We all remember the horror we felt when our older sibling sneered down at us and told us that Santa Claus wasn’t real, or when we realized that our parents don’t have hidden cameras monitoring our every move so we stay in line, or that parents don’t possess a magical ability to know when we’re lying. It’s common knowledge that parents lie to their children, whether for their children’s protection or their own. Here are some of the most common lies that our parents tell us.

WARNING if you believe everything that your parents have ever told you, I advise you to stop reading immediately

Lies about your pet’s death

Kids come home from school and expect to be tackled by their family dog but they cannot find them. When they question their parents on the whereabouts of their beloved pet, he is told that his dog went to go live on a farm where he will be really happy.  Your dog did not go to live on a farm. He’s dead. Remember that episode of “Friends” when 26-year-old Ross finds out that his dog, Chi-Chi, did not go to live on the Milner’s farm in Connecticut? Please don’t be 26 when you discover the truth about your dog. 

Lies about where babies come from

Remember when your parents brought home your younger sibling from the hospital. You looked at the squishy, squealing bundle of flesh and wondered “where did that thing come from?” Well, your parents had to tell you something and they did not want to explain the birds and the bees to a 4-year-old. 

“So we asked our mom how we came into the world. She told us that she went to a field [that had bubbles with babies] with dad, and [our aunt] went with her and she was just going to catch one bubble, but she ended up catching up catching two bubbles at the same time,” junior Charli Hueter said. “So everytime I popped a bubble after that I was like, ‘Oh my gosh I’m going to have a baby!’”

Lies about what car buttons do

People who drive know that it is extremely annoying when passengers start messing with stuff on their car, especially little kids, Some parents tell their children that the buttons do something other than their intended function to scare their children, so they don’t touch anything.

“My mom told me that the little button you turn on for caution lights was the eject button,” junior Johnny Hueter said.

Lies about what you eat

Trying to get children to eat their vegetables is a pain. When a child is exposed to the deliciousness of sugar and chocolate, vegetables no longer have any appeal, so parents might just never give sugar to their kids. 

“When I was little, my parents gave me special cakes that no one else would have, and everyone else at my birthday parties would have regular sweet chocolate cakes and my parents would have it too. I thought it was a really good cake but I would [actually have] a vegetable cake,” sophomore Faith Bellemy said. “That’s why I don’t really like chocolate anymore.”

Lies about the existence of Holiday figures

Santa Claus,The Easter Bunny, the tooth fairy. We grow up believing in people that come once a year to leave us presents, money or candy. Sorry, but none of them are real. They’re really just your parents sneaking around while you sleep.

“When I was in fourth grade, one of my friends told me that the tooth fairy wasn’t real and I was like ‘bro you’re wrong,’ so to prove it, I lost a tooth and put it under my pillow without telling my parents. It was still there and it stayed there for [about] three months,” junior Zane Jonston said. “So I asked my mom about it and she was like ‘Oh [the tooth fairy] is probably just really busy. I bet you that tomorrow it will be there.’ Sure enough it was.”