Lies we told as children.

To develop an idea for the content of our book, I began researching through primary source questionnaires through e-mail and online networking sites (such as facebook and yahoo answers) the following question...

" 

What sort of white lies did you tell as a child?

looking for fun and playful tales and examples of white lies for a current design project- a humorous guide for children to master the art of the convincingly told white lie.

i would love to hear your stories- they may be featured online and in a printed book too!

thank you in advance!

" 

These are the responses that I have received so far...

1. I've told many lies as a child. Hmmmm...feed your vegetables to the dog , "going to bed", then sneaking out of my room to watch tv. sneaking extra snacks...- Chris, Yahoo Answers.

2. Once got mud all up the walls so took my dog outside put her paws in mud and let her back in so she got the blame- Declan, facebook status reply.

3. I did not play in the barbeque- Charlie (sister), facebook status reply (When a charcol-faced Charlie got asked by our Mum if she had been playing in the barbeque!)

4. Cutting a massive chunk out of my sisters fringe, hiding the chunk of hair under my bed and then trying the good old 'but it wasn't me'- Kirsty, facebook status reply.

5. I quite often broke things in the house and blamed it on a friend- Kirsty, LCA BAGD group message board.

6. Smoking- with any excuse possible until she found out...stupid facebook- Alex, LCA BAGD message board.

7. I once said the reason I had a lighter was incase a girl asked me for one and I needed to look cool- Ben, LCA BAGD message board.

****

I really love hearing about the responses from people, and really bought back some memories of all the sartirical and fabricated lies from my own childhood. Here are some personal experiences and fabrications...

1. "I didn't eat the last mini roll"- in my defence, it was really tasty, a caramel special edition. I felt so guilty about eating it that I hid the wrapped under my bed and eventually confessed about a week later. I never was a good liar. (...if only I'd have a guide informing me how to tell convincing tall tales...imagine that...)

2. "I didn't break it"- again, something that I will eternally feel guilty for- this one was an accident, mind. In "tidy up time" in year 3, i put a pritt stick into a girl's pencil case- not knowing that it was hers, purely to tidy up. When she came to open her pencil case, it was so full that the zip broke. When she stood in front of the class and announced

"I doesn't matter who did it, I'd just really like them to say sorry."

and I just couldn't owe up. Still haunts me to this day, that.

3. "Mum, we've got an old doll we want you to throw out"- My sister and I used to gang up on my brother (who was older, by the way) and make him pretend to be a frozen-stiff doll. We would drag our parents up stairs and desperately try to convince them that he was an old doll we wanted putting in the bin. Mwahahaha.

As previously mentioned, it really has been a fun, nostalgic trip researching and gathering white lies and fibs that people have told and experienced in their childhoods- I think that there are many central, running themes that many could relate to- children, and cunning quick-witted parents too.

Along with Sadie, my fellow researching groupmate, we will combine the stories and tall tales we have gathered, along with other factors including...

-ESSENTIAL TIPS FOR TELLING WHITE LIES

-THE WHITE LIE DISGUISE KIT (DISGUISING BODY LANGUAGE)

-SECTION FOR PARENTS: EMBRACING THE WHITE LIES

to compile a healthy body of work, produced and crafted in various formats to later be distributed and presented in our final group piece.