Being a kid means getting used to hearing the word “no.” Our parents, for the most part, keep our world small and aim to protect us from the harsh realities of life for as long as they can.
What happens, more often than not, is that we grow up believing some pretty tall tales. Have a look at these 15 things we were told to worry about as children, that turned out to be lies .
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Your face can get stuck if you make a funny face.
Once again, this is a clear lie that parents tell their children to get them to smarten up. You could make silly faces from now until the end of time and your face would never once get stuck.
Only bad things happen after midnight.
I feel like this is an ominous seed of doubt that most parents plant in their children from a very early age. Almost like the terrifying old fairytales that our grandparents read to our moms and dads.
Don’t crack your knuckles.
The sound of cracking knuckles may be unpleasant to some, but by no means is it dangerous or bad for you. That ” cracking ” sound is actually just air bubbles popping as they release from within the joint.
Y2K
Do you remember when there was mass panic around the world, all because someone had supposedly input banking code incorrectly? People legitimately thought the world was going to collapse and start back at zero. Thank god that all turned out to be a crock.
Sitting too close to the TV will make you go blind.
My mom used to love saying this to me as a kid. And while it’s true that sitting closer than need be to the TV might give you the odd headache here and there — it won’t harm your vision.
What’s with all the stopping, dropping, and rolling?
Why did we practice this every other day from Kindergarten until 3rd grade? Did our teachers think that we were all going to spontaneously combust or grow up to be fire-eaters, perhaps?
Stranger danger.
Don’t hear what I’m not saying: it’s never a good idea to approach anyone whom you don’t know. But the fact of the matter is that most child abductions aren’t committed by strangers but rather by friends and family members.
The concept of mental math.
Anyone who tells you that in 2021 there is any need for a human being to know their timetables is lying to you. Unless you’re planning on being a mathematician, that’s literally what calculators were made for.
The internet is a bad place.
When I was a kid, if I tried to tell my parents that I’d just had a conversation in a chatroom with a total stranger — they would’ve thrown the computer out with the trash. Nowadays, there are countless apps and sites that allow you to do just that.
The entire concept of a permanent record.
“I’m 55, and nobody has ever asked me about the time I was sent to the principal’s office when I was 16,” writes Reddit user TooOldForACleverName.
This was maybe the biggest empty threat that teachers used to try and pull while we were in school.
5 paragraph essays.
Believe it or not — not all essays are five paragraphs long! The fact of the matter is that high school does not prepare you for post-secondary education, and paints a completely false perception as far as what constitutes a proper essay, as well as formating.
Getting lost in the woods or wilderness.
“I thought being stuck in the Alps and having to drink alcohol from a Saint Bernard’s collar would be a bigger problem,” jokes Redditor Adventuredepot.
It’s true that the 80s and 90s were awash in movies about kids/people/families who were lost in the wilderness.
The value and importance of cursive writing.
When I was in the 7th grade, our teacher used to tell us that once we got to high school — teachers wouldn’t even read a paper if it wasn’t written in cursive. Once I got there, I was made to realize that the total opposite was actually the case.
Swallowing gum and/or watermelon seeds.
We’ve all heard the stories about how it takes the human body seven years to digest a single stick of gum. In reality, this is a total farce. Gum actually can’t be digested at all, but it most certainly doesn’t stay inside of us.
The Bermuda Triangle.
Everything from movies to TV shows like Scooby Doo used to warn about the impending doom of anyone who dared venture into the Bermuda Triangle. It makes a nice bedtime story but has largely been proven to be a complete myth.
What is something you only realized was a lie after you became an adult? Leave a message and let us know!
h/t: Reddit
