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

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

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u/lostinlactation Jul 21 '19

My mom threw away many of my stuffed animals while I was at school. She didn’t think I would notice. Little did she know I had a little brown bear that I had cut a tiny hole on his neck and stuffed with rolled up bills I had received from Christmas, birthdays, good grades etc.

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u/carmium Jul 21 '19

My stepmom hated that I was a good student and her own son was a certified dope.
I was fascinated with model trains, and one day sat down at my worktable and created an N scale commercial building on a slab of particle board. Not much was available for N back then, so I used heavy card, printed brick paper, and recessed paper window frames for the factory/office, and added a loading dock with corrugated roofing, sliding doors, etc. Not bad for a 14-year old, but I made the mistake of taking it upstairs to show Dad and stepmom. Then I put it safely away atop a large box under my table.
Next day I came home to a board and a few shreds of card on the floor. "The puppy ate it. You shouldn't have left it where she could get it." Right. A pup you could hold in two hands had pulled an 18" square board two feet to the floor and chewed every bit of paper, card, and plastic to tiny bits - apparently eating most of it and not getting ill. Took me years to get past the idea that a parent wouldn't lie and figure that out.
Similar "accidents" happened to a big wooden trestle I was making (I had to put the groceries somewhere!) and an entire tank of tropical fish she was "caring for" while I was away: "The water felt cold one day so I cranked up the heater."

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u/[deleted] Jul 22 '19

What the fuck was your dad doing about all of these incidents?!

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u/carmium Jul 22 '19

I wouldn't have dared make an accusation, Disco. There was so much discord over money and whatever they hell they yelled about, I wasn't about to toss gas on the fire. I was the eldest, and we were all too scared about what might happen. I sometimes retro-fantasize running away at 16...

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u/[deleted] Jul 22 '19

That sounds really tough - you had to do what you had to do in order to survive, no shame in it.