As the saying goes…mother does know best

Published on Saturday 5 December 2009 00:49

EIGHT out of ten mothers admit they have "turned into their mums" – by using tried-and-tested adages to deal with their children, according to a survey.

Researchers found the phrases "because I said so" and "wait and see" are the most common retorts to children, along with "if someone asked you to jump off a cliff, would you do it?".

"It'll end in tears" and "who's she, the cat's mother?" also emerged as common answers to annoying questions.

Kathryn Crawford, the spokeswoman for www.TheBabyWebsite.com, which conducted the study of 3,000 mothers, said: "The funny thing about this research is many mums will insist they are nothing like their own mothers.

"But the reality is we can't help but teach our children as our parents taught us, and that means using old sayings, familiar methods of discipline and routines which worked for our parents."

She added: "Children are always questioning their parents, pushing boundaries to see what they can get away with. Sometimes a quick retort, such as 'because I said so', is all mums can offer before running out of patience."

It also emerged that modern mothers often find themselves repeating other sayings such as "you'll have someone's eye out with that" and "what did your last slave die of?".

"It'll end in tears", "I've told you a thousand times" and "there's no such word as can't" all also appeared in the top 20 most-used sayings.

More than half of mothers claim they intentionally use some of their parents' best-loved phrases on their own children because they think it worked to discipline them.

However, 40 per cent admitted they sometimes repeat things their parents said, even though they didn't really know what they meant.

Sayings such as "close the door, you don't live in a barn" baffle many mothers, but they continue to use them because most children don't know how to respond.

Two-thirds of mothers said their own parents found it hilarious that their sayings were being used on their grandchildren.

And six in ten children are said regularly to question the funny things their parents say to them.

Some of the popular sayings parents use include "say pardon not what", "what did your last slave die of" and "I want never gets".

Other favourites include "that's for me to know and you to find out", "do as I say, not as I do' and "don't sit too close to the TV, you'll get square eyes".

Ms Crawford added: "There were even more hilarious sayings which didn't quite make the top 20.

"Phrases such as 'children should be seen and not heard', 'when will you learn' and 'eat your dinner or you won't grow up to be big and strong' were also close contenders.''