What's something funny that you do for your kids that they will never know about? (Maybe not never tell them but at least wait till they're older)

My oldest made pancakes when she was 5 and burnt the first few... She was pretty upset, so I told her, "No worries, I like the burnt part! So crispy!" I do not, in fact, like the burnt part... but 16 years later I still eat the burnt food mistakes (grilled cheeses, eggs, bacon, pancakes, etc.) But nobody feels bad about burning it anymore, everyone just says "dad will eat it!" and I don't have to throw money in the trash... 🤷‍♂️ I've gotten used to the flavor... I don't know that I will ever tell them about it, lol, my wife doesn't even know.

In the comments, redditors applauded the commitment and shared their own theatrics designed to create magic or avoid meltdowns.

Orchestrating the magic

Sometimes maintaining the whimsy of childhood requires logistical planning that rivals military operations. Redditors detailed the lengths they go to just to ensure the "magic" stays alive a little longer.

Comment in r/Parenting

I used to always stay up to "catch" Santa on Christmas Eve. Every year, Santa would outsmart me. One year my stocking had a mousetrap in it that "snapped" my hand when i reached in side. One year, I stayed up with Nerf guns, and fell asleep so Santa left me a note mocking me for not catching him. One year he left one cookie left on the plate and when I ate it in the morning in front of the kids, Santa magically made it taste like dog food.

It always got so many laughs out of them every year. I am sure they have forgotten about all that now that they are grown, but the absolute joy of "how will Santa get Dad THIS year?" was always part of the Christmas Morning Fun!

Comment in r/Parenting

My husband had our son convinced he had a fully working raisin factory in our house.

As a toddler our son would line grapes up on the window sill to "make raisins" and after bed my husband would eat the grapes and swap them for raisins. They kept that charade up for a long time!

Comment in r/Parenting

I change the head of her electrical toothbrush (different colours) when it’s time and she’s convinced this is the work of a fairy. It all started innocently, I had changed it without thinking much of it and when she went to brush her teeth, she came to me super excited telling me it was magic. I’ve kept the magic going since. 😁

Playing the fool

Nothing boosts a child's self-esteem quite like believing they are smarter or more capable than their parents. These redditors are happy to feign incompetence if it means giving their kids a win.

Comment in r/Parenting

I pretend to be helpless so they feel more confident when they get to help me. For example, there are certain steps in our Christmas LEGO sets that I just can't figure out, no matter how good I am at building LEGO or how many years we've put them together. But it sure makes my son feel great that he can rescue me from those tricky steps. 

Comment in r/Parenting

When someone tells me something I already know — either they’ve told me the story before or it’s a fact I already knew — I let them tell the story anyway and act like it’s new. it’s just nice to have people feel special and let them talk in a conversation.

I’ve done this for years with my kid, and they’ve caught me doing this trick on other people, we’ll be listening in a conversation and I’ll say oh wow that’s neat and my kid has said “dad, you already knew that… you told me about X before”. I’m hoping some day my kid will catch on that it’s just nice to spend time with each other.

Comment in r/Parenting

Oh gosh it's kinda silly, but our 5 year old has autism so he gets a little upset over really specific things, and one of those things is not being first. At everything. We don't indulge in this most of the time, because it's not realistic, but he would get super upset at not being the first one awake in the morning. It was a battle we were willing to let him win cause gotta let them have some victories, so he has an alarm clock and if we wake up before him, we literally dive back into bed before he wakes up and notices. Then we pretend we just woke up. Or we just lay in bed until his alarm goes off. There's been a few times where I straight up hid in the closet while getting dressed so dad could say "mom is still sleeping, let's go downstairs!"

Thankfully the kid has never noticed when the coffee is already brewed in the morning... XD Most of the time we all wake up at the same time but it has created some rather funny moments of pretending we just woke up, oh my gosh, you totally woke up before us!! I'm hoping this will be a funny story when he is an adult.

The unseen safety net

Real life involves heartbreak, wear and tear, and accidental damage. This parent works overtime to smooth those edges before their kids notice.

Comment in r/Parenting

The dog got her favorite stuffy and ripped its nose off - way beyond my sewing abilities. So we sent the stuffy to be fixed at a special stuffy hospital.

In reality, the stuffy hospital was me desperately scouring ebay for a Beanie Boo that they stopped making like 5 years ago(turns out Tiggy the Tiger is actually Pablo the Chihuahua) and inspecting each listing for the one with the most similar markings. After finally getting the replacement, I then spent the day rubbing the new stuffy on all sorts of random surfaces - the basement floor, a pile of dirt in the driveway, a scratchy blanket, etc. - scuffed up the eyes and ears, carefully removed the tag, and then put it through the wash like 5 times.

She has no idea she has an imposter Tiggy and she probably never will!

Comment in r/Parenting

When my daughter was little and we would get into the car in the winter she would ask us to turn on her “butt warmers”. We only had them in the front seats, so I would pretend to switch on her seat warmers in the back. This went on for years. She’s a teen now and sits in the front seat and just recently discovered there are no butt warmers for the back seats and I’ve been pretending all this time. 😬

The invisible makeover

Toddlers often want to mimic their parents' morning routines, but actual cosmetics can be messy. These creative parents invented "ghost makeup" routines that left their little ones feeling glamorous without using a drop of product.

Comment in r/Parenting

For about 2 years when I was getting ready for work in the morning my daughter would ask me to also put on her some ‘eyescara’ (mascara). So I would bring that wand very close to her lashes and pretend to apply it. She always seemed so pleased but never noticed it was even touching her. As she got older I told her about it and we had a good laugh.

Comment in r/Parenting

My 5 year old always asks to put on makeup for special occasions. I have a matte beige eyeshadow that I use as a base so I’ll brush a bit on her eyelids (totally unnoticeable) and say “oooh so fancy!” She’ll smile at herself in the mirror, gracious and happy as a clam :)

Parenting is full of invisible acts of love, small deceptions that bring joy, laughter, and confidence to children. From quietly eating burnt pancakes to creating magic raisin factories, these redditors show that care, patience, and creativity make their children's lives feel a little more magical.

What secret heroic parenting acts have you pulled off? Read the full story in r/Parenting, and find more conversations like this in r/wholesome, r/CasualConversation, and r/MadeMeSmile.