Things you hardly dared use, because they were "dangerous" (lighthearted)

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Children are always being told things are dangerous, such as fire, escalators, roads, and so on. Were there any things which you hesitated to use as you got older, because "danger" had been drummed into you? (Lighthearted, obviously: otherwise this thread is too dangerous!)

Matches were one of mine. I could hardly bring myself to light them, in case I got burnt.

My grandmother emphasised how dangerous her appliances were, such as her ancient twin tub, and her electric lawn mower, and I almost forbade her from operating them, on this basis. (I was six at the time.)

In my first year at secondary school, I was astounded when we were made to use methylated spirit (to erase permanent marker), from a bottle prominently marked "poison".

Swans.

They will apparently break your arm as soon as get within 100 yards of them...

Not so much an appliance, but eating and then going swimming - instant death I believe!!

To this day I have no idea what this was meant to be so DANGEROUS!

And yes I do eat and swim now and haven't died!

Thanks for this thread. DS5 is very cautious (possibly because of me). I'll going to teach him to light a match when he gets back home...

Mine is a mirror above a fireplace. I remember my physics teacher saying this was dangerous. I think it was that your clothes might catch fire whole you were admiring yourself in the mirror!

Me too and when I was 8 at brownies I remember the leader screaming in my face that I was an idiot and ruining the fun for all as I was refusing to join in she then made fun of me the rest of the evening (she was abusive and it got worse from then on)

Loool yes, eating rice for years, and only heard of this recently 🤣

I'm another who fears pressure cookers.
The one my Mum had when I was a child absolutely terrified me and I've refused to use one ever since.
Also when I was younger my brother told me that you could get sucked out down the toilet on a plane if it malfunctioned. Obviously I know that this is complete nonsense that he made up to scare me...but I still get slightly anxious.😂

80s/90s kid, so was terrified of anything I saw on the tv programs 999 or Casulty. So I was also terrified every time my mum used the chip pan, which would always sit in the hob black with oil waiting to kill us. It was the era when my mum and others would dress us council estate kids in shell suits from the catalogue, there was an episode of casualty where a girl fell into a bonfire and hers melted to her, so from there I was terrified of bonfire night, and my shell suits lol! Sparklers, there was an advert where a kid got burned, so I hated using those, but had to ‘join in’. I was also terrified of using escalators as there was an advert where a kids welly was caught in one I vaguely remember, so getting on those was just a horror in itself!

Swinging back on chairs, you know where you just balance on the back two legs. I never did it and still tell people off if I see them doing it now. I was told as a very young child that if the chair slipped you would fall and break your neck. Horrified me then, horrified me now!

Oh and was terrified of hoovers, my nan had one of those upright ones where the front light would come on and the bag would inflate while she was using it, I always thought the bag would explode and me and my nan would be found in a pile of rubble and pink wafer biscuits!

Me too. My gran's hissed and steam came out everywhere.

You'll be OK, they break mens arms.

I am still scared of escalators after Esther Ransen showed a what happened to a childs welly if it got caught in the side

@Notagain24 that is very true, nobody ever warned me they can break a woman's arm 😂

Mine is reheating chicken - you will get food poisioning and probably die. In my 40s and I have never reheated anything with chicken in it, left-overs are always cold in a salad or sandwich.

I didn't wear rings for years as I remember being warned about them for years at school. Had images of a ring getting caught on something and getting my finger ripped off!

Slippers like this. My mum always said they were too dangerous!! We lived in a bungalow so it wasn't a stairs issue!
I've never let my kids have them either, you know, just in case!!

oh blimey my mum cooked the christmas pudding the pressure cooker every year (in the 80s). It was the most frightening kitchen item. <shudder>

Quicksand. And fast flowing volcanic molten lava. I used to have nightmares about both!

Me too my mum's terrified me.

I love that 😂

I can’t stop laughing at this, your mum is brilliant!

Anyone remember those ' Charlie says' adverts? Scared the life out of us as kids!

Fabric scissor.. notn100% sure if it was the danger of the sharpness or my mother's wrath 😀

Matches. They're run under the cold tap immediately after use, crumbled up and left in the sink overnight to ensure they're completely out and don't set fire to the bin.

I'm too scared to get a deep fat fryer, or to deep fry anything. This means we never have homemade samosas, bhaji or pakora.