Being a kid was not easy. The world was full of threats, and you could take nothing for granted. If you swallowed a seed, the plant would grow in your body. A psycho would hide behind the shower curtain every time you entered the bathroom. And for dessert, you could never skip a square when walking down the sidewalk, ‘cause you'd either get someone close to you in trouble, or (pick one) the plague would start.
Luckily, we are all past this point and as grown adults, most of these irrational fears are far behind us. But that doesn't mean we don’t remember them, since so many people on Twitter feel like it was yesterday. After one woman who goes by the Twitter handle @torY asked “did anyone else go through a phase as a kid where u were genuinely concerned ab the bermuda triangle?” it soon became evident that not only was she not the only one, but that there are many more threats we had to endure as kids.
So let’s see what things used to send chills down our spine right down below, and please remember, even if those fears may look unreasonable today, it doesn’t mean they weren’t real and distressing then.
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I was scared of quicksand, piranhas and accidental body swaps or time travel XD overactive imagination and anxiety, me? Never XD
To find out more about fears among children, Bored Panda reached out to Dr. Kristin Pleines, a clinical social therapist at Manhattan Play Therapy who specializes in doing trauma work to help young families and children. Kristin explained that irrational fears happen to kids of all ages, and there are very common fears that children in different age groups may experience.
Kristin suggests that parents validate their child’s feelings first. “We want the child to feel validated, supported, and safe.” She gave an example of a seven-year-old afraid of being snuck up on by a snake—a child who has never even encountered a snake.
“You might say something like, ‘I'm sorry you feel scared. We all get scared sometimes, and I know it's not fun. But there aren't any snakes in our house, and we aren't going to keep looking for them, because you're safe here. I think your brain is playing a little trick on you, so let's find a way to distract it!’”
It’s something which lots of people think is a fact but there’s no law against driving with your interior lights on. But at night it can be distracting or interfere with your vision by reflecting off of the inside of the windscreen. If you’re pulled over and it’s decided that your light was a probable cause in any bad driving, you can expect to get a careless driving charge though.
Another way is to get creative. “For example, you might pretend to be snakes and wiggle around, or start to research different kinds of unique snakes together. This is actually a type of exposure, which helps desensitize the child to his or her fear,” Kristin said.
Usually, irrational fears tend to go away on their own as children develop. Only if the fear persists for more than a few months, or if it begins to interfere with the child's daily functioning, Kristin recommends that parents consult a therapist.
“For example, if a child begins avoiding situations that he or she previously enjoyed in an effort to avoid reminders of their fear, this is a sign that the fear might be better addressed with the help of a professional.”
The therapist also explained that irrational fears can be caused by trauma, OCD, and anxiety, and “there is a particular nuance to addressing fears based on their underlying cause.”
With the farts my dad produced spontaneous combustion really didn't seem to be that far off to me...
SO MUCH YES!!! I didn't have a car seat as a child, I rode in the back of pick up trucks, I walked the bank of the Mississippi river alone, but GOD FORBID I should swim right after eating.
You could, actually. You could get a cramp and be unable to swim back to shore. 🤷
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We were always told to wait an hour after eating before going to swim. One summer, we held a family reunion at a park with a swimming pool. All our older cousins were in the pool enjoying themselves, but my aunt wouldn't let her 7-year-old son go with them, since he'd eaten later. He moped and moped for about 30 minutes then said, "Momma, I farted. Does that count?"
My mum used to tell me not to eat banana's before getting in the bath or i'll drown lol
Running after eating was a thing at our house as well, but can't remember what one would get when doing so...
I was also told that if I tried to swim in damp trunks I would get a chill in my kidneys. To my dear mums intense irritation I put it to closer scrutiny - how dry do they have to be not to get a chill? If I put them on and ran to the pool would I still get a chill? If I took a shower and then put them on etc etc. I think she realised she had bought into a long standing myth herself.
Yeah but there was a concession stand at the pool and hardly anyone drowned. Disappointing.
Actually, my mom didn't even let me take a shower after eating. She thought getting wet had something to do with it.
