CREATIVE LITTLE WHITE LIES

I was reading this article on CNN the other day.  At first I was like, "What are white lies?"  Then I found out that those are statements that parents tell to produce a favorable result without harming the children.  Hmmmmmmm, I scratched my head a bit reading the last part about "without harming the children."  It surely rang my bells by now.


So to share a little giggle with you, here are some of my favorites from the article:

• Ice cream truck is actually a music truck that plays music for people to enjoy during summer.
• Fortune cookies at the Chinese restaurants say things that the parents would say like, "Your bedtime tonight is 15 minutes earlier."
• Certain toys "live" at the store and there for visitation only.  Hmm, can I use this on Marcel?  
• Veggies can make you strong.  At the end of the meal, let the child lift your arm with one finger.  Hmmm, can I also use this on Marcel?
• The cookies are kinda spicy (so that the parent can have them all for herself LOL).  HAHAHA, such a liar!!!
• The vacuum cleaner will suck up all the toys (so that they clean up after themselves).  This is kind of note to self, Yanny!!!!  Marcel would really LOVE to use this on me.

But, like I said, it kinda rang my bell too.  Growing up as the youngest of four with 14 years difference between me and my oldest sibling, I was always the constant victim of white lies.  For example:

• My mom said, "Do not sit on a pillow or your butt will have a boil (a.k.a. bisul)!"  Believing in this got me and Marcel a little "conversation" when I saw him sitting on a pillow to give an extra padding while sitting on the carpet.  What my mom really meant was that it's impolite to put your butt where you place your head on.  But Marcel couldn't believe that I still bought that lie even when I'm already in my mid 20's.  HEY, some stuff you learned when you're little just stick around for good you know.  So I'm not sure when they say that white lies will do no harm to the children.  Boooooooo them!  
• My grandma said, "Don't drink water while lying on the bed or your head will be big and you will look like a mushroom ... small body with big head!"  Yeah, what she meant was good.  She didn't want me to choke.  But ......
• My older sisters went to Bandung for high school.  One day, they came home talking like this, "Ipinipi apadepek kipitapa kopoq ipidupungnyapa pepesepek pipisapan!"  And they were laughing so hard after that.  I was amazed at that and asked, "Cici, what are you guys talking about?"  And my sisters said, "Oh, we're speaking English!!!!  Wanna learn it too?"  Yeah, and for awhile, I believe that that's English.  You couldn't believe how proud I was to be one of the youngest kids in Sukabumi to be able to "speak English."  And living in a secluded tiny village didn't really help me there.  HAHAHA.

I could go on and on with my list here.  But I'll stop here to avoid further embarrassment.  HAHA.

Now, let's switch gear to the present time.  Having read the definition of white lies and hearing examples, I must confess that I have been unconsciously doing white lies too.  

• The other day Maxie refused to put on his new swimsuit before swimming.  We asked, "Maxie, do you want to swim?"  He answered, "Yaaaa."  But when we're trying to put the swimsuit on, he wiggled his whole body that the swimsuit kept coming off.  Then, a black squirrel was hopping around the pool.  Fortunately, Maxie's new swimsuit is also black.  And I said, "Ohh Maxie, look at the squirrel!!!  See, he has black fur on to play around the pool.  And look at Akel and Ani, we're both wearing black swimsuit too.  Maxie wants to put on your black swimsuit now?"  Phewwwwwwwwwww, that solved the issue.  We were able to play and swim joyfully for the next 1.5 hours.  :-)  
• Last time, Maxie couldn't stop playing in the elevator at a mall.  When Marcel carried him to head out to the car, Maxie would crawl down and ran back to the elevator (which he calls as "on please" hahha).  We tried to talk him through, "Three more times, OK?" but it didn't work.  Finally, we decided to play scavenger hunt with him.  "Maxie, let's race to find the door!"  "Maxie, let's race to find the stairs."  "Maxie, how about let's find another door?"  Now that we were outside of the mall already, "Maxie, let's go find Akel's car!"  Whoaaaaaaa, it was so much fun with the small tippie toes inside the mall.  And finally we're able to head out to the next destination with Maxie's still giggling inside the car of the fun he had from the scavenger hunt game.

Ayy yaaa yaaa.  I guess I have to be more careful so that the white lies I tell are really for the good of the kids instead of for my own selfishness.

Have you been a victim of white lies like me?  Do you have white lies you often tell (to kids, your boss, parents, spouse, friends, teacher) to talk your way out?  Share 'em!!!  Would love to hear 'em.

May this turn your frown upside down!