Remember asking your parents questions? No matter what you asked them, you believed the answer to be true no matter how ridiculous it was, it was your parents after all and they knew everything.
I remember asking my mother about pimples, and why do we get them, her answer to me was, because I was growing and still an adolescent, my body was still dealing with hormones but after I have grown up I wouldn't get them anymore, adults don't get pimples. This answer made a lot of sense to me and I believed her, and while it might hold some truth to it, it is not totally true, I still get pimples.
My father was worse than my mother because he just made stuff up to mess with me I'm sure. Whenever he would use the barbecue, it never got cleaned and had black charred food stuck to it. I asked him one day why he left it on there and his answer was that it made the food that was cooked on top of it taste better. His answer was also collaborated with some of my friends dads as well, so I believed him for a few years. To this day you will still hear this comment from a few people but the fact of the matter is that it is not true.
If you don't believe me then there is a way you can have first hand proof yourself. Simply go over to your barbecue and break off a piece of that black charred food and eat it. Then tell me how good it tasted.
My parents also banded together to fool us kids when we were young. For some reason we started going to church when we never used to. Every Sunday we would get dressed up and go over to our local catholic church, sing terrible songs and listen to man who clearly liked to hear himself talk. I absolutely hated it. This went on for years.
Long after we had grown up and lived on our own I asked my mother about god and her opinion on the subject. She plain faced told me that she didn't really believe in religion, I gawked at her for a second when she told me this and then I asked her why she made us go to church if she didn't believe in religion and she told me that she thought it would be a good experience for us.
I understand why parents can't tell you the truth about things that are above our mental capabilities when we are younger, that and the fact that maybe we should wait to learn about certain things until we are older. I always thought it would be funny to mess with kids, but I have come to conclusion that they are much better off with actual facts that make them smarter, not dumber.
Scott Goerz
