The other day we were watching Dirty Jobs and without going into a full recap, I'll just tell you that an orinthologist (that's a bird scientist) said it's a myth that touching a baby bird will cause its mom to reject it. She even said lots of baby birds die that way. Now of course, my mom told me never to touch baby birds, and if it wasn't for Dirty Jobs, I would have told my kid the same. And it made me realize that we parents are just liars. Now Mom Squawk has another one: apparently if you swallow your gum, it doesn't take years to digest. Oh, my world is crumbling!
Of course this is just the tip of the big lie iceberg. Rachel points out that we also tell kids outright bullshit like "If you swallow a watermelon seed (apple seed, etc.) you'll grow one in your tummy," "moms have eyes in the back of their heads," and for the more punitive parents, "if you're bad Santa will put coal in your stocking." Oh, and be careful because your face will freeze that way. We already told you the five-second rule was up for debate. And maybe you really could put an eye out with that stick, and maybe in our age of confession no one trots out the stork any more, but I am starting to suspect the tooth fairy wasn't real and maybe I'm not the sweetest little girl in the whole world. Sniff.
I've been living in the Matrix. Any more myths to debunk?
