21 Habits Ingrained in People’s Brains That Don’t Make Any Sense

Sometimes as adults, we forget what we felt when we were children. When it comes to giving children advice or opinions about a specific topic or acting in a certain way, we don’t take into account that our words will probably become ingrained in their minds, for better or worse. This is how these users have felt, remembering moments from their childhood that have stayed with them to this day.

At Bright Side, we compiled examples shared by people who have bravely dared to relive beautiful or bad childhood experiences.

• “Girls take care of babies and kids. Men don’t.” Sometimes I still fall into the trap it’s so ingrained in my brain. I saw a dad at a party taking his kid to the bathroom for a diaper change and my mind went, “he shouldn’t be doing that. Where’s his wife?” I quickly realized how dumb that was. But it’s so drilled into my head. © c***princess / Reddit
• They used to basically tell me that driving on the highway was extremely dangerous and that I should stick to backroads. Turns out they were just projecting their own fears of cars moving really fast onto me. For the first couple years of driving, I would only go on backroads. One summer I got sick of having to drive for over an hour to get to work, and I figured there would be less traffic then so I gave it a try. It was way easier than taking backroads, and the highways were better maintained than the roads I was used to taking, with far fewer turns, blind spots, etc. It was way safer and quicker. © Gogar1 / Reddit
• That as a girl, I should never be the one to reach out to the guy first, he should be the one to make the effort first. (Ex: if I want to hang out with a boy I like or even simply text him, I need to wait for him to text me or reach out to me first.) It really messed up how I talk to guys I’m attracted to because I’m 23 years old so I can do what I want when it comes to guys, but I sometimes still have this mindset. The crazy thing is now my parents wonder why we don’t reach out to any guys we are interested in, LOL. © hitagiss / Reddit

• When I was little, my mother assigned different cleaning tasks weekly to me and my brothers. One day, I decided to step up my game and not just do the minimum vacuuming, but do it thoroughly, and then do other cleaning-related stuff. The result was that it was received poorly. She criticized every small little detail, and honestly, even at a young age, I knew this wasn’t right. My conclusion was that I just spent 2-3x the regular effort, for the same result — and even worse, I got criticized for it. So yeah, this made me very reticent to put much effort into cleaning, other than the bare minimum, since recognition isn’t a thing in my household. I’m working hard to not become a dirty slob. I think I’m doing fine on my own, but yeah, I have associated “doing nice things” for family (especially cleaning), with a negative experience, so I avoid it. © Dabok / Reddit
• I remember becoming friends with a boy when I was in the fourth or fifth grade. I met him through a friend and thought he was really cool. I was not yet in a place of having a crush on anyone beyond TV actors, so it never occurred to me that my dad would assume that if I was eager to hang out with a boy, it must be a crush. I wanted to go to his house, and my dad said no. He just got really grumpy and impatient and mean. Then when he dropped me off, he figured out that the kid I wanted to hang out with so badly was very physically disabled. (I didn’t care even enough to mention it in passing. I liked him as a person because we read the same books.) I’d never seen one of my parents look ashamed of themselves before that. I remember my dad getting choked up after and telling me he was sorry, but I figured he just meant sorry for being grumpy. Took me years to figure out it was him realizing the disconnect between what he thought was happening and what was really happening. © Feisty-Donkey / Reddit
• As a kid, I really wanted to save the best for last when it came to eating, so whatever my favorite part of a dish was I would set it aside and eat last. On a family road trip with my cousins, when I was maybe 10, we stopped at a fried chicken place. The skin is my favorite part so I separated all of it and worked my way through the rest of the chicken. Back then, I ate (and still eat) very slowly and about 30 minutes into lunch, my cousin goes, “Oh you don’t like this?” and just takes all of the chicken skin off of my plate and basically eats all of it before I can even say a word. I was devastated. Absolutely ruined that road trip for me. To this day I still want to leave the best for last, but I now take small bites of whatever it is so no one gets any ideas. © umnosorry / Reddit

