Folks Online Are In Stitches After Reading These 30 Tweets About Unexpected Things Children Are Obsessed With
Children are very curious about the world around them because most of the things are new to them and they want to experience everything. That is how you get to know what things you like and what things you are not interested in.
But because children try out everything and see the world differently than adults, they take up weird hobbies or are entertained by things that others would consider bizarre.

Image credits: Counselman Collection
We know about it because parents are amused by the things their children are amused by and they share the weirdness with the internet. Bored Panda went to the best place for stories from parents, Twitter, and found these that you may like.
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I know more about Cheetahs than I'd ever thought I'd know in this lifetime.
All of space is amazing, especially the unexpected or weird things such as the tide being created by the moon (just feels weird), to Uranus' tilt, and that's just in our solar system.
It always pays out to take interest in your kid's obsessions, one way or the other.
Often little kids get into one thing and are really interested in it for a while, then they might start another phase of fascination with other things. It is quite normal and it even has a name - “intense interest.”
If it doesn’t transform into an unhealthy obsession, it is quite beneficial to the child as when they are interested in a particular topic or activity, that helps them to enhance their knowledge or skills.
Here's also the Steam link if you wanna get it on sale https://store.steampowered.com/app/559910/Terroir/
Load More Replies...That actually sounds incredibly fun and fairly educative. He's learning good business acumen at a young age, expanding his vocabulary with terminology like "demi-sec", "oaky" "unctuous" and "mouth-feel", and even social skills when dealing with harsh critics.
https://www.thedrinksbusiness.com/2017/09/become-a-vineyard-tycoon-with-sims-like-game-terroir/
Load More Replies...Well, I guess we know what he’s going to be when he grows up. Is his name Ernest or Julio?
Either, and his son/cat/dog will be the other.
Load More Replies...specially in the skating competition and the judges corruption
Load More Replies...Well, if ESPN is still around in the next 20 years, you’ve got yourself a budding commentator there.
I was 12 when the 1984 McDonald's Olympic promotion happened. We were all fans!
Don't we all become experts at sports we've never even played during the Olympics?
However, these interests are not always very typical for kids or just odd in general. For example, really liking top hats or wanting to walk only backwards, as shared by parents on Twitter.
Even though they are odd, unless they cause real problems, it is normal for children to be fascinated by just one particular thing. But when it starts to be an obstacle in forming friendships or causing anxiety, it could become a serious issue that needs a solution.
such a great show. my brother watches it a lot and its actually pretty informative.
Definitely, real facts and info without being babyish or talking down to kids, but still fun! Perfect example of how to do kids shows!!
Load More Replies...I was just reminded of my young adult son's childhood obsession with sharks when he saw a shark tattoo and completely ripped apart the accuracy of the anatomy. He identified the shark and proceeded to tell me how the fin count was off, the gill count was completely inaccurate and the sex organs were drawn incorrectly. This is the same kid who can't remember to take the trash out to the curb every Sunday.
My nephew did that, he can still tell me everything about different types of harvesters.
Have him join FFA now, just to get a head start on his career.
I thought I was weird when I got into Race car simulation in the mid-2000. Then I dabbled in Long Hauling truck sims for a while (until it started feeling like actual work. Ever tried backing up an 18 wheeler?), but the success of farm simulators, and there are quite a few, took me by surprise too.
My son played farming simulator for years. I thought it would help him develop a commercial/economic sense or responsibility: nope
Farming simulator. I live rurally and can pick out all the equipment when I'm driving. Windrows, spreaders, hay bailers. Just from playing the game.
Lol just watch Let's Game it Out it's a hilarious channel with sims
I was repeatedly told to stop sucking the charger cable instead of sleeping, and it was eventually confiscated. they finally let me charge the computer without supervision when I was like ten.
Load More Replies...I had to tell my son not to put his finger in the dog's butt 🙄
Online magazine Fatherly presents four ways to help manage children’s fixations. They advise warning the child multiple times and in advance when an activity will end and a new one will start so that the transition will be smoother.
