As children, many of us believed anything was possible. From money and success to travel to our biggest dreams coming true, many of us dreamed it all.
But as kids, we also had some weird perceptions about life, how the world works, and even our bodies.
Curious, Redditor Gypx asked:
"What's the weirdest thing you believed as a kid?"
A Parcheesi Investment
"Oh, I've got a good one. For whatever reason, I thought that if something was wrapped in plastic and kept for a really long time, it would increase in value."
"My parents watched a lot of 'Antiques Roadshow,' which is the only explanation I can offer besides me being kind of a weird kid."
"So I received a wrapped game of Parcheesi for a birthday or something and I kept it in my closet, waiting for the day it would surely be worth hundreds."
- molly__hatchet
"Maybe Parcheesi will be the new currency after society collapses."
- oompaloompa_finder
"I genuinely find this really cute! You made an observation, came up with a hypothesis, and forgot the part about testing it before coming to a conclusion. Like a little scientist who hadn’t learned about the scientific method yet."
- sowingdragonteeth
Streetside Secrets
"I thought that inside street lights were trained mice with tiny ladders and lanterns."
- BookerDeWittness
"I had similar thoughts about other appliances. I blame the 'Flintstones' for that."
- JeanRalfio
"I believed that since there were air traffic controllers that worked in a tower (sky), there were also street traffic controllers that worked underground to operate the lights."
"I thought that is what manhole covers were for: the door to their office."
- filthyantagonist
Surprising Forest Friends
"I deeply believed that mushrooms could hear you and would hide when looking for them."
"My dad used to take me morel mushroom hunting when I was a kid and always told me to be as quiet as possible because the mushrooms would go back into the ground if they heard me."
"Many years later, I found out we were just trespassing on somebody's property."
- Unb0rnKamaza
Our Greatest Of Concerns
"I was concerned that quicksand would be a very big problem in life."
- Ok-Foot7577
"Quicksand, the Bermuda Triangle, Killer Bees... I was certain one of those three was how I would go."
- GitEmSteveDan
"Don't forget spontaneous human combustion! I watched some random documentary as a kid and was scared of that possibility throughout my childhood. Now I don't know if I should be relieved or disappointed that I've yet to see a giant pit of quicksand or seen someone explode."
- Horror_Reader1973
Belly Button Phobias
"I thought my belly button was where my skin was tied together. I thought if I messed with it too much, my skin would come off."
- mustachewarlord
"My mom told me I would internally bleed to death if I played with my belly button. I cried myself to sleep far too many nights as a kid thinking I was going to die because I accidentally poked it."
- calebinitas
"I think it's one of those things parents say on impulse and forget but just scar you forever and they genuinely didn't mean it."
- zodwa_wa_bantu
A Lifetime Supply
"I knew blood was inside me, because I had seen it come out. But I had no idea about organs. At one point I thought I was basically just a sack of blood, without anything else inside. Like a water balloon."
- ImprovementFar5054
"Oh dear, were you afraid you would pop?!"
"That would be terrifying combined with what I believed, I thought that I started with a limited amount of blood and the body never made more."
- guypenguin4
"Pennywise the Daaaaancing Clown is giggling in his grave somewhere right now."
- TheBookishAndTheBard
Two Stomachs
"My mom taught me humans have two stomachs: an ordinary stomach and a dessert stomach."
"Her reasoning for this: No matter how full you are, you always have room for dessert."
"I believed this for such a long time: until I was a teenager and had biology in school."
- NonaAndFunseHunse
"Annoying psychologist* here. Your mom wasn’t completely off. It’s called sensory-specific satiety, and it’s exactly why you can be full of mashed potatoes but still want brownies. Your body basically tricks you into thinking you aren't full because you haven't had the thing you're craving to satisfy you."
"*I’m not annoying because I’m a psychologist, but I am annoying, and I am a psychologist."
- SwansonsMom
Where Babies Come From
"I thought that babies were born from the butthole."
- Persimmonpluot
"Since a common phrase is 'there's a baby in her belly,' I thought moms gave birth through their mouth. Like just vomited out a baby."
- SuperS0nicW0man
"New nightmare sequence unlocked."
- Valuable_Anxiety_246
She Could See And Hear Anything...
"I was SURE Mom had eyes on the back of her head somewhere under all those curls."
- twats_upp
"My brother was once actually digging in her hair looking for those eyes on a road trip!"
- New_Scientist_1688
A Ghostly Neighborhood
"One day my father opened a letter that arrived and he exclaimed our neighbor died. He was an older man who was around 60 at that time."
"The next day I left my house to go to school, and when on my way, I saw my neighbor. I seriously thought I was seeing a ghost and was freaking out for a while."
"I later realized we also had neighbors on the other side but I've only ever saw the wife of the deceased person and genuinely didn't know she wasn't living alone all this time."
- zenodr22
A Disproven Hypothesis
"I somehow got it in my head that ice melting in a drink made the drink colder."
"So if I put a bunch of ice in a drink and then microwaved it until the ice had all melted... it would make the drink super cold a lot quicker."
"Yeah..."
- varthalon
A New Definition For "Method Acting"
"I used to think people would volunteer to be killed to make horror movies. I would cry during horror movies, but my parents thought I was just terrified."
- Commercial_Ad_5813
"Oh, you poor thing. That must have been traumatizing for you."
"Here's my movie one! Not as gruesome, but..."
"It took me a while to grasp the concept of a period film. Especially if the film itself was also old but not as old as the events happening in it."
"So I knew, for example, that Mary Poppins was an old movie, but Mr. Banks was singing about it being 1910, so I thought the movie was from 1910 and couldn't figure out how they did it in color."
"It was all very perplexing."
- OkSecretary1231
To Be A Child Again...
"I believed deep in my heart that grown-ups knew everything and when I was a grown-up, so would I."
- Popular_Monster111
"That's me, too. I thought grown-ups got to do whatever they wanted..."
"I legitimately thought my dad got up at 5:00 AM for work because he liked getting up early..."
- Drakmanka
"I had similar beliefs regarding anxiety and confidence. My much older sister was the epitome of 90s cool (people always compared her to Cher Horowitz), and my little mentally ill a** always saw her as worry- and carefree. My life was ruled by anxiety annd stress and I couldn’t wait to hit that milestone!"
- Louielouielouaaaah
We'd Listen To This
"I thought a 'wildebeest' was a rapper named 'Will-Da-Beast.'"
- superRad7
"How has no one taken that rapper's name yet?!"
- Broomstick7
"Hold up, this is a FIRE idea."
- Kizywa
"My Spotlight Unwrapped would hate to see Will-Da-Beast comin'."
- SqigglyPoPoP
Why Question It?
"My grandpa told me that the boxes/transformers at the top of power line poles were full of stew and soups for hunters and homeless people, lol (laughing out loud). I believed this for far too long."
- kitc-ig
"My dad told me when I was potty training that if I sat on the toilet for 'too long,' my toes would turn blue and fall off."
"I fully believed that until I was legitimately like 17."
- CheshireAsylum
"For reasons known to her alone, my Auntie had me convinced that if anyone blew in my ear, I would explode. I did not think about this critically until I was, like, 15."
- Navi1101
It's wild to imagine that Redditors believed some of these things, but it's even more alarming to imagine children living with some of these fears.
@JamesTate121/X