white lies parents tell

It's often depicted that children make pretty terrible liars, especially small children. Their lies seem to get more elaborate with every sentence bordering on nonsensical but it's understandable for kids to mix reality with fantasy when concocting a story. Everyone knows they're making it up and generally corrects the little one before moving on with their day.

But what we don't hear enough about is the little white lies parents tell. Watching a parent spin a tale out of thin air when a child asks something uncomfortable is nearly identical to the elaborate stories kids tell to get out of trouble. There's uncomfortable stammering, lots of pauses and then a story so unbelievable that only a small child would believe it.

Lies like babies come from accidentally swallowed watermelon seeds or the stork drops them off. Fibs about the public park being closed on Sundays for maintenance or the sun being late for bed for the reason it's still light outside when a parent is trying to get a kid to sleep early. These lies seem harmless but for Moses, a dad of two, it was his wife's white lie that got him so strange looks at a school meeting.

Moses took to the internet to explain why his child nearly caused the family a visit from local authorities. He shares that his wife is his children's stepmother but the kids refer to her as mom. The woman is technically several years older than Moses but recently when it was her birthday she told the kids that she was turning 19.

smiling man carrying child and playing Photo by Humphrey Muleba on Unsplash

"Let me tell you why you should never lie to your children. It will always backfire in your face," Moses says upon opening the video. "I'm 31, my girl is 38, we're a blended family. I'm their biological father, she's bonus mommy but for all intents and purposes they literally call her mommy. The woman is a mom through and through."

Moses further explains that his wife thought it would be a "funny idea" to tell the kids she was turning 19 because "a lady never discloses her age." But that's where the shenanigans takes a turn. One of the younger children had an IEP meeting at school to which Moses attended but during the meeting the teachers were asking some questions he views as slightly invasive coupled with weird looks.

woman standing in front of children Photo by National Cancer Institute on Unsplash

"It was all fun and games until I went to the IEP meetings. I went to the IEP meetings by myself, Kim stayed home and I noticed that all of the teachers are looking at me sideways. I thought I was just being crazy, you know what I'm saying, being paranoid. No, no. Because the teachers then started asking me these weird questions," he says sharing they were sandwiched between compliments about his children.

But it turns out the picture his 6 year old drew was in fact seen by his teachers which shows the ages of the people in his family. Jaylen being 6, his brother being 8, his dad 31 and his mom being 19. That's when the puzzle pieces started to fit together for Moses. After the teacher pointed out the ages of the people in the portrait, it clicked that they thought his wife was the mother of his children and he got her pregnant when she was just 11 years old.

Of course this revelation came after one of the teachers asked how they met and he explains to them that they met years ago and started off as best friends. The entire time the teachers were thinking he had befriended a child. This fun little white lie quickly turned into the prelude to an episode of How to Catch a Predator.

Thankfully this is something easy to clear up especially given that little children often have no real idea of how old their parents are much of the time. Commenters could not get enough of the mix up while also wondering how on earth a team of teachers believed the given age of the mom without assuming it was a misunderstanding.

Horror No GIF by Scary MommyGiphy

"Kids should not be allowed to draw pictures about home life. I swear to God I got 7 kids and you have no idea what has been on the fridge and the wall of shame," one person shares.

"This is hilarious. But it also shows they care. They wanted to do their do diligence before they called you in," another points out.

"My daughters are half siblings to my son. They didn’t realize for several years that my husband was not bubbas daddy too. We didn’t lie per se, just didn’t seem important when they were little. My son was born when I was 21. When the older girl did the math when she was in 1st grade, she learned that when Bubba was born, Daddy was only 13!! She said Momma, why’d you marry Daddy when he was a kid!?!? I’m, cause me? The man was 26 when we met! I didn’t marry him when he was 13. She said but Bubba was born when Daddy was 13. & that boys and girls is how my girls learned they have a different daddy than their brother," another parent commiserates with Moses.

man holding boy's head Photo by Sebastián León Prado on Unsplash

"I did this to my mom. She told me she was like 30 something and I couldn't count that high so I thought it was made up. So she told me instead she was 16. I told all my teachers my mom was 16. I was like 4 or 5 so that's clearly disturbing," someone shares.

Just goes to show that sometimes white lies can turn into big fat life lessons but this will certainly be a story to save for a wedding speech one day.