What outlandish advice did you get from your mother when you were a kids. My

[applegrove]

mom was constantly afraid that if we did not put matches in a tightly sealed jar the mice would get into them and start a fire.

[LaurenG]

1. My mother wasn't like that

She used weird words and old sayings from the 1800's though. Ever hear anyone use the term nip ups and di dos, or going to hell in a hand-basket, the world according to hoyle. Or any of these? http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~poindexterfamily/OldWestSlang.html

I had a mother who was older than all of my friends mothers and none of their mothers used these words. :hi:

[applegrove]

2. I hung out with grandparents often when I was growing up and into young adulthood. I picked

up the use of the word "God" and use it to this day though I am not religious.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

3. The only thing I remembered her telling me that seemed kind of silly

was that you should always wear clean underwear in case you were in an accident and they had to take your clothes off you at the hospital.

As if they were going to pay any attention, and your clothes would probably be all bloody so they wouldn't even see the dirt. That was my argument, but I had to wear clean underwear anyhow.

[av8rdave]

6. My Mom used to tell me the same

She also told me that if I looked at anything crosseyed, my eyes would stick that way and I would be crosseyed for life.

She told me a few other things about behavior and vision. When my Doc recently told me my vision wasn't what it used to be, the first thing I though was, "OMG, my mom was right!"

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

8. I bet she told you not to read in dim light or sit too close to the TV.

Or do that other thing that makes you go blind. :D

[Manifestor_of_Light]

10. I heard that about reading in dim light.

I started reading when I was three, and I have always been very nearsighted.
After I started school Mom wondered why I had my nose in a book.
In second grade, she took me to the eye doctor and found out I needed glasses and couldn't see far away. The parents had perfect vision,only wore reading glasses.

She said she felt real stupid when she found out I needed glasses.

Worn 'em ever since second grade. I can see quite well in contacts. :D

[av8rdave]

14. That other is what I was referring to

Although you remind me of a funny story...when I was in elementary school, the Apollo program was well underway. At the time, the well known atheist Marie Madeline O'Hare was either threatening or had filed suit over the astronauts reading the bible in space.

I remember mentioning it to my mother, who replied, "I don't see why they shouldn't be able to read the Bible, as long as they have enough light so it won't hurt their vision."

[applegrove]

19. My dad would tell me not to watch tv when I was in my late teenagehood. He called it an idiot box.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

20. Ha, that's what my dad called it, too!

"You kids watching the idiot box again?"

[applegrove]

21. He kept walking into the tv room and telling me it was melting my brain. I so needed the tv then. I

was they shyest person I have ever known and not popular at school. I needed the time to suss out all my feelings while not being involved in dramas... I needed the tv and the peace it gave me.

[polly7]

4. That's cute.

Mine didn't give a lot of advice, about the only thing I can remember is her remedy for a bad chest cold, and it wasn't silly, but - hot mustard plaster - the only thing is, she forgot to put muslin on my Dad's chest first and ripped off all his hair taking it off. I guess it worked though, he didn't cough much after that. Not until he finished swearing, anyway.

[Phentex]

5. She knew a kid who choked to death on an apple peel stuck...

in his throat because he did not brush his teeth before bed.

So she said.

This was how she reinforced tooth brushing!

Apparently she knew someone who died from playing with a metal hanger or a dry cleaner bag.

She said you could get fleas if you did not shave your legs (yet my hairy Italian brothers got a pass!?)

Don't stir rice while cooking. I'm OK with that one. :)

[Ptah]

7. At the top of her lungs, "IF YOU BREAK YOUR, LEG DON'T COME RUNNING TO ME!"

[LynneSin]

9. Unplug ever single applicance during an electrical storm

I still remember being drunk at the beach house one summer many eons ago running around unplugging everything in the condo.

[Old Troop]

11. If you stay in a wet bathing suit, you'll get tuberculosis.

[Missy Vixen]

12. EVERYTHING caused "blood poisoning"

I'm crazed about anti-bacterial gel and hand washing to this day. My husband thinks it's weird.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

13. My grandmother's odd one was, "Don't drink water when you're sweating."

Which is precisely the opposite of what you should do, of course.

I guess it has something to do with her having started her life in the horse and buggy era. Evidently HORSES can get sick if they drink too much water too fast when they're overheated.

My grandmother's other odd admonition came later, when I was teenager. She said that if I had premarital sex with one guy and later married someone else, the first guy would come and blackmail me.

[Brickbat]

15. My mom usually gave pretty good advice, including a bit she told me when I was about 8 and I follow

to this day:

Don't date anyone with a garter hanging from the rear-view mirror.

[Skittles]

16. DON'T ACT LIKE A BLOODY TWIT

you know them Brits :D

[lillypaddle]

17. ummm, let's see

don't drink water after you eat fresh fruit - your stomach will swell and explode. You will die!!!!

Don't hang your head in the sink to wash your hair while you are menstruating, all the blood will rush to your head. You will die!!

Momma was a German war bride. She had lots of hang ups, and bless her heart, she passed them on to me. :)

[Kat45]

18. My mother said that older women couldn't have long hair.

I always liked long hair, and she'd tell me that I'd have to cut it when I got older. (She was probably thinking 30, if not sooner.) She also wouldn't let me start shaving my legs when I wanted to: she said that once you started, you couldn't stop. I was very confused by that one, thinking that there would be something preventing you from ever stopping shaving.

She also said that all men are pigs.

[cyglet]

22. DON'T shave your legs.

If you do, the hair will grow back darker.

Don't get your ears pierced because my mom knew this girl who did and her earring accidentally ripped out of the lobe for some reason (I don't remember any details, maybe it got caught on something else....most people manage not to do this).

She did tell me not to read in the dark or sit too close to the tv, too.

[Kali]

23. That actually happened to us once.

Set off a bunch of bullets too! It happened on a dresser in a big closet in the middle of the night. Scared the crsp out of me but kind of funny now. 20 years ago.

[HopeHoops]

24. Don't make a face like that or it will get STUCK like that!

[mysuzuki2]

25. don't swollow the watermelon seeds -

they will get stuck in your appendix and grow.