Today, Moody Mom and I are guest-posting on one another’s blogs. Our topic today is little white lies we’ve told our kids. To read my confessional post, head on over to Moody Mom’s blog! And now, without further ado, I present Moody Mom:

How many of you have told your kids little white lies just to get them to shut up? Today I would like to share 2 of the most ingenious white lies I have told Bear.

Little White Lie #1 –
Bear took a liking to McDonald’s at a very young age. Every time we would ask where she wanted to eat, she would say McDonald’s and every time we drove by one of their many locations she would ask if we could go to McDonald’s. I was sick and tired of hearing her ask to go there and then fussing when we said no.

One Sunday after church we were driving by the Mc’s on McCain and sure enough I hear, “Mommy, can we go to Donald’s?’ Without even batting an eye I blurted out, “Not today honey, they are closed.” It worked. She just answered, “OK, Mommy.”

From then on every time we drove by Mc’s Bear would ask if we could eat there and I would answer, “Not today honey, they are closed,” and she would say OK and go back to looking at her books or listening to music.

As she got older, she asked why they were always closed and I would tell her
maybe we needed to call ahead next time.

Don’t judge me. I would take her every 3 weeks or so. I just did not want to go through her fussing when I said no.

This worked like a charm till Bear was about 4 years old. We were driving by the same McDonald’s where I first starting “tricking” her and she asked to go eat at Donald’s. I answered with my standard “Not today honey, they are closed.” Bear got quiet for a moment and then answered, “Then why are all those cars in the parking lot?” I was BUSTED!

I can’t remember if we stopped that day or not, but I do remember Bear asking
me if I had been tricking her. I fessed up and told her that yes, I have. Bear informed me that she was too old to fall for that anymore.

Little White Lie #2 –
Bear loves cats and I am not a cat person, I am more of a dog person. A big
dog person, my favorite breed is Rotties.

About 3 years ago she started bugging me about getting her a kitty. I told her our dog, Shelby, did not like cats. That worked until Shelby died of cancer.

So then I told her cats would scratch little girls. That worked until she told me about the kittens at Mallory’s party who did not scratch her once.

At that point I was sick of hearing about kittens and just blurted out, “Mommy is allergic to kittens.” I felt bad at first because that is in no way true, but it worked. She no longer asked to have a cat.

When we went anywhere there was a cat, Bear would tell me “Don’t get too close, <ommy, you are allergic to cats.” She would also tell the person with the cat to not get too close to mommy, cats make her sick.

To this day Bear has not asked for a kitten since.

Do I feel bad for these white lies? A little, but that does not make me a bad mother. Just a creative one.

See, Mom, a perfectly harmless kitty!

Please, can I have one?