Yes, again, my child is smart enough to understand nuance. She doesn't have to have everything put to her 100% literally. I'm not sure why your children do.
Sounds like your daughter might have you beat there since I didn't say she doesn't, I didn't say she does, I didn't say they do.
Also, I hope you're not the one who is responsible for telling your children the difference between things like "honest" and "100% literally true" or they are fucked.
If they understand that then it seems like you could say that it's just more convenient and it'd be the same, but also 100% truthful. Assuming that's the goal.
I didn't say at all what you should say, I was just noting that what you're saying isn't exactly the truth. It wasn't a value judgement or even advice.
"if you don't put the dishes away, I will be forced to take them all outside and bring them in one by one and wash them."
If you want help workshopping this you could say that it's just more convenient to put them away. That'd be true without being very convoluted, if being 100% honest was the goal. Whether it should be or not, imo not.
I can't believe an adult just can't wrap their head around this, bless your heart.
Maybe this will help: You tell your kid to put the dishes away, claiming so you can wash the dishes. But it's not true in that you could wash the dishes without them having been put away. It just wouldn't be as convenient. You could pile the dishes somewhere else, hell outside on the ground (lol) to make room in the sink and whatever while you clean other dishes. But it'd be inconvenient and stupid. You could wash the dishes on the kitchen table, but that'd also be inconvenient and stupid. You could do a lot of things but they wouldn't be as convenient (and could be really stupid). So it's not really that the dishes need to be put away so you can wash your dishes, it's just it is much more convenient to do so. So what you are saying to the kid isn't true in that sense.
I have a small kitchen and a small sink. I somehow still understand the concept of piling them on some other surface for a moment so I can wash other dishes in the sink. I'm genuinely amazed by how a supposedly functioning adult seems to genuinely think their actual ability to wash the dishes hinges on whether their kid puts them away or not. Imagine if the kid didn't do that, would you really, actually, just not be able to in any way wash the dishes? I just can't believe that.
You're telling your kid to put the dishes away because it makes things easier and convenient. It's not an actual requirement for your ability to wash dishes, but I wouldn't bother explaining that to a kid either. I'd just say put the dishes away so we can wash them. It's not the whole truth but it's a kid so I wouldn't care either. This is unless you genuinely think your ability to wash the dishes hinges on your kid putting them away. In which case, wow.
I love how this has got you absolutely stumped. You can pick stuff from the sink and put it out of the way. You can pile it on the goddamn floor if you need to. Whether your kid puts the dishes away or not is actually what allows you to wash the dishes. You could also move them. But you say the kid needs to do that so you can wash the dishes (even though you could wash them without it). It just makes it more convenient. See what I mean?
Not at all, but I'm also not stumped by having the sink full so much that I'm literally not capable of washing the dishes lmao. A kid might believe that since kids are fucking idiots but not an adult, surely
I'm not sure if the term "gaslighting" fits here. This just seems like run of the mill lying and manipulating.
Victims of gaslighting are deliberately and systematically fed false information that leads them to question what they know to be true, often about themselves. They may end up doubting their memory, their perception, and even their sanity.
Gaslighting would seem like it'd be more that if they knew weekends were a thing befohand then you'd lie that they imagined it all (and that they might even be crazy for having thought that).