40 Of The Best Naive Beliefs That People Had In Their Childhood, According To This Twitter Thread
As children, we tend to believe a variety of things, from nonsense ideas to respectable concepts. And more often than not, those beliefs are based on some form of teaching, like something our parents told us not to do lest something bad happen. As adults, we know certain things as a given; it came with the worldly experience over the years. But for children, anything that's not in their immediate sphere of expertise (assuming they have any) will likely be considered as the unknown, and kids then look up to others to fill in the blanks or come up with original ideas why things are the way they are. A Twitter user by the name of @Kristen_Arnett decided to delve a bit deeper into the topic, asking people on Twitter what are some of the beliefs they had as children.
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I'm kind of interested, how this would be tested if true...
My sister told me the thunder was god and the angels bowling, the lightning was them taking pics and the rain was them playing in a pool lol
My Dad said it was the angels bowling... and the rain was Mother Nature washing her face.
According to Hindu mythology, the thunder and lightning are produced when gods are fighting.
Not very original, but I told my young son thunder was the angels bowling. We sat and listened to the storm a few minutes and after a massive crack of lightening he says "Wow! That was a strike!" That summer, he'd still climb into bed with me when it stormed, but we'd lay there and count strikes and gutter balls. 💕
"What’s something extremely bizarre you believed as a very young child?" was the question that kickstarted it all. Kristen Arnett wanted to know what, if any, believable theories users had as children—"believable" meaning not something about fairytales or zombies, but grounded in reality, with tangible reasoning behind it.
Me to though i thought i was the only one i felt so dumb when i found out i was wrong
Me toooo! I thought they all lived in a giant house and had to sing their song three times a day and of they died you could never listen to that song again...
I thought all of the bells and announcements were played on the piano by the principal
Same here. And I thought commercial breaks were when they rotated bands in and out of rooms.
I used to think that if I looked at a vinyl record with a powerful enough microscope I would see tiny musical instruments in the grooves
Last time I was at school, this actually happened. A kid pulled it, and we all thought that it was real, so we all evacuated, none of the teachers knew what was happening, the fire department came, and then we found out that it was all a false alarm. We all stood out quiet in a line for an hour, in freezing cold weather. Some of the kids in younger grades got to go on the playground, which made it WAY harder.
Why is it always the little kids that always live in luxury?
Load More Replies...I always thought that when people kissed, they were already married/dating in "real life".
I thought you got pregnant by kissing, so....xD Yeah, in my childhood I would DEFINITELY need the actors to have a thin pane of glass...
I thought that people stood some space apart facing each other and the camera angle made it look like they kissed 😭😭
I thought they were wearing masks on their face so they didn’t have to touch. I also thought that the scenes when the actor is young were filmed by the same actor the movie just waited for them to grow up.
My friend taught me about a trick where one person cups the other person's face and puts their thumb against their lips, so it looks like they're kissing but in reality they're kissing their thumb.
When there was a wedding scene I thought the actors were actually getting married.
My sister and I called kissing scenes "licky face". "They're doing licky face again."
My family used the more traditional “mushy” or the all-time classic “eww, gross!”
Load More Replies...There's a big power plant in our area with those immense cooling towers, and I thought the same about it.
For me it was the power plant that produced the clouds, or any type of businesses that had huge chimneys like in the picture. I thought they all came together and said on this day you make them & on this day we make them and so on....🤦♀️
So that's where they're made. Clouds are what the mountains use for blankets when they sleep. I know this because of Don Reynolds s 'Blue Mountain Waltz'
Of course, even when they are reality-based, those beliefs still don't quite make sense to an adult because they have fundamental knowledge of the world. We know that clouds are naturally occurring, not made of fabric. We also understand certain intricacies of biology that might seem alien as a child. Basically, while grounded, the beliefs are leaning towards naiveté and inexperience, rather than ingenuity or fantasy.
Our neighbor always had her soda even in the car. Her kids had a fit about it because "Don't drink and drive"
When I was little, I thought periods were when women would pee blue. Because that's what you saw on commercials 🤦
I actually thought girls menstruate all the time (even during pregnancy and senior age) bec whenever I open my mom's cabinet, her pads were there so I assumed she used it everyday. I thought that once I reach a certain age, I'll be bleeding down there for life
I thought that you only got it once in your life, and I was very disappointed to learn otherwise.
