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40 Things We All Did Or Experienced As Kids But Never Talked About Since Then
Ready to blush? Just kidding—nobody enjoys making their cheeks burn out of involuntary embarrassment in awkward situations. But this time, we are taking you on an emotional rollercoaster where it may be the only option.
It’s called blast from the past. Remember your 8-year-old self drinking coke in a wine glass, thinking you were as tipsy as auntie Becky at a family reunion barbecue, ready to pass out on the floor and beg for salvation? What about the time you cried for 10 days straight after finding out that gum you swallowed would stay in your stomach forever? What if I told you that you're not the only one? In fact, that little kid with ginger frock from school, your cousin from Wyoming, and I was all secretly doing the same weird things. So, let’s go down this cringe-inducing memory lane were things we all did as kids are laid out on the table.
Pandas, is anyone having a déjà vu moment? Then share your experiences and childhood memories in the comments. Also, scroll down below to see what Krystine Batcho, a professor of nostalgia at Le Moyne College in Syracuse, New York, told Bored Panda about the influence that childhood experiences have on the course of our lives.
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#1
Iván Galarraga 5 years ago
Sure, and also running with the finger ready to press the living room lights
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Prof. Krystine Batcho, a licensed psychologist and scholar in nostalgia, has developed a universal tool to measure our emotions towards the past using The Nostalgia Inventory Test. It measures how deeply and often people feel nostalgic.
Bored Panda asked the professor about the role our childhood memories play in our lives. “Childhood memories can influence adult lives in a number of ways. They can contribute to our overall sense of happiness in life.” Social experiences we had when little turn out to be crucial. “Positive childhood social events, such as family get-togethers during the holidays or parties to celebrate birthdays or achievements, help establish good self-esteem and healthy social skills in adulthood.”
Prof. Batcho’s life-long research has suggested that “positive childhood memories are associated with more adaptive coping skills in adulthood.” For example, people with happier memories of childhood were less likely to turn to counterproductive ways of dealing with stressful situations, such as substance abuse or escapist behavior. Healthy coping is not something we’re born with, but rather “is learned during childhood by role modeling trusted adults, and memories of how respected adults coped with adversity,” said the professor.
#4
What does a Foxxy say? 5 years ago
I used to draw on my erasers and then stamp them on my skin whilst the pen ink was still wet.
Most of us deeply cherish powerful childhood memories and carry them throughout our lives. Batcho explained that this phenomenon is called a “'rosy retrospection,' that is, a tendency to remember the past as better than it really was.” But there might be an evolutionary reason for it, because “a favorable focus on the past helps most people remain healthy and happy despite the practical and emotional challenges of adult life.”
On the other hand, one's current mood has a tremendous influence on memory retrieval. “When we are sad or depressed, we are more likely to remember negative events in our past and remember past experiences less favorably.” That’s why if you’re in a bad mood, it’s better to leave those blasts from the past for another time in order not to distort them.
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Gemma Lees 5 years ago
I'm now having to tell my 7 year old son to get out of clothes rails in shops!
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deanna woods 5 years ago
Parents freaking out because they can't find me, but I am laughing because they can't find me.
Michelle Chevalier 5 years ago
At 5yo they had to shut down a whole department store in NYC because of me hiding in a clothes rack, only found me cause I couldn't stop giggling...then fast forward 18 years and I'm running around a department store with employees looking for my own little clothes rack monster hiding and giggling....karma is a you know what, right!
Suzi Gauthier 5 years ago
I honestly got lost in Sears when I was 5. I was standing at the doors crying because I was afraid they left me, but luckily my mother drilled into my head not to go out of the store if I got lost. Somebody brought me to the service desk & they gave me candy until my parents got there. Then I started "getting lost" on purpose.
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Suzi Gauthier 5 years ago
We got spoke to by "The Manager" for picking up the straight pins all in the carpet. My mother had us terrified of "The Manager" and we were mortified.
Jenny Gordon 5 years ago
I had the c**p scared out of me last week by 2 little girls hiding in the clothes rack at my local supermarket. Bless them, they were just playing, but I didn't know they were there. I was looking through a rack of black tops when I saw the face of one of them looking up at me. I nearly had a goddamn heart attack! Laughed my a*s off though!
Ashley Nell 5 years ago
I would do that all the time and I would try to scare my parents. I still sometimes do this.
Elizabeth Scarborough 5 years ago
I used to hid the rounder racks and try to spook my Mom. Got confused one day and wound up spooking someone else. Good times.
Jennifer Hughes 5 years ago
Best ones were at Value City not far from home. The long ones had a space wide enough to actually run down, and the dress racks had perfect little support pieces in the center so you could disappear completely. I scared the bejeesus out of a lady one day that way.
Audrey Davis _ Student - BuggES 5 years ago
mom is like NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Denis Brown 5 years ago
Yep, I did it, and when my daughter did it and I thought she was lost in the store and freaked, the salesperson calmly went to the racks and checked them until he found her. I didn't think it was half as funny as everyone else did and made a mental noted to do something nice for my mother to make up for when I did it!
Roxanne Silver 5 years ago
When I was a kid, I got zapped by ‘lightning’ doing this. I went into a rack of synthetic fibers (like polyester) and got a giant Zap ⚡️ Of static Electricity! True story!!!
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Starbelly Eleven 5 years ago
I do this at my parents' house and I snarl and hiss because my dad's office is right at the top and I know he's sitting there witnessing it. I'm 46.
