Hello you lovely lot! I hope you’re all well and not suffering from the dreaded mid-week slump. It’s nearly as bad as a Monday isn’t it?
I was with a service user and her daughter the other day and we somehow ended up talking about dandelions and other strange myths we were told as kiddiewinks! I thought it would be a great idea for a ‘last minute’ post as I’m really struggling at the moment. I have a bunch of ideas for different posts, but as some of you know I’m currently in the process of moving so all of my stuff is in boxes and I can’t take the photos I need! Nevermind – hopefully we’ll settle in quickly and things can get back to normal. Now, on with the myths!
If you pick a dandelion you’ll wet the bed
After a little research I can confirm that this is definitely a myth, so I’m now free to pick all the dandelions I want! This one made me quite nervous as a child and I remember that even though I didn’t 100% believe it was true, I was always super careful around them and didn’t let them touch me… yano, just incase. Apparently dandelions contain a ‘diuretic property’ which can be a factor in bed wetting, but you’d have to eat quite a few from what I can tell, so who knows where the picking myth come from!
Eat your crusts if you want your hair to curl
I’ve always eaten my crusts, yet here I am at the ripe old age of 22 – curl free. If I’m honest there is a slight curl to my locks at times but I’m pretty sure that’s down to a failed perm I had about 10 years ago… Looking back now it was clearly a ploy to make me eat the whole sandwich, but don’t try and decieve me with such delicious promises! Where are my ringlets dammit?!
Cracking your knuckles causes arthritis
I used to be terrible when it came to cracking joints and although I still do it, I don’t do it as much as I used to because I’ve never been sure if this was really a myth or not! Turns out they’ve done studies that prove that although it doesn’t cause arthritis it may have other consequences as you’re stretching ligaments and causing them to pop over the bone… So you shouldn’t do it either way.
It takes seven years to digest chewing gum
I thought this was true up until I Googled it a few minutes ago! Such lies. Such deception. I didn’t often swallow my gum, but when I did it was usually by accident. I remember whenever I had trouble going to the bathroom I’d think it was because of the gum! Turns out that even though we don’t have the right chemicals and what-not to break the gum down it will still be carried out of the body in a timely manner with the rest of the food you ate that day.
Savlon is actually a numbing cream
Mum if you’re reading this: You know exactly what I mean and I still strongly dislike you for it. This might be TMI and a bit gross but when I was in primary school I had ingrowing toe nails on my big toes and had to have three operations to correct them… obviously if you’re having something like that done they need to numb the area first, and doing that involved a rather large needle that felt like it was going to come out the other side of my toe… After the first operation I was painfully aware of the fact that it hurt and I didn’t want to do that again, so my DECEITFUL MOTHER slathered my toe in savlon and convinced me that it would be numb by the time I had to go for the numbing injection! LIES MOTHER.
I can’t believe I’ve only just found out about the chewing gum myth. Why would anyone say that? What’s the point of telling people that lie?! And don’t lie to little girls that desperately want curly hair either! Broken dreams. Leave me a comment and let me know what stories and lies your parents cooked up! I’m off to remind Mother about how she broke my trust ;)
