Quote
"You're a grown man, for goodness' sake! You don't have to do what mother says! Just because she says we can't be together doesn't make it so. Do you want to be with me?"
Way to go! Cut those apron strings!

I like the hypnosis explanation. Superman often used his Super-Hypnotism power back in the '60s comics.

"It is a remarkable dichotomy. In many ways, Clark is the most human of us all. Then...he shoots fire from the skies, and it is difficult not to think of him as a god. And how fortunate we all are that it does not occur to him." -Batman (in Superman/Batman #3 by Jeph Loeb)