The lies we tell our children

Cherry

By jennifer

Wed, 06 Sep 2023
  • 665 reads
6 comments
 

The lies we tell our children

Jennifer Pickup, 05.09.2023

 

Honesty is the best policy,

Isn’t that what we teach?

Then why do parents find it so hard

To practice what they preach?

 

There are the lies we tell our children

To make them sleep at night:

There are no monsters under the bed,

The bed bugs will not bite.

 

Then we mix up our mythologies,

Religion bastardised:

Father Christmas, the Easter Bunny,

What happens when one dies.

 

Milk teeth hidden under pillows reap

A fairy cash reward,

And below rainbows, pots of gold are

Sat waiting to be scored.

 

Want to see in the dark? Eat carrots.

You can win if you’re slow…

Birthday candles will grant your wishes –

Just close your eyes and blow.

 

Cheese gets all of the blame for nightmares,

Eat crusts and your hair curls,

Bad luck’s in cracks and under ladders,

All oysters produce pearls.

 

So, throw salt over your left shoulder,

Peel apples in one piece,

Say your prayers before you go to bed,

Weave spells with your belief.

 

But the worst lie – has it left your lips?

We say it all the time:

‘Everything’s going to be alright.’

But telling it’s a crime.

 

All the lies we tell our children are

The same lies we were told,

For what goes around comes back around

To mock us when we’re old.

 

Please throw caution to the listening winds,

And simply tell the truth,

Or your kids will learn that people lie…

You know – you are the proof.

Certificate PG
Poem
Storm on the Horizon (2023-2024)
Philosophy
Opinion

Comments

Submitted by Rhiannonw on

Very perceptive. When I was young, I remember saying to my sister, that well, if it wasn't really fairies bringing money with the teeth (which I'd been told, presumably), then maybe Mum and Dad were 'Father Christmas'. She said, Yes, and I felt shattered and disappointed and angry.  So, I told my Mum the next day, that if what she'd told me about Father Christmas wasn't true, maybe what she'd told me about Jesus wasn't either. She felt awful, and ashamed, I think.

Children need answers about when things aren't alright, and sadly, if parents don't really know to pray and trust, they can't really give their children helpful guidance. Rhiannon

 

Submitted by jennifer on

...to lead by example. Parents weave some lovely myths for children but it's a crashing disappointment and betrayal when they discover the truth, and that they've been lied to. Leave the storytelling to the storytellers!

J x

 

Submitted by Di_Hard on

I liked this very much.
I smugly believed for years that I had kept the belief of Father Christmas alive for my son, only to have him tell me he worked it out when he was tiny, but also worked out he should keep pretending he believed or I would stop buying Father Christmas's presents for him :0)
The question you raise is so interesting! Thinking about it, I wonder if the term white lies is why - they brighten the darkness of the real world, they are a soft nest of white feathers, before children fly the nest, to be remembered when they are in a dark dark storm

 

Submitted by jennifer on

...it taught your son to lie to you, which was acceptable in his eyes because you lied to him, and he learnt that the social norm was to maintain lies in order to benefit from them. Not a criticism, just an observation - I'm guilty of being a part of these white lies from both sides! Do these 'white lies' brighten the darkness of the real world or ultimately deepen it? An interesting conundrum, indeed.

J x

 

Submitted by Dynamaso on

Ah, yes, the white lies we believe will keep kids on the straight and narrow. Nice to be reading your work again. Good one, this.

 

Submitted by jennifer on

I write when the words flow, or when I can't stop my mind overflowing!

The trouble is, the more I think about the question I've raised with this poem, the more I worry about it! The perils of being in a position to influence children's behaviour and thinking!

J x