It turns out that quick sand, burglars and house fires are far less of a risk in adult life than I'd anticipated. Phew!

[Limth]

As a child, I felt certain I'd witness at least one untimely death in quick sand. Possibly my own.

I also felt certain I'd be burgled in the middle of the night on multiple occasions by a duo of tiptoeing men, one of whom would be wearing a stripy top.

And I felt sure that, at least once in my life, I'd wake in the night to a room filled with smoke as my house burned down around me. I still won't let my dog sleep downstairs just in case of fire.

These eventualities were so ubiquitous in children's media - I was born mid-80s - that I was sure they were just eventualities. In fact, almost obligations - these things were so ubiquitous to be almost legal mandates - that everyone had to experience a house fire, burglary and a brush with quick sand death at some point.

What things from your childhood turned out to actually be far less of a risk than you'd thought?

I definitely was terrified of quicksand. Where did that come from do you think? We must have watched something 🤔

I wasn’t worried about burglars or house fires until I was an adult and I knew people who lost their homes to fire. I would never have a thatched cottage - all three were thatched.

Quicksand and silos!

Yes, I was also talking to dh about this the other day. Why is no one scared of quicksand anymore?

Also, spontaneous human combustion. What happened to that?

I never worried about burglars but do now after being burgled in the middle of the night and not noticing (despite being up).

I worried loads about dying in my sleep as a kid - it's never happened though, not even once!

I've always been scared of quicksand, but then again I live near enough to Weston-super-Mare for a day trip to know the dangers.
My fear as a child was volcanoes. However there aren't any in Bristol.

People don't spontaneously combust nearly as often as I expected them to.

I worried a lot about volcanoes and earthquakes. I used to pray every night for God to keep me safe from them. Also vampires, after an episode of Blankety Blank had a grand prize of a trip to Transylvania and my Dad explained why they’d wheeled in two glasses of red wine and a coffin

Me - nothing. But my sister (now 60) still refuses to sleep in a house where any windows are open (not matter what the temperature) after seeing a burglar climbing up the side of a building - a burglar who never got in anywhere because he was caught by Superman....

The link is dedicated to my sister...

Huge amount of warning in primary school about the risks of being electrocuted.

By touching a pylon, or entering some kind of exchange (if that’s what it’s called? Sub Station?).

Definitely was overly concerned about this threat for a lot of years.

The escalator steps suddenly giving way to become a sloped walkway and us all sliding to our deaths.

I thought by now at least both of my arms would have been broken by a swan

There’s a grain silo warning pictogram with the stick man sinking further and further. It’s the least graphic picture in the world but just thinking about it makes me feel claustrophobic.

Strangers haven’t been as much of a problem as I thought they would be. Obviously there are some dodgy strangers about but they’re not literally lurking around every corner waiting to pounce.

I’m sure someone spontaneously combusted relatively recently, like within 8-10 years, it might have been in wales? I’ll have a dig

Falling on an escalator and getting trapped by my hair. I still don't like escalators and I'm 60.

@MidnightPatrol Substation is correct, I learned this at the age of 41 because they're currently upgrading the one right by our house. The fact that they removed it's little metal house a couple of weeks ago and just put a some of those metal temporary fence panels around it in the meantime leaves me to believe it might not be as instantaneous a death to be within a few feet of it as I once thought.

I think there were more house fires when I was a child, more people smoking, dodgy electrics and people using deep fat fryers. I was never all that worried though as I lived in a bungalow.

Being kidnapped and held for ransom has fortunately also been rarer in adulthood than I expected (it was a thing in '80s Dublin as well as in Famous Five novels).

Getting my laces caught in a escalator and it ripping my foot off.

Being decapitated from poking head out of a train window - remember a safety book aimed at children from the 80's about this.

Electricity pylons.

Sparklers and fire works.

Actually most of the 70's & 80's public safety information films that has a child in a raincoat being killed in a random event - usually involving either a kite or a frisbee

Oops it was in Ireland www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-15032614

I also haven't recently been in danger of drowning in a disused quarry.

Being killed by a train

Saw so many safety videos as a child at school of people walking along railway lines

My dad's monthly subscription to 'The Unexplained' did keep me awake some nights!

I wonder if you are my old school friend. We spent hours poring over a book about spontaneous combustion with photos of those this had happened to. It was terrifying

Yes I am still obsessed with this one and am always reminding the DC never to go near the beautiful blue/turquoise waters.

Does this mean I no longer need to practice STOP DROP AND ROLL???

@CanOfMangoTango Oh yes. There are disused railway lines by my PILs house which are now a beautiful country walk.

I hate it. I expect a speeding train to come hurtling at me at any second. This is despite the fact the lines haven't been used since the 1930s, and its in the middle of countryside so I'd hear a train from far enough away to take cover.

But still, not walking on/near train lines is deeply ingrained in my very DNA.