--- Melinda Powell <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Cecil Pinto wrote: > "I would like though to examine the concept of telling 'white lies' to children. I have occasionally had to take recourse to such white lies and feel guilty about not having a better solution. > The best example is Santa Claus" Melinda responds: > Many of us parents, Im sure,are guilty of telling our kids the occasional white lie.Santa Claus is a good example - the problem is where do we draw the line?
Mario opines: I will let other Goanet philosophers comment on the curious color identification of "white" lies as OK and "black" lies as bad, but it seems to me you draw the line at whether any harm is being caused or not, which may be a parental judgement call. I once heard a psychologist ask a person who wanted to be brutally honest with a friend to consider whether the truth, in that case, would help or cause harm to the other person or their relationship. That seemed like a decent enough criterion to apply. BTW, I'd like to hear from Goanetters who have grown up to be psychological basket cases because they learned at about seven or eight years of age that their parents had "lied" to them about Santa Claus.
