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Someone Asked “What’s The Most Ridiculous Thing You Believed As A Child?” And 30 People Answered
Interview With Expert
When you’re young, everything seems interesting, mysterious, and fascinating. Kids' brains are sponge-like and seem to fire on all cylinders. That’s probably why they can think up crazy and impossible things without batting an eyelid.
To celebrate the beauty of youth and also inject some humor into your day, we’ve compiled a list of the most hilarious and ridiculous things folks truly believed when they were young. Who knows, maybe you’ll relate to some of these things!
More info: Reddit
This post may include affiliate links.
#1
When I was a child, I asked my grandad why he was bald. He told me that he went to a zoo and a giraffe licked the hair off the top of his head. I never questioned this throughout my childhood. When I was about 19, I was out with my friends and we were talking about going bald. I said “my grandad went bald because a giraffe licked his hair off” and instantly realised how ridiculous it was once I said it out loud.
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#2
When I was like 7-8 years old I was convinced I could see a small outline of the statue of liberty from our garden, in reality it was a big networking antenna. We're living in Germany lol.
#3
When I was a kid, my mom explained to me that we all had belly buttons because that’s how our moms fed us before we were born. So I thought when you got pregnant, your belly button opened up and you just put whatever you wanted to down there. Like I thought women were just shoving chicken legs in their belly buttons.
Kids’ imaginations have almost no limits. Since they haven’t had many experiences, their minds are naturally curious about anything and everything. Although it might be easy for parents to dismiss their children’s thoughts as fantasy or silly, it’s important to understand why kids think this way.
To understand how children can think and imagine this way, Bored Panda contacted Jane McKay, the founder of Creative Kids Art Lessons. She is a professional artist and primary classroom teacher with over 30 years of experience. Creative Kids Art Lessons provides lesson plans for teachers, homeschoolers, and parents who want to do art projects with their children at home.
Jane explained that “children don’t have constraints on what is possible or logical, so their imagination runs wild. Children are also learning all the time, it is literally their job description to learn! So, they use their imagination and creativity every day. Children also have time to play, experiment, and explore. The integration of new experiences and ideas through play also feeds their imagination.”
#4
When people died in movies they died in real life. Never understood why an actor would take a part in a movie knowing he would be [ended] during filming.
Winter Eleven 2 months ago
Oh i thought they hired like fataly ill people (cancer, heart issues...) who have like a few days left to live so they wouldn't mind dying for a movie or something 😓
#5
I believed that if professional wrestlers ran into each other in public (like the supermarket), that they’d immediately have to start fighting.
#6
That quicksand was going to be something I would have to deal with as an adult. I was scared of not being able to get out of it. To this day I’ve never seen it. I’m in my mid thirties now.
You might laugh at some of the things mentioned in this list. But if you look closely, you’ll realize that these childish thoughts show just how limitless children believe the world is. The laws of gravity, the rules of nature, and the boundaries of time and space are no match for a kid’s imagination.
This kind of thinking is also important for problem-solving. It can help a growing child see beyond the existing rules of the world and consider new ways to approach almost every situation.
#7
I was convinced that the moon followed our car everywhere because it had a crush on my mom.
#8
That my mom was committing crime everyday by drinking and driving. I told the teacher and my mom had to come in and explain….she would bring tea with her in the car to drink.
Every morning my day would start with me thinking my mom is up to crime again and then head off to school.
Fire Singer 2 months ago
My parents also had to explain "drinking and driving" to me as a kid after we learned about in in D.A.R.E. and were immediately concerned when our parents drank anything while driving like water or soda lol! Maybe some context would help for kids? Maybe?
#9
I thought that people singing on the radio were all in one big place, and they took turns going to the microphone. lol.
It’s essential for parents to foster their children’s creative thinking. However, some experts say that a very overactive imagination may not always be a good thing, especially if a child is always lost in daydreams or prefers to hang out with imaginary friends over real friends.
Jane shared a different perspective. She explained that “people with overactive imaginations become writers, movie directors, artists, entrepreneurs, dancers, musicians and other types of creatives. These are the problem solvers of the world; creativity is essentially solving problems. That is what the world needs now, though people with overactive imaginations just may not be able to handle scary movies!”