I had friends who thought that even as adults. Do not understand that thought process, or possible lack, at all.
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no, my parents sat we would puke our intestines out if you swim after eating
No. I swim after eating lunch and I can dive to 12 ft from floating on my back.
i used to be scared ofmonsters in the closet. now i relize the only thing that was in there was me
Well, as the daughter of a nurse, I know it is a possibility that you can get stomach cramps if you swim right after eating. It has happened! Just because it doesn't happen 99% of the time doesn't mean we shouldn't take steps to prevent it. Besides: does it really affect your life if you wait to go back in the water after you eat?
My parents genuinely believed that to be true, I still can't convince them otherwise.
Food takes much longer than an hour to move through your digestive system. If swimming after eating were actually dangerous, everyone who doesn't fast for almost an entire day before swimming would drown.
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It isn't poisonous but you can choke on it. https://www.healthline.com/health/digestive-health/what-happens-if-you-eat-silica-gel
My very first home had a basement and I was so terrified of this that the first thing I did in fixing it up was have a light switch installed at the top of the stairs. That was literally #1 on the fixer-upper list. My father (who was helping with the fixing up) was like, first thing should be get rid of the carpet, and I was like NO, BASEMENT LIGHTS CONTROLLED AT THE TOP OF THE STAIRS.
I had a phase as a child where I thought eating spicy food might cause me to combust in my sleep so would have a long shower before bed... as water would stop any fire that had started inside me... sounds crazy but I guess there is some kid logic in there somewhere.
That isn't emphasising a danger, that is exaggerating and unreasonably scaring that poor child. Teaching care is one thing, giving people lifelong phobias isn't good parenting.
In the days of VHS tape, one of my friends pulled the FBI copyright warnings out of all his tapes and spliced them together in an empty cassette. 2 hours of FBI warnings! Very Andy Warhol-ish . . .
My concern was volcanos. I read a book when I was in grade school about a farmer in Mexico who saw a volcano erupt from his corn field. Mind you, I lived in Florida (before it became awful ) which is comprised mainly of sandstone with no tectonic plate with hundreds of miles. I was suspicious of every hole in the ground. Worried about it for years.
I was scared that if I sat on the toilet too long, then a snake-like monster would emerge from the water and bite my ass
I don't know if every swimming pool have shark, but some of them certainly do. I'm sure!
Our dog got skunked so yes. I was terrified. I am allergic to tomatoes, so bathing in tomato juice would not have been an option for me.
If people keep destroying the habitat of animals, they must not be surprised when the animals move into the peoples habitat.
I was 18 when this was released and tbh she creeped me out! I remember thinking that's a bit too much for kids. When her glasses and wig came off was one awful, but her talking to them and her creepy "cat" has to be the worst bit of that scene
Note: this post originally had 66 images. It’s been shortened to the top 30 images based on user votes.
And now think what adults these days are afraid of: Vaccinations. Masks. People from other countries. Compared to this, childhood fears are very rational!
As a kid being buried alive was my irrational fear and because of a tv advert I was utterly convinced that every time you took a journey on a London bus the conductor would give you a Double Decker (UK chocolate bar)
The latter one would have been amazing. I loved Double Deckers!
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My #1 fear growing up was a house fire at night. I would lay in bed and make sure I knew where my glasses were and the stuffed animals I wanted to save were within arms reach. Then my neighbors house did have a fire, which only added to that fear. I am still afraid - I started my furnace yesterday after having it cleaned and had to leave for work, hoping and praying it was still standing when I got home. Spoiler: it was.
Omg, yes!! I was constantly terrified robbers were going to come through my window and steal my stuffed animals, so I would spend an hour collecting them and putting them around my body so I was touching every single one of them with at least one finger so if they got kidnapped when I was sleeping I would know. I just fell asleep like that and it’s a miracle I didn’t suffocate!
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Apparently, as a toddler, I used to be scared of cauliflower... I still wanted to touch it though, so I'd be doing it while screaming my head off.