When parents see that their children’s obsession is interfering with their relationships with friends, they should teach their little ones to recognize that and try to calm down.
So glad that yet another generation is watching Yosemite Sam! I’m 60 now, and watched those same cartoons when I was a child, back in the 1960s.
Especially a piano. Duck right out of there if the piece in particular is “Those Endearing Young Charms.”
Load More Replies...I remember how excited I was when I was finally big enough to do the dishes because that meant I was grown up. *sigh*
No, that shows you are NOT modeling hating work, hating to go out and do what has to be done. It’s great!
When I was 4 I said I used to be a cougar as a baby but much later realized I got it mixed up with a spotted(?) bobcat. Turns out it was only a dream:( !
Load More Replies...I feel him, i desperately wanted to be a pterodactyl when i was little and was really upset that i wasnt one 😅
How so? We support all aspirations and career paths on BoredPanda.
Load More Replies...Also, parents know their children best, so they should recognize when the fixation could be not just a phase but maybe a sign of some kind of disorder. Then the best solution would be to go to a professional.
But if that obsession seems just like a normal interest, the best way to deal with it would be just to encourage the child because it will eventually benefit them in the future.
I decided I would only walk backwards when I was around 7. I walked around backwards for 3 days, until one day at school I encountered another child who decided she would only travel by crawling, obviously my blind ass couldn't see her so I fell over her and broke my wrist. From that point on, I've commited to walking as intended (but I still fall over)
This sounds like something straight out of Monty Python's "Ministry of Silly Walks"
Do you remember having any weird interests in your childhood? Share them in the comments! Also, if you have children, it would be very interesting to hear what unexpected things they are into. But if you don’t have anything to share, you can upvote the tweets that you found the most charming.
I'm still boggled by the scene in a Jane Austen when one lady asks another "Shall we take a turn about the room together?", and the gentlemen comment "The ladies only do it because they know it shows their figures to advantage!". People were rather short of entertainment options back then.
Mine did this. It was an evening ritual where we all had to walk around the table in a joyous and slightly "ministry of funny walks" way. Multiple times. It used to kill the half hour before In the Night Garden came on CBeebies and we could finally convince her to go to bed.
Then don’t teach her to play musical chairs, or you’ll be cracking your tailbone every time.
This reminded me of when my nieces were little. My sister (their mom) decided, for some reason, to try to teach them to race across the dining room. She described this as a "game," but was not successful in communicating the competitive aspect, so for a while there, they kept running back and forth across the dining room, giggling and shouting "we're playing the game!" Anyway, they're both teenagers now.
Depends on the cartoon. I plan to get my kids into stuff like Gravity Falls and Adventure Time as soon as their old enough.
My little cousin who I used to babysit for was obsessed with that bloody Lorax movie to the point where I would try to lie and say it wasn't available on Netflix. I wanted to strangle that holier-than-thou Lorax with a snood the third time she wanted to watch it in one sitting. Hopefully, her obsession will lead to a lucrative career in environmental science.
The day our daughter decided she had enough Caillou was such sweet relief...
... or the Sound O Music every morning and every evening until I could understudy for any role.
I immediately thought of Frozen too, it seems to have a mystical power over little girls, more than any other Disney film
Load More Replies...Yes. Although I wasn't complaining when they wanted to watch Moana nine thousand times. Love me some Moana.
I babysat for a neighbor of my daughter for a couple of months. I was told that the boys could watch whatever movie they wanted on one shelf, it was all kids' cartoon movies. I was also informed that if they wanted to watch one movie over and over all day it was fine. Unfortunately, they did that quite often, I could probably recite the entire script of "Cars" backward. *Silent scream
Should have one time slipped some chili pieces among the bell pepper and as the kid feels the burn, say the fire is almost there! ;) (just kidding)
my autistic son went through a period when all the food on his plate had to be the same color and the colors should be rotated from day to day. now, i would do a lot of things to get him to eat as he had an issue w/texture and temps but colors? my now ex came to the rescue and designed a week worth of menus based on color provided it was only for the one week. still wondering how he managed the blue day
I've wanted to be a dragon since I was 6 years old. Dragons foreveeerrrrrr
The point isn’t earning points. Let’s be real, most life simulators are MUCH more fun. Oh dear I just realized that I said the point isn’t earning points… goodbye.