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MagicalUnicorn 5 years ago
i always dreamed of having this one as kid, but mom said it was too expensive...
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Hendra Lim 5 years ago
i still feel so proud when i hide in the bathroom while the lights out, my cousins searching for me, even get in the bathroom but didn't find me at all because of the darkness and me silently dodging their hands movement, because i got adapted to the darkness)
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Lucinda A. Tanji 5 years ago
We were told not to do that because apparently the janitors clean the walls
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Danish Dynomummy 5 years ago
So true. And the same snacks you had at home tasted 1000 times better at their place!
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What does a Foxxy say? 5 years ago
This is such an old wives tale, so many people still believe this as adults. For those of you that do, it isn’t true.
#41
What does a Foxxy say? 5 years ago (edited)
I used to write BOOBLESS, BOOBIES and HELLO on my calculator lol.
#43
Gemma Lees 5 years ago
We would sing "Constantinople is a very long word, can you spell it?" Same outcome.
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MagicalUnicorn 5 years ago
never occurred to me as a kid, but totally doing it now at work as 34 year old :D
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Kiss Army 5 years ago
My son is 18 and has a stick that he found as a youngster. He named it Sticky and it was many things over the years: light saber, Buffy the Vampire Slayer stick, sword, etc. It sits on a shelf in his room and though he is very unsentimental, that stick, a stuffed bunny named PJ, Funny Bunny and his Winnie The Pooh blanket are not to be messed with.
#62
Nicky OldfieldDesciple 5 years ago
looks like a cross between Mike Wazowski and Arnold Schwarzenegger
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Luisa Vasconcelos 5 years ago
I still do some of those things. Not fully aware how adulthood works.
We Were On A Break! 5 years ago
I love that most of them are even relatable to people from different countries and cultures.
The Girl on Fire 5 years ago
I'm glad to see that even though I was socially isolated and homeschooled as a child, my childhood still shared things in common with everyone else's :)
Liza Sniboebel 5 years ago
Wearing swim goggles and pretending to swim through the house and looking at the ceiling pretending the house is upside down raising my feet to walk over lamps
LittleMissLotus 5 years ago
For me it was the absolute joy in getting junk food at a friend's house for sure lol
Pretty Pangolin 5 years ago
Yes, I remember being really distressed one time because someone threw away my Rocket Pop before I was done with it!
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Treessimontrees 5 years ago
I have a score of at least 50/65. Bit sad to think I thought I was partially unique. Didn't see this listed, but I used to pour Coke into a coffee mug and pretend it was hot coffee when younger, sipping it, as though it would burn my mouth.
Willow Anderson 5 years ago
I’m actually kind of disappointed it didt have the taking apart of nutty bars.
your_lesbian_friend 5 years ago
I saw the same story on buzzfeed like a week ago.... whatever still funny hah!
Mary Dev-Cap 4 years ago
C'est quand je vois ce genre de trucs que je m'en rend compte qu'au final, tout ce qui nous sépare, c'est nos langues. Parce que notre enfance est quasiment (voir exactement) la même 😂
Pretty Pangolin 5 years ago
We had a fad when I was 8 or 10 (mid-70s) of felt mouse figures, about life sized, wearing an outfit and accessories. They were expensive in the stores so if our parents weren't buying, we would take felt and accessories and make our own.
Ella Blackwood 5 years ago
What a great journey back to childhood! I did almost all of these things! It's so funny to see that they seem to be almost universal.
Luisa Vasconcelos 5 years ago
I still do some of those things. Not fully aware how adulthood works.
We Were On A Break! 5 years ago
I love that most of them are even relatable to people from different countries and cultures.
The Girl on Fire 5 years ago
I'm glad to see that even though I was socially isolated and homeschooled as a child, my childhood still shared things in common with everyone else's :)
Liza Sniboebel 5 years ago
Wearing swim goggles and pretending to swim through the house and looking at the ceiling pretending the house is upside down raising my feet to walk over lamps
LittleMissLotus 5 years ago
For me it was the absolute joy in getting junk food at a friend's house for sure lol
Pretty Pangolin 5 years ago
Yes, I remember being really distressed one time because someone threw away my Rocket Pop before I was done with it!
Load More Replies... Treessimontrees 5 years ago
I have a score of at least 50/65. Bit sad to think I thought I was partially unique. Didn't see this listed, but I used to pour Coke into a coffee mug and pretend it was hot coffee when younger, sipping it, as though it would burn my mouth.
Willow Anderson 5 years ago
I’m actually kind of disappointed it didt have the taking apart of nutty bars.
your_lesbian_friend 5 years ago
I saw the same story on buzzfeed like a week ago.... whatever still funny hah!
Mary Dev-Cap 4 years ago
C'est quand je vois ce genre de trucs que je m'en rend compte qu'au final, tout ce qui nous sépare, c'est nos langues. Parce que notre enfance est quasiment (voir exactement) la même 😂
Pretty Pangolin 5 years ago
We had a fad when I was 8 or 10 (mid-70s) of felt mouse figures, about life sized, wearing an outfit and accessories. They were expensive in the stores so if our parents weren't buying, we would take felt and accessories and make our own.
Ella Blackwood 5 years ago
What a great journey back to childhood! I did almost all of these things! It's so funny to see that they seem to be almost universal.
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