Feeling the Benefit

Something I forgot to blog about a week ago. We were in the pub (really! it's true!), and it was fecking freezing. James questioned why I hadn't put my coat back on if I was so cold and I told him in all seriousness that it would be unwise to put it back on, because it would mean I wouldn't feel the benefit of it once I was outside. This is something that has been ingrained since early childhood, but when you really think about it, it's a load of crap, isn't it? If you actually put your coat on, you heat up your core body temperature, trapping warm air between an extra layer of clothing that actually makes the cold more bearable when you go outside. But oh no, I was always told "don't put your coat on, Becky, you won't feel the benefit when you get outside". And I don't think it was just my parents, I think most of the friends I grew up with were told the same thing. Why do people lie to children about such things? And why did I believe it for 34 years?

Other lies I was told:

- if you bite on a bit of egg shell, all your teeth fall out (thanks, Nan!)
- if you wear stockings instead of tights you are in danger of catching a cold in your bottom (Nan again)
- the sound of thunder is really a giant falling down the stairs (I used to hide during storms)
- the sound of thunder is really God re-arranging his furniture in heaven (once my parents realised I used to hide during storms)
- If you don't eat the crusts of your toast at breakfast, Santa saves them all up and gives them to you for your Christmas present (it wasn't quite so funny when Dad revealed to us in adult life that his parents had, in fact, done that to him).

I'm sure there are plenty more. But I wonder if the 'feeling the benefit' one is the only one I still believed until recently??