Lies Parents Told Kids Growing Up in Western New York

Parents lie to their kids. It happens. Whether it's to get them to behave or to avoid an uncomfortable conversation, many parents do it. What, though, is the biggest lie parents have told kids living in and around Western New York? It has to do with a historical figure.

Parents Lie

Not ALL parents lie. Or maybe they're lying about not lying. Either way, the International Journal of Psychology says that 84% of parents lie to their kids to get them to stop behaving badly, or to encourage good behavior. That's an overwhelming majority. It's understandable, too.

If you feel bad about lying to your kids to get them to behave (depending on the situation), don't beat yourself up. Parenting is tough and we're all just trying to do our best. Kids can put us in some tricky situations and sometimes a little fib can go a long way to a positive result.

When it comes to the lies we tell them, however, some are more impactful and memorable than others.

The Biggest Lie Parents Told Kids in Western New York

The Buffalo Bills or Sabres won when they lost. Those wings aren't spicey when they were a little bit. Our parents walked uphill to school both ways in 2 feet of snow when it was never that bad. Well, maybe sometimes around here it actually was.

These are all lies some of us in Western New York have heard over the years from our parents. The most popular lie, though, involves trying to get kids around here to behave or else they would be taken to a specific place.

Dozens of WNY'ers had this exact same thing told to them: behave or we'll take you to Father Baker's.

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Who was Father Baker and Why Was That A Threat?

Father Baker was a well-known Catholic priest in Buffalo who lived from 1842 to 1936. He helped thousands of children and families in Buffalo through the Catholic Church via orphanages and homes. He was named Buffalo's Citizen of the 20th Century. You can read more about Father Baker by CLICKING HERE.

The reason parents in Western New York threatened kids with taking them to Father Baker's isn't because he was a bad guy. It's because of the orphanage. So the lie was for you to shape up, or we're sending you to the orphanage. Some parents went so far as to drive their kids to the doors and tell them to get out, but they would beg and plead not to go there and promise to behave.

This of course never, or at least extremely rarely, actually happened. So many people remember that specific threat though that they had to share their stories on Facbeook:

What lies did your parents tell you? What lies do you tell your kids?