Load More Replies...I always thought you only needed a box of 12 for the whole year-once a month...
Okay this is the most hilarious thing I've seen yet on this list. I can't stop laughing lol!
When I was a kid we invaded the teacher's bathroom. None of us had ever seen one of them before. We decided they were to put in your shoes, because teachers were on their feet all day.
lol that would be kinda cool but they would be arguing all the way down the aisle
“You’re wearing the wrong sui-“ “SCREW OFF CAROL I WEAR WHAT I WANT” “THIS IS WHY WE COULDNT HAVE A MARRIAGE STEVE” “I HATE YOU!”
Load More Replies...That would keep a lot of couples from divorcing because of sheer embarrassment
My little brother once asked if the "other groom" (the best man) was a spare if they got divorced...
The thread wasn't meant to make fun of anyone, far from it. The answers people gave highlighted the difference in thinking, with children tending to take things quite literally, but still using their limited understanding and experiences to form a worldview that makes sense. It's the first steps towards greater understanding, and the more inquisitive a child is, the faster they understand the world they live in.
I have dreamt in b&w and sepia for some strange, unknown reason.
I’ve had a longterm argument with my parents about the TARDIS (Doctor Who) being blue or not. They kept on arguing it was red back then. I even checked with the Whovian Community (fanbase for DW) since they are older than me so maybe I dídn’t have all the facts. They still wouldn’t believe me. Until I found a picture of all different TARDIS’ses through the years and they recognized one and I was like look these thousand images, it’s blue. It still took them a while to realize that the TARDIS has always been a blue Brittish police box and never a red phone booth lol. Oh my, the wonders of conception. Proof we never miss what isn’t known. And also proof that what we think it is, isn’t always right 😂😂
I thought the mom and dad would kiss after they got married and the saliva or soemthing would create a baby.
i thought your parents went to heaven and told god how to make the baby out of arms and legs like a puzzle then when babys didn't have an arm or something he was out of parts lol
When I was little I thought that you could get pregnant out of sheer will. You just get pregnant out of nowhere. My moms body knew my dads DNA because he was married to her. And then a star was born
For the longest time, I believed my parents when they said that I came out of my dad. That he just went to poop but instead of s**t, a baby had fallen into the toilet sink so they had to fish me out
When I was six I made up a movie where parallel universes existed and the way to get to them was through mirrors
I used to be mad at my reflection for blocking me because I wanted to go into the mirror but she kept getting in the way. Obviously she got mad at me too lol
I loved to pretend that there was another world behind the mirror. Usually a nicer, magical world.
They actually made a movie about that. It was called Doppelgänger and released in 1969 by Gerry and Sylvia Anderson (British). Outside of Europe it was called "Journey to the Far Side of the Sun". https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doppelg%C3%A4nger_(1969_film)
My brain just filled up with too many thoughts and I kind of zoned out for a while...
I believed that there was a world on the other side of the mirror and they were watching me, so I really hated that there was a mirror in the bathroom. I also thought the newscasters on TV were watching me, I guess because they look into the camera, and sometimes I would get dressed while watching news on TV in the morning (like if there was snow) and I would scream at the newscasters for watching me get dressed.
I thought you got shot in front of a firing squad! And that prosecuted meant executed, so I found the "trespassers will be prosecuted" signs quite scary
Load More Replies...You're close: the term came from Henry Ford's practice of placing the wooden desks of his terminated executives outside and lighting then on fire.
That's OK... I thought when you "ran for office" that two or 3 people had a "race" where the first one there won.
I thought you will be put in a cannon and fired away like they do in circus in TV! The Human Cannonball!
I thought getting kicked outta school meant they hang you out of the window and then literally kick your ass out of the school...
My friend told me that he got grounded, and that it meant his parents actually buried him alive.
actually, in medieval times, they lit FIRED your house to get our of their feud
Well, seeing videos of some of the rare and unfortunate accidents involving escalators, it remains quite reasonable to retain a life-long caution of those large, indiscriminate pieces of mindless machinery.
Load More Replies...I believe you could get atuck and it would pull you in and rip you apart.
