (he eats ANYTHING now)

Wow I'm boring 😳 I don't tell them about Santa or the tooth fairy or places being closed or foods giving them superpowers (though we do talk about what different foods actually do in your body - which is kind of like the foods having superpowers I guess. Maybe I'll start phrasing it like that!) I genuinely thought parents weren't telling their kids fibs any more, because I only have one friend who does!
I do tell them that their dad really wishes he could play with them all day and is so disappointed he has to go to the office, which is sadly a total fabrication. But I think he manages to get his dislike of them across well enough without me chipping in 😞

We weren't particularly well off when we had our kids, but I told them we were really quite poor and couldn't afford much, so they never badgered us whilst shopping etc.

We had holidays and the like, but they were brilliant, never asked for expensive toys at Christmas and as a result they pretty much got what they asked for.

At the risk of my 4 year old accusing me of 'fraud' I have to admit that I have told him a little fib that our pet rabbit ( that died ) is still at the rabbit hospital ( the vet ) so I don't have to deal with the heartache that losing our beloved pet bunny rabbit will cause my son!

I usually don't lie them but I am like "this morning we have eggs for breakfast as last night we got to sleep so late and you are so tired, so you'll need proteins to help you until back home", "it's good if you have porridge today as they had fibres and help your digestion " and many more😀

I told them when asked that I tried smoking when I was younger but didn't like it but actually I smoked for years and years a LOT and at the time did like it. 👀 I only gave up when TTC.

That their Dad loves them.

My parents had me convinced that the ends of chocolate bars were poisonous to children, so they always took care of them for me.

I used to fib all the time to mine when they were younger. The cartoons have gone to bed, the park is closed for cleaning, I'm falling asleep and couldn't possibly read another story...

Thunder and lightening is old mother Riley putting her lights on after falling out of bed - makes them less scared

Eating crusts makes your hair curly

Me and husband are scout leaders. We have sent our DD to each other to ask on many of occasion for various things such as Alan's keys, sky hooks a long wait.

Some of these are great. I'm taking note 😆

i tell my dd when she's playing up to the point of no return that i'm going to call her teacher and tell her.

It may or may not be true, but have said you only grow in your sleep so DS should go to bed early.

I tell them places are closed when I don't want to take them.

Sorry the trampoline park is closed today, they have no heating!

Mine may sound a bit mean but I was really struggling at the time with a tantrum prone daughter. Bath-times were an absolute nightmare as she would always refuse to get out and it would end up as a big long emotional battle. I made up the "Getting Out of the Bath Spiders" who would come up the plug hole once the water was draining. She was out like a shot each time I said it was time for the plug to come out. It's very much a family joke now but worked a treat at the time.

Coke is alcoholic;
Milk is ice cream flavoured milkshake;
Mummy has been to the doctor and had her ears changed, so she can't hear whinging or shouting.

Only very poor people have open top cars as they can't afford one with a roof.

I told my daughter that the plane flying over the water park on her birthday had a banner wishing her a happy birthday from mummy and daddy, it was advertising a local fun park....

I tell my boys that the TV turns off at 6 and doesn't work until the morning

Mummy Knows Everything

covers most needs, but has at various times been be supplemented with:

Fireman Sam's gone to bed

Everyone has a wee before bed. Even the Queen. It's the law.

Father Christmas doesn't come if you're awake. See also: the cat will only snuggle up with you if you lie completely still (little bugger wouldn't care if you were kicking and screaming)

I was late in bed so I'm a bit tired today

My little one is learning to talk, and one if her fave words is Gone...so mysteriously I'm able to tell her that the chocolate/noisy toy etc is all Gone and she's fine with it, cos she can say it 😆