Julie Jay: Why be honest with your kids when you could be happy?

As parents, we tell our kids to always tell the truth when the reality is we regularly are often guilty of telling a porkie or two to our beloved offspring

Before kids, I promised myself I would only ever be honest with my imaginary progeny. More than once, I swore that if I was ever lucky enough to become a mammy, I would always tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help me Britney, goddess of pop. But my principles went out the window long ago because why be honest with your kids when you could be happy?

Getting into car seats has taken up so much time in the past that I now expedite the process by telling my toddler Ted that if he doesn’t let me put his belt on, the guards will put Mammy in jail. I have also been known to throw this line out on the odd day he claims he doesn’t want to go to school, but sadly my son has computed this white lie in a way I did not intend.