It’s ”The happiest place on Earth” but was the scene of a white lie that was kept secret for decades (I’m in the pink shirt). Photos: Keeli Dyson.
Life doesn’t get much more magical than being a four-year-old at Disneyland.
The castle, the characters, the colours and the rides made fantasy worlds that are usually reserved for television into a reality.
But more than a decade later, a big admission by my dad about a tiny detail of the trip put a whole new spin on the experience, and shaped my perspective of parenting and when it’s maybe OK to tell a little white lie.
For a child, Disneyland is lots of fun, but as a parent I can now imagine it potentially being a teeny, tiny bit chaotic (while I’m sure still enjoyable).
Overpriced food, countless toilet stops, stopping arguments, taking photos and dealing with overtired children on the borderline of tantrumming, not to mention the lines for everything – because you know how much little kids like standing still for long periods of time waiting for something they want.
We also had to not only see but meet every character (despite the aforementioned lines) and get their autograph to go in our collectors’ books, which would serve as a memory of the day for years to come.
It was so important to us to get these signatures that my dad even volunteered to secure the autograph of the Beast (of Beauty and the Beast fame) for me, my sister and my cousins as we waited in a line for a ride.
The autograph book helped us capture fun memories from the Disneyland trip.
Or so we thought.
I know in hindsight it’s obvious where this story is going and theoretically it really shouldn’t make a massive difference whether my dad did the autograph or whether it was a random guy dressed as the Beast, but when the revelation came to light I was well into my teen years and it was quite shocking.
But it was harmless.
What was less harmless, however, was my budgie dying and my parents switching in another so I wouldn’t notice, only to have it fly away anyway because it wasn’t trained.
Again, this was a story that was revealed many years after the event itself.
Have you seen this bird? Looks like many other budgies …
But the more I share these quirks and tales, the more I realise that everyone has a version of a white lie that their parents told to either protect them, keep an illusion, or even get a bit of peace and quiet.
Maybe you were told when music played on the ice-cream van that it meant they were out of ice-cream? Or that Wiggles CD with that one song that you loved to listen to in the car over and over and over again mysteriously stopped working?
Now the shoe is on the other foot and I’m calling the shots on the version of the truth I choose to share with my toddler.
Some are just staples – the magic of Christmas, Easter and even the tooth fairy must stay in the mix; however, I have been warned not to do too good a job at creating this illusion or risk having to break your child’s heart by telling them the truth straight out.
Others (like autographing on behalf of someone dressed as a cartoon character) are a bit more impromptu.
Ultimately, I think the most important thing is it all comes down to trust – and my relationship with my parents during my upbringing was strong enough to withstand a couple of white lies along the way.
I’m going to start building those blocks now so if the opportunity arises where a slight stretch of the truth might be necessary, the result won’t be lifelong trauma but, rather, just a tale that makes them laugh (and maybe curse me a little) for many decades to come.
