When I was a little girl, growing up with fourteen brothers and sisters, our dad would tell stories at the Sunday dinner table. He opened each story by saying, "When I was a little girl . . ." For many years, I worried that that meant that I would grow up to be a man. This was complicated by his constant exhortations to eat our vegetables, "It'll grow hair on your chest!"

Patricia

I was 4 and remember one day telling my parents that I had decided I wanted to be a boy when I grew up. My best buddies were boys and I didn't realize I was a girl or the concept of gender. I was very bummed when they said I couldn't be a boy when I grew up.

Elizabeth Thomas

I used to believe that as we grew up we actually changed sex. So if you were born a boy you would eventually change into a female. I was really upset that i may not be able to have a baby as i would have eventually changed into a male. Thankfully i didn't change and now am expecting my first child!

grace

When I was young, I used to think that the amount of wrinkles an old person had corresponded with their age. For example, if a lady was 80 years old, she had to have 80 wrinkles on her face. Also, I believed that they would double in size each year, so by the time my grandfather would turn 100, his wrinkes would be so large that he would be unable to fit inside his bedroom.

Pip

i used to think you had to pass an exam to become an adult, from 5-8 i was obsessed with studying how to care for a baby, how to drive and having posh dinners XD it wuz a laugh when my mum told me u age as time goes by!

ShikamaruLuva

I usedto belive that if you didnt have kids, you would never get old

Dessy

a friend of my little sister's had 4 older brothers, so she thought that when you got older you grew a penis!

Anon

I always thought my mum was really old, like much older than other grown ups - she told me she ate the last Do-do.

Debbie

As a Child up until the age of 7 I used to believe that when grown ups reached a certain age about 70years old, they started to get younger again until they became children, then babies then would disappear totally.

Claire

I am a girl with an older brother. when I was younger and arguing I would threaten him by saying "When I'm a boy and I'm older thatn you..."

Emma, 15

when i was young i thought that all grown ups changed their name when they got older so they would sound more professional

erin

I once asked my mum when she was a little boy, and I wondered when it was my turn too.

Confused

I used to believe that grown-ups got scared because they were so high off the ground.

Sammy

i used to believe that some day i'll catch up with my brother and never have to be the younger one again!!!!

rhea

One time, when I was a little girl (about four), my older sister asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up. I firmly answered, "A man."

She became very upset and argued with me about it, but I was immovably determined. She even ran and told our mother about it. Mom wasn't too concerned. (I am still female, so it appears that mom was right.)

Erin

I spent a lot of time with my dad, he worked at home. When I was 3 and 4 and would misbehave, he would say "When I was a little girl, I didn't do that." I knew caterpillars changed to butterflies, and pollywogs to frogs, so for a while I thought I could grow up to be a daddy. My mother disabused me of that notion, when she heard it.

elsieh

because i could never read my mum's handwriting, i used to think that adults had a different "grown-up" writing and that it was completely different to kids writing. i was worried that i couldn't understand it and spent ages drawings long squiggles on pieces of paper to see if they meant anything.

Anon

I used to believe that grown women couldn't wear normal socks - that after a certain age, you had to wear nylons with everything.

Ronda

My mom used to tell my sisters and i that we could be whatever we wanted to be when we grew up, therefor my little sister decided she wanted to be a tree!

silly

When I was very little, probably about 2 or 3 years old, I was sitting in my car seat fastening my seatbelt. I was proud that I was getting good at doing that. I thought to myself that once I'd mastered seatbelt-fastening, I just had to learn how to knit and how to do up buttons, and I'd know everything I needed to know in life!

Sarah