By now, you've probably seen at least a couple of babies who look like old people. But this deceiving image isn't exclusive to the tiniest ones. Bored Panda has collected a list of childhood photos where kids also appear to be at least a couple of decades in decay, and they're just as hilarious. From a 10-year-old sassy grandma to a 40-year-old receptionist attending 4th grade, you'd think these unfortunate folks would be the ones pinching your cheeks at the next family reunion. Truth is, they will actually be on the receiving end instead. Scroll down, enjoy, and upvote your faves!
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My Friend's Baby Pictures Look Like Mrs. Doubtfire
If you're worried about your embarrassing photos that might one day crawl out of your hard drive and spread over the Internet, don't be. We all are. In fact, there's a perfectly reasonable explanation for why the person staring back at you looks so very unfamiliar, even though that person is you. The answer to why you hate seeing photos of yourself is mirrors. The explanation given in a TED talk by photographer Duncan Davidson, for example, explains how "perception, mirrors, and the uncanny valley make us hate photos of ourselves."
I Looked 70 When I Was 13
Back in 1977, in a study titled "Reversed Facial Images and the Mere-Exposure Hypothesis," psychologists Theodore H. Mita, Marshall Dermer, and Jeffrey Knight concluded that "individuals will prefer a facial photograph that corresponds to their mirror image rather than to their true image." As the title of the study suggests, everything has to do with something called the mere-exposure effect.
I Looked Like A Middle Aged Man When I Was A Child
The mere-exposure effect was first proposed in the 1960s by Stanford psychologist, Robert Zajonc. According to Gizmodo, "In its simplest terms, the mere-exposure effect is a psychological phenomenon whereby a person develops a preference for a stimulus based solely on his or her repeated exposure to (and subsequent familiarity with) it. The effect has been demonstrated with an array of stimuli (words, paintings, sounds) and across cultures. It's even been observed in other species."
When It’s Your First Day Of Kindergarten And Also Your First Day As Head Of The PTA
So the truth is, if photograph-you looked like mirror-image you, in a way, everyone else would think you look bizarre. The same researchers, who showed a person is more likely to prefer a facial photograph that corresponds to their mirror image rather than their true image, also demonstrated that the opposite was true when the images were shown to the person's friends. So, again, don't worry about it. Photograph-you looks great.
When You Look Over 40 But You're Actually 12
My daughter was 11 when she started experimenting with makeup. So for her 12th birthday I organized a makeup party with a beautician. Great fun. Of course we made pictures. When she saw them, she was shocked to see herself as a 25 year old. After that she hasn't touched makeup till she was finished in collage, and only sparsely.
Wouldn't work with today's teenagers. They all aspire to look 25 when they're bloody 13, and they do.
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Yeah. Once girls hit puberty they do everything to look older - and once they go beyond 30, they spend the rest of their lives trying to look younger. 'T'is a drag, people, 't'is a drag.
PS The male counterpart ends up looking like a baby blimp buffoon in advanced age...
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Oh, Glamour Shots. Have you ever made anyone actually look good?
@Alex, there was a very bizarre trend in the 80s called “Glamour Shots”. I have no ungodly idea how it started and whether the trend made its way around the world, but all I have to say is that I’m very thankful that it now only exists on embarrassing websites on the Internet.
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An actual Glamour Shots photo. My daughter wanted a "sitting" for her 12th birthday. We bought her a sitting and they made my newly turned 12 year old into a Marilyn Monroe look alike.
What parent allowed this farce? Most little girls just smear makeup, because they don't know how to apply it. Her mother helped her to look like this. Maybe she can take her to the Mall where she can attract real life predators, too.
This was the era of glamour shots! Making young girls look like their grandma! 😂
I knew a woman who had glamour shots taken of her beautiful 8 year old daughter - in a silver sequined tank (fit the kid like a MINI dress) with full on make-up and hair. The kid looked like a hooker. It didn't help that there was a 3' x 4' portrait hanging over the mantle in her "Escorts R Us waiting room" looking living room. I'm talking black VINYL couches and dingy white faux fur everywhere. Tackiest s**t I've ever seen. Yeah, her stepfather needs to be looking at her like she's a sex symbol. That's a good idea.