Load More Replies...My nephew will be very quiet for a long time and then randomly shout out, “you stop messing up my bed!” or, “hey stay away from my honey!” It’s very confusing and knowing that he’s playing a video game doesn’t make it any less perplexing! In my day, we played video games to shoot aliens and save princesses… and get frogs safely across the street… and build hamburgers… ohhhh… ok it makes sense now : )
I had to google 4 words from this tweet... turns out EDM is just what always used to be called dance music. They've just added an unnecessary word, and made it an acronym.
EDM is an initialism, not an acronym. Acronyms have to form words, like scuba or radar or ABBA. Also I get the distinction - disco is technically dance music, but it doesn’t have the focus on electronic sound like EDM does.
Load More Replies...Love this! Sounds like she could be best friends with my 3 year old who also loves Skrillex and some kind of Among us dub. Maybe a toddler rave will do.
That's some very big jumping to conclusions for which I don't see any reason. How could you deduct it so far from that post and actually feel negative about it...
Load More Replies...Omg sounds like me i buy the most random stuff my mum doesnt even ask anymore 🤣 last week i got a pair of vintage plus fours for a steampunk outfit and a 4 foot giant plush seaslug, my mum was just like these must be for you 😂 i am old enough to buy my own top hats and other random weird stuff off ebay now though
Top hats? Plural? Society is broken when even such whimsy is treated with reckless abandon. You have one head, you need one top hat.
Then go support and encourage them so the tidy kids can go close them all!
Oh I tried that when I watched a Wild Kratts episode about geckos. I did not stick, despite covering my hands and feet in tape.
My brother tried that once but instead he put glue and those trampoline socks on his hands and feet to see if they would stick to the wall.
Sorry but I hate that show because I had a child minder for years and there was little kids there so I never got to choose what we watched and it was so annoying because I literally would have chosen like a national geographic thing or something and she would tell me to turn the tv on then to turn the baby channel on and literally all the older kids hated it but we just had to deal with it bc she was grumpy af looking back i should have put some headphones in and listened to the radio or something ANYTHING would have been better at that point
Since farming is in quotes and it says novelty hens, I’m guessing this is either a video game chicken simulation, or toy chickens.
Load More Replies...i have two chickens and they're called EJ (esmerelda junior) and Evelyn and i begged my parents for three years before getting them but they and my cat elvis are the love of my life
One of my favorite games is Geoguessr, where they plop you onto google maps street view at some point in the world, and you have to guess where you are. It's done wonders for my geography!
Load More Replies...Kids are like little information sponges. Encourage that, and you won’t have to worry about them doing well in school.
Hahahah. When I was about 4 I got an interactive pen and books to go with it for my birthday, and I got a big map I could use the pen on. (i.e. I could tap France and the pen would say "France") I LOVED using it, and always played this one game where you had to try and find certain countries under a time limit and tap them, and I remember the highest score I got was about 15! 4yo me would be ashamed of myself decades later, where I can name every Pokemon but can't immediately locate Slovenia on a map
History at school can be the most brain busting boring subject....it should only be taught as simulations, games and apps. In fact, we should turn all subjects into games. My (then) 11 yr d daughter was spending, I thought, too much time playing Sims, until I found out her Sims were busy doing online schooling - that's what had her so engrossed! I backed off, and let the learning continue lol
...And maybe, in history, they should teach things that happened before 1933?
Load More Replies...This is legit what was cool at my Montessori school back in like, 2015. Also stealing wafers 😂
Load More Replies...There was something in the air that my night, the stars were bright...
