I used to believe that after my mom had put me to bed at night she and the rest of my family would just up and leave never to be seen again. I could always hear them talking but I thought they had made a tape recording of their voices to trick me.

Kristi

I used to think that my godparents were fairy godparents, so every time I would come over to their house, I would walk up to my godmother and say, "Christine, I wish I had a pony." She would be like, "Uh....ok." One day, I got pretty fed up that they were not granting my wishes so in the middle of the visit I yelled, "You're fired!"

Kat is still wishing

My dad works on a minesite, which means flying there, working for two weeks and then being home for one. My little brother was certain when we dropped Dad off at the airport he got on his plane and flew around and around the moon for two weeks until we went to pick him up again.

Sim

My mother called my father Bill and he called her Phyll, and I thought they were calling each other the same thing.

Aussie

I used to believe that 'estranged' meant 'to become strange' and always wondered why women became strange after leaving their husbands, because they always said "so-and-so and his estranged wife".

This lasted until my mid-teens, sadly.

Anon

One day I was six years old. My dad told me that superman and the invicible man and superman came to my home in the afternoon. So he recorded is own voice with a taperecorder pretending he was superman and the invicible man. telling me to do my homework and be nice to my parents and grandparents. The next day I told the story in school and everybody was like woooow they came to your home. I was really scared that they would come back whenever I did something wrong. But now after 22 years I know it was him.

Kris

I used to think that my parents were aliens and I would block their thoughts by holding my breath. My mom looked at me al red-faced and asked me what was wrong and seemed to care, so I didn't think she was an alien anymore.

TomG

When I was little and doing something to make my mother angry, she'd tell me that if I didn't stop "her Giraffe and her iron would descend upon me." Only years later did I realize that what she was really saying "Her wrath and her ire" - Since I didn't know those words I had translated them to the closest words I did know - To this day I picture the giraffe and the iron floating down towards me when I think of her getting angry!

shannoneve

When me and my brother would try and tickle my dad he would go i wouldnt do that if i were you your brother mortimer tickled me once and you dont c him around!!! I believed we had another brother untill i was like 7

BoBo

This is my dads belief. When he was little, he used to think that baby showers were where a bunch of women got together and took a shower. he never wanted to go because he didnt want to be in a shower with a bunch of older naked women

Jessica

I still, after all of these years, remember the time my Nan rinsed her silver hair with a shade of blue. I also remember thinking that she was an alien replacement that looked very 'human' but forgot to get'human' hair. I think it took a couple of days and a lot of convincing from my Mum to believe that it was really my Nan.

Lauren

My mom would tell her friends "I'll give you a ring" as she was saying goodbye to them. I was always mad at her because she never gave me any rings. I thought she was giving them all jewelry.

Anon

I used to believe that my mother had been eaten by gremlins and that the gremlins wore thier skin and pretend to be my mom and sister. I wouldn't go into thier rooms at night because I thought that the gremlins took off thier uncomfortable human skin suits at night. I thought that if the gremlins knew I was on to them they would eat me. I also thought that if I let my feet dangle off the couch or the bed gremlins would eat my toes.

Sarah

My brother once made me believe that he was an Indian child that my parents found in the woods several years ago. His "real" name was Little Buffalo and he kept saying how his own people would someday come for him..... too bad, they never did.

Marisa

I believed because my Dad and all of his brothers had beards that ALL dads had beards!

Anon

my uncle got sent to prison on the Isle of Wight. I thought that he had been sent into exile.

nns

my sister thought that when people came to stay with us - friends, family, etc - they actually slept in the same bed as our parents. She then drew pictures of this at school when asked to describe what had happened at home that week.

nns

I truly believed that everyone's dad was called Dave.

Lyn

My Dad died when I was 1, but his mum, my Nan, used to visit regularly. My mum called her "mum", and she also called my Granny "Mum". As I couldn't remember my Dad, for years I puzzled over how my Mum could have two mothers! It was finally explained to me when I was about 8 and asked if one had given birth to half of her, and the other to the other half. It was only then that I clicked as to why my Nan talked about my Dad a lot and had pictures of him up everywhere!

Yvonne Relf, Leeds.

Until I was well along in years I always thought our family was Irish because my dads birthday was March 17th

Gladys