I lie to my kids all the time (about unimportant stuff). I make the lie outragous and if they seem to take me seriously I pile on. I say I'm a disc golf world champion (we own no frisbees).
They now try to indipendently verify everything they hear.
They now try to indipendently verify everything they hear.
Just a word of caution about how what seems fun now, when kids are cute and gullible, might come back to bite you 20+ years later.
This is how they learn to actually pay attention to where they are.
People just don't respect kids. Would you enjoy that game with other adults? Even if no matter the situation they wouldn't give a shit if you wanted to stop playing it or not?
Not being able to trust anyone ever to be acting in good faith and be honest is one of the reasons why we can't have nice things.
Anyway, "other adults" lie all the time. Every employer I ever had has lied one time or another. This is important information. Bringing kids up into some fairies and unicorn fantasy where everything is unthinkingly accepted, thats disrespecting children
Yes, and if this is their standard modus operandi the healthy thing to do, if possible, is getting rid of them from your life.
Are you gonna be happy when your kids start playing the game with you? When they are the ones unilaterally deciding what matters and what doesn't?
If the answer is "no" then you aren't respecting them as individuals capable of learning, thought and action. And I got the feeling you won't be happy when they do it with you.
When you constantly play games like that you are also establishing that you can never be trusted, even if they think it matters.
Games aren't fun when you don't know someone's playing with you and you're trying to be serious.
YMMV, and I hope it does. I'm just providing the anecdote that I'm not in touch with my dad anymore, and dishonesty that at least looked a lot like what you're describing is a significant part of the reason.
I remember being a kid. I don't lie to kids, not intentionally. They can be very easily mislead and lying feels so wrong for this reason alone.
I don't trust elders in family who lied or use to lie to me when I was a kid and I found out it was a lie at that time. That image of them lying has stayed.
To train them about finding way back home you can just ask them to lead you home. It will make them feel good that their parent is trusting them to take them home. Make it their responsibility. Go wherever your kids lead you to. It will be more fun than lying. Same can be done for almost anything else you think you should lie about to teach them.
It didnt have any negative impacts on my life but small silly lies certainly could.
But ultimately, this is a fool's errand -- people who say they don't lie are almost always lying. Given how much of our brains have evolved to evince the hidden intentions of others, the result of this cat-and-mouse game requires lying to oneself first so as to more effectively convince others.
Just look at any conversation about "equality." Through their revealed preferences you can see that almost no one really believes in it but for their socioeconomic well-being they managed to convince themselves of it.
People will say "we moved for the schools" because they don't have the intellectual integrity and moral courage to say "we moved to avoid Africans and, to a lesser extent, Hispanics". The proliferation of BLM signage in these same areas is simply a testament to the arising false consciousness, as is the scorn they heap on the poorer members of their own cohort who cannot afford to avoid the Diversity Strenf they claim to cherish.
What an unfortunate way to go through life.
TLDR; how do you plan to not lie to your kids when you can't stop lying to yourself?
underused comedy.