If there's one thing we can rely on marvelous parents for, besides love, support, healthcare, a house, food, and clothing, is to remember us at out lowest. Mistakes are easy to make and, thankfully, good parents are there to pick us back up, dust us off, and make fun of us for the rest of our lives.
Reddit user, u/unsanemaker, wanted the best of our worst when they asked:
What is something you did long ago that your parents still bring up today?
Do You Know...?
When my brother was really little he was really into WWF and WWE. He wanted to be a wrestler and he started calling himself "the muscle man" but he couldn't pronounce "muscle" so it came out "muffin".
We still call him the muffin man, hes 27.
Get The Point?
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Ugh. When I dated an...interesting... guy for a bit in high school. He was really into swords. Every new guy I meet, the first thing they say is... But how many swords does he have? They think they're pretty damn funny.
If he had enough time to go out with you he wasn't studying the blade enough.
Good point! Unfortunately I wasn't sharp enough back then to get a handle on things.
I Can Hit The Point. I Promise.
Throwing a dart into my brothers bare foot because I convinced myself I was good enough to throw it exactly between his toes.
This...Feels Like Their Fault
A few years ago I was eating dinner with my mom and brother and started choking on a piece of food. Couldn't breathe, couldn't speak. I fell out of my chair and writhed on the floor before managing to dislodge the food.
The entire time my mom and brother laughed because they thought I was joking, and then yelled at me for not letting them know I was choking. Almost four years later if I even remotely choke on anything they remind me to fall onto the floor so that they know I'm being serious.
Yeah. This Makes Sense.
I didn't get to walk in my high school graduation. Had to go to 2 weeks of summer school (over some bullsh-t, but whatever). I've graduated college, graduated graduate school, walked at all of them just for my mom.
I'm now a full time college professor and my mom STILL holds not walking in my high school graduation over my head.
Can't Argue With Science
When I was turning like 5 or 6 my mom joked that she was taking away my birthday because I was growing up too fast. I freaked out because I'm a kid and I love my birthday.
Now I'm 27 and every year on my birthday she says I'm a year younger because she took away my birthday that one time.
A Perfectly Good Dirt Snack
When I was 6 or 7, I was outside playing on our swing set. As I was swinging, I was looking at the ground and saw a fruit snack. It was covered in dirt but I stopped swinging, picked it up, blew the dirt off, and was about to stick it in my mouth when suddenly I hear my mom banging on the dining room window, motioning me to come inside. She told me if I wanted a fruit snack I just needed to ask and then she gave me a pack of them.
She has told this story to every friend or boyfriend I've ever introduced her to. It's not even that funny or great of a story. But it's the one story she has that she thinks will embarrass me. But I was a kid, and I saw a fruit snack.
Of course I was going to try to eat it.
Do You Know A Better Way?
Whenever my parents are talking with other parents about shenanigans pulled by young children my dad likes to bring up the time he came home from work to see 3 year old me up on the kitchen counter, with an entire package of cinnamon raisin bagels having been split in half and de-raisined. He asked me what I was doing and I very proudly exclaimed "I'm eating raisins!"
That's Quite A Technique
I was trying to perform the Heimlich maneuver on my sister to show our dad what I had learned that day in school but instead, I was just...violently humping her back because I didn't know you were supposed to tighten your arms around the diaphragm.
To this day they call it the "Humpback Maneuver"
A Bite To Forget
when I was younger (at least 4 years old), we were at Disneyland [Paris] with my cousins family. when walking around the park, I got tired and my uncle decided to give me a piggy back ride. I don't remember doing this but apparently to my dad, he hear my uncle shout "OW!", when questioned, my uncle said I had bit his ear. full on bit his ear.
Showing The Goods
A bit late but my parents love to tell the story about a young boi (me) standing naked at our window. The window is directly at a main traffic road.
Best part is I did it because my twin gave me 5 bucks. The call from the neighbours my mom received were worth it I [guess]
Stroganoff? No, Never Again.
When I was around 12 I decided to cook dinner and dessert for my Mum's birthday. For main I cook beef stroganoff, we sit down to eat and it is...completely inedible. Mum is asking me questions trying to work out where it went so wrong. Turns out when the recipe called for a cup of stock, it DID NOT mean a cup of stock powder straight from the tin.
