PR: Your catch phrase(s) of choice

NeneCakies

What wise words did your parents always use on you? What phrases are you going to/ do you say repeatedly to your kids? And does it work?

Growing up, my mom had some lines that never really worked on us (other than to illicit eye rolls) but she stuck to them like a holy mantra:

1. God helps those who help themselves (i.e. I'm not gonna help you.)

2. When is a help not a help? (You are doing it wrong, gawd!)

3. Do you want a knuckle sandwich? (empty threat of violence for not helping our own damn selves)

She had a lot of feels on helping apparently.

She also always said "get all the crying out" which was actually good advice and I'll be using that for DD.

I almost said to DD the other day to get her to stop play hitting me "this is a strange game, the only winning move is not to play." War Games, hmm, I think I need more than movie quotes to go on guise! Or she's going to watch Forrest Gump one day and realize mommy is a fraud (oh, well, life IS like a box a chocolates honey; uh, go play outside). Halp!

PS I've seen the buzzfeed parental comeback gifs and, while funny, exactly not what I'm going for here.

bluebird1832

"In the land of the blind, the one eyed man is king" and "the world doesn't revolve around you". Hopefully I'll find some that are a little more to do with building up

ASmallWonder

My step dad used to say "I'll give you something to cry about!" and my mom loved "You sure are dumb for a smart kid."  We have parent issues lol

I use more things that I know they get told at daycare "No thank you!" and "No potty words" and "listen to my words."

DH and I tell DS1 "Too bad, so sad" when he's being a whiny butt lol

aforst

I find myself saying "the fair comes in August" when they whine about how not fair life is.

We also say "you get what you get and you don't throw a fit."

My mom always used to tell me "two wrongs don't make a right"

EVA116

My Grandpa always said " What's under a ponytail, a pony's butt."

"An eye for and eye only makes the world blind."

"Cause I said so, that's why"

Any time I said "Jesus Christ!" My mom would say "is your Lord and Saviour."

beachcomberbride

Mine: "We all want things" (when they are whining about something they want or didn't get) 

LadyXaverian

My parents must not have been very catch-phrasey because I can't think of anything that's jumping out at me other than maybe, "life's not fair" if I whined about something not being fair, or "well that's them and this is you" if I complained that my friends were allowed to do something that I wasn't. 

I'm not sure I'm in the land of catch phrases yet, but I do tell Nora to "look at my face" when I need to explain something to her. Oh, and when she's throwing a royal tantrum about wanting something unreasonable that she can't have, I ask her "Who's the boss?" and she'll say "Mommy and daddy", and that seems to snap her out of her tantrum most of the time.

MrsT0514

Whenever my brother or I would get a cut or scrape my mom would say "eh..it'll be gom by the time you get married".

And the "well life's not fair" was a huge one in our house too.

msdrdg

"Look with your eyes not with your hands"  and "If (name) jumped off a bridge would you do it too?"  were big in my house growing up.

I tell DS "Suck it up Buttercup" and "Life's tough, get a helmet".  Typically the latter results in him bringing me his bicycle helmet.  Also when he all "I want I want I want" I will tell him, "well, I want a million dollars, I'm not getting it.  You can xyz, when I get my million dollars."

beachcomberbride

Oh, and my husband's favorite: "you get what you get and you don't throw a fit" ...

BluepointToasted

I have taken to telling ds to "get a grip" when he is losing his mind over something silly.

angelashly

We always say use your words or I can't understand whine

EVA116

My parents told me " We don't say good swing (I was in softball) because if it was a good swing you would have hit the ball."

My Dad also would not let me do the cheers on the bench. He said I was playing a sport not being a cheerleader. This was for both volleyball and softball.

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bumpuser9058414

I can't recall any that my parents said but a co-worker says, "skip the labor pains and show me the baby" so I've been using that lately. 

"You get what you get and you don't get upset"

"Oh no, do you think we need to go to the hospital?" in a somewhat silly tone to DD when she overreacts to getting hurt. 

nunzchucks

DH always tells DD to "relax; take a deep breath" when she's getting worked up. It makes her calm down, but I get all agitated because I hate being told to "relax".

sleepy33

Hawkward said:

thisisbread said:

Not my parents, but my grandpa used to say "if you're going to hang around the barber shop, you're going to get your hair cut." I think I was well into my twenties when I finally got what it meant. I say it all the time jokingly, but haven't said it to DS yet. 