Indeed they have. So that's why I don't get the joke 🤔
Load More Replies...When my sister was very young, she never said 'I changed my mind'. It was always 'I backed up on my mind'. I'm feeling it now.
I'm a bar consultant (just like the show Bar Rescue) and the other day while going through a menu, I mentioned something was "yucky" to my client. They immediately guessed I had a toddler.
Ah yes Lisa, your child is so much better than all those simpleton kids that want to grow up to be horses or superheroes. Personally, I wanted to grow up and become a cat but that was nipped in the bud by my mum and dad real fast.
That's cute..my 7 year old is currently in her laboratory working on her cure for cancer...I'd laugh if she wasn't actually succeeding........
My 10 y/o is teaching herself ASL. She is teaching me too! 3 words a day! It's AMAZING!
That's amazing- definitely a linguist in the making! (I have always wanted to learn sign language.)
Load More Replies...Actually succeeding* Pretty sure it's been proven that kids are much better at learning languages than adults, but you always need a "flair" for it which I did not have. German, French, Latin, none agreed with me and I remember very little of any of them.
Apparently you can play the DOS version online: https://playclassic.games/games/simulation-dos-games-online/play-simant-the-electronic-ant-colony-online/play/
Load More Replies...Yes, but has he learned effective strategies for crop production on fragipan soils?
Useful knowledge if we're going to get producing more local foods rather than shipping them halfway around the world. I'd be perfectly happy with in-season only fresh, or frozen produce if it meant supporting local farmers and the carbon reduction would be immense!!
Reminds me about sons of my two cousins, one 5 and one 9 yo at that time, yelling when my bf took down t-shirt to go to swimming pool "I'm gonna be like that, hairy with big belly and full long beard and tattoos!!!" needless to say, their fathers were not impressed but it was holding them whole that summer. Go boys, just be healthy and happy.
Surgery simulators have always looked fun, but good luck finding one that doesn’t glitch out. Actually I haven’t tried any lately so I probably should 😂
Well roll it back to tekken 2, crash warped and thps1 and that's my childhood PS faves!
My child has been OBSESSED with dinosaurs since they were two (they will be 16 soon). So of course that means I also know way more about dinosaurs than your average person. To be honest they are bloody fascinating, especially the discovery of a brand new dinosaur that was bigger than a t-rex called the ulughbegasaurus (how is this my life?) Oh, and in case anyone wants to know my favourite dino, it's a velociraptor, because they're tiny and vicious
I am asked read dinosaur fact books instead of bedtime stories every night. This has been going on for a few years now.
Load More Replies...Our 14 year old nephew got bored one weekend so he pulled up YouTube and taught himself how to crochet. This kid showed up one weekend with 6 potholders for us and the he crocheted me a rose! He's moving onto blankets and scarves now.
I had one who spent years wanting to be a kangaroo doctor. Not a vet specifically kangaroos. The other spent about 2 years almost solely playing with tiny condiment jars.
I've been known to collect a few itty-bitty hot sauce bottles myself! Very unique....
Load More Replies...My 6 year old is currently obsessed with the periodic table, one particular episode of Hey Duggee and Countdown on Channel 4 (uk tv show)
I've never seen countdown, they only show 8/10 cats version here, which my sprog can't watch yet 😅 it'd be good to have the other one too
Load More Replies...My son used to be interested in animals, especially reptiles. We want to a farm show when he was 5 and someone had a reptile show. We went in and the young lady would pull an animal out from a cage or box and ask "does anybody know what this is?". My son would stick his hand up, being polite and waiting his turn and someone would yell out an answer. Happened a few times and the presenter looked at my son and told him to just yell out the answer. So it turned into her bringing out an animal and my son yelling out what it was, including a glass lizard, which looks like a snake but is a lizard without legs. Until she finally told him to stop and let someone else get a chance. So she pulls out some kind of lizard and a lot of wrong answers come up, my son has his hand up and she finally asks him, and he says "a skink" her: "but what kind of skink?" Him: "blue tongued skink!" Her:"of course it is.."