Thinking dessert would salvage the night I dish up golden syrup dumplings (with ice cream). Instead of the dumplings being soft and delicious, they are more like golden golf balls. No spoon could break them. I used plain flour instead of self raising flour. The ice cream was great. Mum still laughs and imitates me resting my head in the table in defeat. It happened nearly 20 years ago and I will not ever live it down.
I have not made beef stroganoff since.
Confusing Swimming With Something Else
My dad played with a travel softball team throughout my childhood. I went to surrounding states all of the time for his games. We were at a hotel pool when I was three, about to head inside. My mom was holding my newborn little sister, and she and my dad were talking to one of my dad's teammates. When I was younger, I was obsessed with swimming, and I snuck back into the water.
I was holding my breath and underneath, and I also didn't know how to swim. My dad jumps into the pool fully clothed, yanks me up, and asks me, "What were you doing?!" I looked him dead in the eyes and said, "I was swimming!" Not missing a beat, he told me, "You weren't swimming, you were drowning!" I can't go around a body of water without this story being brought up.
You Just Need The Right Motivation, Is All
My brother and I were in the playroom and I was laying on the mat on my tummy maybe two metres away from my brother. He then went into the kitchen to ask my mum for a knife and fork and when my mum came back down with him she saw me laying next to the plate grabbing at the pancakes. My mum then asked my brother "____ did you move your sister over here?" And my brother replied "no she was on the mat". I crawled for the first time, towards pancakes. This gets brought up every time we have pancakes.
Time Is Nothing To Kids
When I was a kid, like 4-5, I apparently walked up to my parents and said "I broke my arm falling from a tree when I was 23."
So when I turned 23, any time I'd climb they'd make jokes about it.
I keep reminding them it was PAST TENSE. Past lives and sh-t.
Confusion As To What We Are
When my brother was 5 and I was 3, we were at the YMCA swimming pool, and out of nowhere, my brother says really loud, "Dad? Are we Mexican?" Now, my brother and I are biracial, so we look Mexican, but we aren't.
The ENTIRE pool went silent as my dad had to explain to my brother that we weren't.
"I made it and it was mine."
That when I was learning to use the toilet I never wanted to flush my poop down because "I made it and it was mine." My mom's absolute FAVOURITE story of me...
It's All. Your. FAULT.
My Jewish mother still reminds me how she was in labor for 10 hours before I was born.
It's like it was my fault, and that I had some control over it. She says "You don't remember, but it's the truth". Of course I don't remember, Ma!
That's just the typical Jewish guilt machine working its wonders.
A Funeral To Never Forget
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So when I was 6-7, we were visiting Georgia cause one of my uncles was dying. It was a really solemn affair, not a lot of fun, and sort of a miserable time for everyone. So little me, a bit bored, and looking for something to get my mind off of things, started chasing their cat around because I loved cats. A lot. Like in that little kid way that cats hate, where you just pick them up in a bear hug and squeeze them until they claw at you to get away.
So I'm chasing this cat, and it runs through its cat tunnel on the cat scratch post/palace thing it had. Obviously, I launch myself flat out into this thing after it, and wedge my arms against myself with my elbows, and my hands just stuck right in front of my face. I made it about halfway through the tunnel.
I struggled for like 20 minutes by myself trying to get out, and man, I'm just STUCK. So finally I started crying, and my family heard and came over. I'm all embarrassed cause I can't get out, and they're just laughing like crazy. Finally, my oldest brother says, "I'll get him out!" grabs me by the ankles, and with all his might His 13 year old self could muster, yanks my jeans clean off.
My whitey-tightey bums just out there for to see. I was mortified, and they just laughed and laughed. Like several of them fell onto the ground laughing. They did finally rescue me by pulling my hands through, so I wasn't so wedged in there. I guess all in all, it helped them get some laughter in a sucky time. It gets brought up from time to time, but really it's fine.
The old wives' tales.
They are the stories of legend.
I think we all need a big DEEP Google dive though.
Where did they originate?
WHO ARE THE OLD WIVES!
You don't hear about them as much anymore.
It's like science and logic are suddenly a thing.
But they sure are a good way to keep your kids and their behavior in line.
Redditor the_spring_goddess wanted to discuss the tall tales we've all been fed through life, so they asked:
"What is an old wives tale that people still believe?"
