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Old Wives tales your parents scare you with


None of the above

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The escalator one terrified me for years. I used to jump over the edge when getting on and off. And the rumor about Pop Rocks and Coke causing your stomach to explode was huge when I was little. I remember my friend did it and his mom actually made him sit still for a while afterward.

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If my grandmother (raised RC Irish) opened a can of food upside down, she'd never use the contents. Also refused to bring a broom from one house into another (bad spirits are swept up and kept in brooms).

If a bird flew into the house, my other grandmother (mennonite) was convinced that someone in the family would die within a week.

Well, yeah grandma, you had 8 brothers and sisters and all their families. And grandpa is the youngest of 26 children of two marriages and all their families. And then there's your 7 children, with all their families...

Grandma, I'd be surprised to find out that out of all those people, no one died next week!

She also grew up in Saskatchewan, and even though she agreed that the earth was round she admitted that, "I just can't imagine that."

There was still a little part of her that said inside, "Nope."

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When my parents were kids....they were threatened with an orphage, called Father Bakers....so they tried to scare us with that one..."We'll send you to Father Bakers!!" but since it had been long closed down we'd just look at each other like WTF is that??? Sorry Mom, that one doesnt scare us.

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Your giving away all the secrets of the ancients.

LMFAO

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When I was very young and always bouncing off the walls, my dad would tell me to settle down or else he would throw me inside the TV and I would be stuck in there with Mickey (or whatever cartoon I happened to be watching) and I would be like "that's actually possible!?" and I wondered how many people had actually been trapped inside their TV's.

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The don't talk to strangers one is actually rather useful...but you have to be careful there.

When my son was 5 years old our town instituted a policy where children have to be interviewed prior to being admitted for Kindergarten. We went down to the school and a couple of teachers informed me that I wasn't allowed to be present for the screening. They took my son off into another room...they returned an a few minutes asking me why he wouldn't talk. I was surprized...they allowed me to speak to my son...you guessed it, he wouldn't speak to them because they were strangers. After formal introductions my son went back into the interview room and answered all of their questions.

You have to be careful what you tell kids...they tend to take things quite literally.

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Don't talk to strangers?

(jokin)

Yeah, I was told that one.

I was also told by my beloved mother that if I didn't hold her hand at night time when she walked me to my grandparents for sleep overs I'd be taken away by werewolves.

As a young impressionable child I believed her and squeezed her hand in my presumable vice-like grip.

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Gosh there are so many...

Don't go outside with wet hair or you will catch pneumonia.

You can't go swimmng for thirty minutes after you eat because you will get cramps and drown.

If you walk around barefoot you will have big feet. (Come to think of it there might be something to that. :unsure2: )

If you cross your eyes they will stay that way...the same with makng a face.

You will go blind if you sit too close to the TV.

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never go outside, alone, at night, because the boogeyman will get you!!

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We were never allowed to lick the batter because raw cookie dough will give you worms..thanks Mom

Edited by Idano
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What about the "mom will always know, cause moms have eyes in the back of their head"?

Haven't heard that one in a while! Sounds quite ominous doesn't it?

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The only one I can think of is "Back in my day, $1 bought you a week's worth of groceries!".

We have something similar in the Uk but it usually has: "and that was in OLD MONEY" tacked on the end!

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My parents may have given me a few, but my grandparents were the main culprits.

Don't smile at wooly caterpillars, if they count your teeth, your teeth will fall out.(My brother and I would go show them to my grandparents with our lips covering our teeth, trying to tell them we found a wooly caterpillar)

If your knees were ticklish it meant you like girls/boys.

Dont play with fire or you'll pee the bed.

Edited to add: Raise your feet when you go over a bridge, to make the car lighter. Otherwise, we'd fall through.

LOL, Most random so far I think?

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What about the "mom will always know, cause moms have eyes in the back of their head"?

This one is true. I didn't really believe it until I became a mom. I always knew, somehow I always knew. Actually, I still know and my kids are 24 and 26!

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Don't be a "gunna ..." or that man/woman is just another "gunna"

- Gunna do this,

- Gunna do that,

Gunna ain't getting it done.

Funnily, I never real got "old wives tales" from my folks, so this is the worst I ever remember I really thought a "gunna" was some awful person we turned into if we didn't do what we said we would when I was little.

Edited by libstaK
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What's the deal with telling infants that they were not born in a hospital like other mere mortals but in fact... were found underneath a cabbage leaf one day? It's obviously not true. :)

It's also kinda sad, imo. There must be children underneath cabbage leafs all over creation. Just waiting on a Ma and Pa. A bit like orphanages. Poor wee lambs.

*mixed emoticon*

Edited by Eldorado
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This one is true. I didn't really believe it until I became a mom. I always knew, somehow I always knew. Actually, I still know and my kids are 24 and 26!

This is so true Lilly, the 'antenna' once activated never stops working despite distance or age.

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Haven't heard that one in a while! Sounds quite ominous doesn't it?

Sometimes ominous is good!

One day when my son was two years old I left him playing in his room and went to take a bath. I suddenly had a feeling that something is wrong, I called him but got no answer. I hurried outside to look for him, in towels & covered with soapsuds, to find him on the road carrying a toy brief case saying "daddy office". He somehow managed to open the house door, of course after that fences, locks & chains were installed, but we could have lost him!

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Don't be a "gunna ..." or that man/woman is just another "gunna"

For years as a child I thought the guerrillas they were talking about all the time on the TV news were gorillas. It really, really confused me but I was too afraid of appearing stupid to ask, "WTH?". (seriously)

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My mother was more known for the most famous 4 words ever used ( in parenting ) -> "I told you so"

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lol my mum use to tell me not to eat sugar or i would get worms in my belly ,

My mother said the exact same to us as well

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