Growing up our parents tell us a bunch of things that ultimately end up not being true. For example, there was the classic one where apparently drug dealers will give you free drugs to get you hooked that any kid who grew up in the '80s and '90s probably heard from their parents — and probably D.A.R.E., too.
And recently, Reddit user hightreez wanted to know what those things were when they asked this question in the r/Millennials subreddit: "What is something your parents engrained in you that you now realize is ridiculous?"
Well, millennials had lots of responses to that question. Below are the top, best, and most often repeated comments:
2. "That thing where they're like 'respect is earned, not given.' Biggest horseshit I've ever heard."
3. "That perfectionism is the standard. Things aren't worth doing unless you do them so thoroughly and perfectly that you basically are never done editing. Helllllloooooo, burnout!"
6. "Living together before marriage is wrong, wrong, wrong on all levels. Not only is it a sin, but it proves the old expression of 'Why buy the cow when you can get the milk free.' I'm very thankful I didn't live by this. I would have had a nasty divorce instead of just a difficult break-up."
7. "That you must have a 'valid' reason for everything you do. 'Because I want to' or 'because it makes me happy' are not valid reasons."
8. "Make sure to tell your boss that you want to work all the weekends, evenings and holidays so that they know you really care about your job."
9. "That I don’t need to learn to cook or do laundry because 'my wife will do that stuff when I get married.' I went off to college having no clue how to do laundry and I didn’t learn how to do the most basic of cooking until my 20s. My 3-year-old literally helps with laundry and cooking more than I ever got to do my 18 years of living at home."
11. "Calling everyday when you apply for a job, totally horseshit but I f'ing did it for like five years after leaving home. Anything concerning work culture honestly."
12. "You must conform and appear 'normal,' otherwise someone might judge you as 'weird' and that’s just the worst thing that could possibly happen."
13. "That you get the flu from getting head wet in the rain or from not wearing a thick jacket, smh, smh."
14. "Stay with one company and be loyal and they’ll appreciate you and pay you more."
15. "IDK if this is my parents, but other adults said coffee stunts your growth which is bullshit."
17. "'Work hard and you will be rewarded.' And I somehow continued to believe that crap long after they themselves established a pattern of never rewarding my hard work, while harshly punishing my failures."
18. "That you will drown and die if you swim after you eat."
19. "I was told, over and over, 'Just wait until you are a parent!!! Then you will understand!!' Now I'm a parent and have fully concluded they were just trying to mask their insecurities with gaslighting."
20. And lastly, "The mystical 'permanent record lie.' If I got a detention, speeding ticket, any sort of ticket actually, it’d go on my permanent record and I’d never get into college or get a good job. It was the blanket fear approach instead of using truthful, realistic consequences for those situations."
You can read the full thread of responses on Reddit.
Note: Some responses have been edited for length and/or clarity.