• I remember one day I wanted my dad to play a video game with me very badly, but he was busy watching something on the computer. I got really frustrated and started running back and forth around the living room like a total mad lad. My dad looked at me and asked me what was wrong, to which I answered back with silence and a frowning face. After I lost his attention, I went back to running back and forth and slamming myself against the wall as I was running. At the end, I got tired and absolutely failed to get him to play with me. I look back to this moment whenever I want something from someone. You don’t have to make a scene or act frustrated or mad when you can just ask. © AllTheNamesAr3Taken / Reddit
• When I was 4, I stole a tiny windmill toy from a grocery store after my mom wouldn’t buy it for me. She realized before we got to the car and made me go inside to return it and apologize. I remember being so ashamed that I NEVER stole anything again. Just recently, I forgot to pay $.20 for a paper bag at the grocery store self-checkout and ran back in to try to pay. The lady working laughed at me and told me not to worry about it. © Lizardshark20 / Reddit
• When I was in third grade, I was sure that restaurant was spelled restaraunt. I was so sure, I argued with my teacher vehemently. She just laughed and told me to look it up in the dictionary. When I saw I was wrong, I felt so embarrassed and humiliated. Ever since then, I’m reluctant to state anything with certainty, unless I’ve double checked it. © Bergenia1 / Reddit

• This is so dumb but it just happened last week. I got out of the shower and grabbed a towel and started to dry my hair with it while I stood there cold and dripping wet. I had a flashback to when I was like 10 or something and asked my mom if I could use 2 towels, one to dry/wrap around my hair and the other to dry my body — like all the ladies do on TV. She said no, of course, because “something wasting towels because I said so blah blah blah.” I suddenly realized I was an adult and that this was my bathroom and my towels, and that I make my own rules. So for the first time in my 55-year-old life, I used TWO towels and it was wonderful! © lynnemaddie / Reddit
• Parents (in general) would say you have to wait 30 minutes after eating before you go back in the pool, otherwise, you’ll get cramps. Once, as a kid, we were at someone’s house with a pool and their parents would set an alarm. One of those spinning ones that dings. All the kids would gather around and watch it. Tick, tick, tick. Not a minute too soon or death!!! © MorePieForEveryone / Reddit
• I stole a pack of gum from a camp store at a campground in Quebec when I was 4. The big bowl of Wrigley’s was sitting there at eye level and I put one in my pocket. My older sister, 9 at the time, told on me and I was marched back to the store to pay for it and apologize. I was absolutely certain that the man behind the counter had some sort of extrajudicial authority to send me away to where bad kids went in Canada, mostly because he had an accent, which I had never heard before. I never shoplifted again, even at that age when kids normally try it. © Dispatcher12 / Reddit
• When I was in third grade my friend got bit by a spider that was in her shoe and she told me she had to get a shot in her toe. Since then I have never been able to put shoes on without shaking them and looking inside for spiders first. © schiaparelli_or_bust / Reddit

• My mom told me that I was allergic to sand (at 5 years old). She just didn’t want to clean the sand off of me and my clothes. © Aperture_Kubi / Reddit
• “If you hate your job, you just have to suck it up and make the best of it. Don’t complain because you’ll be pegged as a troublemaker and if you quit you’ll be seen as flaky and nobody else will hire you.” This nugget has caused more damage to my physical and emotional well-being than anything else. You really don’t want to hear their views on staying in an unhappy, dysfunctional marriage, (they’re similar). © Johhnymaddog316 / Reddit
• When I was 5 years old and in daycare, I was an angry kid who got into fights with the other kids a lot and was always in trouble. One day, I was mad about something and decided to do something REALLY TERRIBLE on purpose. I went to this little wooden playhouse thing we had in the middle of the playground, and I daringly scrawled “dam” on the side of it. Satisfied that this was sufficient to shock any kids or adults who might see it, I turned around, and felt a rush of panic when I found one of the daycare teachers standing a few feet away, arms crossed, coolly surveying my handiwork. There was silence for a few beats, and then she remarked, “That’s not how you spell it. D-A-M is like a beaver’s dam. D-A-M-N is how you spell the swear word.” And then she walked off, looking bored and unimpressed. To this day, I’m meticulous about correct spelling. © TheMegnificent1 / Reddit

• I have to finish all the food that is on my plate. Whenever we would eat, at home or at a restaurant, my mom would force us to eat everything on our plate. © Gabinskaite / Reddit
• If someone is older than you, you must respect and listen to them no matter what, even if they are rude. Respect your elders! © Puzzleheaded-Paint64 / Reddit
• When I was a kid, I was told that if you made eye contact with a zoo animal it would try to kill you. I don’t know why they told me that but it scared me until I got older and realized animals weren’t that aggressive just from eye contact and that, if anything, it made them feel at ease. © Safe-Wolverine-2779 / Reddit
• Bread crust has all the nutrients. © kre8ive1 / Reddit
• A boy kicked me in kindergarten. The teacher told me I needed to kick him back but I didn’t want to. She put us in a closet and said she wouldn’t let us out until I kicked him back. She was fired over it. © buckshill08 / Reddit

What memory from your childhood have you not been able to get out of your head? What is the phrase you heard as a child that has stuck with you to this day?

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