Is there an instance of parents lying to their children that was approved by God in the Bible? Is there any instance in the Bible in which:


Parents lied to children, and
God approved of it?


There is an instance in 1 Kings 22:22 in which the Lord is said to put a lying spirit in the mouths of the prophets, but that appears to be God -> spirit -> deceive a king, which seems different from parent/child relationships.
Finding God's approval for men's actions is uncommon. More often than not, the actions of people are recorded in all their embarrassing detail without an explicit endorsement or condemnation by God.

I concur with the problematic comparison of humans to God, for God knows exactly who he is and what he should do, he is sovereign and sinless, and doesn't exactly have to behave the same way as we do (e.g. worship, prayer, etc.).

I cannot think of an instance in the (Protestant) Canon when a parent lied to his children in an attempt to do something morally good.

Is Lying Ever Allowable?

On the contrary, one could make an argument that God doesn't want us to lie at all. One example I can think of is Jesus' praise of Nathaniel: "Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no deceit!" (Jn 1:47, NASB)

There are at least a few instances where people lied for "good reasons" and God blessed them (without necessarily approving of their method, but perhaps of their motives). One example is the Hebrew midwives who wouldn't murder the newborn sons they were to help deliver (Ex 1). Perhaps they were actually telling the truth and only deliberately arrived after the children were born, but I think it's safe to say that they deliberately employed a measure of deceit in what they told Pharoah.

A strict "no-deceit" rule of personal conduct does introduce difficult questions, like when I play a strategy game and do things to trick my opponent. It doesn't seem like it ought to be wrong since everything is strictly hypothetical and your opponent has no assurance that you are attempting to represent yourself in a plain and transparent way, but I consider this a weakness either in my argument or in the way I live.