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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.

#1

Things-Everyone-Experienced-In-Childhood

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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.

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#4

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What does a Foxxy say?
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4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I used to draw on my erasers and then stamp them on my skin whilst the pen ink was still wet.

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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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#19

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Starbelly Eleven
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4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

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
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4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

i always dreamed of having this one as kid, but mom said it was too expensive...

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Bookey
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4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I hated this!! And they'd ask "do you remember me"? How the flipping heck would I remember you?

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Hendra Lim
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4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

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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LOttawa
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4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I still do that when I go shopping with my teen. It's fun to innocently embarrass her.

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Danish Dynomummy
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4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

So true. And the same snacks you had at home tasted 1000 times better at their place!

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Sera the Dragon
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

“First one there is Blue-Eyes White Dragon” or something like that

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Sterling Wible
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4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I do that with my friends bowing there slow but they get in there bike and me I’m sad.

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4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

This is my brothers and I trying to get shotgun of the passenger seat at front.

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Brooklyn Ruby
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

ya know that was the best part of being 13 and ur sister was 9

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Steve Cruz
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4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

If me and my sister couldn't take turns sitting in front (with no seat belts), we both had to sit in back.

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Rinpai
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4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

My brother and I never had this issue coz he liked the front seat I liked the back seat. Way roomier given it was just the two of us and one parent to drive.

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Alex Newell
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4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

What about speed walking as fast as possible without the hall monitors catching you run

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#39

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4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

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.

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Ilona
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4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I did that once.. they cared. I ended up being so embarrassed about pretending to have drowned that I actually pretended to have drowned

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Gemma Lees
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4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

We would sing "Constantinople is a very long word, can you spell it?" Same outcome.

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Francis
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4 years ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

stil happens today... but i loose track of my bf :D he says he wants a leash for me, so i don't get lost/wander away :D

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#50

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MagicalUnicorn
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4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

never occurred to me as a kid, but totally doing it now at work as 34 year old :D

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Bookey
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4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I did this! Maybe that's why my parents fought so much and are separated now.

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LOttawa
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4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

If everything worked as it should on the first try, then yes you did deserve one.

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#58

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Kiss Army
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4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Or with pizza. I am 47 and have not had milk with pizza since grade school and have NO plans to change that...

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#59

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Coleen
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4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Are you sure you weren't doing that when you typed the description for this pic? XD

#61

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Kiss Army
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4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

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.

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Ilona
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4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

School buses weren't a thing here. We rode our bikes to school. No matter what the weather was.

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