I lie to my children all the time. That's right. On a regular basis, I tell the most bold faced lies to my sweet children. Plenty of you have done it too. These are some of the things I lie about:
"Mommy, how does Santa have enough money to pay the elves?"
"Is the tooth fairy going to get all my teeth?"
"Will the Easter Bunny leave chocolate and gum this year?"
The worst feeling was the moment I had to confess the truth to Hadley. She came home from school in the third grade with big tears in her eyes one day. Another child at school had told her that Santa wasn't real. She looked up at me and asked, "Is Santa real? Please don't lie to me Mommy."
That was the moment I realized I had been lying to her. Before that moment, I thought of Santa, the Easter Bunny, and the Tooth Fairy as harmless little tales. Hadley made it clear to me though. I had lied to her, and her feelings were hurt. The hurt was two pronged. On one side, she had realized that a fantasy was only a fantasy and not reality. On the other side, she realized that I had been untruthful.
I have kept the deception going though since Ella and Layton were younger than Hadley and didn't hear from Mallory about the reality of Christmas presents. Ella and Layton both believe in Santa, the Easter Bunny, etc. When is it appropriate to come clean with children? How do I go about telling them that Mommy is a dirty, rotten liar who wanted to make holidays seem magical?