Things that you used to do as a child repetitively and now think "WTF?!"

[ConfusedPixie]

The hot chocolate thread got me thinking about this. For some reason, I used to tip a full glass of water onto the carpet, the same patch of carpet, every single day. No clue why. I was asked to stop, but I just did it anyway

I ate chalk too, like the chalk kids draw with. Both of these things happened until high school age?!

Anything utterly random and repetitive you may have done?

I used to drink cream, and if someone ever bought me a fruity smelling body lotion or gel I had to taste it before I used it.

I also used to scratch my pillow while I was falling asleep. it was full of holes.

I used to knot my hair into little tufts and pull it out.

wow I was special! aren't kids weird? I'm going to try and remember these next time ds does something that makes me

I went to a pre-junior school play group where we'd cut out plastecine shapes. I'd put flour (maybe it was chalk) on a shape then a matching shape on top to make a sandwich,,, which I'd eat. I must've eaten a few over days or even weeks cuz I ended up pretty ill. I have a vague recollection of eating them and of being in hospital but none at all of week(s) of losing weight, vomiting and doctor visits before I was sent for tests. I'd blocked my intestines. They somehow flushed it out without any surgery needed. 46 years later and that remains the only 'proceedure' ever performed on me. I was a reckless kid - at 7 or 8 we'd dig out the shingle between railway sleepers and lie under passing trains - demolish old houses before the pro's arrived. All kinds of stupid stuff but never more than the odd bruise or graze. Never a sports injury in my teens n 20's. Healthwise I've been very lucky. When it comes to things like raffles and dice games I have no luck at all - it's hard to win at Trivial P when you can't ever land on the 'pie' squares.

Whenever we were driving somewhere and I saw a road sign saying how far away a town was I used to work out how long it would take til we got there.

If it said 35 miles and we were doing 70 mph I'd work out that it would take us half an hour and get really annoyed if it didn't actually take half an hour.

I also used to pick my nose and wipe it down the back of my cabin bed! Then when we redecorated my mum found it all the day she was meant to be selling it and had to scrub off years of hardened bogies. She was not impressed.

Also used to suck on sponges/flannels, sleep upside down, pretend when I was getting a late night drink that I was collecting water in the desert to save my lover, but I only had my hands to carry it. I had to make my 'hand cup' as water tight as possible.

And each of my marbles had personalities and roles. I still refer to the biggest as The King and can't bring myself to get rid of them. I'd play with them for hours.

I'm pretty sure there were more...

I used to wash my crisps. Because wet crisps tasted much nicer than dry crisps.

I used to...oh god I'm so weirded out by myself now.

I used to eat my bed. I used to gnaw away at the wooden frame and eat it. Like some kind of demented beaver.

I used to roll scraps of paper and foil into tubes, then pinch the ends closed at one end. Occasionally I'd try and join lots of bits of paper and foil together and make a long, thin tube which I thought was like a flute.
It always puzzled me why so many adults looked shocked and then relieved when I said "It's a flute" - years later I realised that it looked exactly like I was rolling large joints, which is a bit unnerving in a small child.
Needless to say, neither of my parents smoked anything at all, and I wouldn't have known what a joint looked like until many years later.

I did exactly the same thing retrohippy lol my sister used to hide hers under stickers on walls I just wiped them on the back of the bed!

I used to paste yogurt pots with pva glue and hide them in cupboards in the classroom then peel them out so I had a yogurt pot made of glue. Did this almost everyday for quite a while so don't know how my teacher never noticed!

I also picked wallpaper, the skin off my lips, feet and fingers. If ever I got a scab it would take months to heal. I still do all of these apart from wallpaper (but probably only because all the rooms in my house are painted not wallpapered!).

Loads more of these examples I used to do too! loved sucking flannels!

I would collect dried grass/twigs/flowers and make birds nest sduring playtime at school. My friends and I would put them in a hedge and spend ages waiting for a birds to use them. Never worked.

I would pick the paint off the toilet door with my toenail as I sat on the loo and wipe snot balls on the wall.

I would hide behind the sofa and hold my breath until the world went strange and my fingers felt huge. I feel dizzy thinking about that now.

I also did the nose picking/wall side of the bed thing...

I also used to dip biscuits in the sand before eating them. I liked the crunch
:-)

I once washed my Barbie's hair & then tried to dry it by holding it over my bed-side light. Funnily enough the bulb exploded! Amazingly I wasn't hurt. Its amazing that we're all still here giving some of things we did when we were little.

Shudder, SlangKing! what did that feel like, lying under trains?! did your teeth rattle?
Who remembers Spooky bubble gum? It was black and had a ghost on the wrapper. For 2p you'd get a big black dollop of it. Best friend and i took baths together when we had sleepovers. We would see how many times we could wrap it round the bath..we probably combined our gum for extra mileage. It had to include going round the taps. And yes..we did re use it.. many times. Stuck to back of bed for re chewing . That's probably why i get nightmares about old gum stuck in my mouth now...

and we'd fill our dolls teapots..with water, extra strong mints..and crusts of bread and dare each other to drink it. I can still taste it, and have been put off extra strongs ever since

and put Toffos in sandwiches. that was interesting

I used to unravel 2ply/3ply wool or string into lots of long curly strands then I would plait it.
At school I used to tie blades of grass together in the playground-every day!

bloody hell, lying under a moving train?!!!!

I compulsively chewed the remote control when I was little.

I had a fetish for scabs, so I used to pick at myself constantly. Mainly at my scalp because that was the most satisfying kind.

Ah and I popped a lolly stick in my ear and burst my eardrum... oops, still a bit deaf on that side

I used to steal rashers of raw bacon from the fridge, and then balance them on the bulb in my bedside light to 'cook' them. There'd be fat running down the side of the bulb into the light fitting! Then would eat my lovely meal of half-raw half-burned bacon. Everytime I turned the light on my room would smell of bacon, god knows how my mum never realised what I was up to.

Ooo. This thread is now a classic!!

I can't get over the train one

When I was sent to my room for being naughty (usually during a meal) I used to eat the hamster food to spite my mother.

She has no idea to this day, that I ate the hamster food.

I'm a crisp freak too - although my crisp of choice was hula hoops. I'd cram lots into my mouth, chew until it was a paste and then transfer it into another dry hula hoop, levelling it at both ends with my tongue Mmmm.

I also used to eat choc drops for dogs.

I used to turn around and around on my hands and knees on the floor saying 'twitch, twitch, twitch'.

I also remember being in my cot and plucking up the duvet cover to form'm peaks over and over again. I found it comforting.

I was made to have my hair short as a kid and longed for long girly hair..so at home I used to walk around with a tape measure on my head, the lengths dangling down the side of may face like plaits, which I would toss theatrically over each shoulder