Ha same. I also thought that the steps would drag you into the mall/store dungeon Don’t ask xD
Clearly, you have not seen the escalator incidents in China. I suggest you search Youtube for vindication videos.
That´s a beautiful concept (though I cannot envision Stephen King like this ... LOL)
That’s because Stephen King summons his from deep down below.
Load More Replies...Maybe I could be more motivated to write longer if I dressed like that.
I’m dressing like that and seeing what happens. Wish me luck.
Why? Kramer is a (not particularly Jewish) German name, deriving from a medieval occupation (traveling merchant).
Load More Replies...There was a CGI short film about a boy that turned into a watermelon after he ate one. Don’t search it up.
i once walked up to a pregnant woman and asked why she ate the watermelon seeds.
That's exactly what I believed myself. I am not from an English speaking country so as a child I never made the connection that Tom can't be a female cat because Tom is a male name. Even Jerry was female in my mind. My mind was blown when I realized they were a male cat and mouse.
I thought my dad did voice work, since he could do a pretty good impression of some fictional characters (notably Zazu from "The Lion King").
I thought the neighbours were on the radio because they had an instrument in their basement
my youngest had a good two years where he wanted to be a firetruck when he grows up. Not a fire fighter, the truck.
Not to get all political, but that’s why I don’t think we should put a whole lot of stock into the gender identities of children. A kid wants to grow up to be a dishwasher appliance, or fire truck, or goat, don’t listen to the labels of a 5 year old wearing a skirt.
I told my pre-k teacher that I wanted to be a mushroom when I grow up once
my 3 y/o cousin passionately claims she wants to and will be an elephant when she growls up lmfaooooo
I once turned my dishwasher into a snowplow... I gave her a shovel. And that's when the fight started...
I could never remember how many lines an "E" had. I knew they went from the top all the way down to the bottom of the vertical line, so there were always extra and usually a different number of them. "F" was the same way, but the line had to stop halfway down the vertical line.
They taught us in kids church that if you are real quiet, you could hear Jesus calling your name. From 7 years old until probably early teens I was terrified of a disembodied voice whispering my name.
As an atheist, I really wish there WAS a tiny Jesus inside some so-called Christians' hearts. So he could climb out and kick them in the balls every time they do horrible things in the name of Christianity.
Yes, some people who claim to be christians are actually far from it.
Load More Replies...I was raised a Catholic. Once got send home from Sunday school because the teacher told us the Serpent had tempted Eve, and I called her a liar because snakes can't speak...
Snakes can't speak in our world today but in the beginning in the garden of Eden they were able to.
Load More Replies...... it's actually sad what weird things are put into a harmless child's mind by religion... Can't we, finally, as a species, grow up and accept reality for what it is, for what we find it out to be, instead of making up stories meant to make us praise violent asshole gods who need to be tamed into good mood, just to allow us to remain alive? We have enough stuff to do in reality. F**k religion, all of them.
I believed that you received 3 names along your life. A pretty little girl name, then a grown up 'mommy' like name, then an old fart name. I knew no girl with the name Betty or Arlene or laura. My grandma's generation had names like Bertha and Clara, or Evelyn. Nor could I imagine a tiny baby being called Bertha.
I used to think that you would also lose your adult teeth and false teeth would grow in after :/
Uh thank you for a visual representation, I guess...
Load More Replies...I thought pedestrian was a religion as the first time I saw that word was in front of a church school. I thought how would you know if the person was a Catholic, Presbyterian, or a Protestant? Seemed like the name of a religion.
Me too, I went to Catholic school, my girlfriend went to public school!
at 10yrs old I was convinced the 3-spooks (father, son and that ghostly apparition) were serious perverts ... was told over and over how they watched everyone 24/7 and saw everything everyone did, but I couldn't understand why they didn't do anything to stop several kids I hung around with from being sexually abused
All the better to keep you from tasting them. Unfortunately I wasn't scared to taste them and ended up hanging over the commode with my mom forcing me to vomit.
