There are LIES and there are "sweet little lies". I never told my kids flat out LIES, but I did tell a few "sweet little lies". I started thinking about this yesterday when a student shared with me that her mom told her that whenever the ice cream truck was playing music, it meant they were out of ice cream for the day.
I'm sorry, but that's pure GENIUS!
Here's another great one... When a friend's child was obsessed with a certain website, she blocked the site and told him that it was only open on Fridays. Yep, she unblocked the site every Friday morning and then blocked it at the end of the day! Again, GENIUS!
Or how about this one... Another friend really didn't want her kids eating fast food and told her kids that you had to be invited to eat at McDonald's and that they hadn't received an invitation yet. Her kids told their grandparents this and the next time her inlaws visited, they came through the door so excited because they had received an invite to McDonalds. They protected mom and dad by saying right now, only grandparents were getting invitations and they weren't sure when they'd open up for families with children.
Genius right?
Finally, one that John and I came up with after seeing how quickly our kids forgot about their Christmas gifts. We told them that after you turned 3 or 4 years old, (the age of our kids at that time) Santa brought trips and family memories instead of toys. That Christmas morning they woke up to an itinerary for a complete weekend of fun events in a town that was less than an hour's drive away. We jammed the schedule with lots of great experiences and actually ended up spending less than we often did on gifts. The kids still remember and talk about those adventures. I'd wager that they don't remember a specific toy they ever received.
So, I want to know... what "sweet little lies" have you told your kids?
I'm sorry, but that's pure GENIUS!
Here's another great one... When a friend's child was obsessed with a certain website, she blocked the site and told him that it was only open on Fridays. Yep, she unblocked the site every Friday morning and then blocked it at the end of the day! Again, GENIUS!
Or how about this one... Another friend really didn't want her kids eating fast food and told her kids that you had to be invited to eat at McDonald's and that they hadn't received an invitation yet. Her kids told their grandparents this and the next time her inlaws visited, they came through the door so excited because they had received an invite to McDonalds. They protected mom and dad by saying right now, only grandparents were getting invitations and they weren't sure when they'd open up for families with children.
Genius right?
Finally, one that John and I came up with after seeing how quickly our kids forgot about their Christmas gifts. We told them that after you turned 3 or 4 years old, (the age of our kids at that time) Santa brought trips and family memories instead of toys. That Christmas morning they woke up to an itinerary for a complete weekend of fun events in a town that was less than an hour's drive away. We jammed the schedule with lots of great experiences and actually ended up spending less than we often did on gifts. The kids still remember and talk about those adventures. I'd wager that they don't remember a specific toy they ever received.
So, I want to know... what "sweet little lies" have you told your kids?
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