Mothers' Sayings That Annoyed Us as Kids and That Adults Now Repeat
On 12 October, the lifestyle section Kokteilis of the Latvian newspaper Latvijas Avīze published a roundup of ten phrases mothers say that seemed annoying in childhood. Many adults now say them to their own children.
The lifestyle section Kokteilis of the Latvian daily Latvijas Avīze published an article on 12 October 2026 about ten sayings that mothers often tell their children. They often seemed annoying in childhood, and many adults now repeat them to their own children. It is a light family and nostalgia piece. It reports no events and cites no research.
Which pieces of advice are recalled
The article says that mothers' advice often seemed exaggerated or simply hard to understand when people were children. It gives three examples of questions children ask themselves or their parents:
- why a jacket is needed if it is not that cold outside;
- why one must not go to bed with wet hair;
- why mum always repeated that the light must be switched off before leaving.
The other sayings on the list of ten can be read in the original article.
From child to parent
The publication notes that over the years many of these sentences have become part of people's own everyday habits. Adults now say them to others, sometimes without realising that they are repeating exactly what they once heard from their own mothers.
The article is tagged "childhood memories", "shared" and "mum". It is meant as a nostalgic read that lets readers compare their own childhood with the way they speak to their children today.