Yeah, So I Heard My Best Friend Was Made Into A Meme Called The 60-Year-Old Girl
My Wife Was A 40-Year-Old Receptionist In 4th Grade
Give Me The Sassy Grandma Look
This Is Why I Never Had A Girlfriend In High School. I Looked 35 When I Was 14
I Looked Like An Old Jewish Man In 9th Grade
The Blunder Brothers, Circa 1994. I'm In Purple
Glamour Shot Blunder (7-Years-Old)
6th Grade Going On 60
My Friend's Yearbook Picture From 2nd Grade. Apparently She Used To Be A Lesbian Art Teacher
That Time I Went To My High School Prom And Looked Like A 45-Year-Old Woman
I Was Born In 1981, But Turned 55 In 1992
First Day Of High School, I Was Apparently Going For The 70-Year-Old Man Look
At Age 10 I Looked Like I Was Ready To Give Up And Change My Name To Linda
I Too Was Born In 1981. I Present To You, The Butch Soccer Mom (I'm A Guy)
A Friend Of Mine Gave Me Permission To Post This Gem. Circa Early 90s
After The Seventh Child My Mom Decided It’s Just Easier To Dress Me In Her Own Clothes
Blundering Through 2nd Grade
I Was Dwight Schrute When I Was 15
1981. I Thought I Was The **** In My Band Uniform And Permed Hair, And Weighing All Of 90 Pounds (With The Cymbals)
A Friend's 6th Grade Picture. Not Her Grandmother
My Friend Looked Like Elton John When He Was Younger
I Was In 2nd Grade. I Look Like I Am 50
No Front Teeth, Mom As A Stylist
My Sister's Glamour Shot: Age 4
Band Geek, 1987
Uggs On The Beach, Check. Size 60 Khaki Dickies With Matching 2XL Khaki Shirt, Also Check. I Was The King Of 7th Grade
This Is My Wife, The 60-Year-Old-Girl, One Year Before The Original Photo
Titanic, Western, Newscaster Glamour Shots: 1998 In A Nutshell
She looks like she is successfully selling her own line of healing gems and angel tarot cards on QVC.
I Wanted To Share My Shame With You
Another Gem I Found Of My Sister -In-Law. I Will Call Her Razz Ma-Tazz With The Upside Down Baller Shades
I've Been Told I Have An Old Soul. I Guess It's Because I Was 40 At 4
In The 90's I Was A 12-Year-Old Rizzo
First Day Of School, Grade 6, Circa 1988
I Looked Like Macaulay Culkin Wearing A Cosby Sweater
When Your Mom Wanted A Poodle But Settled For Your Hair Instead
I Give You The Mentally Challenged Lunch Lady, Circa 1988. Junior High Was Not Kind To Me
I Looked Like A Lesbian Librarian When I Was Younger
My Grandmom Loved To Put Those Little Foam Curlers In My Hair Before Church
And My Friend Looked Like An Old Man When He Was A Child
I Was A 40-Year-Old Woman At 13
The Most Embarrassing Photo I Could Find
Just Found My Glamour Shot From 1995. I Was A Sassy 45-Year-Old In 7th Grade, Apparently
I Peaked At 14 When I Was 45-Years-Old
Turns Out My Mother Also Looked Like A 60-Year-Old Woman When She Was Younger. She's Going To Kill Me If She Sees This
I Love The Big Shoulder Pads And Teased Hair. I Doubt 90's Fashion Will Make A Comeback Anytime Soon
Recently, My Mother Found This Senior Photo Of Me From 1994. I Looked Like Nathan From South Park
My Wife: Pilgrim, Futurist, Fabulous (1987)
When I Was 7-Year-Old Aspiring Nun/Librarian
My BF Took This On His Nintendo DS When He Was 13
I'm sorry, but I'm just not interested in buying a secondhand Volkswagen Polo from you. No, I don't care that everything you own was bought with "secondhand car money".
I Woke Up And Decided My Hair Was Gonna Be Yuuuuuuge
She’s Beauty. She’s Grace. My 7th Grade Winter Formal
Bless You, Puberty
Styled Like A Soccer Mom At 13
7-Year-Old Going On 70 (Circa 1994)
The World's Youngest Grandmother
Taken At A Mall Photo Center Circa 1993. I Loved Cats
Double Trouble
My Wife She Showed Me Her Old Yearbook Photo
Playing The Sax Worked For Bill Clinton, Right?
