Mother’s Day: Lies Our Mothers Told Us

Today is Mother’s Day, the one day a year dedicated to celebrating all that they do for us all year round! Raising us to who we are now, through the laughter and the tears, all the life talks and advice, and supporting us throughout it all, we have a lot to be grateful for. And it certainly couldn’t have always been easy, especially when we were little. Sometimes a little white lie was necessary to get us to do all the things that helped us grow into the mature adults we are today. Looking back on my own childhood, there were a few untruths my mom told me that I only realized were made up years after the fact, and I was curious if other Her Campus members had similar experiences. I asked Her Campus Hofstra, and to celebrate our mothers and all of the fantastic parenting they have done, here are some of the lies our mothers told us:  

“When I was pouting or mad, my mom used to tell me that my face would stay that way forever if I held onto it for too long.”

“My cousin would get in trouble all the time for cutting her own hair, so my mother told me it would hurt if I cut my own hair”

“My mom told my brother and me that if we were bad she would have our Great Aunt Agnes come babysit us. She said she was old and mean, and had ugly warts, essentially a real-life Nanny McPhee. We don’t have a Great Aunt Agnes…”

“My mom would tell me it’s illegal to be in the car with the light on. And my aunt told my cousins that it was illegal to drive down the highway with the windows down.”

“My mom made me believe a lot of beauty/wellness myths as facts that I never learned weren’t true until recently. The best one was that if you used a razor on your face you would shave your skin off, which is so obviously untrue as I use a mustache razor regularly, but I thoroughly believed that it was sacrilegious to use a razor ANYWHERE but your legs and armpits until about two years ago.”

“Not a lie, but my mom would play the same song on her guitar when I was a kid, so I thought she wrote them all herself.”

“When I was younger, my mom used to tell me that she would ask her hairdresser to add grey to her hair so that the older people she worked with at the bank would take her seriously. I remember telling my friends because I thought it was a power move. Of course not true, but my  mom kind of predicted the silver hair trend!”

“My grandma told me that if I didn’t let her brush or style my hair that I would turn into a made-up character, Zulu, a devil child”

“My mom told me that whenever I told a lie, a white dot would appear on my forehead that only she could see.”

“Mine told me that fart was a swear word, and people who don’t swear call it bottom music.”

And despite the lies, we are still all alive today to share our stories! But in all seriousness, thank you to all the amazing mothers out there for all the work you do! Love you Mom!

• childhood
• funny stories
• lies
• mothers day