We know, sometimes parents just can’t be trusted. Here are some the YP team’s parents have told them and frankly, it still stings a bit
No socks in bed
My parents told me not to sleep in bed with my socks on, because “something terrible might happen”. I still get an inexplicable feeling of discomfort if I try to sleep with my socks on, even if it’s in the dead of winter and I’m freezing. I’ve never understood why I wasn’t allowed to wear my socks to bed. What’s the worst that could happen?
Joshua Lee, Intern
Spider mafia: just as scary as it sounds
“If you kill a spider, all of its friends and family will come and attack you in the middle of the night.”
This has haunted me my entire life ... it hasn’t stopped me from sucking the odd spider or two up the vacuum cleaner, but I’m usually reluctant to sleep that night.
Oh, and another one ... my friend was told when the ice cream van plays its music, it means it’s already leaving – I feel so much for her ice cream-deprived childhood.
Charlotte Ames-Ettridge, Sub-editor
Of rice and men
“If you don’t finish your rice, your future husband will have disgusting skin.” Hmm. I haven’t met him yet, though, so I guess we’ll see.
“Your puppy missed his mum so we had to take him back so he wouldn’t be sad.” By the way, you read right, a puppy. Because I don’t hate dogs regardless of what people think. (But cats totally rule.)
“If you don’t listen to mummy, the police will come and take you away.” Uhm, what? I’ve yet to be approached by the police for misbehaving for my parents.
Heidi Yeung, Web editor
Wet hair headaches
“Don’t go to sleep with wet hair, you’ll wake up with a headache.” Lies! I’ve been hairdryer free now for at least half a year, and none of the headaches I get have been because my hair was wet before falling asleep. Ask any of my older relatives, though, and they’d say otherwise.
“If you wake up with bruises you can’t remember sustaining, it’s because you’ve been pinched by a ghost.” Well ... I mean ... I definitely don’t have any better ideas for why I get them, so I guess I can’t really say they were lying.
Ginny Wong, Sub-editor
Rabbits are natural tunnellers?
My mum told me I wasn’t allowed a pet rabbit because it would dig down through the ceiling and fall into the flat below. My mum also told me she has eyes and ears that are so strong she can see and hear exactly what I was doing at school. I totally believed her too.
Young Wang, Senior reporter
No harm done
My parents told me if I treated my baby sister well, I would grow up to be really really good-looking. I hid all of her toys and I’m still quite handsome.
Jamie Lam, Sub-editor
No sports after eating
My mum used to ask me not to jump around, swim, or do any sort of vigorous physical activities right after a meal. If I did then I would run the risk of getting appendicitis. It was only afterI had my appendix removed because of an infection, and the doctor told me the truth did I realise it was a lie!
Nicola Chan, Reporter
Beautiful curls are a bread crust away
My mum told me that you could tell if a horse had been desexed by looking at its hooves. Cue #epicfailure in stable management 101 class.
Oh yeah, and if you eat bread crusts it makes your hair curly. That’s what everyone wanted in those days, curly hair. You can imagine I ate A LOT of bread crusts.
Susan Ramsay, Editor
Jump! Jump! Jump!
My parents told me that I would have rosy cheeks and red lips like Snow White if I ate lots of tomatoes ... so I ate A LOT of tomatoes growing up.
My parent also told me I would grow up nice and tall if I jumped up and down at midnight on New Year’s Day. Clearly that was a lie because I jumped every year and I’m still only just over five feet tall.
Nicole Moraleda, Sub-editor