<B>“Ken Jennings reveals the truth behind all those things you tell your children” (<I>Parade</I>) in this entertaining and useful <I>New York Times </I>bestseller “armed with case histories, scientific finds, and experiments on himself and his own children” (<I>Los Angeles Times</I>). </B><p>Don’t cross your eyes, or they’ll stay like that! Feed a cold, starve a fever! Never run with scissors! Don’t look in the microwave while it’s running! Is any of it true? If so, how true? Ken Jennings wants to find out if mother and father always know best. Yes, all those years you were told not to sit too close to the television (you’ll hurt your eyes!) or swallow your gum (it stays in your stomach for seven years!) or crack your knuckles (arthritis!) are called into question by our country’s leading trivia guru. Jennings separates myth from fact to debunk a wide variety of parental edicts: no swimming after meals, sit up straight, don’t talk to strangers, and so on.<BR><BR>“A fun, lighthearted compendium of conventional wisdom, which debunks plenty of old wives’ tales and urban myths while offering a few surprising truths” (<I>Kirkus Reviews</I>), <I>Because I Said So!</I> exposes countless examples of parental wisdom run amok. Whether you’re a parent who wants to know what you can stop worrying about or a kid (of <I>any </I>age) looking to say, “I told you so,” this is the anti–helicopter parenting book you’ve been waiting for.