Every parent raises their kids in their own way, according to their own rules. As usual, Egyptian parents never cease to take parenting to a whole new level. Apparently, there’s one common strategy they all use to guide their kids; it’s called “The White Lies strategy”.

Here are some white lies most Egyptian kids grew up believing:

1) Don’t play with scissors, 3shan keda bete2ta3 gena7at el malayka

scissors

We all ended up crying, blaming ourselves for hurting those innocent angels! You could have simply told us not to play with scissors in order not to hurt ourselves. Simple!

 

2) El shaytan hay3mel pipi fi bo2ak

devil pipi

How many times did they tell us to cover our mouths while yawning, because the devils love peeing inside our mouths! EWW, thanks mom!

 

3) El akl haygri warak yum el eyama

food running

This is what we were told in order to get us to finish our plate. And you always wondered how food will actually run; would it develop feet? It was a serious question back then!

 

4) Matwala3sh el kabreet 3shan mat3mlsh pipi 3ala nafsak wenta naym

matches and pipi

What’s up with mothers and pipi anyway?

 

5) I’m going to punish you fi odet el feran

odet feran

We all had that one locked room, called “odet el feran”, that terrified the hell out of us.

 

6) Kol tekbar, zaker tenga7 (Eat to grow up and study to succeed)

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But we all ended up getting fat and still failing anyway.

 

7) Bos el otta henak

otta

If you were reluctant to eat, they’d fool you to turn around and look at the cat in order to stuff you quickly before you realize that there was no cat in the first place. This happens right before telling you “ham ya gamal”. Hmm, okay!

 

8) Matermish el shanta w hya feeha ktab deen

deen

Throwing your bag with a religion book inside it? Oh, no! You’re going straight to hell.

 

9) Ehna la2enak 3ala bab game3

bab gam3

Why would you ever prank your kids, telling them that they’re not your own? It’s kind of harsh; don’t you think?

 

10) El tefl el masry azka tefl fel 3alam

i'm the smartest

We all grew up believing that we’re the smartest, and wondered why we always fail!

 

11) W 3asho f tabat w nabat w khalefo sobyan w banat (Aka: And they lived happily ever after)

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Finally, almost every fairy-tale we’ve been told when we were young ended up with the above statement. We grew up believing that life is easy until reality bit us in the butt when we got older. W ba3den eh tabat w nabat di?