I grew up in a city where immigrants settled decades before. As a child I thought that to grow old meant that you would lose your ability to speak English, as all the elderly people around only spoke Italian.

Mary

Since I had no sense of saving money or going to get a job before getting married so that you could afford to rent or buy a house to live in, I used to think that the moment you became an adult (spontaneously I guess) your mom would hand you a big stack of money and you would have to live off of that for the rest of your life. Yeah like that would happen!!

Ericka

My son when he was aged 4 asked me: "Mummy when I am 5 will I have a 'five-head'?" Completely puzzled, I asked him what he thought a five head was and he replied "What my forehead will turn into when I am 5" (Now he has an 'eighteen-head'!)

Sherry

When I was four, I was a flower girl in my aunt's wedding. When my parents and I were getting ready, my dad held up my mother's maid of honor dress and jokingly asked me, "Do you think I will look good in this?" I said to him as serious as could be, "Don't worry Daddy, when you get older and turn into a woman, you can wear it!" I used to think that people changed genders when they got older!

Nikki

I used to believe that I would grow up overnight. One night I'd go to bed as a kid, and then when I woke up the next morning, I would be an adult. For awhile when I was a kid, every morning I'd wake up and check myself for boobs.

Anon

I believed that my grandma had a pet dinosaur.

Mack

I used to think that when you were an adult you never slept because as you got older you got to stay up later and later, so i thought that eventually you just didn't sleep.

Anon

My mum told me her age was 35 every single year and I believed her.
On her '50th' birthday (when I was 10) she got a card from her workmates saying '50' on it. I thought they had sent it as a joke.

CJ

I used to believe that clothing would grow at the same rate as people. If you bought something that fit when you were 5, it would still fit when you were 30. In stores I would often stand looking at the tag of a shirt waiting for it to change from a 'Small' to a 'Medium'.

Keith

My bigger brother always convinced me that no matter how much I would study and smarter I would get with the years, he would ALWAYS be just exactly 2% more clever than me. And there was nothing to do about it as he was the first borned.

Chrizty

i used to believe that i would automatically know how to do things as i got older. for example: "when i turn 10, i'm going to know how to ride a bike." like i wouldn't have to learn how, but would just wake up on my tenth birthday and know how.

moe

I used to think that once you got so old, if you were female you lived at the beauty parlor and slept under the hair dryers because my great-grandmother had had one in her house.

Anon

I thought that when you grew up you changed your name. Carl sounded like a kid's name, so when I was older I thought you chose a more grown-up name like Frank, or Bob or something.

Carl

This was my younger sister:
When she was about 5 she told my mom that she couldn't wait until she was 12. When my mom asked why, my little sister replied "because when I'm 12 I can be a mommy like you". My mother laughed and said "Oh no you can't!" My sister got very upset.

Anon

As child when ever I did something I wasn't necesarily supposed to do, all i heard my parents say about it was "it's a phase...phase this and phase that...etc."

One day I over heard my parents and my aunt talking about one of their cousins, and how he was gay. So I asked "What's gay?" and they said "Oh nothing son, it's just a phase he's going through" after I found out what "gay" was I thought "Oh shit I have to go through a GAY phase too?!?!" Needless to say that up until I was 11 I used to believe that being gay was a phase we HAD to go through and I was NOT looking forward to that phase.

Albert

I used to believe that when you grow up, you lose your given name and become just Mr., Miss, or Mrs. Whoever.

Andrew Buc

When I was about 4, I knew that people changed as they got older, so I believed I was going to grow up to be a boy with red hair and freckles.. even though at the time I was (and still am) a mostly freckle-free female brunette.

SnornL

My father, the loving man he is, told me that when i turned twelve, I would turn into a boy. But my sister (who was thirteen at the time) was a girl. I pointed this out to him, and told me that Heather had been a boy untill she turned twelve. From then on I had my mom buy me boys clothes so that I would be prepared. I was pissed off when I turned twelve and was still a girl.

Lisa

When i was younger, and i was told i could be anything, I got very excited and couldnt get to sleep taht night.The next morning i ran downstairs and said i want to be a car but then later came to my senses and wanted to be a blue robot instead,and till this day people laugh atme about it but some day i will be a blue robot and no body can stop me just common sense.

Peter

I convinced one of my best friends that when men get old, they don't have enough strength to push hair out of the tops of their heads, and that was why they went bald and why they get hair coming out of their noses and ears. We were fourteen at the time... She still hasn't lived that one down.

Jodie