Yes, our childhood included ice cream trucks and Saturday morning cartoons, but it also included wildly fabricated information we were given by grown-ups in order to shut us up, frighten us, or keep us in line. And the cherry on top is, some of us remain half-convinced about all of this even today! These 15 lies were seared into our consciousness—and still linger in our grown-up brains.
“Swallowing Watermelon Seeds Will Grow a Whole Vine in Your Belly”
“Don’t swallow the watermelon seeds, or you’ll have a farm in your stomach!” Just the mental picture was enough to induce seed-spitting anxiety. To this very day, some people pause before swallowing fruit seeds. Reality check: your stomach is not a greenhouse, but gosh, it certainly made us avoid choking on those slimy suckers.
“If You Cross Your Eyes, They’ll Get Stuck Like That”
You were just joking, and the next thing you know, it’s an emergency. This one mistake made us believe one goofy face could ruin our lives. Meanwhile, grown folks were down here deep-frying questionable casseroles and suffering no repercussions. Let’s be honest—no one ever ended up stuck, but still, we don’t want to take the risk. Why? Because deep in our subconscious, that one time your cousin’s eyes looked weird haunts you.
“Your Bellybutton Is Where They Tied You Shut”
Who came up with this body horror nonsense? We were told our bellybutton was some sort of human twist tie, and we went along for the ride. It’s no wonder we all grew up feeling vaguely uneasy about our own belly buttons. It’s not a knot, Susan—there’s a scar there. And no, yanking on it won’t “un-do” you like one of those nifty zippers. But confess it—you’ve stuck your finger in there to see what would happen.
“You Can’t Swim After Eating, or You’ll Drown”
Ah yes, the party crasher of all summer parties. We waited in agony for 30 minutes following lunch, staring at the pool like sad puppies. Reality check, there’s no real proof this ever made any difference. We sacrificed cannonballs for nothing.
“If You Tell a Lie, Your Nose Will Grow”
We all have Pinocchio to blame for our childhood guilt syndrome. One lie and you’d surreptitiously rub your nose, dreading it was already growing out.
“Sitting Too Close to the Television Will Damage Your Eyes”
Boomers treated the TV like it was some kind of retinal death ray. But you know what’s crazier than anything? It’s our parents needing bifocals now, and us still stuck to Netflix six inches away from our screens — our eyes are perfectly fine.
“Eat a Matchstick and a Fire Will Ignite in Your Belly”
Yes, this was actually one of those playground scary stories in some families. Swallow a match, and you’d explode from the inside. No logic whatsoever, but maximum fear quotient. Did any of us know any kid to whom it actually happened? Nope. Yet it certainly made us freak out during the dare.
“Eat Carrots to Improve Your Night Vision”
This is next-level sneaky because it originated back from wartime propaganda! British pilots didn’t want the Germans to know they possessed radar, so they scapegoated carrots. Moms went along with it — and now we’re munching carrots in the dark like morons.
“Santa’s Watching You ALL Year”
The original surveillance state. We were raised to believe we were under 24/7 observation by some festive Big Brother in a fur suit. Imagine telling kids that a stranger breaks into your house, but it’s fine because gifts. This one haunts your trust issues to this day.
“Touching a Toad Will Give You Warts”
Toads have had bad PR for decades due to this nonsense. Warts are viral, not the fault of our lumpy, poorly maligned amphibian pals. Sorry, toads — you deserved better, and we deserved fewer traumatic backyard expeditions.
“If You Pee in the Pool, It Turns Blue”
This falsehood was so potent, it made generations of us afraid of public pools as if they were CIA monitoring areas. The irony is, you fell for it. You actually thought there was some mystical dye out there to reveal you to the entire community. Jump to adulthood— and guess what? Total myth. However, fear of the pool snitch never really dissipated from our souls.
“Eating the Crust Gives You Curly Hair”
Anyone else choke down pizza crust, dreaming of luscious curls? This weird myth deceived us into devouring our plates, but science proves that the texture of our hair is purely genetic. All we ever received from crust is carbs.
“Chewing Ice Means You Have an Iron Deficiency”
Crunching on ice became a bizarre health rumor circulating in schoolyards. Were you bored, or was your body desperately signaling something? Breaking news: the majority of chewers are merely nervous, not secretly iron-deficient.
“Car Dome Lights On at Night = Jail”
We have no idea who fabricated this one, but they should win an Oscar. You were all convinced that turning on the dome light while driving was a crime of some sort. How parents flipped out like you’d activated an FBI alert. Flipping the switch still feels illegal to this day. Guess what? It’s perfectly okay. You’re not going to jail, Karen.
“The Tooth Fairy Is Definitely Real”
Let’s face it: we wished so hard for this one to be true. A magical creature offering cold, hard cash for used teeth? Pure genius. And the ultimate betrayal? Finding out it was your sleep-deprived parent creeping in at midnight and still forgetting at times.
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It was about who had the coolest lunchbox, the largest TV set, or the tastiest cereal. If you caught any of these at someone’s house as a kid, you knew they were rolling (or felt like they were). Let’s go take a trip down that savage memory lane.
20 Things That Meant You Were ‘Rich’ as a Kid
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Televisions were furniture items, telephones had tails attached to them, and fridges were louder than your uncle during Thanksgiving dinner. You won’t believe what the ordinary things in the past looked like—and in all sincerity, some of them were straight-up iconic.
17 Everyday Items That Looked Totally Different in the ’60s