#10
As a child, I genuinely believed that if I dug deep enough in the backyard, I could reach the other side of the world. I spent hours with a shovel, convinced I’d end up in another country. Reality hit when I barely got past the dirt.
Justin Tyme 2 months ago
When I was a child, I tried to dig a tunnel to China. As an adult, I met a person from China who, as a child, tried to dig a tunnel to America. And I said "Oh, we finally meet!"
#11
I believed that my mother was the tooth fairy. No, not the truth about everyone's mom being the tooth fairy and leaving them money, I thought that she was THE tooth fairy. I thought that I was the tooth fairy's daughter.
#12
That if any part of me was exposed to the edge of the bed, the monster under my bed would eat me.
The best way for kids to develop a healthy and curious mind is through reading stories, playing with open-ended toys, making art, spending time in nature, and engaging in pretend play. They should also be allowed to ask questions and share their thoughts without the worry of being laughed at or criticized.
Jane shared that “anything creative, [like] writing, music, cooking, exploring the outdoors, drawing, making things, and reading all aid the development of ideas, and each creative area feeds into other areas of the imagination. Children thrive on encouragement and support. Let them play, make a mess, use old cardboard boxes to make a car, a fort, or a treehouse. Provide art materials, paper, and pencils so children can create.”
“If you can afford extra classes in the area of your child’s interest, look into those, so you get an expert expanding their experiences. Also, allow time for your child to play; don’t over-schedule kids so they have something every day after school and on weekends. Allowing kids to get bored is also good. They have to come up with ideas of what to do themselves,” she added.
#13
I thought my teacher in first grade lived at school. It never occurred to me she had a family, home or life.
#14
That having the light on in the car, while you were driving was illegal and would get you pulled over.
My parents told me this. My siblings and I would never turn on the interior lights while the car was moving for the fear of my parents being arrested. .
#15
I grew up very close to the ocean and on nice evenings we would take walks on the beach.
My mother would tell us that we should listen carefully when the sun was setting over the ocean because it would sizzle. (You know how when you put out a fire with water)
My sister and I went out of our ways to pretend to hear that.
If there’s one thing you take away from this list, it’s the importance of fostering your imagination. The saddest part about growing older is that you lose childhood whimsy. This happens because people often worry that it’s not socially acceptable to daydream or imagine things.
People even think it’s not mature to have silly, ridiculous, or over-the-top ideas. Therefore, in adulthood, insecurity takes center stage, and our childhood imagination takes a backseat. We should try our best to undo this.
Jane also said that “as adults, we tend to stick with things we know how to do and are not often out of our comfort zone, so we tend not to be as creative. Sadly, as adults, we also don’t allow much time to play or try new things.”
#16
I used to think other countries were up in the sky, because planes…go in the sky. You fly up to 30,000 ft, get off in “Australia,” then if you want to go to a different country, board a plane and go up to 60,000. Want to return to Australia? Gotta go back down like an elevator.
Catlady6000 2 months ago
So the earth isn't round or flat. It consists of different levels. Cool
#17
That there was a monster in my attic. He loved us and protected us in our house while we slept. His name was "Fred", and he survived by eating feral cats in the neighborhood.
(My Dad told me this story).
Duncan McCann 2 months ago
Fred could at least have made himself useful and untangled the christmas tree lights every year.
#18
I believed dog and cats were the same specirs, dogs were the males and cats the females...
Even though some of the thoughts shared on this list might seem childish, it’s important to hold onto some of that whimsy. A little creativity and imagination never hurt anyone and can lend a spark of positivity to dull days.
Now it’s your turn to share! What are some ridiculous things you believed as a child that you may or may not still believe today?
#19
This is so weirdly specific lol. We had two dogs and the girl got pregnant. What my grandma told little me was “Max put the puppies in Molly’s tummy through a little hole.” I had seen him humping her before so I accepted this explanation. Then when she actually had her puppies there were SO MANY! I knew humans only had like 1 or 2 at a time usually and I had never seen humans humping so I concluded that each individual “hump” transferred 1 baby in. So for humans to make a baby it was 1 thrust or 2 if you want twins.
