"I Learned The Truth As A 40-Year-Old Adult": Adults Are Sharing The (Mostly-Harmless) Lies They Were Told As Kids, And I Was Told These Same Lies

I remember my parents would tell us not to turn lights on in the car while they were driving because it was ~illegal~.

You don't realize until you're an adult that sometimes small white lies are told to little kids for one reason or another. I remember my parents would tell us not to turn lights on in the car while they were driving because it was ~illegal~.

New Line Cinema

So I definitely had a little chuckle when I came across this thread of people on Reddit talking about which lies they were told as kids. Read on for what some people had to say.

1. "I always thought adults were geniuses that knew everything. I once asked my dad how waves at the beach were made. He said by the 'whales.' I believed that for years."

—u/InSight89

2. "I was told in, like, 4th-grade science that our blood was blue in our bodies, and on the way back to the lungs, oxygen makes it red."

CBS

—u/sirreginaldfeatherb3

3. "Hearing, 'Next year they're going to be a lot harder on you about this.' And 'the rules only get more strict.' I heard that at the end of every year in elementary school, but by high school, the rules are actually much less strict."

—u/JeffreyJWhitea

4. "My nana would say 'You're getting so tall!' whenever she saw me. I'm 5'1" — are you making fun of me, nana? Is that what's happening here?"

—u/KnittinAndBitchin

5. "That moths were the ghosts of butterflies. Cheers for that one, dad."

—u/BudgetCoach_

6. "Saying, 'We are almost there' during a long car journey."

Team Coco

—u/lamaga10

7. "My grandpa told me he wouldn't swim with me at the beach because he's made of salt and he'll melt. I believed him."

—u/keepoffmedian

8. "Our D.A.R.E. officer in elementary school said the reason marijuana was so dangerous is because the smoke never leaves your lungs."

—u/SubKreature

9. "If you keep making that face, it'll freeze that way."

CBC

—u/llcucf80

10. "Cracking your knuckles is bad for you."

—u/ReasonableObjection

11. "Swallowed gum takes seven years to digest."

—u/MashedPotatoesDick

12. "That the boys tease you because they like you. No, they were bullies."

NBC

—u/MadMomma85

13. "Only people who work hard get ahead in life."

—u/Micholeon42

14. "'You’ll understand when you are older.' I’m almost 30 and still don’t."

—u/Unlikely_Pressure391

15. "That my pet ducks flew south for the winter. Apparently, we ate them for Thanksgiving. I learned this as a 40-year-old adult."

—u/RusselTheWonderCat

16. "That 'some day my prince will come.' Thanks, Disney."

MTV

—u/I_can_get_loud_too

17. "My mom always told us it was illegal to have the lights on in the car."

—u/chemto90

Are there any lies you were told as a kid that you could add to this list? Share it with me in the comments below.