It's not medicine, it's a milkshake! and other lies I tell my kids

I have no problem lying to my kids.

I know some people do but I really, really don't.

And my fibs are not necessarily restricted to my kids ...

I generally don't agree with telling big lies, for example "I did not have sexual relations with that woman", but I do think that white lies are the social lubrication that make the world go around just that bit more easily.

Afterall, there are a lot of us on the planet and we need to get on.

For that reason I really can't see a problem with telling someone you like their haircut when they look like the have a pudding bowl on their head. I just can't see what is accomplished by telling the truth. It's not like they can fix their hair.

This is particularly true when dealing with small children.

God knows you can't reason with them so sometimes it just makes the day easier if you tell a small lie.

I was thinking about lies and lies by omission recently when I was trying to pursuade my three-year-old to take some medicine.

He was sick, he needed it to feel better, I needed him to take it so I could get some sleep and he just wouldn't swallow the stuff.

Luckily my son loves milkshakes so I waited a decent interval so he wouldn't realise my deception and then lovely Mummy very kindly offered to make him a blue milkshake. With a straw and icecream and everything.

Half an hour later, feeling much better, my son was sound asleep thanks to the curative effects of the Demazin hidden in the milkshake.

To my astonishment, my husband was not altogether approving of my deception (which was irritating because I thought I deserved praise for my genius parenting).

He acknowledged that my son needed the medicine and he didn't have a better idea of how to get him to drink it, but some part of him didn't like the way I tricked our son.

This week I was reading Mrs Woogs hilarious blog about the scary lady (made up by Mrs Woog in an attempt to control her kids) who lived around the corner and took the kids who were too naughty for their parents to handle, and it got me thinking about the lies we tell our kids ... including, but not limited to, its not medicine, it's a milkshake!

What lies have you told your kids?