#20
That when there was a thunderstorm it was the sun and the rain fighting, whoever won would decide what the weather the next day would be.
When you ate something that it went all the way down to your feet.
That queen bees wore a crown.
That the stain on the kitchen wall was watching me 😂.
#21
There was no colour in the world when black and white movies existed.
#22
I believed the point of American football was to see how many players could land in a pile.
#23
That waves came from whales slapping their tails on the water way far out in the ocean.
#24
Being an adult is easy. I thought money just came to you and houses would fall in line. Cars would be ready. Food always available. I thought being an adult would be easy ☠️
Edit my spelling lol stupid fast thumbs.
#25
That hamsters lived in Hamster-dam.
#26
I used to believe that when your luggage went on a conveyor belt at the airport, that your luggage would go all of the way to your destination on that conveyor belt.
#27
That someone worked inside an ATM and fed the cash through the slot.
#28
I'm an animal lover, and when I was little my dad would discourage me from approaching wild animals by telling me that they would give me rabies, and if I got it I would have to get shots in my stomach. My aunt was having fertility treatments one year, and I saw my uncle give her shots in her stomach, and for years after, her being an animal lover like me, I thought that was her being treated for rabies.
#29
When I was a child, the only time we went to Dairy Queen was for ice cream. I had no idea Dairy Queen sold hamburgers until I was an adult. I had always thought Dairy Queen only sold ice cream.
Kim Kermes 2 months ago
Used to be so. Have a little trouble getting used to burgers and chicken strips at DQ. In fact, the ones I went to as a kid only had windows service. One still in business, think the neighborhood would chain themselves around it were it threatened.
#30
Adults knew everything.
What's the funniest misconception you've had as a kid?
BookFanatic 2 months ago
I was in HS when "Operation Silver Shovel" (Federal investigation into political corruption in Chicago) took place. There was a huge snowstorm on the East Coast at the same time and I asked my dad "where did the FBI get the shovels for Boston?" Legit thought it was some sort of benevolent donation of shovels to help people dig out of the snow.
Elvira394 2 months ago
So at age 10, my best friend's oldest sister lost her virginity, and of course we all wanted to know what that was like. somehow, based on her description, what I took away from that is that a condom is a little red circle like a checker piece, that has strings on either side that a man ties around his waist and puts the end over his member in order to have safe sex. I think I was about 17 before I figured out that was not quite accurate!
Papa 2 months ago
When I was a child I saw my mother taking her birth control pill. I asked her about it, and she just said it was to keep her from getting sick. I was way older than I should have been before I realized what they were, and that she didn't have to take a pill every day to hold off the symptoms of some mysterious illness.
Marcus Lynch 2 months ago
I used to think that cars didn't actually move but that the ground actually moved under them. Like the car's engine had enough power to move the earth in the opposite direction.
Jack Sonol 2 months ago
A friend of mine once admitted to believing that girls pee out of their butt because they always sit down, and when he sat down it was because he was using his butt. I think he said he was in middle school when he finally got corrected.
Ha Kit 2 months ago
When I was a kid my parents were always encouraging me to read and often had me reading the backs of cereal boxes. Many of them had contest rules on them which always had the disclaimer "void ware prohibited". For the longest time I always wondered what "void ware" was and why it was prohibited.
OneWithRatsAndKefir 2 months ago (edited)
I remember when I believed in Santa; I had made a list with everything a kid could want (I believe my thinking was that if he couldn’t get me one thing, for what ever reason, he could still probably get me one of the other things on the list), but, not having explained this line of thinking to my mom, she thought I wanted everything on my list. So she gently told me one day, on Christmas Eve (my family celebrates on the Eve) after opening my gift, that Santa wasn’t real. I just said ‘ok’, still happily looking at my toy, briefly thinking about what she had told me as so much started to make sense about ‘Santa’… before looking back at my mom and asking ‘So what about the Tooth Fairy?’.