This is one of the best photos ever! I can just imagine him sitting on a rocker on his front porch, watching the world go by. Absolutely adorable :-)
Conclusion: The 80's and early 90's didn't do anybody any fashion favours. Can we just pretend those two decades never happened? They were cruel.
Every decade has its stupid fashion trends. I cringe every time I pick up my kid from high school and see boys sporting skinny jeans with their butts hanging out.
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Why were kid glamour photos a thing? It’s such a weird concept to begin with.
I hope we do a thread like this again. I should turn myself in. My parents' wedding photo also needs a spot. They were married in the 80's but everyone who's seen it thinks it's a Victorian photo
BP used to have many postings where the community could add. Having those back would be great, although I would not contribute with questionable photos. ;)
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Who does everyone think that if you are wearing glasses you automatically look old? yea most of them are hideous but they were in style at the time. so no most of these are just cute/silly old pictures of kids. a lot of them are really cute!
I blame a lot of these on the 80s trends. Clearly everyone was either blind or suicidal or hilariously off their faces on leftover 60s expired drugs when they dressed their kids.
The time when I was 47 years old chemistry teacher, haha :D ( I was 14!) 61068993_2...ee5053.jpg 
I was wondering same thing. I wish they could have posted then and now pics side by side
really i feel sorry for these kids...now i'm glad my "mom" got rid of all my pics(yeah she's a total b***h, but at least that was right tbh
This brings back to me just how bad the hairstyles and clothes of the 80s through mid 90s were.
That's how things were then. Everything was much simpler. Flash was for fancy occasions. I'm not sure where the prairie dress look came from, we could've done without that.
I never looked old when I was younger. I did, however, look like a potato.
Glamour Shots were a total rip off. My mom had me do those in the mall when I was a kid (mid to late 80s) and they always put me in “bordello red” lipstick. What mom wants to see their 7 year old looking like a hooker??
Photo shoots apart from your yearly school photo or weddings aren't really a thing in the UK. This is why.
Clothes, hairstyle, glasses. Change them and you will look your age.
I'm 47 but some people think I'm in my mid 30s! Thank God for being half Filipino!
So many parents need to be reported for child abuse or shot or both... these poor damn kids!
Conclusion: The 80's and early 90's didn't do anybody any fashion favours. Can we just pretend those two decades never happened? They were cruel.
Every decade has its stupid fashion trends. I cringe every time I pick up my kid from high school and see boys sporting skinny jeans with their butts hanging out.
Load More Replies... Why were kid glamour photos a thing? It’s such a weird concept to begin with.
I hope we do a thread like this again. I should turn myself in. My parents' wedding photo also needs a spot. They were married in the 80's but everyone who's seen it thinks it's a Victorian photo
BP used to have many postings where the community could add. Having those back would be great, although I would not contribute with questionable photos. ;)
Load More Replies... Who does everyone think that if you are wearing glasses you automatically look old? yea most of them are hideous but they were in style at the time. so no most of these are just cute/silly old pictures of kids. a lot of them are really cute!
I blame a lot of these on the 80s trends. Clearly everyone was either blind or suicidal or hilariously off their faces on leftover 60s expired drugs when they dressed their kids.
The time when I was 47 years old chemistry teacher, haha :D ( I was 14!) 61068993_2...ee5053.jpg
I was wondering same thing. I wish they could have posted then and now pics side by side
really i feel sorry for these kids...now i'm glad my "mom" got rid of all my pics(yeah she's a total b***h, but at least that was right tbh
This brings back to me just how bad the hairstyles and clothes of the 80s through mid 90s were.
That's how things were then. Everything was much simpler. Flash was for fancy occasions. I'm not sure where the prairie dress look came from, we could've done without that.
I never looked old when I was younger. I did, however, look like a potato.
Glamour Shots were a total rip off. My mom had me do those in the mall when I was a kid (mid to late 80s) and they always put me in “bordello red” lipstick. What mom wants to see their 7 year old looking like a hooker??
Photo shoots apart from your yearly school photo or weddings aren't really a thing in the UK. This is why.
Clothes, hairstyle, glasses. Change them and you will look your age.
I'm 47 but some people think I'm in my mid 30s! Thank God for being half Filipino!
So many parents need to be reported for child abuse or shot or both... these poor damn kids!
