People Share The Dumbest Lies They Believed As Kids: ‘My Dad Told Me It Cost 25 Cents To Change The Radio’
Does a certain embarrassing childhood moment pop back into memory from time to time and cause you to cringe? From Santa to the Easter Bunny, we believed a lot of outlandish things as kids.
An Ask Reddit thread has gone viral and you'll definitely feel better after reading some of the other silly lies that people believed as kids.
The Reddit Post
When user AfterIsIsIsIsIsWas took to Ask Reddit and asked, "What were the dumbest lies you believed when you were a kid?" it quickly started trending with nearly 50,000 upvotes.
Here are some of the top-voted and funniest answers.
Beloved Stuffed Animals
One user says they lost their stuffed animal (a white dog) at Miami's airport when they were five. Weeks later, their mom presented them with a new one that was identical, except for the color.
"She said the workers at the airport had found it and mailed it to us, but he got a tan because he was in Florida." —thallomys / Reddit
Shawshank Redemption Meets Saving Private Ryan
Another user couldn't quite figure out how war movies are so realistic. He was seven when asked his brother about it, and believed this white lie until the age of 10.
"They empty...state prisons in the area the movie is being made, dress them up and give them guns and tell them that if they survive the filming then they get to leave jail after." —DocBak1 / Reddit
Somebody's Watching Me
Other kids believed they were always under the watchful (and perhaps magical) guise of their parents.
"My mom convinced us she had eyes in the back of her head. She could tell us what we were doing in the living room while working in the kitchen facing away from us...It wasn't until I was much older that I randomly noticed the crystal clear reflection in the kitchen window my mom could always see." —Dr_Dabbles / Reddit
Walt Disney
Our parents and grandparents remember a world where TV and movies were in black and white, but for one user, they held Walt Disney on a very high pedestal.
"Watching a black and white show I thought everyone from the '50s and lower had lived in black and white. I asked my father 'who invented color?' Dad looked at me dead serious and said 'Walt Disney.' I believed it [for] far too long." —FlickerOfBoogers / Reddit
The Secrets Of Stonehenge
Kids typically start learning about history in middle or high school, but one user's sister gave her a crash course a little earlier.
"My sister told me that if you count all the stones of Stonehenge you will die. I still don't know how many stones there are in Stonehenge. EDIT: I just called and told this to my sister... and she just laughed for about 2 minutes." —Sardonnicus / Reddit
An Ivy League Man
Students work hard to be awarded scholarships and get into Ivy League schools. But if you're this user, the key to getting free money is to play dumb.
"I once thought academic scholarships were only given to dumb students so that some of them could still attend college. I even told my older brother that he was so stupid, he had to get scholarships to go to college. He went to the Ivy League." —mywifemademegetthis / Reddit
Blood In The Water
It's no surprise that when it comes to women's menstrual cycles, men...are overdue for an education. This user probably should have paid more attention in health class, and we'll hazard a guess and say they're also a big fan of Jaws.
"That women's periods stop in water to avoid sharks smelling it." —Hullaba-Loo / Reddit
Now Eat Your Broccoli
It's no surprise that kids would rather eat cookies instead of carrots. But if you're this mom, sometimes you have to get creative.
"My mom used to tell me birds have wings and can fly because they eat a lot of fruits and veggies. I wanted to fly, instead just ended up with healthy eating habits. She Pavloved me real good." —dreamweavur / Reddit
A Harsh Lesson In Finances
Financial responsibility is something everyone eventually needs to learn how to manage, but it's definitely easier for some than others. One user believed that ATMs gave out free money, while another had a slightly misguided view on credit.
"I wanted to get a credit card so I didn't have to pay for things." —TiredOfDebates / Reddit
The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button
One user explains that as a child, a button popped off their shirt. Their mom told them that if they placed the button under a rock in the yard the "button fairy" would give them a quarter.
"I believed it, and to my mother's dismay, she discovered I had pulled the buttons off of every shirt in my closet. To this day, 40 years later, shirt buttons can still be found under random rocks in my parents' backyard." —denrad / Reddit
Dance Like No One's Watching
"I had watched a kids' TV show (I think it was The Electric Company) that featured a guest star who was a tap dancer."
"My brother convinced me that tap dancers made their tapping sounds—not with their feet—but with their mouths. I spent the next several weeks trying to tap dance with my mouth noises before my mom made me quit." —Hysterical_Realist / Reddit
Story Time
Parents, if you're worried that your children don't read enough, perhaps take a page out of this dad's playbook.
"When I was a kid I asked my dad if reading enough books really could give you Telekinesis (Matilda). He said yes. I spent many years after that thinking I just wasn't doing enough." —seeyouinthesun / Reddit
Bath Time
"That the draining sound of the water in the bathtub was a monster that would suck you in as well. A lie made to get me out of the bath." —Roefl / Reddit
"I stuck my finger down the plughole thinking the swirling vortex it made would spin me around like some miniature tornado. The firemen who cut me out of the bath didn't laugh either." —Jam-Pot / Reddit
Time To Eject
There's a bit of a debate nowadays regarding whether or not it's rude to recline your seat on an airplane because it might inconvenience the passenger behind you. But perhaps we all should have been told this lie as kids.
"The button on your armrest on airplanes is the eject button. I found out it reclines your seat embarrassingly late." —Nrd4Life / Reddit
Don't Change The Radio
Have you ever noticed how particular dads are when it comes to changing the radio station in the car? It seems like this dad was more protective than most.
"When I was a kid my dad told me it cost 25 cents to change the radio station to keep me from [messing] with the radio in his car. I believed that until I was 14." —loipoikoi / Reddit
The Truth Serum
While some parents have built-in lie detectors, others have to get sneaky.
"My sister was about 5 years old at the time, and my mom convinced her that Benadryl was 'truth serum'. My mom would threaten to give it to my sister if she knew she was lying. It was so hilarious, but my sister seriously believed it and would get upset." —badgalbb22 / Reddit
Seeds Of Life
Perhaps kids don't have green thumbs as our parents or grandparents do, but being told the truth about this common childhood lie probably would have saved us all a lot of anxiety growing up.
"If you swallowed the black watermelon seeds a watermelon would grow in your belly." —Kitchen-Commission47 / Reddit
