What were you told - and believed - as a child

For years I believed that if I didn't dry my armpits
properly I would get tuberculosis. My grandmother insisted
this was true.

I was told that about the apple pip too. Also that you mustn't wash your hair when you had a period. One other I remember was that if you kissed a boy you would have a baby, think the population would have grown ten fold if that was correct.

Swanny It was a well known 'fact' when I was a teenager about the hair washing thing. I used to wash my hair during my period but was always a little scared when doing so!

My FIL always told my children that he would do, this & the other when his boat came in. My D (35) told only recently that she really believed him and felt sad that his boat never came in!

Brought up a Catholic Terribull I was also told all sorts of nonsense and it scared me silly sometimes. I was also told that if I hit anyone my hand would wither away

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.

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

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

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!

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

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

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.

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'.

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.

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.

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!

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.

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.

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

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!

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.

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

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.

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.

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