From the Amazon blurb for a new book by Jeopardy champ Ken Jennings:
Don’t cross your eyes or they’ll stay like that!
Feed a cold, starve a fever!
Don’t touch your Halloween candy until we get it checked out!
Never run with scissors
Don’t look in the microwave while it’s running!
This will go down on your permanent record
Is any of it true? If so, how true?
Ken Jennings wants to find out if mother and father always know best. Yes, all those years you were told not to sit too close to the television (you’ll hurt your eyes!) or swallow your gum (it stays in your stomach for seven years!) or crack your knuckles (arthritis!) are called into question by our country’s leading trivia guru. Jennings separates myth from fact to debunk a wide variety of parental edicts: no swimming after meals, sit up straight, don’t talk to strangers, and so on.
Armed with medical case histories, scientific findings, and even the occasional experiment on himself (or his kids), Jennings exposes countless examples of parental wisdom run amok. Whether you’re a parent who wants to know what you can stop worrying about or a kid (of any age) looking to say, “I told you so,” this is the anti–helicopter parenting book you’ve been waiting for.
Yes, I heard him on the radio last week. Yes, I know he’s been on TV. Yes, I know all about the book. So you don’t need to email me, or tweet at me, or anything else. And I’m purposely NOT linking to the book.
Oh, and should you be interested in this topic, you might be interested in those two books over there on the right side of the blog! I will link to them. They’re entitled, “Don’t Swallow Your Gum!: Myths, Half-Truths, and Outright Lies About Your Body and Health” and “Don’t Cross Your Eyes…They’ll Get Stuck That Way!: And 75 Other Health Myths Debunked“.
