My siblings do the same thing just that they don't live as close to them so dad doesn't get to KNOW all that much about what's going on with them. We've all always followed a "he doesn't need to know everything" policy. Dad is a control freak. He likes to have everything and everyone under control. Not because he's mean, but because - and I've only come to understand that recently - he is scared. 
He also likes to eliminate every single possible risk factor which is great but also.... you'll always fail because it is impossible to make life a totally safe experience. To live means, taking risks (my favorite Garth Brooks song has always been "Standing outside the fire").It's unfortunate because I see the same tendencies in me but I try to fight them, and, so far successfully, it seems. Yeah I'd love it if my older kids finally moved out but at the same time I also wish I could still control what they're doing and when and with whom. My adult son is going on his first across-the-country roadtrip in a few days and I am sick with worry and wish I could tell him not to go. My kids don't really have to hide things from me, I am very liberal as far as drinking and sex are concerned - as long as they are responsible and don't break the law, it's all good. So they really never needed to hide things from me (but we've certainly hidden some small things from their father, together
). They have occasionally seen me in action twisting the truth a little bit when dealing with MY dad, and they always look a bit surprised. I'm not saying it is something I am proud of, but I also don't think it is terrible. When dealing with a control freak (and my H has the same tendencies. I guess we are ALL a bunch of control freaks here! lol) it is a necessary survival skill. I am just ALSO applying it in my EMR-life. But I have learned it from dealing with my dad. And of course I have explained to my kids why I think this is the best way to deal with dad since we can't and don't really want to remove him from our lives. I know he'll never change so we need to find ways to live with it. It was just interesting to me to see knot's theory in action in a very day-to-day kind of situation that played out here over the last few days. I never really thought about it this way before.
