Consumer Critique: Mother Knows Best

"Don't go swimming right after lunch." "Don't cross your eyes, they'll stay that way." How many of you have heard those phrases - or anything similar - from your parents as you were growing up? Then there's folk wisdom, such as "red sky at night, sailor's delight; red sky in the morning, sailors take warning." How true are they?

In Mother Knows Best?: The Truth About Mom's Well-Meaning (But Not Always Accurate) Advice, Sue Castle takes a look at many of these old wives' tales and statements that "everyone" knows and evaluates whether or not they're actually true. Some of them are no surprise - an apple a day really doesn't keep the doctor away - but she'll go on to explain why or why not. Some folk wisdom, however, is actually true - gargling with salt water for a soar throat, for example.

There were only two that I didn't quite agree with, and it stems from the fact that the original publish date of this book was years ago, and the 2012 is a reprint. The first was talking about laying babies on their backs, where she referenced a 1992 statement by the AAP that has since been updated. The second was fish being brain food - I would have included more reference to the Omega-3s found in fish and the recent research surrounding that nutrient.

On the whole, though, I really enjoyed the book, and it was great to see how often something that "everyone knows" is completely wrong!

Disclosure: I received a complimentary copy of the book to facilitate this review.