A typical Desi household upbringing is truly like no other- for better or for worse. Whether it is recalling what it’s like to be sick in an Indian home (for example, if you laugh while being sick, your no longer sick), or just the other various pressures our parents put on us regarding our career and marriage, we have to admit we’ve been through quite a bit.
In a new Twitter thread, a user named Omar Bazza asks tweeple about the several horror stories our parents resorted to telling us in our childhood in a bid to get us to do something (or not do something). He also hinted at how that might’ve, in turn, made us more anxious about doing different things in life if we’re still carrying the same fear in our minds. Check out the tweet here:-
Did you parents tell you horror stories as a kid about literally everything they didn’t want you to do so that you get scared and never want to do anything, which means that you are now an anxious adult or are you a normal person?
— Omar Bazza (@bazzapower) August 10, 2020
People recalled the various monster and accident stories their parents had created for them:-
Damn she literally created a monster with a backstory and everything 😂
— Omar Bazza (@bazzapower) August 10, 2020
Desi parents are pioneers of this art. I was scared of measuring tapes for the longest time because mom said some kid in her school smacked himself in the eye with it and is now blind. WHY MOM WHY
— angry thomas the train (@HaiMarne) August 10, 2020
My parents solution to make sure I never suck anything in an outlet: “You touch those holes and the boogie man will come out and eat you!”
— Livinius Wood (@LiviniusW) August 10, 2020
Yeah and when I asked them why they did that, they said it was because I was a fearless kid and needed to be disciplined 😒
— khatmal (@cashew_cream) August 10, 2020
Soon enough, it dawned on some people that their parents had unknowingly ended up instilling anxiety and guilt trips instead:-
Not horror stories per se, but my parents did instil a fear psychology in my head. Whenever I attempted to do something big in life or different from what & how they wanted it, they instilled doubts in my head 'How will you do it? You won't be able to do it?' m not kidding.
— Surabhi (@i_surabh) August 10, 2020
Same. And thanks to that I still doubt myself over the tiniest tasks daily.
— Aishwarya Marimuthu (@mbbAsh) August 10, 2020
OMG …my anxiety is through the roof of I want to try something new now 🤦♀️
— Pooja Barot (@poobarot) August 10, 2020
Not horror stories but more so say stuff to guilt trip me or make me feel bad. Smh. My mother still does it and I'm 40.
— honey butter shawty (@_bex23) August 10, 2020
I think in South Asia, normal IS the anxious adult since almost every parent projected their fears on to their kids.
— Ni (@somewheresalty) August 10, 2020
It really is! It installs fear just because they don’t have the energy to be parents!!
— Omar Bazza (@bazzapower) August 10, 2020
Especially my extended family! I still remember these conversations just because of the emotional impact they had on me 🥺
— Omar Bazza (@bazzapower) August 10, 2020
You just illustrated 23 years of my life in one sentence
— Apollo (@Apollo00266940) August 10, 2020
Nobody can deny how much our parents have done and sacrificed for us. but it is important to also recognize if there are any childhood stressors we’re carrying forward and realize the change that is required to overcome those faulty, anxious feelings embedded within us.
Do you have any similar instances or stories of your own that you would like to share? Tell us!