Debate: Should Parent's Lie to their Children?

Just because this is a Friday the 13th Forum DOESNT mean we cant have debates and other discussions! So for a debate would it be alright or not alright if a parent lies to their children.

Ofcourse lets keep it civil and not heated as we are all adults!

Half of parenting is lying to your kids when you're protecting them from things they don't need to know or shouldn't be worrying about yet. Ultimately, it depends on the emotional maturity of the child and how they're able to process the reality of what's going on around them. It isn't even so much lying as omitting information the kids don't need to know until they're mature enough to process and understand the truth.

One of my favorite moments as a dad was the day my wife and I decided to finally tell our youngest son there wasn't a Santa Claus. My wife still didn't want to do it because she was worried he'd be devastated, but I decided to go ahead and rip the Band-Aid off... Only for my son to turn around and tell us he'd already know there was no Santa for a while and was only pretending he still believed because he didn't want to ruin it for us. God Damn internet, lol. Will be one of my favorite stories to tell until the day I die.

In some situations yes, I think it's ok

The worst part of telling your kids a little white lie in order to protect them is when they already know you're lying and they call you out on it. I grew up believing the world was a Brady Bunch/Leave it to Beaver nice place and people were kindly and helpful. That came crashing down by fifth grade and was completely off guard. While I tried to protect my step kids, I realized it was better to expose them to some, not all, of the awful truth of today's society. It broke my heart when my stepson told he knew that wasn't Santa Claus whose lap he was sitting down, nor was he one of Santa's helpers. Same with the Easter Bunny. You want to protect your child's innocence for as lo g as possible, but their exposure to social media negates all your efforts. Lying to protect them is completely acceptable, but lying to cover your own ass is not. Truth hurts, but it is reality