My first grade teacher told us how the sun would expand and consume the Earth and I don't think she adequately expressed the time frame for that because I spent a lot of time thinking that was imminent and then in third grade we had to watch a "documentary" called Threads about what would happen if the Cold War stopped being so cold and I was traumatized believing I would end up in a concentration camp if I managed to survive the initial attack. That film isn't fit for anybody, much less third-graders.
That was frightening!!! I remember Threads,and the American equivalent 'The day after' ...not suitable viewing for a 12 year old..nightmares for months!!
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Was anyone else told that if you slept with a necklace on, you would suffocate?
Yes! I make my daughter take off her necklaces before bed for this very reason.
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I was told if you undo your belly button your butt falls off. This was told to me to stop me randomly playing with my bellybutton but it just made me do it more. Also my dad told me if you think about this problem or that problem you’ll drive yourself crazy. Challenge accepted lol
Thanks for the laugh! That's EXCELLENT. I was told gum is made from the egg sacks of spiders.
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Not one mention about growing up in California and waiting for the big one where the whole state would slide into the Pacific Ocean?
As someone who grew up in California I always thought that was an irrational fear people from other states had but not natives.
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During what I now know must have been the Cuban missile crisis, I remember asking my Mom if the Russians would promise not to bomb us if I sent them all of my stuffed animals. I also remember practicing running home from school as fast as possible so that when the alarms sounded for the missile attack I could get home before they hit. I'm 65 now and these are two of my most vivid memories.
I wasn’t just terrified of sharks being in the pool, I was terrified they’d swim up the bathtub drain. I stopped taking bubble baths because I wouldn’t be able to see if there was a shark in the tub. We did have an actual issue once with a frog coming up the toilet plumbing, though.
I'm with you Banjo Peppers--and alligators biting my butt on the toilet, and, of course, falling down an outhouse "hole"
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When I was a young child I collected little soaps. They were in packages or little containers or sometimes a bunch of them in a box with plastic on the top so you could see them. In the beginning I got a beautiful little one from my grandparents in a fancy container. My grandpa said to me: "Don't open and smell it too often, or the smell will disappear!". I have to admit, I believed it longer than I should have. Lol. Not a big fear like the ones shared here, but I was genuinely afraid the smell would go away. Though it is peanuts next to all these other things.
I feared Bears- had the same series of nightmares each month I freaked myself out about bears. I’m all good though now but I have a big fear of caterpillars.
There was an show called Angry Beavers on Nickelodeon and in one of the episodes a bunch of "finger monsters " would crawl into your ears while you were sleeping and control you....something so silly made me make sure my ears were ALWAYS covered when I slept
I don't remember that episode bit omg yes I remember angry bearers it was nuts
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Between the ages of 7-10 whenever I was showering I was afraid that there were witches on the other side of the curtain waiting to kidnap me as soon as I got out. I wasn’t scared of the witches, I was always afraid of something happening to me while I was naked like the house burning down.
I was terrified of the vulture things from the dark crystal, that and rain. I dont know why but I was convinced that if the rain got on me id dissolve or something.
I thought I could get sucked into the vacuum grates they used to have along the footpaths in town. When they were on they made a creepy sound and I would walk the long way around lest I get sucked in (bearing in mind the gaps on the grating couldn't have been more than 5mm wide (1/5th of an inch)
I was terrified of music intro for the X-files, I ran away and hid under my bed covers. I also had a soft toy called Chiggles Giggles and it scared the absolute crap out of me, my mum had to take the batteries out coz the eyes flashed yellow and it made an awful sound. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eLxUfD_Pc6g
Alley Cats, I thought they would come in through my window and attack me.
my grandma always told me when i stuck out my lip, a bird would poop on it - i have to tell my nephews that all the time now 😂
I honestly thought that only I could prevent forest fires from the ages of about 4-8. Smokey the Bear messed me up
Did kids in other countries also think that spherical thunders are such a big issue? We grew up with this fear that a spherical thunder would come from the window and kill us all, we had training in school and so on. I talked recently with people from the UK and Canada, and they haven't even heard of such thing.
