SOMETIMES we tell them to avert a crisis, sometimes because the kids are just too young to be told the raw truth, and sometimes because it’s the first thing to come to our lips when they ask a question. They’re the little white lies we tell our kids to stop a meltdown in public, stop them asking for things when we don’t have any money, or even avoid uncomfortable conversations.

Parents say, while it’s important to be honest, sometimes just a little fib will be the difference between keeping their sanity and wrestling with a sassy little tot.

They share some of the boldest lies they’ve told their children, all in the name of keeping the peace.

Keisha, 40:

We drive by KFC everyday to get home, and I don’t know at what point my toddler realised what was sold there (I never buy it for her), but she began asking for ‘Cape C’ one day, and just never stopped. Turns out that it was what the school offered as an alternative for lunch on Fridays, and she was hooked. Anyway, I told her that the one we passed only sold vegetables, unlike the one she got at school. That worked until she was about seven, when her new school went on a field trip and stopped there for lunch, and she came home and called me out for lying to her all those years.

Samantha, 36:

When she started losing her teeth around age six they were all happening too close together and I didn’t have enough money to be leaving cash under her pillow each time. I had some money from Nigeria that I couldn’t change here, and I started leaving them for her and told her that the tooth fairy had migrated to Africa. She kept the money and the notes about dental hygiene from the tooth fairy for years, and only once did she comment on how the tooth fairy’s handwriting was so similar to mine.

Kimeisha, 38:

I told my daughter that the wine I drink when I’m stressed is mummy’s juice and it keeps me healthy and strong, like her milk does for her. We were in the supermarket the other day trying to get some items and passed by the wine display they had up for Father’s Day. She: “Mummy, there’s your juice.” I quickly wheeled the trolley away as the whole store turned to look at me.

Leslie, 45:

I told her that if she cried too much and too often her tears would finish and she wouldn’t have any left for when she was really hurt. That would stop the crying, and each time she would try to control just how much tears came. I think it’s when she was in grade five or six that she found out the truth and confronted me about it.

Shavoy, 43:

I would spend Christmas Eve each year tracking Santa on the Norad app and on Google and would show her what time he was expected to pass over Jamaica, but told her he would change his route if she was awake and delay the process. When she’d wake up Christmas Day I’d show her the exact time he came on Google. My poor, sweet daughter is now in high school, and it was her first-form teacher who told her there was no Santa, so long had she believed in the guy from the North Pole.

Tiffany, 35:

My three-year-old will only eat chicken, not because she necessarily knows it tastes different from other meats but because, for some reason, she’s averse to eating the other meats. She will also not eat chicken feet or wings, just the “chicken body”. Lol. So what we do is tell her that she’s eating chicken body when the meal is fish, beef, or pork, and she will have it. Once we say it’s not chicken, she won’t touch it.