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".

Oh I've remembered the other thing!

I bought one of those electric scrubber brush things a couple of weeks ago. The first time I used it to clean the shower tiles it somehow got tangled in my hair. It swirled my hair all up and instead of staying calm and sensible and trying to switch it off, I panicked and shouted and jumped around the place, blinded by visions of having to call the fire brigade out to cut my hair.

I eventually disentangled myself and texted my friend (who has short hair) asking if she wanted it.

Bubble gum because if you swallowed it, it would wrap round your heart. Similarly swallowing any pip because I tree would grow inside you.

This is so true! I had white person fear of reheated rice until I worked in China for 5 years.

I asked for a moka stove top coffee pot and then was too scared to use it for a few years as I was worried about it exploding.

I hate pressure cookers too. Growing up I hated having to release the pressure at my dad's request. I didn't like the jump making split second when the steam is released. The aural shrill interruption.

Hate cracking nuts, snapping things; it's that pressure point tipping over feeling I can't handle.

Pressure cooker people, your fear is real- I had a patient who had a rice cooker explode on her!!!!
I won't go near the fuckers.

My childhood fear is lifts, thanks to a 999 episode where a guy got stuck in a lift, tried to climb out and fell down the lift shaft. My dad tried to point out that it was the guy's fault, he should have just waited for an engineer/the fire brigade and that the lift was innocent, but it was no use. I didn't get in one for years. (I miraculously got over it when I was a student and lived on the 7th floor of halls)

Yet another who is scared of the pressure cooker. In my defence my Mum managed to overheat ours and it’s safety valve thingy melted and half the contents hit the kitchen ceiling!
My Uncle only had one eye and half an index finger due to picking up a firework that exploded in his face so I still think that’s a perfectly rational fear.
My silly one is drinking from cans. I always have to pour the contents into a glass after seeing something on telly as a kid where they swallowed a wasp that had crawled into the can and it stung their throat and they died.

Already said on here but pressure cookers! I still won't have one. Tbf, I used to work in restaurants and there was a horrible accident with some sort of pressure cooker thing with boiling stock in it (before I worked there).

My mum was a nurse and had so many horror stories. One was never to drink anything out of a lemonade bottle without checking what's in it. She remembered a child drinking what she thought was lemonade out of a lemonade bottle she'd found in a garage or something, but it actually had bleach in it. She also wouldn't let me go to sleep wearing a necklace for some reason, but I don't get that one. I wear a necklace to sleep now sometimes.

I'm also really freaked out by raw chicken and am really careful about washing my hands after touching it

The interior light in the car while someone was driving the car. God forbid the light went on, it would be met with shrieks of 'turn it off!' 'turn it off!' ... no idea why but I never questioned it, the car may have internally combusted if said light was on for more than a nano second.

Re the reheated rice. My exH was hospitalised after eating rice that had been kept warm on a hotel buffet. I still eat it but I view it with extreme suspicion! He’s never eaten it since.

eta both white British on holiday in that “abroad”. Canada 😂

Level crossings. The minute you set a foot or wheel on one a train will hit you at 427mph

Yep pylons here too. And kites because they will get trapped in pylons. And Im always slightly shocked when I see electric blankets for sale as was so sure they would be banned due to how dangerous my mum told me they were. And quicksand of course. Oh and appendicitis due to a photo story in a grange hill annual in the 80s🤣

Pressure cookers and electric blankets.

My parents kept their microwave in the utility room due to the radiation. They would start it going then go into the kitchen until it had finished.

Never drink without sniffing. You learn so quickly and very young.
There is a reason I know how different smell of washing up liquid tasted🤦 We were always taught to sniff first but who would suspect squash bottle by the sink!
I grew up EE and there was also alcohol in random bottles labeled as something different (squash, juices, wine, anything with screw able lid) at our homes often as gifts from neighbours and friends who had homemade palenka.
Funny how this goes with people forever. Currently have little ginger ale bottle with rakija from a friend on a shelf and we dk not live in our countries😂

It's been decades and I still sniff drinks before drinking.

Pushchairs and prams - someone called them
‘traffic testers’ and that was me done - I just can’t get over the mental image you are literally pushing your child into the road before yourself .

and water arm bands … way too many warnings about kids drowning .

Yes to pressure cookers! My DM is convinced they are a weapon of mass destruction. I am also scared of my DHs corded mains drill, horrible roaring thing. I now have a Ryobi battery drill all of my own 😁

If you’re driving at night and the light inside came on, it can affect visibility through the windscreen. Makes no difference in the day but it really annoyed me if a friend started fiddling with it when they were in my car, especially because I know I’d forget to try and adjust it, then have to fart about with my arm at an odd angle next time I drove in the dark.

You missed out suffocating in a grain silo.

Same, to the extent I’ve never used or owned one, or a chip pan/deep fat fryer.

That one is justified!

Sparklers for me too because I've only got one decently working eye so I'm terrified a stray 'sparkle' will land in it and doom my vision forever.

I was a very anxious/obsessive child and somehow ended up watching this terrifying based on a true story drama about a village in South America that discovered old x rays that had been abandoned, broke them open and used the glowing, radioactive powder for everything: played with it, ate it, spread it on their faces....with predictable, grisly results (what the hell were my parents thinking?!)

Anyway for ages afterwards I became terrified of anything that could be 'radioactive'. Including my bedside clock because the numbers glowed. It was quite a trying time in my parents' life but serves them right really for lack of tv monitoring

I'm intrigued by the pressure cooker phobia, we had one at home in the 80s/90s and the only thing I remember my parents using it for was for (horrible, dry) boiled potatoes or steamed puddings, both of which I disliked so there was always a sense of dread when the pressure cooker emerged....and my mum always insisted on taking the bloody thing on holiday too (presumably so we could have horrible dry boiled potatoes on holiday, not to give the pressure cooker a change of scenery)

DH bought one a few years ago and usually cooks curry, spag bol or chilli in it, which was quite a revelation! Nothing sinister has occurred (yet) 😃

I think modern pressure cookers are a lot safer tbh

Electric knives or saws, I know I would amputate part of myself within seconds of going anywhere near anything like this.

But never been worried about reheating rice - because reheated rice and kept-warm rice are 2 different things, it’s the kept warm rice which is dangerous at the specific temperature which allows the bacteria to grow.

Electric blankets, we were never allowed them because my Dad said he knew someone once who forgot to turn it off when they went to bed and basically cooked to death. Looking back he just didn't want to 'waste' the electric 😂

Yah I hate using lighters I always burn myself! Luckily I don't smoke!