What's a spherical thunder? That sounds like a really cool name for a tornado or hurricane, but I've never head that term before so I'm not sure if that's what you mean.
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my mom used to tell me that if i drink more than 2 yakults(its kind of fermented milk here in brazil)it would become poison and kill me,so i still cant drink more than 2
I'm in my 60s. As a kid my big fears were of the atomic bomb, Russia. Syfy movies brought fear of insects, mostly spiders crawling out from nuclear test sites growing to obscenely huge dimensions. Fear of alien attacks. Ofcourse as I was born with an anxiety disorder my childhood was riddled with fear. So normal? Don't know. Oh, and a fear of rabies, thank you Old yeller.
So I'm the only one that's stays awake at night thinking about how our solar system and entire galaxy is flying millions of miles through space each day while interstellar black holes are stationary. Just me?
They aren't stationary. They entire universe, including your black holes, is expanding, so constantly on the move.
Load More Replies... As a kid, I was absolutely terrified of factories and jack-in-the-boxes. Thanks, DK64.
I had a jack-in-the-box. Every time the clown popped out, I would cry for a minute, push it back in, then crank away until he popped out again... At almost 60, I'm still a glutton for punishment.
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if you guys wanna be scared watch happy tree friends flippys birthday I cried in the episode from how scary it was this was like ten years ago
The coming Ice Age, Reagan starting a nuclear war, oil running out by 2000, no electricity, massive, starvation in Africa, 50% of America contracting AIDS, never seeing snow again, ...
I once thought I saw the shadows of Sly and Gobbo (from Noddy) behind my curtains so I just didn't open my curtains. TBH I still don't in my bedroom. But typical "horror" of someone opening curtains in the dark and there being something outside also means I will not open curtains in the dark (my mum used to open the living room curtains when she went to bed - like what if the axe murderer is peering in waiting for you to draw them back!?. And of course, checking behind the shower curtain (still do, even in hotels and under the bed)
The words "WARNER HOME VIDEO" at the starts of movies, made me think it was warning us about a genuine threat - like a public information video. Eg Gremlins has this at the start of it - terrifying (and why was I watching 15 movies when I was 8?!)
One of my biggest fears was having a bug crawl in my ear while I slept. Then it really happened this January, Monday the 13th. I woke at 2am while staying in a crappy hotel during a work trip. Had to Google the nearest urgent care which was 5 miles away. Got dressed and drove there all the while I could feel it kicking and moving. Doctors had to flush it 4 times to dislodge it. I felt it drown in my ear as it's kicks slowed down. Now I sleep with ear plugs and a pillow over my head. I'd upload pics but I don't know how.
Twelve years old, School Camp: I had a flying beetle crash-land in my right ear while I was sleeping. I woke screaming with fright and pain, but everyone assumed I’d just had a nightmare. I eventually convinced a teacher that my agony was real, and they used eye drops to drown the bug. The next morning, I was taken to a hospital clinic, where they had a very quick look before using a syringe of cold water to flush the body out. If they’d thought about it, a gentler way of removing the bug might have prevented the small perforation in my eardrum from tearing wide open, but they didn’t, and nor did they check the eardrum afterwards. The damage wasn’t discovered until six weeks later, when we went swimming, and I complained about the feeling of water rushing into my inner ear. It resulted in permanent partial hearing loss, and I definitely have to have something shielding my ears if I want to sleep peacefully.
Load More Replies... And now think what adults these days are afraid of: Vaccinations. Masks. People from other countries. Compared to this, childhood fears are very rational!
As a kid being buried alive was my irrational fear and because of a tv advert I was utterly convinced that every time you took a journey on a London bus the conductor would give you a Double Decker (UK chocolate bar)
The latter one would have been amazing. I loved Double Deckers!
Load More Replies... My #1 fear growing up was a house fire at night. I would lay in bed and make sure I knew where my glasses were and the stuffed animals I wanted to save were within arms reach. Then my neighbors house did have a fire, which only added to that fear. I am still afraid - I started my furnace yesterday after having it cleaned and had to leave for work, hoping and praying it was still standing when I got home. Spoiler: it was.
