On Quora I came across this question: Is it hilarious that Calvin's dad, in Calvin and Hobbes lied to him every chance he got?
I answered it and in doing so recalled and told a funny story about my son. Here is the link to my answer.
I thought I might reprint my answer here and expand on it a bit.
Question: Is it hilarious that Calvin's dad, in Calvin and Hobbes lied to him every chance he got?
Answer
When I was growing up and reading Calvin and Hobbes, the strips where his dad lied to him, telling him some crazy story, were always my favorites. To this day my favorite strip is the one where Calvin asks why old photos are black and white and his dad convinces him that it's because the world used to be black and white (this one).
When I was a kid I thought Calvin's father was just kind of playing tricks on his gullible son. Now that I am a father myself I realize that he is doing what all fathers do.
I have surely told this story on Quora before, but I will again. When my oldest was 2, my wife was trying to get him to drink some vegetable juice with a lot of tomato in it so it was bright red. He wasn’t having any of that and refused. I had no idea why my wife wanted him to drink it, but to lend her support I went over and looked at the cup and told him:
“Papa doesn’t like bee blood either. If you drink it there’s a chance you might turn into a bee. Let’s pour it out.”
I don't remember my exact words, but it was something like that. My oldest started talking when he was 1, was talking pretty well by 2, and could understand some basic conversation like that. Contrast that with my youngest who is almost 2 and can't say anything yet. Hmm... wonder what my wife and I did differently.
I picked bees because he had been obsessed with bees for the past few days, so it easily popped into my head.
Anyway, his eyes went wide and he said “Papa, I want to turn into a bee! I want to drink it!”
And he did, and he liked it enough to finish the glass. He then asked when he would turn into a bee and I told him maybe tomorrow. He went away happy and had forgotten about the entire thing by the next day.
When you become a dad you realize that sometimes the best approach is to lie a bit. Young kids usually don’t understand the truth nor any kind of rational reasoning making harmless lies sometimes the only way to get through to them.
In Calvin and Hobbes the idea is played for laughs, but there is a lot of truth to parents, especially fathers, using that tactic.