The weird and wonderful things our parents told us

If you have sex before marriage you'll have nothing to look forward to on your wedding night

Avalon, that one works! The oil in cloves is an effective analgesic for mild toothache while you wait for your dentist appointment. Always the first choice of remedy here.

A whole clove held in the tooth for toothache.

Too much reading will damage your eyes. That warning moved on to watching too much TV and now to using iPads etc. My eyesight is still fine.
No washing your hair during a period. I wondered at the time if it was because we washed our hair lying in the bath instead of having a shower. Mum stopped saying it when we got one of those sprays that attached to the taps.
No flowers in the bedroom and NEVER mix red and white flowers in a display.
Eat you crusts to get curly hair. That never worked for me but I didn’t realise at the time that Mum had a perm!

Never swallow chewing gum because it will wrap around your innards.

Pips would grow into a tree inside you.

If you dont brush your hair, a bird will nest in it.

Don't come running to me if you fall off that wall and break your leg ( usually said when we were climbing and playing somewhere we shouldn't be)

Oh yes the dreaded 'chill on your kidneys'!

Keep your vest tucked well into your knickers, or you'll get a cold in your kidneys.

Never cast a clout till May is out. I believe that later referred to May blossom and not what my Irish mother regarded as the month.
Potatoes would certainly grow out of your ears.

If 'someone' was picking their nose: "Watch out, you'll poke your eyeballs out!"

Raw potatoes and orange pith gave us worms, and egg yolks meant warts.

Our dinner had to "fall off the shelf", so we weren't allowed to move around too much straight after dinner.

Wasn’t allowed to wash my hair or have a swim when on a period
Can’t sit on the radiators at school or you’d get piles
If you don’t wash your ears you’d grow potatoes in them
A little rub of whiskey on toothache and warmed salt in a handkerchief for ear ache
( loved dripping on toast by the way)

Don't sit on a cold stone wall or you'll get piles (my Gran)
Don't sit on a hot radiator or you'll get piles (primary school head teacher)
Don't handle egg shells or you'll get warts on your fingers (my mother)
Don't read for hours or you'll become short sighted (Mother again but that battle was lost long ago!)

Dandelions are a diuretic so a little bit of truth in bedwetting.

Not to eat before having a bath.
No hair washing with a period.
Cabbage for curly hair.
Lightening would strike an uncovered mirror.
Weirdly having flowers in a bedroom would use up all the oxygen.

Daddima

Most of these on a regular basis! When I was a teenager I was told not to go behind the garages with a boy. I'm assuming dm thought I would get up to no good. The golf course was much better for that! ☺

GardenerGran

Don’t warm your feet near the fire or you’ll get chilblains. What are chilblains anyway? Wet hair of course was an opening to catch all sorts. Picking dandelions would lead to wetting the bed.

Oh, that was true, GardenerGran (the chilblains, that is - I wouldn’t know about the bed wetting).

I was a martyr to chilblains and my parents should have bought shares in Snowfire. What were they? Ruddy painful is what they were. Horrid itchy lumps all over your toes.

Kate1949

If you don't wash your ears, you'll get potatoes growing out of them.
If you swallow chewing gum, it will stick to your heart and you'll die.

Kate we had a teacher who told us that men who wanted to avoid national service would swallow chewing gum, and it showed up on an x-ray as a hole in their heart!

Don’t warm your feet near the fire or you’ll get chilblains. What are chilblains anyway? Wet hair of course was an opening to catch all sorts. Picking dandelions would lead to wetting the bed.

My Granny used to say that porridge would make your teeth stronger and eating crusts would make your hair curl!

If you don't wash your ears, you'll get potatoes growing out of them.
If you swallow chewing gum, it will stick to your heart and you'll die.

Ooh just remembered I wasn’t supposed to wash my hair when on my period. God knows what would happen ?

Carrots for curly hair (so I must've overdosed!)
Cant have a bath after eating or you'll get cramp..?
If the wind changes while you're frowning..you'll stay like that...

Not to pick your nose or your head would cave in.

yes i can remember various things that just seemed to be received wisdom when i was young, so not peculiar to my family.
eg hair washing was a hazardous undertaking, and it was unthinkable to go out after doing it. usually done on a friday evening, but not too late, as needed hours to be sure was dry, before lying down.
i think many of these were rooted in survival in cold houses. no one had central heating. and a chill could easily turn into something worse.
my parents never ate or gave us bread and dripping, but it was generally held to be essential to line the stomach !, to grow up strong, get curly hair etc.

Not sure if the above rang true, hahahaha.