Magic Rocks

Is it ok to lie to your kids? What I mean are the little fibs some people tell children to keep them in good behavior or to explain a concept that is too mature or just won't be understood by a child.
Natasha, a good friend from Macedonia told me a couple of funny stories yesterday. When she was six or seven,she asked her aunt, who was expecting a baby, how she got that baby in her belly. Her aunt replied that she had "eaten a lot of beans". So little Natasha, who wanted twins, went home and told her mother she wanted beans for dinner. She ate two bowls very fast and then asked for more. Her mother thought this was strange and warned her that she might get sick. She insisted and half way through the third bowl she flung her spoon to the floor and said,
"I can't take it anymore! I don't care if I don't get pregnant, I'm not eating any more beans!" Her mother, of course, was completely mystified.
When she was about three, adults were telling the children when they asked for coffee that children could not drink coffee because it made little children grow tails. Natasha had a boy cousin whom she spent most of her days with and had seen him pee a few times. She went home and asked her mother for coffee. Her mother said it would make her grow a tail. Natasha said,
"Give me coffee. I want a tail like my cousins so I can pee standing up!"
These stories are very funny but what is even more funny is that even though the adults tried to avoid telling this little girl the truth about certain subjects, the confusion they caused through their white lie explanations led to having to explain the truth to her anyway, plus having to explain the difference between boys and girls!
On the other hand, sometimes telling a small lie just gets a parent through a difficult situation without any confusing effects.
Amanda, a woman I met through an online playgroup has an ingenious way of getting her daughter to leave places where she wants to stay and play. While having lunch at a burger and shake shop, her two year old was busying herself fiddling with the controls of the arcade games. When it was time to go, Ellli began showing signs of a tantrum. Her mother bent down and said,
"Wave bye bye to the games Ellie! Say bye bye! They are really tired, they have to go to sleep." Ellie waved bye bye and recovered before she had started.
My mother went on a hike with two of her friends and took my sister along who was about ten, maybe eleven at the time. She kept complaining that she was tired, that her foot hurt, then her arm, then her knee. Now her ear. She was hungry. My mother stopped and picked up a rock. She gave it to my sister and said,
"Here honey, look what I found. This is a very special rock. If you hold if very tight in your left hand, you won't be tired anymore because it will give you the energy to finish the hike."
My sister held on to that rock and did not complain for the rest of the trip.
Then there is the story of my neighbor, Cora. Cora babysits her grandson. When they come and visit, Ben (her grandson), like any small child, wants to touch everything in my house. Cora's way of dealing with this is by telling Ben that everything is going to bite him. The TV, the glass vase on my dresser, the DVDs on the shelf. This does absolutely nothing because Ben knows these objects are not going to bite him. He looks at me and seems to laugh with his eyes, like he's saying,
"Get a load of this one!".
Who knows why Ellie believes the arcade games are going to sleep and Ben doesn't believe in the maliciousness of my clothes hamper. Who knows why my sister believed in the magic rock or why Natasha associated tails the way she did. I guess the point is that, knowing our children as only we do,should we try and guess what their reactions will be to our little fibs? Are we going to be able to fend off an embarrassing public situation or is she going to know you are full of it? Are you really appeasing your child's curiosity while avoiding a difficult topic or are you just delaying a discussion you are going to have to have anyway when you realize you have confused them?
These are real questions I have, since I have not reached the stage of having to explain things to my child. What I have observed is one thing, but what I will experience is going to be entirely different. If any of you have any thoughts on the subject, please feel free to comment. I would love to hear what you have to say.