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".

Team pressure cooker here. To be fair to my family, ours did explode 😶

Re reheating rice, not all white people! I feel like it's quite a british thing tbh🙈 just to add, the weirdest tjing on it is how many people eat rice in restaurants and takeaways etc.... Yet still claim not to eat reheated rice

Me too! I can’t shake it at all 🙈

Using a lawn mower. My mother’s graphic warnings of what happens if you accidentally mow over the electrical cable have really stayed with me.
Lighters in general scare me. Lighting the pilot light on an old style gas oven after heating you could blow your eyebrows off.
Also bleach, my mother basically made out like your skin would peel off if you even went near it.

This is what I'm afraid of. My kids mock me incessantly about it, too, but I don't care. Years ago, I read a story in the paper about a woman who had been killed because her escalator step had collapsed under her and she'd been, essentially, chewed to death by the mechanism.
Between that and the doll film, I'm convinced escalators are, frankly, nothing more than death machines.

To be fair every food hygiene course I've done they've really laboured the point about rice being notoriously bad for giving people food poisoning and if you get ill from a takeaway dish with meat and rice it's more likely to be the rice than anything else.
I do happily eat reheated rice but it has made me suspicious 🤨😁

Peanuts. At family parties my great aunt used to give us dire warnings about the risks of getting peanuts stuck in your throat and choking to death. Apparently a little boy in her school died just like that (in hindsight it was probably a nut allergy!).

To this day I still worry about not chewing nuts enough when I eat them

I was terrified of my mother's slow cooker too, and my dad did actually burn his kitchen down in a chip pan fire. On the other hand, I was never scared of lighting the gas cooker with a match. Was taught to do this safely as a child. I now have an electric cooker and miss gas. And eye level grills were brilliant!

I was coming on to say the same, the adverts certainly did their job at keeping me away from train tracks , strangers, fire , fireworks ( esp sparkles!) and all maner of other dangerous things.

I have a old fashion chip pan and not once has it ever set on fire or been knocked off the hob . But I know two people that have had fires started with faulty air fryers ( fortunately no one was hurt or much damage done)

When I was little we had several paraffin heaters , me and my DB had one in our bedrooms , I remember my Ddad telling us every night not to touch them or even go near them . I also had a paraffin lamp .
I loved watching the patterns on the wall and ceiling that the flames made while I was meant to be sleeping.

Lifts and escalators, but thats probably because my uncle was messing about on an escalator and it ate his shoe, and my Mum got her arm trapped in lift doors when the lift was absolutely packed. All the men inside and outside the lift were shouting and tried to force the door open.

Oh, I learned to use matches at 44 yo!
The long ones.
😬

I was never aloud a lava lamp growing up because my mum drummed it into us they'd set on fire at any moment. Now my DD wants one but can't bring myself to say yes just in case.

Omg me too!!

Yes! I got hit by a rogue home firework when I was little... I have to hide indoors now!

I had toxic shock back in the 90s and I’m glad of reading about it in J17 so I knew what it was as my mother thought I was just making a fuss.

This made me lol

This thread has me howling 😂😂

Chewing gum - we were told as children if you swallowed it, it would wrap around your internal organs and you’d die. I know now it’s impossible but still scared to chew gum in case I accidentally swallow it.

Pressure cooker for me too.

I can still see the one we had when I was a child, squatting malevolently on the hob (the pressure cooker, not me), screaming loudly (still the pressure cooker, not me), and my grandma approaching it cautiously, side-on, wearing full riot gear. Well, she may have just had an apron, a tea towel and a wooden spoon but she probably should have had the riot gear.

I actually came on to say something else but I got such a horrible flashback to the pressure cooker that I've forgotten what the other thing was!

Pressure cookers. Mother was obsessed with the prospect of it exploding like a bomb. She also taught me to be afraid of opening a tin of corned beef etc with the 'key' on the side, was convinced the metal strip would cut your hands/arms to shreds.

The iron. I am very wary of the metal bit that gets hot. Do not touch it was so drummed in to us that I actually won’t touch the metal bit even when I know it is stone cold and hasn’t been used for a week (or longer).

This has really made me laugh!!!

Mandolin

Omg this!

Oh God yes. Fireworks. My mum worked in the burns unit of a big hospital. Frightened me to death with stories of the horrible smells etc on bonfire night. Still hate Fireworks

Yes to pressure cooker fear! We were given one as a wedding present, but it was very rarely used.

Never putting your head out of a train window was a constant childhood worry when travelling, due to graphic warnings from my Mother! 🚆 🚇 🚆 🚇