WHEN I WAS LITTLE BEING THE YOUNGEST OF THREE MY SISTERS TOLD ME I WAS BOUGHT AT KMART ON BLUE LIGHT SPECIAL AND WHEN I WAS EIGHTEEN I WOULD HAVE TO RETURN TO CHINA

SUSAN

I used to think that my Grandma & Grandpa were just friends of my parents who were named that. I didn't know for years that they were my mom's parents.

Andrea

For the first four years of my life, my mom had long dark brown hair. One day, she came home with very short 80's style frosted hair and I started to cry because I thought my real mom had been replaced by this strange woman. Although other aspects of her seemed similar to my real mom, I thought perhaps this new mom could be a robot of some type. I still sometimes think that people seem like they've been "replaced" after getting a different hair cut.

Anon

I used to think my parents had a secret mind reading machine under their waterbed that they used to listen to my thoughts. SO I was always reeeeaaallly careful, hehe.

Anon

When I was little and I asked my mom what year she was born in, she would consistently and earnestly answer 1961. My dad was born in 1950, and was forthcoming about it. For some reason, I mentally created two categories of grown-ups: "Young" (born 1950 or later) and "Old" (born anytime before 1950), and I was thrilled that both my parents were "young." Imagine my horror when my mom started telling me the real year she was born: 1948. I was probably 8 or 9 by then, and I refused to believe her for at least two more years until I was doing a family tree for school and I demanded she tell me the truth so I could get a good grade. Oddly enough, she's a high school teacher and most of her students refuse to believe she's in her 50s, so maybe it's not just me!

Any woman who lies about her age would love to have me as a daughter

My parents had some friends who were childless, and once they told me that I was going to spend the night with them, I became terrified that they would like me too much and never give me back. My parents and the friends laughed, but I didn't believe them.

Linda from Los Angels

Until I was about 7 or 8, I was almost completely convinced I was adopted. When I told my mom this she showed me a picture of her holding me, as a newborn in a hospital bed. I also, at the time, thought that when you adopted a baby, you got it from the nursery center in the hospital where they bring the babies after they're born, so I thought my mom adopted me, then went into a hospital room and took a picture so she could fool me later when I got old enough to figure out the truth.

Rachael

I believed my younger sister was adopted, as she had made up an elaborate story about her "real" family. This family was the "Pigmy Ant" family. My sister's real name was Kary Pigmy Ant, her father-Harry Pigmy Ant, Her mother-Mary Pigmy Ant, and so on with brothers and sisters. When I asked how she knew she was adopted, she often pointed out her large ears and nose. I had to agree with her about that, so we weren't sisters for a couple of years, just family friends.

Anon

When my dad was upset he'd pace back and forth in the living room.

I thought he was only angry when his face turned red, and since I was very young and small and couldn't see his face from behind, I assumed that this was some sort of "hopscotch" sort of activity and I'd pace right behind him. I loved spending time with my dad. This was a great time to play with him. Lucky that my mom was around to tell me not to curse like him though. The leader cursed, not the follower.

Leslie

When I was about 5, I was certain (for no particular reason) that someday my parents would abandon my brother and me during the night. Every night for quite some time I would wake up of my own accord, go down the hall, and peek into my parents' bedroom, and every night they would be there sound asleep. I would go back to bed and sleep soundly for the rest of the night.

Then one night I went and looked, and sure enough, they had done it. The bed was made and they were gone. Oddly, I wasn't afraid, because I had been expecting it. However, I had been told that if ever anything went wrong and my parents weren't around to help, I was to go to the neighbors' flat upstairs and ask them for help. So I did this, in my PJs (I was used to going up and down the stairs by myself) and told the lady that my parents had left us. But they hadn't. They were with her -- they had put us to bed and gone to the neighbor's for all of ten minutes for a drink.

Somehow finding them there left me permanently reassured, and I never "checked on them" again.

Never abandoned

Both of my grandmothers are named connie, so when i was younger, i thought that all grandmothers were named connie. I went on for years calling all of my friends grandmothers connie. I was clearly a specail child.

Jasmine

i believed that since my dad's name was "bill" and my best friend's dad's name was "bill," that if you were a dad, your name was "bill."

bryn

When I was a kid and I asked my mother why my dad went to work, she would say "to make money."

So I thought his job was actually making money.

Steve G. in Kokomo

When we were little my mum used to tell me and my sister that if we were bad she would take us back to the shop where she got us and change us for nicer children. We believed her for a long time!

Anon

when i was about 5 i used to believe that my grandmother was really an aligator in a human skin, and when she went home at night alone, (she was a widow) that she would take off her human skin and lick her lips, thinking of who to eat next!

Anon

My mom always referred to herself as being a tom-boy when she was younger. This had me pretty scared because now she was a girl. I thought that one day would also become a mom and have to have babies.

teeps

Both of my parents fathers died long before I was born. I grew up thinking that grandfathers were these really cool old men who went on adventures. For some reason, I would tell stories to my family of "When I was a grandfather".

I guess I was just trying to fit in... all my friends had grandfathers.

Kyle

I noticed when I was about 8 or 9 that my Great Aunts had smooth legs and wrinkled faces. I concluded the bottom half was the Aunt and the top hald of them was the Great. Aunts were younger and "Great" was older just like Great Grand Ma. I didn't realize they had on support hose, until I ask to touch their legs....Then I was really confused.

Lori

I used to believe that I was a princess and that my parents were the king and queen of some country in Europe and the people I was living with were just protecting me till they got back.
They still haven't come.

Dani

When I was little my older sister told me I was adopted and the chiquita banana lady was my mom, aunt jamima was my aunt and uncle ben was my uncle

Confused child