Did Your Parents Tell You The Same Fibs That You Tell Your Kids?

Carrots help you see in the dark and crusts make your hair curly – why do parents tell these little sweet fibs?

Growing up my parents told me that the power-station were cloud factories. So I grew-up believing that those fluffy clouds were made by men and women in the big factories by the side of the motorway.

I look back at the fib fondly as it is one of those harmless little white lies, one that I will pass on to my son’s. Parents all over the world tell these little whether it’s for the child’s own good, to save money or just for a quiet life, there aren't many parents who haven't lied to their children at some point.

A study conducted by Voucher-Cloud revealed that 93% of parents in the UK admitted to knowingly telling lies or mistruths to their children.

The study that asked 1375 UK parents with children under the age of 10, revealed that the most told fib was the classic ice-cream van fib. Closely followed by “if you pull that face, it’ll stay that way” and “Watching TV will give you square eyes” to the top spot.

Interestingly the study found that for two fifths of parents (41%), saving money was their main motivation, followed by efforts to encourage good behaviour in their children (27%), and simply wanting to avoid nagging (26%).

Whilst these little lies should be used in moderate to avoid a conflict, they truth sometimes needs to be told in the end. Another parental study suggests that we actually fib more than we think, an average of 100 times a year!

So with the above in mind I asked the internet to tell me what lies they would be passing onto their children and i was rewarded with some brilliant answers from both Twitter and Facebook:

@TheYorkshireDad @HuffPoUKParents That it's against the law to put children's programmes on after 6pm. And I believed them! 😂

— Ricky Willis (@SkintDadUK) May 27, 2015

@TheYorkshireDad @HuffPoUKParents penguin biscuits in green wrappers have more choc.on than the rest

— clare (@dixiechix78) May 27, 2015

@TheYorkshireDad @HuffPoUKParents that you had to mind your head when you went under a bridge in the car on the motorway!

— MummyBexM (@Mummybexm) May 27, 2015

@TheYorkshireDad Mine told us liver was steak, because we wouldn't eat liver but would eat steak. We didn't know the difference lol

— Keely Wilkinson (@Keely_79) May 26, 2015

@TheYorkshireDad @HuffPoUKParents that carrots help you see in the dark!

— TheLittleToyBoutique (@TheLToyBoutique) May 27, 2015

@TheYorkshireDad crusts will make your hair curl. Won't pass it on, don't want to set my dd up for a life of straight haired disappointment

— Bec (@becb1984) May 27, 2015

@TheYorkshireDad when seatbelts came into use we were told the car would break down if they weren't fastened.

— NotJustAnotherMum (@NotAnotherMum) May 27, 2015

@TheYorkshireDad @HuffPoUKParents gold fish died and told back to pet shop to teach baby fish to swim and I said same to daughter

— shona mackie (@shonamackie) May 27, 2015

@TheYorkshireDad that my face would stay like that if the wind changed!

— Simon Aitchison (@OriginalAitchy) May 26, 2015

What lies were you told as a kid and will you passing them onto your little ones?