Things everyone believes that aren't true.

Here are a few things we think people should know about common myths in child raising.
1. Don't swim for an hour after eating.
This one really irritates us. There is no valid reason to not swim after eating, Sure some blood goes to your stomach to aide digestion, but not enough to effect any other organs or muscle processes. We say feed the kid a large meal and shove em in the pool.
2. The 5 Second rule for food on the floor. Some bored scientists who had nothing better to do tested this hypothesis by dropping food on various surfaces and leaving it for up to one hour. They then tested to food for bacteria and contaminants. They found firstly that food that was on the floor for 5 seconds was just as likely to pick up contaminants as food that was on the floor for one hour. They also discovered that even though some contaminants were picked up in none of the cases were the foods dangerous to consume, which the scientists proved by consuming the food.
3. You will catch a cold if you don't wear a coat in cold weather. Studies on this one were done for years and until recently were inconclusive, sometimes colds were gotten sometimes not. But recent studies have suggested that having a cold sinus cavity allows more oxygen into the local blood vessels which can allow viruses or bacteria to more easily enter the bloodstream, but having a cold nose is unaffected by wearing a coat or hat so again a false statement.
4. Sitting too close to the tv will ruin your eyes. Not true at all, if this were the case millions of people who have spent hours a day in front of computer screens for years (yours truly for example.) would have major eye damage by now. There was some truth to this myth before 1968 when televisions emitted x-rays but their is no truth to it now.
5. Stranger Danger. This one really burns our brioche and is the most harmful of all the myths. Stranger danger. Parents all across the country, (and the world) have been filling their children full of fear that they will be abducted or raped or worse by every stranger they meet. In reality a child has a better chance of being hit by lightning or killed by a bee sting. Of the 73.7 Million children in America last year there were 115 Stranger abductions which means 1 in about 610,000. Your child getting killed in an airplane crash 1 in 310,000. Hit by lightening 1 in 240,000. Your child is twice as likely to get hit by lightening as being abducted by a stranger. So please, PLEASE do not fill your child with fear. A child needs to feel that the world is a safe place as they grow up. Their are all sorts of psychological problems that can result from spending their days worrying about every stranger. If you want to scare your child do it honestly, rent Ju-on. But cut the stranger danger crap.