A recent article published by YourTango on May 23, 2025, has drawn widespread attention for highlighting 11 familiar phrases that resonate deeply with adults who grew up in financially constrained households. Titled “11 Phrases That Only Make Sense If You Were Raised By Broke Parents,” the piece unpacks the memorable quips and instructions many children heard, revealing far more than just humor or nostalgia—they reflect powerful social and psychological lessons about resilience, resourcefulness, and generational change (YourTango).
For many Thais, the phrases listed in the article may evoke memories of their own upbringing or those of earlier generations. Thailand, like many societies experiencing rapid economic development, has a significant population that remembers times of scarcity, particularly in rural areas where limited resources have shaped the values passed from parents to children. Understanding the underlying messages behind these familiar sayings is significant not just for reminiscing, but for grasping how attitudes about money, gratitude, and endurance are shaped in formative years—and how these lessons persist even as social conditions change.
Among the phrases detailed in the article are classics such as “There’s food at the house,” a refrain familiar to anyone whose parents passed on shopping trips or fast-food stops in favor of home-cooked meals to save money. The article contextualizes this with data from the “Map the Meal Gap” report, showing how economic hardship, particularly in rural areas, shapes family behaviors around food. This resonates in rural Thailand as well, where meals made from locally sourced rice and vegetables remain a practical and cultural staple, and where eating out frequently is still a relative luxury for many families.
Another phrase, “Turn off those lights,” spotlights the anxieties of parents facing rising energy costs. This is not unique to Western countries; Thai households, too, contend with utility price hikes, especially amid recent global energy price volatility (Bangkok Post). Parents here, like elsewhere, remind children to be cautious with electricity, a habit rooted in both environmental awareness and frugality.
Dinner table admonitions such as “If you don’t like it, you can go to bed hungry,” highlight an older style of discipline often predicated on survival and scarcity—where food waste is impermissible and gratitude for meals, no matter how basic, is enforced. The article notes a generational shift, with research from Lurie Children’s Hospital indicating that millennial parents are more likely to practice “gentle parenting,” eschewing deprivation for understanding. This mirrors trends in Thailand’s urban centers, where parenting styles are evolving in tandem with increased exposure to global ideas via social media and education.
The phrase “Money doesn’t grow on trees,” while universal, takes on a special significance in the context of economic literacy. The article cites findings published in the Journal of Youth and Adolescence linking children’s anxiety about their family’s finances to poorer academic outcomes—a warning relevant for Thai families where financial stress may still be a major household concern (PubMed). Experts in Thailand’s educational sector, such as officials from the Ministry of Education, have noted similar challenges, particularly for students from low-income families, highlighting the importance of financial education and support programs (Ministry of Education).
Other memorable lines, such as “You better not be touching the thermostat,” “You don’t need name brand, it’s the same thing,” and “We’re just going to look” when at the store, illustrate the constant balancing act parents perform between meeting children’s wants and sticking to a tight budget. This is a universal challenge; as research on consumer behavior in Thailand shows, children’s requests significantly influence family spending—but parents, especially those on limited incomes, are often compelled to stand firm and teach restraint (Maternal & Child Nutrition).
Hand-me-downs and making new things last longer—captured in phrases like “Your family member wore it first, now it’s your turn,” “I paid for that so you need to use it,” and “Make it last”—reveal not just thrift, but resourcefulness and a culture of reuse. In Thailand’s traditional communities, the passing down of clothes, toys, and household items is still common, and recent years have seen the resurgence of thrift shopping and repair culture, dovetailing with global sustainability movements (Bangkok Post, thrift culture).
Parenting specialists and psychologists in Thailand note that these phrases, while sometimes framed as restrictive, can instill valuable lessons. According to a leading child psychologist at a Bangkok university hospital, “Resourcefulness, appreciation for what we have, and an ability to delay gratification are all skills that children raised in modest households often carry with them into adulthood. But it’s also important that these lessons come with emotional warmth, so that financial restraint does not translate into lifelong anxiety or shame.”
These time-honored parental sayings are also influenced by Thailand’s Buddhist cultural values, emphasizing moderation (the “middle path”), contentment, and mindfulness regarding material desires—values that can help buffer against consumerist pressures but require thoughtful adaptation in today’s rapidly changing society.
The evolution of parenting is apparent as younger Thai parents, often better educated and more connected to global parenting trends, seek to blend the wisdom of previous generations with approaches that foster open communication, emotional intelligence, and resilience. A senior official in Thailand’s Ministry of Social Development and Human Security notes that government programs increasingly emphasize parental education, child nutrition, and healthy parent-child communication.
Looking ahead, the challenge for Thai families is to preserve the positive lessons of frugality and perseverance while ensuring children also feel secure, valued, and free from unnecessary stress about finances. As Thailand continues to urbanize and as middle-class lifestyles become increasingly complex, both parents and policymakers will need to adapt, looking for new ways to support families—be it through targeted financial assistance, parental education programs, or the reinvigoration of communal support structures.
For Thai readers interested in applying these lessons, experts recommend open, age-appropriate conversations about household finances, encouraging children to participate in budgeting and decision-making, and modeling attitudes of gratitude and contentment. Governmental and community organizations, as well as schools, can play an important role by offering parental workshops and campaigns on financial literacy and healthy family communication. Ultimately, the Singaporean proverb holds true in Thailand too: “A family that eats together, stays together”—but so too does a family that learns, grows, and adapts together.
For further reading on this topic and to see the original list of phrases, visit the full article at YourTango.