IamMe 2 months ago
Most of the ridiculous things I believed as a kid, I was told by my grandpa. That if I wanted to grow tall, I should step in cow poop. For proof, there was the garden. That he was darker than me, because he moon tanned, not sun tanned. For proof he'd slather on some oil, and lay on a towel at night. Turned out he was just 1/2 Native American. That I should never whistle or scream outside at night, because a monster would eat me. I still avoid this, just in case. 😂
Lsai Aeon 2 months ago
I grew up in Texas. I was led to believe that only married people could kiss. Now I was very observant even as a very young child, so when I saw the same actress in a different movie or tv show kissing a different actor, my little brain broke. EVERY TIME. Thinking this woman had divorced and married a different man every other day because she was kissing so many different men
Kenny Kulbiski 2 months ago
Saw my Dad take out his false teeth and asked him how he did that. He told me you gotta hold your tongue just right and it takes a lot of practice. I don't know how long I walked around with my tongue all contorted before my mom finally copped.
Fire Singer 2 months ago
My mom, a fan of How the Grinch Stole Christmas, would make roasts for dinner. She always called it Roast Beast. I thought that's what it was. I was far to old, probably 13-15, when I found out it was in fact Roast Beef.
agermanhome 2 months ago (edited)
In German, "to look too deeply into the Glass" means "to get drunk". At 4, I did not know this. But I knew that the stickers that my brothers had stuck to some of our furniture had "don't look too deep into the glass" written on them. They also showed a photograph of a tiny man crouching miserably at the bottom of a giant Cognac Glass. I concluded from this that it was dangerous too look straight into one's glass after drinking, because that would make you shrink and be sucked down to its bottom, waiting in vain to be found for the rest of your life.
Joyce Brown 2 months ago
Being born in 1960, I encountered quite a bit of male worship as I grew up. When I was 9 maybe, I heard of a legal document that people signed to attest to the information in the document being true. I have a big brother named David. Wait for it... I believed it was called an 'After David', 'cause, c'mon, everything was after David! Affidavit couldn't possibly be the correct spelling. Yikes! This was not healthy
Bored Trash Panda 2 months ago
My uncle had told me the balls on power lines were filled with hot air to keep the lines from falling. I believed this forever lol. I also thought that the Tacoma Dome in Tacoma, Washington was built by Mickey Mouse and his friends. No clue where that one came from lol
Wielder of Yielder 2 months ago
On a road trip through Germany, my sister's boyfriend had me puzzled by calling my attention to the fact that every single highway exit, over hundreds of kilometers, was marked as leading to a city called Ausfahrt. Never having heard of the place, I wondered why it was so much more important than all other German cities. "Ausfahrt" means "exit". :)
Wielder of Yielder 2 months ago (edited)
My sister thought the Danish queen had a silver filigree butt and never pooped. ----------------------------- As a kid (in the 1980s), I only ever saw my bankbook when I took it from a secret compartment in an old bureau to check how much money I had; I never saw my mum take it with her to the bank or handle it at all. So naturally, I thought there was some sort of extremely advanced technology that transferred the numbers from the bank to the book's pages through the air.
Cursed Starscream 2 months ago
god this list be bringin back memories. and just as a pre text thing because i know being a teenager and late gen z will inevitably get me a reply like "how can this stuff be nostalgic for you, your generation is always glued to their screens, you couldnt possibly remember that". shut up. we have main differences between all our generations but we can still have had shared experiences. "gen x was the last to be outside and drink from the hose!". no you aint. you were just the last one to get the leaded stuff, we got our microplastic blend over here. hell, i watched so many movies on vhs tapes when i was little. the little mermaid, meet the robinsons, pretty sure there was one for treausre planet, if not we definetly had that classic dvd then, the princess and the frog, so many. i hate when generations hate on the new ones for their stuff when we had our own version of it, its just evolved. thats why ive kinda eased up on gen alpha being the ipad kids, we werent so different once 1/2
Cursed Starscream 2 months ago (edited)
i figured out about fnaf and other horror stuff and would repeatedly decide to jut try and hold it in instead of goin out into the hallway at night to go to the bathroom. now im just scared to go out into the hallway at those ungodly hours in fear that my parents are still awake and catch me staying up hella late. Edit: things i can list that i thought of after i finished typing originally fnaf was a real place but it was more of a survival type of horror attraction school i went to had a whole cabinet of drinks near the front office{saw principal grab a gatorade bottle and mix it wit something in a styrofoam cup mcdonalds was actually way better than it was and was for special occassions and a current one i beleive now that can be disproved and me saying so disproves it itself but im not giving up on my stupidly stubborn arguments, literally any food can be considered some variation of a different food. think about it. you take the fundemental aspects of what one food is and apply it to a different food and its technically speaking, able to qualify as that food using only the base qualities of said food. cereal can be qualified as a soup, its a base liquid that gets flavor added to it from the stuff that gets thrown in with it, a dumpling is some form of meat and other fillings inside of a dough, so a calzone can qualifiy as a dumple(large dumpling), using the basic description of a taco being a holding receptable open expsposed from the top with meat and other topping inside , a hot dog can become a taco. with enough work and stupid confidence in ability you can qualify a food to be another food
BookFanatic 2 months ago
I was in HS when "Operation Silver Shovel" (Federal investigation into political corruption in Chicago) took place. There was a huge snowstorm on the East Coast at the same time and I asked my dad "where did the FBI get the shovels for Boston?" Legit thought it was some sort of benevolent donation of shovels to help people dig out of the snow.