Omg, yes!! I was constantly terrified robbers were going to come through my window and steal my stuffed animals, so I would spend an hour collecting them and putting them around my body so I was touching every single one of them with at least one finger so if they got kidnapped when I was sleeping I would know. I just fell asleep like that and it’s a miracle I didn’t suffocate!
Load More Replies... Apparently, as a toddler, I used to be scared of cauliflower... I still wanted to touch it though, so I'd be doing it while screaming my head off.
My first grade teacher told us how the sun would expand and consume the Earth and I don't think she adequately expressed the time frame for that because I spent a lot of time thinking that was imminent and then in third grade we had to watch a "documentary" called Threads about what would happen if the Cold War stopped being so cold and I was traumatized believing I would end up in a concentration camp if I managed to survive the initial attack. That film isn't fit for anybody, much less third-graders.
That was frightening!!! I remember Threads,and the American equivalent 'The day after' ...not suitable viewing for a 12 year old..nightmares for months!!
Load More Replies... Was anyone else told that if you slept with a necklace on, you would suffocate?
Yes! I make my daughter take off her necklaces before bed for this very reason.
Load More Replies... I was told if you undo your belly button your butt falls off. This was told to me to stop me randomly playing with my bellybutton but it just made me do it more. Also my dad told me if you think about this problem or that problem you’ll drive yourself crazy. Challenge accepted lol
Thanks for the laugh! That's EXCELLENT. I was told gum is made from the egg sacks of spiders.
Load More Replies... Not one mention about growing up in California and waiting for the big one where the whole state would slide into the Pacific Ocean?
As someone who grew up in California I always thought that was an irrational fear people from other states had but not natives.
Load More Replies... During what I now know must have been the Cuban missile crisis, I remember asking my Mom if the Russians would promise not to bomb us if I sent them all of my stuffed animals. I also remember practicing running home from school as fast as possible so that when the alarms sounded for the missile attack I could get home before they hit. I'm 65 now and these are two of my most vivid memories.
I wasn’t just terrified of sharks being in the pool, I was terrified they’d swim up the bathtub drain. I stopped taking bubble baths because I wouldn’t be able to see if there was a shark in the tub. We did have an actual issue once with a frog coming up the toilet plumbing, though.
I'm with you Banjo Peppers--and alligators biting my butt on the toilet, and, of course, falling down an outhouse "hole"
Load More Replies... When I was a young child I collected little soaps. They were in packages or little containers or sometimes a bunch of them in a box with plastic on the top so you could see them. In the beginning I got a beautiful little one from my grandparents in a fancy container. My grandpa said to me: "Don't open and smell it too often, or the smell will disappear!". I have to admit, I believed it longer than I should have. Lol. Not a big fear like the ones shared here, but I was genuinely afraid the smell would go away. Though it is peanuts next to all these other things.
I feared Bears- had the same series of nightmares each month I freaked myself out about bears. I’m all good though now but I have a big fear of caterpillars.
There was an show called Angry Beavers on Nickelodeon and in one of the episodes a bunch of "finger monsters " would crawl into your ears while you were sleeping and control you....something so silly made me make sure my ears were ALWAYS covered when I slept
I don't remember that episode bit omg yes I remember angry bearers it was nuts
Load More Replies... Between the ages of 7-10 whenever I was showering I was afraid that there were witches on the other side of the curtain waiting to kidnap me as soon as I got out. I wasn’t scared of the witches, I was always afraid of something happening to me while I was naked like the house burning down.
I was terrified of the vulture things from the dark crystal, that and rain. I dont know why but I was convinced that if the rain got on me id dissolve or something.