I went to school with a girl, who, when she was young, was OBSESSED with conjoined twins. She knew all the stuff about how conjoined twins occur, how their bodies work, how they live, and the science behind it all. She also loved looking at pictures of them, but here's the catch: she was terrified of most of the photographs. So, her solution was to make her grandma and mum look through photos to find the ones that were tame and non-disturbing to show her. She was a real character
My kids current obsession is the Chocobo Song. What's worse is that it's specifically this version of the chocobo song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MRlb5p8WyuE
When I was really little me and my sister made up a religion where we worshipped the sun and moon and would pray to the sun and moon. We even made sacred “potions”. Never thought it was weird until recently.
Um, that is legit religion. Drawing down the moon, offering to the God and Godess (usually represented by the sun and moon respectively). Many Pagan paths practice/believe in this type of worship/honor. Moon water and potions are most definitely a thing that is seriously practiced.
Load More Replies...This will be the next tragedy foisted on children, where they can choose not to even be human any more.
My child has been OBSESSED with dinosaurs since they were two (they will be 16 soon). So of course that means I also know way more about dinosaurs than your average person. To be honest they are bloody fascinating, especially the discovery of a brand new dinosaur that was bigger than a t-rex called the ulughbegasaurus (how is this my life?) Oh, and in case anyone wants to know my favourite dino, it's a velociraptor, because they're tiny and vicious
I am asked read dinosaur fact books instead of bedtime stories every night. This has been going on for a few years now.
Load More Replies...Our 14 year old nephew got bored one weekend so he pulled up YouTube and taught himself how to crochet. This kid showed up one weekend with 6 potholders for us and the he crocheted me a rose! He's moving onto blankets and scarves now.
I had one who spent years wanting to be a kangaroo doctor. Not a vet specifically kangaroos. The other spent about 2 years almost solely playing with tiny condiment jars.
I've been known to collect a few itty-bitty hot sauce bottles myself! Very unique....
Load More Replies...My 6 year old is currently obsessed with the periodic table, one particular episode of Hey Duggee and Countdown on Channel 4 (uk tv show)
I've never seen countdown, they only show 8/10 cats version here, which my sprog can't watch yet 😅 it'd be good to have the other one too
Load More Replies...My son used to be interested in animals, especially reptiles. We want to a farm show when he was 5 and someone had a reptile show. We went in and the young lady would pull an animal out from a cage or box and ask "does anybody know what this is?". My son would stick his hand up, being polite and waiting his turn and someone would yell out an answer. Happened a few times and the presenter looked at my son and told him to just yell out the answer. So it turned into her bringing out an animal and my son yelling out what it was, including a glass lizard, which looks like a snake but is a lizard without legs. Until she finally told him to stop and let someone else get a chance. So she pulls out some kind of lizard and a lot of wrong answers come up, my son has his hand up and she finally asks him, and he says "a skink" her: "but what kind of skink?" Him: "blue tongued skink!" Her:"of course it is.."
I went to school with a girl, who, when she was young, was OBSESSED with conjoined twins. She knew all the stuff about how conjoined twins occur, how their bodies work, how they live, and the science behind it all. She also loved looking at pictures of them, but here's the catch: she was terrified of most of the photographs. So, her solution was to make her grandma and mum look through photos to find the ones that were tame and non-disturbing to show her. She was a real character
My kids current obsession is the Chocobo Song. What's worse is that it's specifically this version of the chocobo song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MRlb5p8WyuE
When I was really little me and my sister made up a religion where we worshipped the sun and moon and would pray to the sun and moon. We even made sacred “potions”. Never thought it was weird until recently.
Um, that is legit religion. Drawing down the moon, offering to the God and Godess (usually represented by the sun and moon respectively). Many Pagan paths practice/believe in this type of worship/honor. Moon water and potions are most definitely a thing that is seriously practiced.
Load More Replies...This will be the next tragedy foisted on children, where they can choose not to even be human any more.
