Editor’s note, Sept. 22, 7:50 a.m.: This story has been updated throughout.
Many parents think they’re children can do no wrong. These stories prove that that’s not always the case.
SMU Live reporters spread out across campus to talk to students about the little – and not so little – lies they’ve told their parents. Read on for the creative ways they’ve wiggled their way out of them:
1. Happy Birthday?

Most people celebrate birthdays with a hug or balloons, but SMU junior Christopher Lydick celebrated his teacher’s special day in his own special way.
When Lydick, a Dallas native, was in pre-school he bit his teacher’s butt, and got away with it.
“I knew what I was doing was wrong, but I convinced my parents that I didn’t know that it was wrong. So I was like, ‘I was just celebrating her, so I bit her, on the butt,” said Lydick.
Lydick is now majoring in psychology.
2. She’s Just Being Miley
Editor’s note, May 04, 2017: Student’s photo has been removed at her request.
Publisher’s note, Nov. 30, 2015: Student’s name has been withheld at her request.
When an SMU freshman wanted to go to a Miley Cyrus concert last year, she knew she’d have to create a plan. Her parents were not fans of Cyrus.
She told her parents she was going to a friend’s house to play with the friend’s new hamster.
The student’s parents showed up at her friend’s house at 11 p.m. to find that she was not there. She was stuck in traffic on the way back from the concert.
When they called her to ask where she was, she claimed she was visiting another friend’s dad in the hospital. Her parents didn’t believe her, so she claimed she actually went to a pizza party at a place that didn’t exist.
Her parents were still skeptical, so they decided to call her friends to confirm whether Sheikhali’s tale held any truth. Her friends didn’t back her up, so she confessed in an interesting way.
“I told them I went to Hannah Montana concert, which is not a lie if you think about it,” she said.
3. Find my Fibs
Publisher’s note, Dec. 4, 2015: Student’s name has been withheld at her request.
When one SMU senior’s dad uses his Find My Friends app, his map is a little skewed. Find My Friends is an app that can tell you your friend’s location based on the location of his or her phone.
This SMU senior said she often spends the night at her boyfriend’s house. When her dad checks in with the app, he asks her why she isn’t at home. The student has told her to dad that she is spending the night at her best friend’s house.
This on-going fib is working for the time being. If her parents start to catch on, she plans to just tell them her boyfriend and best friend are roommates, the student said.
4. Safety First
An SMU junior, Sabrena Addams, decided to be adventurous with her friends last weekend after the football game. They decided to visit the store Condom Sense, but after learning that the store didn’t sell condoms, Addams came up with a plan of her own:
“I thought ‘I guess I’ll get myself something fun,’ so I bought a vibrator and a sexy outfit.”
Little did she know that her mother would be checking her debit records, so when her mother confronted her about the receipt, she told her what all mothers want to hear:
“I told her that I bought my friends a bunch of condoms to keep them safe.”
5. Division I Quiddich
Dylan Fansler, a senior and member of SMU’s quidditch team, told his mom that he was a Division I athlete, which is the highest rank of intercollegiate athletics certified by the NCAA. SMU’s quidditch team, while popular, is not even recognized as a club team let alone Division I.
“It’s really just a bunch of nerds running around with pvc pipe and dodge balls,” Fansler said.
6. Streaky
One SMU junior got a little more than she bargained for when she hung out with cast of a show she was in during high school. She and the cast members decided to strip down and streak in a parking lot. When her parents asked about how she spent the evening, she panicked.
“I told them we hung out and played some games but in actuality we were streaking in the parking lot,” she said. The student declined to give us her name because she said her parents stalk her.
7. New York State of Mind
When senior finance major Sara Hajiebrahimi knew that her parents wouldn’t allow her to buy a ticket to visit her friend in New York, she decided to lie. The Austin native told her parents that her friend purchased the ticket, and wasn’t caught until a month later when they found the charge on a card statement.
“I kinda had more of a mindset of just do it and hope for forgiveness,” Hajiebrahimi said.
After she was caught, Hajiebrahimi said her parents trusted her less when she wanted to travel, but are more lenient now that she’s a senior.
8. Curiosity Hid the Cats

