Eleven myths your parents may have told you as a child

PORTSMOUTH, Va. (WAVY) — Growing up, you may have taken everything your parents told you as gospel. Some fictional stories like Santa and the Easter Bunny get a sit down conversation explaining that they aren’t real. Meanwhile, others go years and years before they are exposed as myths.

Who knows, maybe some people never find out that the parents knowingly or unknowingly were spewing white lies.

Here are some common myths you may have been told as a child.

It’s illegal to turn your light on in the car at night.

This is a common tactic parents use in order to get their kids not to turn on their lights. Although it can definitely being irksome have a bright light shining in your car when it’s dark, it’s not technically illegal. However, it does make visibility harder and could cause confusion on the road.

It takes seven years for gum to digest

Although gum was designed to be chewed not consumed, it is relatively harmless if swallowed. It is true that the body can’t digest gum, but it doesn’t stay in your body for seven years. It typically just passes through the body and exits with normal bowel movement.

On rare occasions, large amounts of swallowed gum can build up and block intestines in children, according to Mayo Clinic.

On a similar note:

Watermelons will grow in your stomach if you swallow the seeds

This myth probably started to prevent the choking hazard of children swallowing watermelon seeds. But as to whether you’ll turn into a human garden? The stomach is filled with acid and digestive fluids to break down food … not a very nourishing or ideal environment to grow fruit.

You have to wait an hour before jumping into the pool

“But mommmm, it was just one sandwich! Why do I have to wait an hour before swimming?”

Doing any sort of physical activity on a full stomach can potentially be uncomfortable. The original belief was that because your body was using energy to digest the food, it may make arms and legs weaker and thus more likely to drown, according to Mayo Clinic.

However, that has not been scientifically proven. That means it’s really up to you if you want to mix the taste of a PB&J with chlorine pool water. Mmm … yum?

Five second rule

It may be hard to believe, but the army of germs on the floor don’t sit and count to five seconds before they climb all over the Cheeto you just dropped. The five second rule does nothing except ease your conscience that the gum you’re chewing after it fell isn’t crawling with whatever was left over from the bottom of people’s shoes.

Shaving makes hair grow back thicker and darker

Hair may appear darker or thicker when it first starts to grow back after shaving, but that is only because the tip of the hair is a blunt tip. However, the hair doesn’t actually grow back any thicker, darker or quicker, according to Mayo Clinic.

Cracking knuckles causes arthritis

Is popping and cracking your knuckles going to cause arthritis? Not likely. It is going to annoy the person next to you? Probably.

There’s no scientific evidence to suggest cracking knuckles is in any way correlated with arthritis, although it could potentially reduce grip strength. The popping sound is created by the release of synovial fluid that helps lubricate knuckles, according to Harvard Health Publishing.

Don’t cross your eyes, they’ll get stuck that way

To put it simply: they won’t.

Chocolate milk comes from brown cows

This one may be eye opening for some people, but it needs to be done. Chocolate milk does not, in fact, come from brown cows. Don’t even get me started on strawberry milk. Take a second and let the disappointment sink in. There are no brown-cow-chocolate-milk farms.

Chocolate milk comes from cocoa and sugar mixed with white milk.

It’s illegal to drive barefoot

Besides being unsanitary and possibly smelly, it’s perfectly legal to drive in the U.S. while barefoot. Many states still advise drivers to wear shoes, though, due to potential safety hazards like less grip or shoes getting stuck under the pedals.

Eating carrots will let you see in the dark

Carrots won’t inherently improve eyesight, much less give you nighttime vision. However, carrots are good to help maintain good eye health as they contain beta-carotene. The body converts that to vitamin A, an important nutrient for eye health.

It’s definitely a nutritious and beneficial snack for eye health, but unfortunately it won’t result in X-ray or nighttime vision.

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