I thought they were special edition edamame and ended up with MY mom shoving her fingers down my throat
Load More Replies...IS THAT WHAT THEY ARE CALLED? I never knew I lowkey thought of them as dried banana peels. I grew out of that but never knew what they were called. Also whenever I swam or something and a muscle rippled I always thought it was as if one of them was going through me, that was the comparison I made
Those are seeds and when you take them out and peel them you get something that looks like green coffee bean. When we were kids we would peel them because they are see through inside a pretend we had long nails. Good days
Load More Replies...Yeah I was under the impression this was supposed to be things you dreamed up on your own. I see a lot of people being misled by adults.
I moved to San Diego 8 years ago & to be honest - they freak me out too!
AGHHH THS REMINDS ME OF THAT TIME WHERE ME AND MY FRIENDS FOUND THESE AND WE DIDNT KNOW WHAT THEY WERE AND WE USED IT FOR THE SECRET BASE I MADE OOF I GOT SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO SCARED AFTER I FOUND OUT
That is what i would probably think as well tbh. and i would find out that it was an actual band when i complemented them and embarrassed myself.
In high school a goth kid gave me a Black Flag tape and said it was his band. He thought I was too dumb to know who Henry Rollins was. He (the goth kid) was pretty skinny. I said "wow, how'd you get your neck so skinny then." He didn't think I was funny. But I did.
Cause I'm A LIAR and I'll at your soul.
Load More Replies...There was a fairly good teenage garage band that played the dances when I was in high school. They had been around a while when another band on the other side of the country, with the same name, hit the big time. When I heard them on the radio I thought it was our local band.
My friend said Slim Shady was good and I said yea! But I like Eminem better... not knowing theyre the same person, id just heard someone mention him. lol
I have a very similar story for the first time I heard Pearl Jam. LOL
If the other guy took credit, would it be proof that the world truly is a vampire?
the dude's garage band didn't make it, but Smashing Pumpkins was a pretty popular rock band in the 90s. Gabrielle (the poster) assumed Smashing Pumpkins was the dude's garage band, but it wasn't.
Load More Replies...I just can't imagine an adult telling a child this. Especially considering the difficulty that potty training can be. Now, an older sibling convincing the younger ones that a snake lives in the potty... THAT is feasible.
My brother thought that a killer whale would come up the toilet and eat him and that a yeti would kill him if he opened the fridge so thanks to my dad for telling my brother these thing so I can share the,
ThEY PoiSON YouR BuTT (EAch SoLD SePaRaTeLy!)
Load More Replies...omg i thought there was a monster at the end of the pipes that would send the you-know-whats to the dumpster or something.
It does...if you include the 8 hours and 50 minutes of begging and pleading... /s
I thought my girlfriend had 61 boyfriends before me. She always called me her "sixty-second lover."
I thought the "no outlet" signs meant that there were no outlets in the houses along the road, so as a result, there was no electricity.
I thought that the do not enter sign meant that you weren’t supposed to write anything in the white space between the ‘Do Not’ and the ‘Enter’.
In correct grammar they should read "Do Not Overtake." Passing is what you do to someone/thing that is coming towards you.
Omg SAME. I wondered why the signs were there if everyone was just going to break the law all the time!
Though to be fair, Roadrunners are not blue, nor are they 6-feet tall.
Nor do they go "Beep! Beep!" and a coyote could easily outrun one without using a rocket from Acme.
Load More Replies...Me too re: roadrunners. Was so excited to go to Phoenix Arizona (I'm Australian) cos I love the cartoon. Had a couple of cocktails waiting at the back door of a house I was visiting. Kids yelled out 'he's here!' I saw this skinny, bedraggled weird dystopic version of a sad chicken and said, 'is that it?' So disappointed I had another cocktail to cheer up. No coyote either. Nearly choked when I saw a tumbleweed. Turns out they're real - not just props in Hollywood westerns.
YES! When i learned that reindeers existed. I was honestly shocked.
I thought most of the flowers I saw in illustrations were imaginary. Like, embroidery patterns with forget-me-nots and wisteria and cornflowers. I grew up in a desert.
My sister, who no longer believes in Santa Claus, still sometimes forgets that reindeer are real so…
I might just have to try that one when kissing the booboo doesn't work.
Kissing the boo-boo ALWAYS works. Well, at least anyone who’s not in a coma.
Load More Replies...When I was really little and would get hurt, my dad would tell me ""if it isn't bleeding it can't hurt. Worked for a few years.
if the parents try to substitute grapes when actual pain killers are needed, then yes. but i think the person meant the parents convinced them grapes would help relieve small things, like getting a scratch. it's the same idea as "kissing a boo-boo to make it feel better".