When SMU freshman Madison Soth wanted two kittens in high school, she made sure she got them, regardless of her parents’ rules. She adopted the kittens and successfully hid them in her room for a full week.
“They ended up finding them in the bathroom,” said Soth.
Her parents laughed it off, but made her give the kittens away.
9. Red Light, White Lie

In high school, Carolyn Hudson, a senior, backed into another car in a sketchy part of town while her car was illegally filled with friends shortly after receiving her license. To avoid getting insurance involved, she and the other driver decided to let it go, seeing as his car was not damaged.
Hudson was not as fortunate and the crash had resulted in a broken taillight. So, in an effort to avoid getting in trouble she went home and knocked over a trashcan that was sitting in her driveway.
“I told my parents I backed up into the trashcan and that it broke my taillight,” said the senior accounting major.
Her parents believed her and to this day her ‘white lie’ has remained a secret.
10. What Happens in New Orleans…doesn’t stay there
Bryan Dewey, a senior finance major, said a trip to Mardi Gras freshman year stood out in his mind most vividly.
In an effort to keep this adventure a secret he took out cash on his Pony card and told his parents he needed it for school. In doing so he was able to stay the weekend in New Orleans and party without card charges blowing his bluff. He would have gotten off scotch free too — if it wasn’t for the car crash he was involved in on his way home from NOLA.
Not only did his parents find out about his weekend celebrating Mardi Gras after the crash, but so did the football team who then caught Dewey for skipping practice too.
11. Unidentifiable “Gunk”
One SMU junior had to get creative after she came home from an unusual night. When a party got a little too wild, a girl threw up in her hair. Coming home drenched in throw-up made it difficult for her to explain to her mother, but she came up with a classic excuse:
“I told her that I fell in some gunk while I was walking back to the house,” she said.
She didn’t want her name used because she went to Catholic school and her parents are conservative.
12. Out and About
Julia Battle said her parents sometimes ask her to provide evidence of her nighttime activities. But the SMU junior found a loophole: take a picture of herself doing something studious to send to her parents. But she’d take it before going out and send it while out.
“One time I was in the library, in my comfy clothing and I took a photo. Then I went out and sent it to them,” she said.
13. “Just a Friend”
Junior Alec Petsche needed to save himself when his mom made a surprise visit to his apartment near SMU’s campus.
The 21-year-old Petsche had a girl there and his mother arrived as he was walking her out to her car. Not wanting to spill any details, he told her the girl had made a simple mistake.
“I told my mom that I had thought she was at the wrong door,” he said.
14. Double Trouble


Adam Connolly, a senior, and Matt McGinnis, a junior, sat in Fondren Library talking about lies they told their parents. They agree they need to go to church after realizing how many there are.
McGinnis learned from an early age that lying was bad after taking one lie too far. It was second grade show-and-tell, and McGinnis forgot that stuffed animals were not allowed. He panicked and told his teacher that his grandpa died last night and that is why is brought the animal in despite the rules.
“When my mom picked me up from school my teacher told her how sorry she was for our loss” said McGinnis, a history major. A student at the next table laughs while eavesdropping.
In a sneaky way to get a curfew extension, “my parents thought I was at the Midnight Run for community service when I was actually just at parties” said Connolly, a sports management major. He reiterates that he feels horrible about it now.
The two have to get back to studying after nearby students tell them to quiet down.
15. Happiest Place in the World?
Dylan Guerra is a senior theater studies major from Miami. In high school, Guerra told his parents that he was helping a friend practice for a theatre audition before school.
The real plan was quite different. His friend picked him up at 7 a.m. and drove to Disney World, where the two spent a thrilling Friday afternoon.
That lie led to another, resulting in an evening in a Disney suite that Guerra’s parents never found out about.
Guerra laughs about his high school mischief. But then he pauses.
“The biggest
lie I ever told my parents was that I was straight. For 21 years,” he
said.