I still don't get it. ">

You start to take on the mannerisms or ideas of the people you spend time with, so you should surround yourself with people you'd like to emulate. 

Written out like that makes him sound close-minded, but I swear he wasn't. He meant it in more of a "dress for the job you want, not the job you have" sort of way.

Isn't it also along the same lines as 'if you lie down with dogs, you get up with fleas'?

NeneCakies

There are some gems in here for sure. I appreciate the feedback.

suziqnc

"Because I said so" was a big one at our house.  I caught myself saying it to DD the other day for the first time, because I was so tired of having to explain myself to a 3 year old for every single thing I asked of her that day.  

Which leads to another gem, "You'd argue with a sign-post!"  Yep, I've heard that come out of my mouth recently too.

I can remember getting so mad at my mom when she'd tell me "Well, it will be better before you get married" if we got hurt.

Oh, and I've heard stories of my dad saying "Either shit or get off the pot", not to us, but in front of us.  

NeneCakies

loonylovejoy said:

My dad always told me to "be a man".

--
Oh my, dads are weird. DH's default response now is "be good". Likewise vague and unhelpful.

sleepy33

Not my parents, but my grandma always used to say, "Are your hands painted on?" I use that one a lot. Like, say, if my husband says something like, "There are no clean dishes."

[Deleted User]

A place for everything and everything in it's place. 

wearallthebabies

My Mom had a few she used religiously....

"If it was a snake, it would've bit you" when I looked for something, couldn't find it, and she would find it 5 seconds later

"Well aren't you being a bratanella (sp?") when I was being a brat

"Of all the things I've lost, I miss my mind the most" when we were aggravating her for whatever reason and she didn't want to deal with it

I don't use any with DS because he's only 4.5 months, but I use the brat one when my dog is being one I also use this one in general: "Patience is a virtue, but it's not one of mine!"

 

NeneCakies

sleepy33 said:

Not my parents, but my grandma always used to say, "Are your hands painted on?" I use that one a lot. Like, say, if my husband says something like, "There are no clean dishes."

Totally stealing this one!

shadypines

My mom

"Do I look like I just fell off a turnip truck?"

"Closed mouths don't get fed"


Oh and


"Wait till you have kids"

"The only thing open after 2am are legs"

Oh the teenager years!

Spin313

My sister would always ask, "do you want a punch in the arm?" if something hurt...so that you'd focus on the arm hurting instead of the other pain. We say it to DS all the time.

colliebabe

My mom:

"Do you want cheese with that whine?"

"You're going to drive me to drink." (To which I didn't get, so I replied that I wasn't old enough to drive.)

"There are children starving in Africa" (when I wouldn't finish my food.)

H and I:

"Use your words."

"Well, I want to be on a beach somewhere..." when she is saying "I want this or that."

NeneCakies

Oh yeah, mom would say "you're cruisin' for a bruisin'" when we were being brats. I didn't like that one though actual physical punishment was rare.

There's another one I can't remember right. Hmm, I'll have to ask my sister.

sleepy33

shadypines said:

My mom "Do I look like I just fell off a turnip truck?" "Closed mouths don't get fed" Oh and "Wait till you have kids" "The only thing open after 2am are legs" Oh the teenager years!

LOL

shadypines

"I brought you in this world, and I can take you out!"

BC

NeneCakies

CTGirl30 said:

My mother used to tell me "Only boring people get bored" when I would whine as a child.

--
Ok one more. Related to this I often heard from my mother "don't let anyone tell you you're not boring."

She truly didn't know how to deal with an introvert.

pdh2008

My grandmother used to say, "People in hell want ice water" when we whined about wanting something.

pdh2008

Spooko said:

For getting hurt: my mom used to ask if the sidewalk was ok. I'd get so upset at the lack of sympathy! I still say it to my kids though.

My mom would say this, too.

pdh2008

GotGingy said:

I tell SD "Chill out, Girl Scout."  Or to turn her volume down.  She's such a drama llama. 

I'm going to steal "chill out, girl Scout." I've never heard that one before and I like it!

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pdh2008

"Wish in one hand and shit in the other. See which one fills up first."

I know what it is supposed to mean, but it really makes no sense.

theseaword

My parents weren't big on catchphrases. But they did say "don't be a sheep" sometimes, and they told us to live up to our potential a lot.