Things that you used to do as a child repetitively and now think "WTF?!"

Another child-of-the-70s finger sewer here. I'd never heard of anyone else doing it until this thread.

I also used to refuse to have my arms under the duvet when my parents tucked me in at night, even on the coldest nights. This was because I would suck the thumb of the coldest arm, and gently pinch the skin of my upper arm until it was warm... and then swap arms if I was still awake. It was the best and most comforting way to get to sleep until I was about 12 or so.

Also sucked flannels, and wiped bogeys on the underside of the breakfast bar in the kitchen; parents were regularly furious about this.

Eat dog biscuits or uncooked rice. Crunchy .

Sew through the very top layer on skin on my fingers and stitch them together in Home Ec class. A few of us did that though, I wasn't the only daft one.

I used to peel the dried PVA glue off my hands after arty things at school. I do it even now, if I use it at work.

I used to scrape the soap when in the bath. Once I gouged a hole in it and got told off by my step dad.

I used to drink the cream off the top of the newly opened bottle of full fat milk.

I used to cut the crust off white bread, sprinkle sugar on top and roll it flat with the rolling pin before spreading jam and choc spread on and then rolling it up like a swiss roll.

I used to suck flannels too.

And eat books, especially in the bath.

I also used to get myself to sleep by pulling my eyelids up by the lashes to make a very faint sucky sound

Oh and I used to stir snails with my finger and lick the slimey mess off my finger afterwards

I used to, when I was excited, put my hands together so the fingers were crossed together and rub my bottom teeth on my left thumb.

My skin used to blister and I used to pick the skin off. It used to go hard too. It hurt but I still did it.

Surprisingly I have no scars from it.

And I used to talk to my magazines. I am an only child so I thought they were my friends.

I also used to make potions in the bathroom, suck on flannels like someone else said as well. I would collect worms and or snails in the garden and then race them. I used to skate on my dads lps when he was at work. My mum only told him a few yers ago he was like whhhhaaaatt!!he said he wouldnt have flipped thanks mum

Eating rice with ketchup

Secretly playing my mum's Abba records whilst pretending to be the singer using a brush as a microphone

Pretending the moss lumps in the garden were the islands my dad went to when he was away (didn't know at the time my parents were separating)

This is the strangest one- writing official looking letters to neighbours accusing them of things/pretending they were in trouble and then spying to see if I could catch a glimpse of them reading the letters. At the time I even came across a book that had official looking letters you could photocopy and write the name of your 'victim' in. So must not just have been me that had this rather cruel but highly entertaining pastime.

You lot ar strange!

I made potions in the bathroom. I would use up all mums expensive stuff then deny it.

I made perfume and tried selling it. It was water with dodgy flowers and leaves we had found.

I went down a slide on roller blades ro see what would happen. The scar on me forehead shows that.

I would dress my brothers up as girls and send them down when my mum was having Ann Summers parties. She never told us off as my brothers genuinely looked good as women!

I used to jump on furniture and then cry that the floor was lava. I would sacrifice siblings to the lava and use them to stand on.

I used to pretend there was a man running along side the road when I was in the car. He would run along the rails. i might still do this

When we went through a tunnel me and siblings would pretend to wash our faces, brush teeth and pretend to be asleep before we got through the end.

You lot ar strange!

I made potions in the bathroom. I would use up all mums expensive stuff then deny it.

I made perfume and tried selling it. It was water with dodgy flowers and leaves we had found.

I went down a slide on roller blades ro see what would happen. The scar on me forehead shows that.

I would dress my brothers up as girls and send them down when my mum was having Ann Summers parties. She never told us off as my brothers genuinely looked good as women!

I used to jump on furniture and then cry that the floor was lava. I would sacrifice siblings to the lava and use them to stand on.

I used to pretend there was a man running along side the road when I was in the car. He would run along the rails. i might still do this

When we went through a tunnel me and siblings would pretend to wash our faces, brush teeth and pretend to be asleep before we got through the end.

I tried to find out if it was possible to ride a bicycle with my eyes closed - it ended painfully!

Also used to get up in the night and go around the house - old victorian with cellars and attics - into EVERY room, including the cellar, checking for fire. Unplugging everything at the same time. Must have been a nightmare for my parents...

My cousin used to "make Guinness" by taking a glass of Coke, drinking a mouthful but rather than swallowing would swill it around her mouth. She would then spew it back into the glass at speed, creating a froth.

She, my sister and I had a tradition that no matter where we were, we would eat a pickled onion on New Years Eve. We kept it up for years!

