They may have your best interests at heart, but many parents are inveterate liars.

That is the conclusion it's tempting to draw from the latest hashtag doing the rounds on social media.

Twitter users are sharing the fibs, falsehoods and half-truths they were sold by their parents, using the hashtag #liesyourparentstoldyou.

There were some old classics, like the importance of certain school subjects to adult life or the effects of chewing gum on your body.

Some of the fibs were clearly designed by parents just to keep their children quiet for a while.

Some parents just failed to foresee the way their kids' lives would pan out.

Some had potentially more serious undertones.

But some were much more specific lies thought up by some very devious parents indeed.

But one lie came up...

...again...

...and again...

...and again.

The moral of the story: never trust your parents.