The funniest lies told to children - revealed

From dogs being undeveloped humans to staying quiet in the car to make the journey go quicker 

Kashmira Gander
Friday 13 November 2015 16:34 GMT
Comments
Parents tell lies to control children, avoid inappropriate questions, and sometimes just for fun...
Parents tell lies to control children, avoid inappropriate questions, and sometimes just for fun... (Monkey Business Images/REX Shutterstock)

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

Although parents might not always admit it out-loud, raising children can be exhausting and sometimes telling a little white lie can make life easier.

With the rise of social media and online forums, parents have more platforms than ever before to vent about the difficulties of the task at hand.

In a recent Reddit thread, users were invited to reveal the funniest lies they’ve told small children. Others took the chance to share the fibs they were fed when they were young.

The answers ranged from tricking children into being quiet, to elaborate tales about the origins of humanity.

Here are some of our favourites:

A recent study published in Developmental Science found that most parents admit to lying to their children, to make them behave or co-operate or to avoid answering questions deemed to be inappropriate.

Testing whether children pick up lying from adults, researchers found that school-age children were more likely to be untruthful after being lied to, while pre-schoolers were not affected.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in