Load More Replies..."Bear Milk".... LMAO!! I found myself picturing a mountain man trying to milk a bear.
A famous brand of condensed milk in Germany is „Bärenmarke“ - and that’s Bear-brand. Literally. It’s the dairy‘s name. Maybe your parents were German liars.
Just listen to this song about bear farmers https://youtu.be/yJQw77NdIb8
I wish I had thought this...*thinks of a moon made of honey*
Did you know that in Ancient Greece, newly weds would sit under the full moon and share a cup of honey? That’s where honeymoons came from
downvoted 4 putting this cursed picture into my mind
Load More Replies...For a second I thought this post was about MINORS as in underage people, not MINERS as in coal miners lol.
I think she's saying she didn't know the difference between a "minor' and a 'miner'
Load More Replies...Cigarette machines...that's a memory. I remember that most of them had a button to dispense matches if you bought a pack, which most people didn't do. Every time we'd go to a restaurant, I'd go to the bathroom just so I could find the cig machine and hit that button and get a pack of matches. Yes, I did burn some things as a child, why do you ask?
I found out that the Easter Bunny wasn't real at seven, same with the tooth fairy, but I still held on the the ideal that Santa was real until nine or ten.
i just like to pretend that santa is real even tho i dont believe that santa is real
Hi Mary Rose, the original poster was on Reddit, so didn't see your question. The icon is a Pink-Necked Green Pigeon. http://www.wild-facts.com/2013/pink-necked-green-pigeon/
Load More Replies...I don't know about thatbut he did braid a whip to beat the moneychangers in the temple.
My husband says this (jokingly). He'll say "My left nose itches", instead of his left nostril LOL.
Were you one of those kids who's mind was BLOWN when they encountered the same show on two different TVs at the same time?
When my kids were still young I took them to see Yo Gabba Gabba live, mainly for my son. My daughter is a few years older, and when it showed them stepping out of the tv at the beginning, her mind was blown. After it was over she kept saying, I didn’t know they could come out of the TV! !!!
When I was 5 I used to think you could put your hand in the back of the TV and grab the food that was on the screen but as I am still alive I never tried it.
Ahhh.... Sneaky trick to prevent the mishandling of the thermometer and thus, protecting the dangerous mercury from being played with.
Someone tried to stir my hot tea with a mercury thermometer and it burst lucky I saw it or I could have been drinking broken glass and Mercury
Load More Replies...When my son was a toddler he bit off the end of a thermometer and sucked out the mercury. According to poison control there wasn't enough mercury to be harmful, but that was about 30 years ago.
Mercury in a thermometer is not that dangerous. It's just hard to dispose safely.
I can see that—they seemingly can run anywhere and everywhere
Load More Replies...A store we used to go to had a blinking sign. I thought that someone's job in the store was to flip a switch on and off or pull a plug and put it back in over and over. I thought that was a terrible waste of time for that person.
When I was little I used to think that tramps switched on street lights by pulling a rope in a room they were allowed to sleep in, but they had to hold the rope all night to keep the lights on.
i thought that the little balls on powerlines where homes for the hamsters that ran along the wires fixing problems.
Well, I hope those tiny traffic light operators get plenty of breaks and well paid!
because drivers dont know how to drive where i live
Load More Replies...This one hurts my heart. My sister announced 'the trees have leaves!!' As we drove home after she got her glasses. My mom cried for days because my sister couldn't see and my mom didn't know.
One time, I woke at dawn and looked out the window to see the mountains covered in big cumulus clouds. The sun hadn't hit them yet so they were dark blue. I thought the mountains had grown overnight and this was a normal thing for them to do. Later in the day, though, when I saw them their normal size, I realized what had really happened.
wait thats not true? ive thought that for years wow i feel dumb now
Hiccups are just your diaphragm (basically a thing that helps your lungs work) spasming.
Load More Replies...Well, if you ever tasted one you'd agree! Voice of experience,.one fell in my iced tea. HORRIBLE.
I have a friend who is one of the most rational people I know, yet he believes that Sasquatch is real.
