What did you used to believe as a kid? I’m not talking about Father Christmas, The Tooth Fairy or the Easter Bunny, but the seemingly random things that you used to believe.
I came across this website the other day. It’s a place where you can submit all those things that you used to believe; either the things your parents told you or the things that made perfect sense in your head but no one else seemed to get. You can now find out you were not alone!
My Mum and Dad were just like any other parents in that they took great pleasure in telling me things, just to be entertained by my reaction. It seems to be a perk of the job which can provide many hours (or sometimes months!) of entertainment.
There seem to be standard things that ALL parents tell their kids; crusts make your hair curly, carrots help you see in the dark, you’ll stay that way if the wind changes and if you swallow chewing gum it will take 7 years for it to digest. The ones they were probably told as a kid too.
Then there are the ones that parents make up themselves. My parents had two, both of which I believed for quite a while.
In the town where I lived as a kid, there was a huge statue of Issac Newton which stood outside the town hall. My parents used to tell me that at night he would get down of his stand and roam about the town. I was never clear about what he was doing on his nightly trips, but it all sounded very realistic to me and I used to lay awake at night, waiting for him to come down our street. Part of me would be wishing that he would come, so I could see for myself what he was doing. The other part was terrified; convinced he was some kind of relation to the more scary giants in the BFG!
I was quite a gullible kid and also believed them when they told me that the cat’s eyes in the middle of the road were actually cat’s eyes! The story was that this was how the cats made their living and if I looked very carefully at dusk, I would see all the cats walking down the road to their station, where they would then lay in bed for the night, just looking into the road, to help drivers stay on the right side of the road. I never saw the cats.
I don’t believe either of those things now. My only concern is that I can’t find anyone else on the site who believed anything even remotely similar…
Sunday 16 September 2007
The things they say
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4 comments:
Ages ago there was a Disney movie called BABES IN TOYLAND. It's poorly done, but I remember the toys came to life when kids were sleeping. When TOY STORY came out my boys bought into the toys are alive when you aren't looking theory. It's one of those sort of secret beliefs, at least for me, that's hard to give up because believing it feels so good.
Oh, and who cares if no one else believed anything remotely similar to you? You are an original. That's way better than riding along with the herd.
Ooo, toys that are really alive! I remember believing my teddies were really living things and having to make sure they were comfortable and had enough to eat. It was all very complicated and meant leaving the house could be a long process!
I am generally happy to be unique, but occasionally wonder exactly where the line is between uniqueness (is that a word?) and slight insanity!
My early sex education was a bit of an eye-opener. My mother told me that she bought an egg from the post office (preference for a black baby, but they had run out), placed it on the spare bedroom bed, and after a few months, I was hatched.
I don't think she has ever forgiven me for not being a black baby egg.
Agnes - Well, that's one alternative to the stork! When did the Royal Mail stop that particular sideline? It puts a new spin on the things they deliver!
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