What were you told - and believed - as a child

Yep bubble gum, Apple pips were some of the things I was told as a child. When I asked my mum where I came from she said I was found under a gooseberry bush and until I went to secondary school and found out in health lessons what really happened I believed her. Ah also don't put shoes on the table and don't bring Spring blossom into the house because that was unlucky

If you crossed your eyes and someone clapped, you would stick like that.
If you looked in the mirror at Halloween the devil would look over your shoulder.
If you wrote a boys name on a laurel leaf and it turned brown you would marry him. (they always turned brown)
Sitting on a wall would give you piles.
Having a bath during your period was really bad for you.

I hope my grandchildren don't grow up with such nonsense.

yup i was told the one about thunder too and apple pips being poisonous. Also if i picked my nose i would have nostrils like a horse!thank goodness i stoped.

Told I was found on the doorstep when she went to empty ashes from the fire into bin

My Nan always told us that if the cows were sitting down it was because they were grabbing themselves a dry spot before it started raining. I still firmly believe that to be true

Mum told me the flags flying on 23rd April were for my birthday! Felt so special! Years before I realised it was St Georges day.

When I asked my dad what was underneath the inspection cover in the garden, he said it was the underground railway! I suppose he was reluctant to explain about the sewers and what went down them. I asked him what the road signs saying 'road liable to subsidence' meant and he truthfully told me that it meant the road sometimes sank because of mine workings underground. I was petrified for years that the road would swallow us up as we drove along.

My father told us he worked with a man who was so strong that he could stand on a shovel and lift himself up.

My gran told me egg white caused warts. I remember trying to prove how stupid this was and made a face mask. While it was on I did keep my fingers crossed.

Giggling away here, but sue01 I laughed out loud at your post about the Barry Island lights and New York because that's exactly the sort of thing I would have believed! So romantic!

Step on a crack and break your mother's back?

My grandmother always told us the one about not picking dandelions because you would wet the bed. I suspect that was because although we were allowed to pick bluebells in the neighbours garden they used the dandelions to make wine.
As Roman Catholic children we were indoctrinated with all sorts of rubbish at school which no doubt accounts for a lot of my self doubts and hang ups even after all this time.

This thread was a genius idea. It's given me such a laugh.
I was told similar bunkum, but the one that stands out for me was that if I had faith then miracles would happen. Unfortunately I believed this in a very secular sense and had faith that several desirable toys would appear on the end of my bed in the morning. Oh the disappointment. I'm still the same over the lottery though.

After I saw the TV about spaghetti on trees I believed that for ages, until I to my geography teacher who howled with laughter and said it wasn't true!

I was a Protestant child sent to a Catholic Convent School. We were told by the Catholic kids that non-Catholics couldn't go to heaven.

That the Lucozade bottle instructions read "one egg cup full every 4 hours"

That the fairy on the tree flew to Santa to tell him how we had behaved (it was dad with a pull outside the window)

Mustn't wash hair when on a period.

The crust thing.

If you pick a dandelion you will wet the bed. Never blow on a baby's face (gives them a bad cold apparently) don't move for about 20 minutes after eating to give the food time to 'go down'.

I was told if had bicycle it was because I had been stealing the sugar. Also the pips and chewing gum ones. Babies came from under the blackcurrant bushes.

I was told as a young child that it a bat flew near to you it would settle on you and get tangled In your hair to this day I am terrified of bats even though I know that to be
an old wives

Thunder was caused by God moving the furniture. During a storm you should open the front and back doors to let thunderbolts escape!

I think the crusts must have worked for me, as the older I get the curlier my hair - mind you I like the crusts best on bread! Sitting on a cold wall will give you piles. Put your teeth under the pillow and the tooth mouse (we were living in France) will leave you money. I told my unsuspecting kids that one...then I had to write notes from the tooth mouse saying he/she was scared of the cats and wouldn't come inside - actually I had forgotten all about the teeth and put the money under the front doormat!

There again, I am not the brightest button in the button box, so maybe I did and maybe they did !

I was told that if I picked my nose my brains would fall out.

I was told about the chewing gum myth also - to make matters worse, my older sister took me to a graveyard and showed me the grave of a young girl who she said had died from swallowing a piece of gum.

My Mum told me to never eat whilst standing up because it would make my legs fat. I got really anxious when I went to a friend's house and her parents gave me some chips to eat whilst standing up in the kitchen.

I was born in Weston Super Mare and throughout my childhood I believed that the lights of Barry Island, which I could see from the Prom in Weston, were in fact New York.