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Original poster

Random things you believed as a child light hearted

241 replies

NimbleHiker · 14/02/2026 15:36

I thought that my neighbours were moving their furniture about when it thundered. I thought that the moon was made of cheese. I thought that periods started on the first day of each month.

OP posts:
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TheFuturesSoBright · 20/02/2026 18:00

I thought you just had to have sex once, then you chose how many children you wanted.

70isaLimitNotaTarget · 20/02/2026 17:19

Tiedbutchorestodo · 19/02/2026 23:35

I was utterly convinced for a lot of my childhood that sharks could suddenly swim out of any pool grate / filter and attack you - I obviously know it’s not true now but I still feel a little nervous near them.

That's why there was an alarm that sounded in our local pool , so they knew it was time to prepare the sharks to come along the tunnels to the sluice grids .
We went to Butlins when the DC were little and were in the pool late one evening , only a few people there .
I was floating along the rapids , and saw an oblong shape below me (tile pattern) , ...... I never swam so fast in my life just in case it was true !

Tiedbutchorestodo · 19/02/2026 23:35

I was utterly convinced for a lot of my childhood that sharks could suddenly swim out of any pool grate / filter and attack you - I obviously know it’s not true now but I still feel a little nervous near them.

justtheotheronemrswembley · 19/02/2026 23:31

My mum told me you had to wear a vest 'when there's an R in the month' and I thought it was the law.

cadburyegg · 19/02/2026 22:35

Oh if I sulked my parents would say “careful if the wind changes you’ll look like that forever”

cadburyegg · 19/02/2026 22:34

I was convinced I would go down the drain with the water if the plug was pulled before I got out of the bath! I believed that for ages I think

UnctuousUnicorns · 19/02/2026 22:20

bluebelle78 · 16/02/2026 16:27

My grandad was a large man and had a tyre abound his middle. He told me he ate a snake when he worked in Africa and I believed him up until he died when I was 7

My dad told me he got the dent in his shin when he got chased by a monkey and ran into a wheelbarrow trying to escape! This was true, though! He and his family were living in South Africa at the time.

Cheescake333 · 16/02/2026 19:20

Someone I knew was told as a child that the sleeping policeman speedbumps were where police were buried and had to pay their respects every time they went over them

MrsAvocet · 16/02/2026 19:05

YouAreASadStrangeLittleManAndYouHaveMyPity · 16/02/2026 16:22

I thought all the nursery workers used to live and sleep at the nursery and their beds were inside the cupboards

Fairly recently I had one of the little ones I coach at a sports club ask me where I slept. It transpired that she thought I lived at the club and was always there. Since it is an outdoor facility she was curious about where my bed was! 😁

needanewusernamefor2026 · 16/02/2026 17:01

I thought there was 1 bus for each route and the same bus did the same route all day every day. It never occurred to me there such a thing as a timetable. 😆

VimesandhisCardboardBoots · 16/02/2026 16:58

I managed to convince DD of the existence of both minibears and Redworld.

Minibears lived in the grass and would nibble your toes if you weren't wearing shoes.

Redworld was a parallel universe that existed behind a shiny red fence on a building site on the way back from school. She'd wave at the red version of herself every time we passed.

Both of these things she believed utterly. Gravity, on the other hand was a step too far when I tried to explain that to her.

Edit: Ooh, she also thought Hugh Grant and John Bishop were the same person, and could only do two very different accents

Original poster
NimbleHiker · 16/02/2026 16:57

I thought that if i drank a fizzy drink i would explode.

OP posts:
bluebelle78 · 16/02/2026 16:27

My grandad was a large man and had a tyre abound his middle. He told me he ate a snake when he worked in Africa and I believed him up until he died when I was 7

YouAreASadStrangeLittleManAndYouHaveMyPity · 16/02/2026 16:22

I thought all the nursery workers used to live and sleep at the nursery and their beds were inside the cupboards

hellopicklesticks · 16/02/2026 15:47

I believed that before every single song was released it had to be listened to and approved by the Queen

Worktillate · 16/02/2026 15:44

That the signs at roadworks that say 'delays possible until ..........' meant that you could actually be stuck there until that date

Fangisnotacoward · 16/02/2026 15:43

winnerwinnertofudinner · 14/02/2026 16:28

That if you flushed the toilet whilst sat on it, a vampire would come up the u-bend and bite your bum (don't ask, I have no idea where that came from!) 😅

I thought similar. But it was a crab would sneak up and pinch your bottom!

TastelessMiserySand · 16/02/2026 15:41

I also thought Jimmy Saville's first name was Jim'll, because of the TV show Jim'll Fix It

TastelessMiserySand · 16/02/2026 15:40

I thought that dog poo was the same colour as whatever dog it came out of.
This was back in the 80s though, when some dog poo went white because of whatever additive was in the food! You don't see that now 🤣

hazelnutvanillalatte · 16/02/2026 15:39

I thought that the sparkles you see behind your eyes were fairy dust and that if you closed your eyes when you saw it then you would stop it escaping and be able to fly

SwankyPants · 16/02/2026 15:33

I thought 'Terry and June" were married in real life.
I thought that songs on the radio were the bands playing in a studio there.

WalkDontWalk · 16/02/2026 15:28

EleanorReally · 16/02/2026 07:19

i am sure i read, when i was about 6 or 7, that if you cut your eye lashes and drank lots of milk, they would grow longer
and so i cut them!

Show quote history

How do they know they've been cut? How do they know when to stop growing?

EleanorReally · 16/02/2026 07:19

Salome61 · 15/02/2026 15:47

I had a squint and had to have eye surgery in 1962. The staff had to cut my eyelashes short and told me that they would grow back longer. I believed it for years!

i am sure i read, when i was about 6 or 7, that if you cut your eye lashes and drank lots of milk, they would grow longer
and so i cut them!

Tiggytico · 15/02/2026 22:55

I’ve always loved shopping. I remember being on a school trip, travelling on the bus when the teacher said we were going to stop to “spend a penny”. I excitedly ran down the steps of the bus clutching my purse (might have been on string around my neck). Imagine my disappointment.

I also thought that there was a type of canned milk called ”daddies milk”. Turns out it was just that my dad liked condensed milk. I was probably in my twenties when I found out.

I'm still pretty gullible.

scalt · 15/02/2026 22:25

With the Bingo song, the Ladybird book of Dancing Rhymes says:
The farmer’s dog’s at my back door,
his name is Bobby Bingo.
B I N G O etc
and bingo is his name O.

But I’m sure the version we sang at school was:
There was a black dog sat on a black horse
and Bingo was his name.