Elvira394 2 months ago
So at age 10, my best friend's oldest sister lost her virginity, and of course we all wanted to know what that was like. somehow, based on her description, what I took away from that is that a condom is a little red circle like a checker piece, that has strings on either side that a man ties around his waist and puts the end over his member in order to have safe sex. I think I was about 17 before I figured out that was not quite accurate!
Papa 2 months ago
When I was a child I saw my mother taking her birth control pill. I asked her about it, and she just said it was to keep her from getting sick. I was way older than I should have been before I realized what they were, and that she didn't have to take a pill every day to hold off the symptoms of some mysterious illness.
Marcus Lynch 2 months ago
I used to think that cars didn't actually move but that the ground actually moved under them. Like the car's engine had enough power to move the earth in the opposite direction.
Jack Sonol 2 months ago
A friend of mine once admitted to believing that girls pee out of their butt because they always sit down, and when he sat down it was because he was using his butt. I think he said he was in middle school when he finally got corrected.
Ha Kit 2 months ago
When I was a kid my parents were always encouraging me to read and often had me reading the backs of cereal boxes. Many of them had contest rules on them which always had the disclaimer "void ware prohibited". For the longest time I always wondered what "void ware" was and why it was prohibited.
OneWithRatsAndKefir 2 months ago (edited)
I remember when I believed in Santa; I had made a list with everything a kid could want (I believe my thinking was that if he couldn’t get me one thing, for what ever reason, he could still probably get me one of the other things on the list), but, not having explained this line of thinking to my mom, she thought I wanted everything on my list. So she gently told me one day, on Christmas Eve (my family celebrates on the Eve) after opening my gift, that Santa wasn’t real. I just said ‘ok’, still happily looking at my toy, briefly thinking about what she had told me as so much started to make sense about ‘Santa’… before looking back at my mom and asking ‘So what about the Tooth Fairy?’.
IamMe 2 months ago
Most of the ridiculous things I believed as a kid, I was told by my grandpa. That if I wanted to grow tall, I should step in cow poop. For proof, there was the garden. That he was darker than me, because he moon tanned, not sun tanned. For proof he'd slather on some oil, and lay on a towel at night. Turned out he was just 1/2 Native American. That I should never whistle or scream outside at night, because a monster would eat me. I still avoid this, just in case. 😂
Lsai Aeon 2 months ago
I grew up in Texas. I was led to believe that only married people could kiss. Now I was very observant even as a very young child, so when I saw the same actress in a different movie or tv show kissing a different actor, my little brain broke. EVERY TIME. Thinking this woman had divorced and married a different man every other day because she was kissing so many different men
Kenny Kulbiski 2 months ago
Saw my Dad take out his false teeth and asked him how he did that. He told me you gotta hold your tongue just right and it takes a lot of practice. I don't know how long I walked around with my tongue all contorted before my mom finally copped.