"Wait an hour to swim after eating."
What a crock!
So many summer hours wasted.
I want revenge for that one.
Say Nothing
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"An undercover cop has to tell you he's a cop if you ask him."
LonelyMail5115
"Pretty much most advice when it comes to cops are old wives tales. I’m not even a cop but most of the advice you hear is pretty off."
I_AM_AN_A**HOLE_AMA
Say Something
"That you have to wait 24 hours to report someone missing."
Severe_Airport1426
"I really think this one is important and should be the top regardless. As it’s a piece of advice that needs to be relearned and the only way to do that is through awareness."
crappycurtains
"This used to be true. I think they changed it after some guy named Brandon went missing back in the '80s or '70s. You used to have to wait 24 hours if the missing person was an adult because they had 'a right to be missing' and then everyone realized that was stupid and stopped doing it."
AlbinoShavedGorilla
Body Temps
"That drinking ice cold water after eating oily foods will solidify the oil and permanently remain in your body. I informed my coworker that if your body temperature ever reached that point, you’d have bigger problems than weight gain."
chriseo22
"Oh, I have a cousin who 100% believed this. One of those guys who believed every early 2000s internet rumor and old wives tale. One night I chugged a big glass of ice water after dinner and he started freaking out and saying my guts were gonna harden."
"I sarcastically told him to drive me to the hospital if that happened. Obviously, nothing happened and the next morning I said something like 'Thanks for being on standby in case my guts filled with hardened oil.' He just walked off muttering under his breath."
apocalypticradish
Arms Down
"When I was pregnant, I was told by young and old alike that I should NOT raise my arms above my head or exert myself in such a manner because it could cause cord strangulation to my unborn sons and daughters."
Fatmouse84
10 Years Actually
Unimpressed Uh Huh GIF by Brooklyn Nine-Nine
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"Chewing gum stays in your stomach for 7 years."
"I remember accidentally swallowing a piece of gum when I was a kid in like 1995 and just accepting my fate like welp, gonna have this in my stomach til high school I guess."
Gecko-911
I was so afraid to sallow my gum when I was young.
This tale is haunting.
High/Low
Hungry Debra Messing GIF by Will & Grace
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"You can tell the sex of the baby by how you carry."
LeastFormal9366
"Pregnancy certainly wins awards for the most old wives tales. So much absolute BS was repeated to us by everyone we talked to."
IllIIIlIllIlIIlIllI
The Cursed
"If you’re a woman and you wear opal jewelry but opal is not your birthstone (October), you’ll never be able to have children, or will be widowed, or just generally have bad luck or something. You can counteract this by having a diamond in the same piece of jewelry as the opal, though."
"I have a nice opal ring that my parents gave me years ago, and I’ve had other women give me this 'advice' unprompted more than once when I’ve worn it. I have absolutely no idea where it started, but I’m pretty sure this little chunk of silicate rock has no concept of what month I was born in, let alone of how my reproductive organs work."
SmoreOfBabylon
Stay In
"Going outside with wet hair will make you get pneumonia. Or an earache. Or maybe arthritis. Depends on which old wife you listen to."
"Jokes on them - I haven't blow-dried my hair in decades and usually leave the house with wet hair in the morning. On winter mornings, the tips of my hair get frozen. No ear infections or pneumonia or arthritis yet."
worldbound0514
Dreams and Facts
"You never make anyone up in your dreams you've seen everyone in your dreams somewhere else before and never make anyone up entirely."
"How would you possibly prove that to be true? My partner adamantly believes this and tells me this 'fact' whenever I have a dream about someone I've never met before."
mattshonestreddit
"My late wife used to tell me that before she met me she would have dreams of standing at an alter on her wedding day but could never see the guy's face, no matter how hard she tried. After meeting me the face was filled in with mine. Don't know if it's true but one of those things I like thinking of every now and then when I miss her."
Darthdemented
Cracked
Getting Ready Episode 2 GIF by The Office
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"Some people still believe cracking knuckles causes arthritis."
Choice-Grapefruit-44
"There's a doctor (Donald Unger) that cracked his knuckles a couple of times a day for 60 years, but only on one hand, just to prove it. Both hands remained exactly the same."
MacyTmcterry
I love my knuckles.
Do you have any tall tales to add to the list? Let us know in the comments below.