I thought I could get sucked into the vacuum grates they used to have along the footpaths in town. When they were on they made a creepy sound and I would walk the long way around lest I get sucked in (bearing in mind the gaps on the grating couldn't have been more than 5mm wide (1/5th of an inch)
I was terrified of music intro for the X-files, I ran away and hid under my bed covers. I also had a soft toy called Chiggles Giggles and it scared the absolute crap out of me, my mum had to take the batteries out coz the eyes flashed yellow and it made an awful sound. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eLxUfD_Pc6g
Alley Cats, I thought they would come in through my window and attack me.
my grandma always told me when i stuck out my lip, a bird would poop on it - i have to tell my nephews that all the time now 😂
I honestly thought that only I could prevent forest fires from the ages of about 4-8. Smokey the Bear messed me up
Did kids in other countries also think that spherical thunders are such a big issue? We grew up with this fear that a spherical thunder would come from the window and kill us all, we had training in school and so on. I talked recently with people from the UK and Canada, and they haven't even heard of such thing.
What's a spherical thunder? That sounds like a really cool name for a tornado or hurricane, but I've never head that term before so I'm not sure if that's what you mean.
Load More Replies... my mom used to tell me that if i drink more than 2 yakults(its kind of fermented milk here in brazil)it would become poison and kill me,so i still cant drink more than 2
I'm in my 60s. As a kid my big fears were of the atomic bomb, Russia. Syfy movies brought fear of insects, mostly spiders crawling out from nuclear test sites growing to obscenely huge dimensions. Fear of alien attacks. Ofcourse as I was born with an anxiety disorder my childhood was riddled with fear. So normal? Don't know. Oh, and a fear of rabies, thank you Old yeller.
So I'm the only one that's stays awake at night thinking about how our solar system and entire galaxy is flying millions of miles through space each day while interstellar black holes are stationary. Just me?
They aren't stationary. They entire universe, including your black holes, is expanding, so constantly on the move.
Load More Replies... As a kid, I was absolutely terrified of factories and jack-in-the-boxes. Thanks, DK64.
I had a jack-in-the-box. Every time the clown popped out, I would cry for a minute, push it back in, then crank away until he popped out again... At almost 60, I'm still a glutton for punishment.
Load More Replies... if you guys wanna be scared watch happy tree friends flippys birthday I cried in the episode from how scary it was this was like ten years ago
The coming Ice Age, Reagan starting a nuclear war, oil running out by 2000, no electricity, massive, starvation in Africa, 50% of America contracting AIDS, never seeing snow again, ...
I once thought I saw the shadows of Sly and Gobbo (from Noddy) behind my curtains so I just didn't open my curtains. TBH I still don't in my bedroom. But typical "horror" of someone opening curtains in the dark and there being something outside also means I will not open curtains in the dark (my mum used to open the living room curtains when she went to bed - like what if the axe murderer is peering in waiting for you to draw them back!?. And of course, checking behind the shower curtain (still do, even in hotels and under the bed)
The words "WARNER HOME VIDEO" at the starts of movies, made me think it was warning us about a genuine threat - like a public information video. Eg Gremlins has this at the start of it - terrifying (and why was I watching 15 movies when I was 8?!)
One of my biggest fears was having a bug crawl in my ear while I slept. Then it really happened this January, Monday the 13th. I woke at 2am while staying in a crappy hotel during a work trip. Had to Google the nearest urgent care which was 5 miles away. Got dressed and drove there all the while I could feel it kicking and moving. Doctors had to flush it 4 times to dislodge it. I felt it drown in my ear as it's kicks slowed down. Now I sleep with ear plugs and a pillow over my head. I'd upload pics but I don't know how.
Twelve years old, School Camp: I had a flying beetle crash-land in my right ear while I was sleeping. I woke screaming with fright and pain, but everyone assumed I’d just had a nightmare. I eventually convinced a teacher that my agony was real, and they used eye drops to drown the bug. The next morning, I was taken to a hospital clinic, where they had a very quick look before using a syringe of cold water to flush the body out. If they’d thought about it, a gentler way of removing the bug might have prevented the small perforation in my eardrum from tearing wide open, but they didn’t, and nor did they check the eardrum afterwards. The damage wasn’t discovered until six weeks later, when we went swimming, and I complained about the feeling of water rushing into my inner ear. It resulted in permanent partial hearing loss, and I definitely have to have something shielding my ears if I want to sleep peacefully.
Load More Replies...