I remember my mom on too many occasions to count, admonishing me not to poke my eyes out. I'm sure that chances are your mom told you the same thing. I'm also pretty sure that this particular warning crosses all social and economic lines as well. I bet Bill Gates' wife tells the Gates' kids to be careful so they don't poke their eyes out.I don't recall ever hearing of a kid poking one eye out much less both. If there was a case of this happening I'm sure it would be on the news, if for no other reason than the newsreader would get to say, "I'm sure his mom warned him not to poke his eyes out".
Don't poke your eyes out may be one of the few universal things among mothers around the world. At this very moment there are probably untold numbers of mothers warning their kids not to poke their eyes out.
I suppose there are potentially a lot of ways a kid could poke their eyes out. The classic example would of course be with a fork or knife while eating and not paying attention. I wonder though, in some cultures people eat with their hands. So do kids in those cultures still get the warning?
If you have kids do you warn them not to poke their eyes out? Does it feel like you are channeling your mother?
14 comments:
I don't have children yet, but I can't lie.. I might say it. But the day I clean my kid's face with my saliva (like my mother did us) is when I have really just gone TOO FAR and need to officially sit down.
Hi DMB,
I think it would be an automatic responce for most of us to say it.
(lol) There was love in that saliva clean-up!
It does seem like I'm channeling my mom, but I find I say it mostly when I see them running with pencils. I read a story in a newspaper a few years ago where a kid accidentally stabbed themselves in the chest with a pencil. The kid survived because he didn't pull the pencil out. He went to the hospital with the pencil in there and that kept the blood from flowing too quickly.
I can't say I have heard that one outside of the US. I think the Don't make me come over there, up there, down there, etc. is more universal.
I heard the You'll shoot your eye out one when I got a bee-bee gun. When ironically I almost was shot in the eye with it by a friend. (He missed my eye but it did hit me and damaged the back of my eye so I am blind in my left eye.)
Hi Liz,
I think I remember hearing about that kid and the pencil. I'm sure that was a nightmare.I'm glad he survived though.
I find myself channeling my mom in more and more ways everyday.
Hi Ehav,
Oh my, I'm sorry to hear about your eye. Kids get into so much.
And I can imagine 'don't make me come over there' is said a lot too.
My oldest sister is a pediatric ophthalmologist. One day we were in the car when the youngest daughter was sucking on a balloon. No shit - a balloon. Another child made some gesture toward her eyes and my sister screamed: "Don't do that you'll hurt your eye!"
I took the balloon from the younger kid didn't CHOKE while the eye discussion was going on.
Hi OGC,
I guess those kind of conversations are going on all the time. You really have to watch those kids!
I have never told my child she would poke her eye out, BUT I have cleaned her face with my personal saliva - and to think, I thought that was so disgusting growing up. My fav, though, that I have really channeled my parents with is, "Come in here and turn my light out" or "Come in here and give me that remote (that's at the foot of my bed)" Man, if you don't have kids for any other reason. . . you gotta have them to see their facial expression for one of those 'servant runs' LOL!!!
Lisa,
That is sooo funny. Do you remember the scene in the movie Friday when the dad calls Ice Cube in the house to get the t.v. guide which is at the foot of the bed? (lol)
I"m guilty! Also, I used to tell the kids "be careful!" until i just realized that it was pointless to say such a general statement because they wouldn't even know what steps to take to 'be careful'.
Miriam,
I remember my mom telling me to be careful, it didn't matter, I wasn't careful. (lol) But moms have their job and kids have theirs.
Hey Lisa,
My mother used to do that one. The go get something that it would be easier for her to get routine.
Yet, I got a better one for you. My stepfather would come home from somewhere and immediately tell me to go get him some food from a fast food resturant he passed on his way home. That one I could NEVER understand. Seriously, ever time it was a place that would have been faster and easier for him to stop and get on his way home.
That would make me so made as a teenager. So for revenge what I would do is take a long time to come back with his food. That would always tick him off, but he kept making me do it.
I'm a new mom...my boys are toddlers.
I'm always telling them to slow down before they get hurt. But I haven't warned them about poking out an eye. Not yet anyway.
Cute post. :-)
Sage.
(lol) You will have plenty of time to warn them.
Post a Comment