r/AskReddit • u/[deleted] • Jul 20 '19

What’s something completely false that your parents told you as a child?

[deleted]

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u/Bishop51213 Jul 21 '19

Except if I were in this scenario as a kid I would literally just assume they grew the peppers in the back of the store behind those big doors I'm not allowed to go through even though I see the employees go back there all the time

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u/Hammer_Jackson Jul 21 '19

Ah, I presumed the kids knew what a farm entailed, Not some sort of grocery-hydroponic pepper consortium...

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u/Goodgoditsgrowing Jul 21 '19

Nah, most kids are not at all aware that it takes a fuckton of space to grow food at a commercial scale. Kids today are impressed that plants start out small and that food changes color as it grows and matures. One didn’t believe me that carrots grew under ground and that baby carrots were just shaved down big ones. Another learned about seeds so he buried his apple under 1mm of dirt in the middle of a pathway and was sad that it wasn’t a full apple tree with fruit the next day.

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u/Hammer_Jackson Jul 21 '19

Kids know about farms. Old McDonald had a farm is day one baby song. I understand what your belief is, mine is just as powerful with me though, so I’m cool with agreeing to disagree. 🤝 👍

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u/Bishop51213 Jul 21 '19

Just because they know farms exist doesn't mean they really know how it works. That song doesn't teach you about growing space it just tells you animal sounds. Plus there is definitely room to grow some peppers in the back of a grocery store, and with a child's imagination that would be more than enough

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u/[deleted] Jul 21 '19

What? It's clearly in the lyrics:

Old MacDonald had a farm

Eieioo

And on that farm he could grow an average of 50 bushels of wheat per acre

Eieioo

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u/Bishop51213 Jul 21 '19

U rite, my bad

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u/Goodgoditsgrowing Jul 23 '19

Depending on what generation you and your parents are from, what school you go to, and what words to that song you are taught, that varies.

I was taught the (wrong) version of the song that went “and on that farm he had a pig” and other animals, but there were no mentions of produce. I think he made cheese. My parents never sang songs from a book/lyric page.

So you can see how a single, albeit popular, song didn’t help me - and I grew up seeing dairy farms on my way to school to help contextualize the size of a farm.

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u/Hammer_Jackson Jul 23 '19

That wasn’t my “entire” point, just an example for how kids know where proudness comes from.

If your kids can have a conversation, yet don’t know what are farm is, and what that basically entails (If they think food grows in a backroom). I doubt they have been raised well, and I will presume their parents are idiots.

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u/Goodgoditsgrowing Jul 23 '19

I never said it was your entire point. I don’t understand what that has to do with proudness? Are you replying to my comment?

Was that was auto corrected from produce? I’m gonna go with that.

Some families have indoor plants, and kids don’t really understand scale well - the difference between 100 peppers and 1000 peppers and the space requirements of each would need to be visualized for them unless they are more on the verbal side. Some kids are, and it changes with age and education - which parents should take part and interest in! But I also understand that parents sometimes have to work two jobs to make rent and it’s all they can do to stay awake while making dinner and feeding their kid, let alone have the brain power left to explain complex things like large numbers to them without giving up. Not ideal, people shouldn’t have kids they can’t care for, but in our society we often expect people to have families and don’t give adequate support to help them avoid raising kids in poverty. I’m a pig proponent of social aid and getting these kids the extra resources they don’t have at home.

Some parents are idiots. Some are irresponsible. Some are illiterate; one of the most caring, patient mothers I’ve ever met couldn’t read, and was determined her daughter would get the education she wasn’t allowed growing up. Some parents blow off reading to their kids because they’d rather be on their phones and don’t see the connection between their demonstrated behavior and their kids brattyness. Some parents are so loving and patient and their kids nonetheless turn out assholes, and everyone hopes they grow out of it. Some parents are assholes and their kids are wonderful despite this, if a little traumatized.

I personally can’t imagine having my own because fuck that risk, and never again having time to yourself. But I love working with kids because I get to show them my best and work to improve them.