Parents lie to kids...

Yes, we do. We lie about all sorts of things. We keep telling kids not to lie but hey, we've done our fair share...

40y ago, Singaporean parents relied on the good old "mata" who would catch kids who misbehaved. "Later mata catch you!" And the blur kids of yesteryears behaved.

The other side of the coin - carrot instead of stick - is saying Santa Claus would bring presents for only the good kids - still happening today but only the very young would believe it. Same for the present from the newborn baby brother or sister for the older sibling(s). 

Kids just love presents. Or money.

Just recently week, I lied again. 

Yu lost an incisor on Tuesday morning. At night, while he was sleeping, I took his tooth from under his pillow and placed a dollar coin in its place. He was very pleased when he found the coin in the morning.

Of course, he knew it was me, not the tooth fairy. Or he knew I was the tooth fairy. So I guess no need to do this anymore... Works mostly for the first kid coz the older ones would rat it out!

Anyway, I started the whole tooth fairy thing in a bid to get them to brush their teeth properly coz no tooth fairy would enjoy finding a yellow tooth!

But the kids never like brushing much, often doing a quick one just to get it over and done with. Worse, Yu came home from a school dental screening on 5 February and told me sheepishly that he had two decaying teeth! Luckily those were milk teeth... He had a fluoride application done and then missed his recess or little bites as he wasn't supposed to eat for a while after that.

And this is the boy whose toothbrush always go wild from brushing. I thought he brushed enough. Apparently not. Sighs...

Hope he has learnt his lesson... 

Yang fared better. He usually brushes very quickly but now after eating Oreos, he would brush his teeth even if it's the middle of the afternoon. He has also started using floss sticks recently.

Kai's teeth have miraculously turned white. Apparently, children's enamel is naturally yellow due to a more transparent enamel revealing the yellow dentine inside. The enamel will calcify eventually. It looks like that has happened with Kai. 

But wait, I was on lies...

What else have I done? Oh ya, tell kids to lie with me 🤦‍♀️ 

"Don't tell your brothers!" when one kid got, say, a Macs happy meal while out on his own with me, or when I folded one kid's clothes for him on his busy day. Avoid all the "That's not fair!" Ya, parenting fails...

But hey, I guess kids have to learn that sometimes, you just have to do certain things to keep the world moving and the family peaceful???