10 Ways Your Mother Lied to You about Your Deepest Fears

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In the words of Bangambiki Habyarimana, “There is no greater heaven than the heart of a loving mother.”

Our mother has always been our cushion against all our demons and deepest fears. From our very first breath till her last one, she is the one who truly gives up her own choices, preferences, likes, dislikes, and even her life to make sure that we have a quality living. Luffina Lourduraj describes the love of a mother in the most beautiful way saying, “I don’t believe in love at first sight because my mother started loving me before seeing me.”

There are so many instances in our lives especially when we are unable to discern the realities of life and when our mind is incapable of finding answers on its own, our mother comes to our rescue. To triumph over our fears and anxieties, her trick is to lie to us. All in the name of parental love, and it’s all good because she has her reasons. You’ll get an idea when you read about these 10 lies mothers tell their children and the reasons why.

The Doctor Won’t’ Give You an Injection

This is definitely one of the worst fears which almost all children have – falling sick and ending up at the doctor’s. And the most gruesome fear becomes a reality when the sickness or the injury demands that an injection be given to the child.

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Around 4 to 10 percent of the population has needle phobia which is mostly of biological origin and has nothing to do with the classical phobias. All of us have experienced this situation where our mother tells us that the doctor is not going to give us an injection and when we have totally fallen for her lie and our mind has deviated into a totally different terrain of thoughts, we feel tinge of pain pricking our bubble away.

Santa Claus and Tooth Fairies Are Real

As a child, you really enjoyed all the excitement of Santa Claus’ arrival on Christmas Eve, and admit it, it’s all because your expectations of the wonderful presents he would bring. You only found out when you grew up that they were all your loving mother connivance with your father. Don’t worry, her intentions were crystal clear: she just wanted her children to stay connected with the traditions of Christmas, the spirit of togetherness, and liven up your imagination with fantasy.

Same goes for the tooth fairy. Every tooth brought hope and expectation. Isn’t that what we all crave for in the darkest moment of our lives? We have to learn this from a young age, and our mother has prepared us well.

The Stork Delivered You

Obviously, it was quite uncomfortable for mothers to answer this commonly asked question by children at a time when what went on between man and wife were taboo, let alone how babies were made. Today, children are truly lucky to have sex education given at school and learn about the clinical process of what goes into the making of babies. However, for our mothers of yesteryears, the best way to tackle such curiosities was to shuffle them under the carpet or answer them like “Oh honey, the stork delivered you to us”.

Don’t Talk to Strangers

The irony of this statement is that, we’re told to be friendly with our neighbors but after all they were strangers once. How can we make friends when we don’t talk to strangers? This type of warning is not actually a lie but it used to be a good deterrent of unwanted friendships in the park, on the way back from school or when we were alone at some unknown place. When your mother tells you not to speak to strangers, in our minds strangers have hidden monsters in them that we’d always fear. Today, it works as a charm against unwanted attention from criminals.

There Is Nothing in the Dark

For a child, the dark is uncertain territories; it’s the place where they don’t have any control over. It’s where the imagination goes wild, and all the boogie monsters live. While our mothers can’t control our imagination she can soothe her children’s fear away with bravado and logic by showing us there is nothing under the bed or in the closet even when it’s dark. And if situation demands she could “lock” the monsters away for our childish satisfaction.

Lizards, Roaches, or Spiders Won’t Hurt You

And they don’t actually. But the fact remains, around 6 percent people in the U.S. alone suffer from insectophobia which is a fear of some kind of insect. Saying that these creatures will not do anything to you is true to some extent but there have been cases where they have actually caused some serious damage.

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Lizard’s venom will definitely kill you whereas a spider bite may result in a severe infection. But we don’t have to live with this fear if our mothers could help it. She could simply pull us out of our phobia with a lie like this: “The itsy bitsy spider went up the pipe.”

You’ll Be Safe and Protected in School

Until a few years back, our moms were right about this. Schools are second homes to children, and every child is safe if they’re at school. But a lot of bullying and harassment has been reported in schools lately. Unfortunately, one out of every four children is bullied and not much has been done about this issue. Children are harassed and ill-treated and there are times when the situation goes to the extent where the victim resorts to committing suicide. I guess it’s about time mothers should tell children about the possibility of being bullied and how to overcome such a situation.

Mom and Dad Are In Love with Each Other

For every 1000 individuals, 3.6 end up in divorce according to the latest statistics. There are ups and downs in every kind of relationship and if something is wrong, the rest of the family members ought to know. Children already know if something is wrong but to our mothers, creating the picture perfect family is her way of keeping the faith of matrimony, family foundation, and love alive.

The News on TV Are Lies

Whether the news on TV is about child abductions, shooting cases or imminent war, mothers of our time want to shun us from the harsh reality. Instead of making the child aware and educated, not scared of his surroundings, mothers prefer to keep children in the fantasy world and simply be happy. After all, they’ll have to tackle these issues when they grow up anyways so why burden them when they’re young.

I am your mother, I would never lie to you

The sentence itself holds such an irony because while even saying this, our mothers are usually lying but all that sweet soul wants is nothing but goodness for her children. She would lie if it could save your soul; she would turn her face the other way if it means not to embarrass you. And she could lie to you through her teeth even if it means it will take you to the next ladder of success.

Many will disagree that mothers have the right to lie but the reality is that sometimes they have to, to raise children into confident adults, creative geniuses, and believers of good faith. In the words of Jill Churchill:

“There’s no way to be a perfect mother and a million ways to be a good one.”

Related: Confession of a Mean Mom