Good news: Your mother was wrong. If you cross your eyes and hold them, they won’t get stuck that way, according to a recent article by Discovery Health. You might experience some eye strain or discomfort, but they will bounce back. So there.
This makes me wonder what else Mom was wrong about. Or not.
When I was expecting, my brother gave me two paperback books to help me prepare for motherhood, Momilies and More Momilies.
What’s a momily, you ask? The official Momilies website defines it as 1. a sermon made by a mother or 2. an admonitory or moralizing discourse from mother to child.
I can guarantee if you go to the website you will get lost for at least half an hour. But it will be time well spent. In fact, I am laughing out loud as I write this—mostly because, 22 years after I received those two books as a gift, I now know how well I have absorbed the content.
“Always check the chute again after you’ve put something in the mailbox.”
Some momilies I may have picked up from the books, while others may have been handed down from my own mother. Or is it possible that these are gifts with which Mother Nature endows us?
I do wonder what it is about amassing wisdom over the years that compels us to impart it to our children in pithy yet trite ways. My son just snorts when I tell him to “always dress up for an airplane ride” (there’ll be a whole separate post on that topic one day), “clean up the kitchen as you go along” or, my own, “use your finger as a shoehorn.”
I can’t say my mother ever told me that if I crossed my eyes they’d stay that way, but she did have a few classics of her own, the most memorable (and valuable) of which was, “The tip of the iron is your best friend.”
I am betting you have a few of your own.
Word Nymph 
Strive higher.
The one I heard which most stands out in my memory: “Always have clean bra straps in case you’re in an accident.”
Keep your back warm and your feet dry.
“If you don’t stand for something, you’ll fall for anything.” But she never seemed to appreciate me standing up for things. lol
I was always told to make sure you have clean panties on in case of an accident. I bought a lot of new underwear in my time.
NEVER say never when referring to your or someone else’s parenting.
example: “I will NEVER make a separate meal for my child because he won’t eat what I made.”
Eating the crust will give you curly hair… I never ate the crust and look what happened.
I am late in the game here but must add my 2 cents if only for Monica’s amusement. To supplement Katherine, “I will never allow my 3 year old to leave the family dinner table just because he feels like it.” My sister-in-law graciously reminds me of this from time to time and I have shared this lesson with those who have children younger than mine!
And from my mother-in-law, “If the child has hiccups they must have a wet diaper.”