My mother was a nurse (now retired) when I was a little girl my mom would talk about work whenever she mentioned the 'head nurse' I pictured a floating head with a nurses cap on just floating around the hospital making sure everyone was doing their job. I was totally creeped out by the idea of a floating head.
wow... when I was a kid I thought that when girls grew up, they turned into men and when boys grew up they turned into women. I have no clue what made me think that, but its no surprise that I'm trans.
Load More Replies...So many bubbles were burst by this list.... My innocence (lasted until 53 years old) just faded away more and more the further down the list I read. I'll grab my bankey and curl up in bed now.
*hands you some oreos* do you want me to read you a book
Load More Replies...When I was a kid, I thought that every single episode of an animated tv show was made, right then and there, so I never rewinded the show so I didn't put the animators through any more pain XD
At the end of my Sleeping Beauty vhs they had a part explaining how the cartoon and coloring was made (cos was a huge deal, like first colored cartoon or something), in my mind was just wow, because of all the trouble, even though was early 90s I thought machines would do the drawings or something automated, not actual humans hands
Load More Replies...I used to think that automatic sliding doors had little mice people who lived in between the door and the wall and pulled them open when people got close. I always made sure to say hi and thank you to the little mice people when I walked through an automatic door.
that would have been a GIFT to have walked behind you as you thanked the mice.
Load More Replies...When we were children, my father worked third shift and about the time his shift ended the morning fog would roll in from the river. My mother would send us kids outside in our jammies to "break up the fog" which was basically running around in circle flapping our arms so dad could see to get home. We couldn't come in until Dad pulled into the drive and then we would go in and eat breakfast together. I believed my brothers and I were solely responsible for the coal miners getting home safely. In reality, mom found a creative way to wear us out so we would take a long nap in the late morning and she could have time to herself.
I thought bandaids magically healed wounds. I still remember the shock when an adult told me wounds heal by themselves.
When every time there was lightning i thought someone was taking a picture of the house(i thought it was the flash). That is why i hid. i didn't want to be filmed.
I used to believe that whenever a movie went "x years later" they actually paused filming to let the actors grow up (and yes I've seen Boyhood)
My mother was a nurse (now retired) when I was a little girl my mom would talk about work whenever she mentioned the 'head nurse' I pictured a floating head with a nurses cap on just floating around the hospital making sure everyone was doing their job. I was totally creeped out by the idea of a floating head.
wow... when I was a kid I thought that when girls grew up, they turned into men and when boys grew up they turned into women. I have no clue what made me think that, but its no surprise that I'm trans.
Load More Replies...So many bubbles were burst by this list.... My innocence (lasted until 53 years old) just faded away more and more the further down the list I read. I'll grab my bankey and curl up in bed now.
*hands you some oreos* do you want me to read you a book
Load More Replies...When I was a kid, I thought that every single episode of an animated tv show was made, right then and there, so I never rewinded the show so I didn't put the animators through any more pain XD
At the end of my Sleeping Beauty vhs they had a part explaining how the cartoon and coloring was made (cos was a huge deal, like first colored cartoon or something), in my mind was just wow, because of all the trouble, even though was early 90s I thought machines would do the drawings or something automated, not actual humans hands
Load More Replies...I used to think that automatic sliding doors had little mice people who lived in between the door and the wall and pulled them open when people got close. I always made sure to say hi and thank you to the little mice people when I walked through an automatic door.
that would have been a GIFT to have walked behind you as you thanked the mice.
Load More Replies...When we were children, my father worked third shift and about the time his shift ended the morning fog would roll in from the river. My mother would send us kids outside in our jammies to "break up the fog" which was basically running around in circle flapping our arms so dad could see to get home. We couldn't come in until Dad pulled into the drive and then we would go in and eat breakfast together. I believed my brothers and I were solely responsible for the coal miners getting home safely. In reality, mom found a creative way to wear us out so we would take a long nap in the late morning and she could have time to herself.
I thought bandaids magically healed wounds. I still remember the shock when an adult told me wounds heal by themselves.
When every time there was lightning i thought someone was taking a picture of the house(i thought it was the flash). That is why i hid. i didn't want to be filmed.
I used to believe that whenever a movie went "x years later" they actually paused filming to let the actors grow up (and yes I've seen Boyhood)