Fire Singer 2 months ago
My mom, a fan of How the Grinch Stole Christmas, would make roasts for dinner. She always called it Roast Beast. I thought that's what it was. I was far to old, probably 13-15, when I found out it was in fact Roast Beef.
agermanhome 2 months ago (edited)
In German, "to look too deeply into the Glass" means "to get drunk". At 4, I did not know this. But I knew that the stickers that my brothers had stuck to some of our furniture had "don't look too deep into the glass" written on them. They also showed a photograph of a tiny man crouching miserably at the bottom of a giant Cognac Glass. I concluded from this that it was dangerous too look straight into one's glass after drinking, because that would make you shrink and be sucked down to its bottom, waiting in vain to be found for the rest of your life.
Joyce Brown 2 months ago
Being born in 1960, I encountered quite a bit of male worship as I grew up. When I was 9 maybe, I heard of a legal document that people signed to attest to the information in the document being true. I have a big brother named David. Wait for it... I believed it was called an 'After David', 'cause, c'mon, everything was after David! Affidavit couldn't possibly be the correct spelling. Yikes! This was not healthy
Bored Trash Panda 2 months ago
My uncle had told me the balls on power lines were filled with hot air to keep the lines from falling. I believed this forever lol. I also thought that the Tacoma Dome in Tacoma, Washington was built by Mickey Mouse and his friends. No clue where that one came from lol
Wielder of Yielder 2 months ago
On a road trip through Germany, my sister's boyfriend had me puzzled by calling my attention to the fact that every single highway exit, over hundreds of kilometers, was marked as leading to a city called Ausfahrt. Never having heard of the place, I wondered why it was so much more important than all other German cities. "Ausfahrt" means "exit". :)
Wielder of Yielder 2 months ago (edited)
My sister thought the Danish queen had a silver filigree butt and never pooped. ----------------------------- As a kid (in the 1980s), I only ever saw my bankbook when I took it from a secret compartment in an old bureau to check how much money I had; I never saw my mum take it with her to the bank or handle it at all. So naturally, I thought there was some sort of extremely advanced technology that transferred the numbers from the bank to the book's pages through the air.
Cursed Starscream 2 months ago
god this list be bringin back memories. and just as a pre text thing because i know being a teenager and late gen z will inevitably get me a reply like "how can this stuff be nostalgic for you, your generation is always glued to their screens, you couldnt possibly remember that". shut up. we have main differences between all our generations but we can still have had shared experiences. "gen x was the last to be outside and drink from the hose!". no you aint. you were just the last one to get the leaded stuff, we got our microplastic blend over here. hell, i watched so many movies on vhs tapes when i was little. the little mermaid, meet the robinsons, pretty sure there was one for treausre planet, if not we definetly had that classic dvd then, the princess and the frog, so many. i hate when generations hate on the new ones for their stuff when we had our own version of it, its just evolved. thats why ive kinda eased up on gen alpha being the ipad kids, we werent so different once 1/2
Cursed Starscream 2 months ago (edited)
i figured out about fnaf and other horror stuff and would repeatedly decide to jut try and hold it in instead of goin out into the hallway at night to go to the bathroom. now im just scared to go out into the hallway at those ungodly hours in fear that my parents are still awake and catch me staying up hella late. Edit: things i can list that i thought of after i finished typing originally fnaf was a real place but it was more of a survival type of horror attraction school i went to had a whole cabinet of drinks near the front office{saw principal grab a gatorade bottle and mix it wit something in a styrofoam cup mcdonalds was actually way better than it was and was for special occassions and a current one i beleive now that can be disproved and me saying so disproves it itself but im not giving up on my stupidly stubborn arguments, literally any food can be considered some variation of a different food. think about it. you take the fundemental aspects of what one food is and apply it to a different food and its technically speaking, able to qualify as that food using only the base qualities of said food. cereal can be qualified as a soup, its a base liquid that gets flavor added to it from the stuff that gets thrown in with it, a dumpling is some form of meat and other fillings inside of a dough, so a calzone can qualifiy as a dumple(large dumpling), using the basic description of a taco being a holding receptable open expsposed from the top with meat and other topping inside , a hot dog can become a taco. with enough work and stupid confidence in ability you can qualify a food to be another food
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