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?

The "roller skating kids merrily speeding down the hill when the ominous music starts and you see the spiky railings at the bottom" one is permanently lodged in my mind.

Yes. The Neverending Story. The Princess Bride.
etched on my brain forever

Toxic Shock Syndrome. I was in my 30s before I would use a tampon. It was in the media a lot when I was 11 or 12, and one of the older girls at my school nearly died from it (luckily her mum found her in time). I was convinced that I would die if I even tried to use a tampon!

Sadly, a boy in my year did die from falling into a grain silo dring our Y10 work experience.

Being kidnapped, it was hearing about Lesley Whittle on the news, I was 11 or 12, it terrified me.

I wouldn't have minded if it was Adam Ant.

I was terrified of quick sand and spontaneous human combustion- I have no idea why!

Rabies was a big thing, especially if you went on holiday to Spain. And also Distemper which is a dog disease and our dog was sure to fall victim to it. Yes to the Bermuda triangle and spontaneous combustion.

I thought I would have died having a baby as my mother used to bang on endlessly when I was a child about how that was the most dangerous thing one could do "you are never nearer to death than when you are having a baby". Probably why I was nearly 40 before I had one.

I think you’re right about this. TSS is extremely rare but the coverage of it made it seem like it was a real risk to tampon users

Hmmm... those perils don't sound so unlikely to me, OP! My house was burgled while we were all in the house asleep. Two houses I've lived in have narrowly avoided being set on fire (once when roofing materials ready for re-thatching our roof next day were deliberately set on fire and once when we were evacuated due to explosions in the next-door petrol station). And I now live 5 mins' walk from an area of quicksand from which people quite often have to be rescued!

Munchausens by proxy.

I don't know if it was in the media a lot or if my child's brain just clocked on to it, I remember for sure an episode of Holby City (or maybe Casualty) about it, obviously there's the bit in the Sixth Sense about it with Misha Barton.

I got quite paranoid about it and was often worried that when I, or a close friend was sick, that someone (probably a parent) was secretly poisoning their food.

Yes, to the fear of strangers from the Charlie adverts. And from my headmaster reading a story during primary school assembly about an abduction attempt. I was scared to walk to school on my own, but I did because it was, you know, the 80s.

The public health advert that stuck in my head and scared me the most was the Aids one with the tombstone falling. Also, something where there was a girl in a white t shirt and blue jeans at a party and I think there were drugs involved. I was far too young to understand any of it, but I remember just feeling very frightened by the tone of it all.

Maybe I’ve imagined this but weren’t we told not to use our mobile phones at petrol stations?

Anyone know why?

Safety laws around soft furnishings which made them less flammable, and fewer fires indoors

Erm. I’ve been caught in quicksand. I ultimately managed to crawl out somehow. Mainly because I couldn’t let my 2 yr old daughter watch me sinking any longer. The very next day a lady had to be winched off the same beach by helicopter.
South East UK

my childhood home caught fire when my mum left us aged 4 and 6 just for 10 mins … because she left the chip pan on

i grew up on a farm and my farm friends dad was run over by a combine harvester as he didn’t turn it off when He hopped down to check something

I watched those bastard 70’s and 80’s horror death safety films and had the shit scared out of me lol

I genuinely know someone whose nose was broken by a swan.

Adders.
Convinced I would regularly encounter them in long grass on sunny days.

I've seen 4 & 2 of them were in captivity.

Oh god I actually am cursed.
we have adders in our fucking garden and surrounding downs. I fucking hate snakes let alone poisonous ones

I still hold my breath when I drive over a level crossing and hope for the best!

I used to go to a children's Red Cross club. Sometimes we watched a programme called 999 (I think). There was a lot of emphasis on having an escape route in case of fire. I was terrified but knew there was a flat roof out of my brother's window so could head there.

We never put our Christmas presents under the tree until Christmas morning in case of burglary. (Theft of presents was an actual issue!)

Vampires
Killer sharks
Caves collapsing - still won't go in caves of any description and am not happy in tunnels!

I think the public information films did their job, we now know the dangers of quicksand, not wearing seatbelts, playing frisbee near pylons and going off with strangers. Imagine if we didn't?!

Of course!!! My dog is named Fezzik from Princess Bride (although he’s not a giant in any way)

I was sure the Bermuda triangle was going to be a big problem for me

I read that book Junk in the 90s, and thought I was at very high risk of becoming a heroin addict. I suppose it was possible, but I don't think it was the almost inevitably that I thought it was!

Thunderstorm...the temptation to shelter under a tree must be resisted because that's where the lightening will go and cause the tree to fall on top of you.

The terrifying film about farm safety was Apaches <shudder>. Only seen it once, but I can clearly remember the outside shot of the house belonging to the girl who drank paraquat. She was screaming in the night.

I was also very worried about rabies (see Survivors and The Mad Death), but I grew up in a port city so it wasn't quite so irrational.