Should Mom Lie?

keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking lies. Psalm 34:13

Are you ever tempted to tell little lies to your children? Or do you do it without thinking? I have found that this is fairly universal. We think, 'he doesn't need to know that' or 'it will just cause more questions/confusion' or 'I'm not sure I'm ready to deal with this' or, simply, 'I'm too tired right now.'

The questions from children and situations we face where we have to come up with answers to things in the spur of the moment. Sometimes we do well. Sometimes we don't. Sometimes I simply don't want to get into whatever it is their asking about.

Yet, we have made conscious decisions not to lie to our children. These are the easy things for us. Our children know the truth about Santa Clause and the Tooth Fairy and Easter Bunny. We chose, in part, not to feed these fantasies so that our children will not be able to come back to us one day and say, "but you lied to me!" We don't have a problem with families who continue these traditions, it is fun and everyone enjoys it. It's a choice we've made that works for us.

When our children ask us direct questions about the world around them, often the answers are easy and straight forward. Other times they are not. How do we handle these? Do we tell the truth and nothing but the truth? The whole truth? Or tell them it's something they don't need to know at this point in their young life? Or, do we tell a partial truth or a "little white lie" to survive the moment? I can answer "E." All of the above.

However, God calls us to be truthful. We are not to give false testimony. We are to keep lying from our lips. This is not easy, but God would not call us to do so if it weren't important. He also willingly gives us the ability to do so if He calls us to do so. This is where "praying without ceasing" and "pray about everything" come in handy. Nothing we face is a surprise or new to God. He has a perfect will for us in everything, including how we handle difficult questions from our five or seven or thirteen year olds. If we seek Him in our quiet times and in our questioning times, "... God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:19