On Monday, Reddit user u/i_cant_see_my_earsasked, "What is something your parents engrained in you as a child that you now realize is ridiculous?" A lot of answers have me side-eyeing the things a lot of us were taught growing up.
Here's what they said:
1."That as a girl, I should never be the one to reach out to the guy first, he must be the one to make the effort first."
2."'Sex' was a taboo word in our parents' house. We could not ask questions or comment on sex in any way or at any time, no matter what. It was as if sex didn't exist — a subject alien to daily living."
5."If you hate your job you just have to suck it up and make the best of it. Don't complain because you'll be pegged as a troublemaker, and if you quit you'll be seen as flaky and nobody else will hire you. This nugget has caused more damage to my physical and emotional well being than anything else."
6."You catch colds simply by being exposed to cold. For some reason I just never questioned the idea that temperature itself caused viruses, but it's such a ridiculous notion once you think about it."
8."That girls take care of babies and kids. Men don’t. Sometimes I still fall into the trap it’s so ingrained in my brain. I saw a dad at a party taking his kid to the bathroom for a diaper change and my mind went, 'He shouldn’t be doing that. Where’s his wife?' I quickly realized how dumb that was. But it’s so drilled into my head."
10."That I have to finish all my food which is on the plate. Whenever we would eat, at home or in a restaurant my mum would force us to eat everything on the plate."
13."'Things like, 'Be a man,’ ‘Boys don’t cry,' and ‘Men don’t bitch.' It doesn’t make anyone manlier, it just makes someone repress their feelings and become emotionally incompetent. Teach kids honesty, and encourage them to say what they think."
