Lies our parents told us were basically the original parental controls. No apps. No settings menu. Just a confident adult voice saying something wild and a kid going, seems legit. I was in the driveway this morning watching a neighbor load the car with the calm authority of someone who definitely knows where we’re going, and it reminded me of the classic childhood myths we all swallowed whole.
This batch is full of funny parenting moments and nostalgic humor, the kind you laugh at now because you survived it. Remember being told you’d regret everything forever if you made the wrong face one time? Or hearing “we’re almost there” on a road trip that lasted seven business days?
Gather round, children of misinformation
The funniest part is how serious everybody was about it. Your parent didn’t say it like a theory. They said it like a law of nature. Like gravity. Like taxes. Like chewing gum had a strict seven-year lease agreement inside your body.
And you believed it because you had no other sources. No quick search. No “actually, that’s not how blood works” fact check. Just vibes and a family member who wanted peace and quiet. Which is fair. I respect the hustle. If I had a nickel for every time a grown-up invented science to end a conversation, I’d be retired.
Some of these lies our parents told us were gentle crowd control. Seatbelts, manners, the mysterious permanent record that apparently followed you to adulthood like a haunted file cabinet. Others were pure creative writing. Ocean waves? Whales. Moths? Butterfly ghosts. And somewhere out there, a whole generation is still waiting for quicksand to become a real-life issue.
If you’re in the mood for more nostalgic humor after these funny lies our parents told us, swing by 25 Childhood Snacks That Disappeared Overnight, 25 School Memes That Felt Like Federal Law, and 35 Parenting Fails That Accidentally Became Family Lore.
Mike Hartley is a suburban storyteller who still half-expects his face to freeze that way, even though he knows better now.
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Michael Hartley, or just "Mike," is an editor and seasoned meme historian whose articles have traced the evolution of meme humor from early Impact-font classics to today’s TikTok sensations. With nearly a decade spent as senior editor at ViralHype and as a regular contributor to Cheezburger, Mike has dissected the rise of meme legends such as Bad Luck Brian, Success Kid, and Doge. When he's not hunting down meme gold for Thunder Dungeon, Mike teaches workshops on meme marketing and the psychology behind shareable content.
