15+ Times Kids Believed the Little White Lies Adults Told Them

Kids believe all the stories adults tell them — from Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, to the tooth fairy. Their innocence and lack of skepticism allows them to fully trust their parents. But some moms and dads decided to trick their youngsters with funny, white lies, which became fond childhood memories now that the kids are all grown up.

Now I’ve Seen Everything found 18 stories from people who looked back on the tall tales they accepted as truths when they were younger, and they remind us of our own childhood too.

• My dad told me that the reason why police officers spend so much time at donut shops is because the owners actually need them there to shoot the holes in the pastries, to provide them with the classic donut shape. I found out this was a lie when my dad caught me trying to get behind the counter at “Dunkin Donuts” because “I wanted to see the shooting.” © captainserious_19 / Reddit
• My older brother pranked me once. I had watched a kids’ TV show that featured a guest star who was a tap dancer. My brother convinced me that tap dancers made their tapping sounds — not with their feet — but with their mouths. I spent the next several weeks trying to tap dance by making mouth noises before my mom made me quit. © Hysterical_Realist / Reddit
• Lost my stuffed animal (a white dog) in the airport when I was 5. It was my favorite and I was really sad about it. A few weeks later my mom presented me with a brown dog that otherwise looked exactly like the white one I’d lost. She said the workers at the airport had found it and mailed it to us, but he got a tan because he was at the seashore. Bought it hook, line, and sinker for a few years. Tan dog is now my son’s and he’s a big fan. © thallomys / Reddit

• When I was a child, I got upset after a button came off of my shirt. My mother told me not to worry and that if I placed the button under a rock in the yard, the button fairy would replace it with a quarter. I believed it, and to my mother’s dismay, she discovered I had pulled the buttons off of every shirt in my closet. To this day, 40 years later, shirt buttons can still be found under random rocks in my parents’ backyard. © denrad / Reddit
• I believed that if I told a lie I would get an ulcer on my tongue. I used to lie heaps till I was 11, I got an ulcer at 13 and said to my mom that I hadn’t lied, why did I get an ulcer, she looked at me and laughed. © Scuh / Reddit
• I believed that my father wrote The Count of Monte Cristo... He had started the book and loved it so much he would read a part, and then recite [retell] it to me as if he was the one who had come up with it. When he reached the point that he was at in the book, he would say to be continued... while I whined for the rest. This lasted a week and a 1/2. © darling-dee / Reddit

• I was hiking with my family once when I was about 8 or 9. We were walking along a river when my pops picked up a rock and said, “You know, in the center of every stone, there’s a tiny drop of water. And if you squeeze hard enough, you can get it to come out.” This guy had me literally trying to squeeze water from a stone the entire hike back to the car. © PocketJack / Reddit
• My mom told me while I was helping mix some batter, that if I changed from mixing clockwise to counterclockwise, the ingredients would get “unmixed.” I believed this for way too long and still only mix clockwise. © ticklemebits / Reddit

• I was told by my dad, when I was around 8-9, that “The people at the sewage plant have been examining your poop, and need you to eat more fiber.” © cowtownman75 / Reddit
• My mom told me my birthmark was a coffee stain from when she accidentally spilled coffee on me as a baby. I believed that until I was like 11. © _Evildogooder_ / Reddit
• One time, when I was 5-6, I asked my brother how French fries were made and he told me: “They inject mashed potatoes into the skins of the fries with a syringe.” I believed that until I saw my mom cooking home fries for breakfast one morning when I was 8. © Octolingfighter / Reddit
• You know how Barbie’s feet are on their tippy-toes so they are shaped to fit into high heel shoes? Well, when I was a kid, I thought that when girls grew up into women, their feet would be shaped like that. Despite the fact that I lived in a house with 4 grown women, none of whom had Barbie feet. © YaBoyfriendKeefa / Reddit

• When I was a kid my dad told me it cost 25 cents to change the radio station to keep me from playing with the radio in his car. I believed that until I was 14. © loipoikoi / Reddit
• I used to believe that our entire house was covered by cork-sized security cameras and that my parents could see my every move. © exeL4n / Reddit
• I was told that if I sat too close to the TV or computer screen I’d go blind. I was told that during the summer of 5th grade, then got glasses in 6th grade. All I heard was a, “told you so...” as I tried on my first pair of glasses and was told that my sister (1 year younger) wouldn’t need glasses because she listened. She got her glasses less than a year later. © tecoyeah / Reddit
• Our parents convinced us that the person knocking on our door on weekend nights when we were asleep was our uncle Shiloh stopping by to say hello. We don’t have an uncle Shiloh. It was the pizza guy. © smellslikeupdawg69 / Reddit

• I used to think that women’s periods stopped in the water to avoid sharks from smelling it. © Hullaba-Loo / Reddit
• My mom convinced us she had eyes on the back of her head. She could tell us what we were doing in the living room while working in the kitchen, facing away from us. We’d test it even further by doing the “How many fingers am I holding up?” test and she’d get it right every time. It wasn’t until I was much older that I randomly noticed the crystal clear reflection in the kitchen window that my mom could always see. © Dr_Dabbles / Reddit

What nonsense did you use to believe in childhood?