Just telling my DC off the other day for flannel sucking - I realised actually I know what it tastes like - so I must have done it!
Reading this I remember eating loofahs too...picking the strings out of towels and candlewick bedspreads - and hair chewing
Making bread balls with white bread...
Dripping candlewax onto skin and peeling it off..and sewing fingers...
I used to EAT PVA glue and I think bostick too - definitely used to make fake scars on my hands and arms with bostick...
Eat opal fruit wrappers...
I used to (and still do) sort those shaped cheesey biscuits into the different shape and eat the one them in order...don't anymore but have some vague recollection of chewing these up and spitting them onto my hands before eating again...
I used to chew grass and eat buttercups - and the peanuts out of my mouse's food...
At my grandparent's farm used to eat the cow food - cow pellets, sweet beet and crushed barley ... and the 'good boy' chocolate drops for the guard dog ...
perhaps the oddest - used to beg my grandmother to give me a Cod liver capsules (bought for dog too) - and then squash it in my mouth so the oil ran out...it tasted vile but for some reason I would keep doing it...

Book eater here too. And oxo cubes!

I sewed my fingers together to - guitar playing callouses were great for that but I did it on the palm of my hand at the base of my fingers sometimes too. Think I must have had harder skin there from holding a tennis racket.

Maltesers in monster munch sounds grim but then I liked

• liquorice comfits inside the wholes of polos and
• marmite spread on those pink wafer biscuits

Oh this is so embarrassing. My parents had built in wardrobes one side was my Mothers the other my Fathers. I would sometimes go and pee on the floor of my Dads wardrobe, as the floor was carpet it became a bit stinky so I blamed it on my little brother.

And I used to be a compulsive hair sucker, I remember doing it at school and the teacher told me a story about a girl who ended up with a hair ball in her stomach , not sure if that's what made me stop though.

Mummyb I used to love the smell of MLP stickers!

I used to put a malteser in the holes of individual monster munch and eat them together, this only tasted nice with the smoky bacon ones though!

*sitting obviously lol

I made witches potions in my dads denture pot. I used to pour in anything I could reach whilst fitting on the toilet and chant mad songs. It was only years later when I said what I used to do that the penny finally dropped as to why his dentures always tasted weird

Love this thread, it's so 80s..

Sewing through skin on top of finger and leaving needle in there just liking to admire it
Counting steps in 7s obsessively
setting myself superstitious weird targets like 'if i don't reach that lampost in 5 seconds I will die before I am 18..'
Picking gunky bits off backs of ears where cheap non-gold earrings had been.
Only ever eating smarties in colour order
pretending to be a horse
playing the game where me and my sister lived in a flat, smoked, had a husband in prison and used to give our pretend kids £10 to buy sweets (loads of money in the 80s!)
Sniffing the stickers in the my little pony sticker albums - best thing ever.
Ah, happy days - weird and wonderful kids...

Oh, so many of these did I do!

Copydex on the hands.
Self narration (still do this one)
Sewing needles through my skin - I once sewed 2 of my fingers together!
I couldn't eat pancakes normally, they had to be mashed up, rolled into lots of little balls and then eaten. I remember when I did this in front of DH and he was "What?!?!"

They had dog biscuits as play food at my school and I used to eat them. Also ate a lot of paper too.

I used to play games with my fingers.
There were two families. Left hand:
Middle finger was Mammy
Fourth finger was Daddy
First finger was Auntie
Thumb was Ciaran
Little finger was Sally.
The right hand was the same but with different names for the children, can't remember what. I used to invent little scenarios for them. I did actually have toys in case anyone is wondering!

Occasionally, I would change it and make my hands "walk" along surfaces using the index finger and middle finger. In this case, the left hand was "Good Sue" and the right hand was "Bold Sue" ( In Ireland, Bold = naughty) My sister had "Good Mandy" and "Bold Mandy"

Smarties: Someone up thread used to sort them before eating them. I used to sort them, then:
Most frequent colour = men
Next most frequent = women
Next most frequent = boys
Next most frequent = girls
Next most frequent = small boys
Next most frequent = small girls
Next most frequent = babies.

I used to sort them into families then. There was always a couple with no children and a single man.
Then all the Dads would go to work, they all worked in the same place which would be attacked by a monster ( me) and eaten.
The Mums went to sewing classes ( I wasn't a feminist then!) and would get eaten by the same monster which would then eat all the children at school and the babies in playschool.

My boys just eat sweets, there is none of that malarkey!

I used to narrate everything too like this: she walked home a different way this time through the park instead of beside the road, this time she knew everything thing had changed for her, since getting her powers she could do anything this went on until i got home, a whole 30 minutes.

I would also get a needle and thread and sew through the bits of skin at top side bits of my nails as i couldn't feel it and like the little holes afterwards. weird.

Also claiming a bush near my house was a sabre tooth tiger a la Power rangers, and ride on it every day, shouting Sabre tooth tiger rahhhhh!!!