i used to believe that during the night, burgulars would come and try to kidnap me. so to protect myself, i would stick my leg b/w the wall and my bed and tie my opposite arm to the bed. i thought that by doing this, the kidnappers would have to take a long time to free my and i would have time to scream for help!!! lol

Caitlin

I used to be such a goody goody so i thought of course nobody would be bad enough to actually shoot somebody i thought they had toy guns so whenever i saw on tv someone was robbed, i thought, why doesn't the person just say no i wont give you my money byebye. and the criminal would go o man and try the next person.

T.L.

I used to think that when someone was executed by firing squad, they were burned to death, after I found out that they were riddled with bullets.

Anon

When I was little I thought drinking and driving was drinking anything and driving. So I always yelled at my dad for drinking coffee on the way to daycare in the morning.

Anon

I used to think smoking while driving was illegal. The anti-drug programs at school would tell us not to smoke, do drugs, or drink and drive (even though we were in kindergarten). I guess i thought a cigarette was a drug and drug sounded like drink to me at the time.

I was shocked to see the woman who drove my carpool light up a cig while taking us to school.

Sam

When I was little I always heard the don't drink and drive slogan. And in class we got to draw on paper bags that said that and they were handed out at the liquor store. Well anyways, one Saturday, my family was going shopping, and I saw my dad drinking a cup of coffee while he was driving, I started yelling at him for doing so and he just shrugged and said I guess I'm breaking the law.

ummm no thanks

When I was younger, every night I would make my mum check under my bed , behind my door, behind the curtains,in the wardrobe and anywhere I could think of! This was because I was terrified that a murderer/kidnapper/burgalar was hidden trying to get me once my mum had gone! I used to sit in my bed for at least 30 minutes, because i thought that once I had done that the murderer/kidnapper/burgalar would have given up and gone to get some other child!

Rosanna

i used to think that when people said you can't drink and drive, it meant you cant drink anything while driving. when one day, i saw my friend's mom drinking coffe while driving out of the school parking lot, i screamed to my mother, "mommy- she's drinking and driving! isn't that illegal?am i allowed to go in her car anymore?" it wasn't till later on when i understood.

debbie

I used to think that signs that said "shoplifters will be prosecuted" meant that shoplifters would be executed! And no, I grew up in the USA, not Saudi Arabia where this belief would have made sense! And, no, this belief oddly did not stop me from taking little candies from the brac's pick a mix at the grocery store:)

M of Wiscsonsin

When I was a little kid,about 3 or 4,if I started to get rowdy in public,my mom would always say "Do you want that man to get you?" and pointed to the nearest able bodied male.
Thus,I believed that all men where child abductors until I got lost in the mall when I was 5 and a guy tried to help my find my mother,but I punched him,kicked him,and ran off into the clothing department to hide in the clothes rack.Of course,I ran off everytime a male shopkeeper asked me where my mom was.

After a female clerk finally found me and took me to my mom,my mom yelled at me for running all over the mall.I shouted,"BUT EVERYONE WAS TRYING TO GET ME,MOMMY!There are a bunch of kidnappers in this store!I can tell,if they're a boy and they're not related to me or a police officer with a badge,they're a kidnapper!"

She never used that threat again.

Charly

I used to be confused about the concept of speeding tickets. I figured that about 99% of people just threw these away and were never bothered by them again. So when my mom got a ticket when I was little I volunteered to "throw it away during cleanup time"

Anon

Underneath The Westway road in West London the phrase "BILL STICKERS WILL BE PROSECUTED" was stencilled on the pillars in big black letters. I used to believe that Bill Stickers had done something for which he was going to be prosecuted, but I though it was really unfair that his fate was being advertised so publicly.

Anon

One day when I was little I had fast-food in the car. Well, I had a leftover ketchup packet and I started playing with it. I squeezed so hard that I squirted ketchup on the ceiling of the car. The next day, I forgot all about the incident and looked in the car. I started crying to my parents, telling them that a burgalar had come in the car, killed someone, and left some blood on the ceiling. It wasn't until a year later that I remembered what I had done with the ketchup.

lilmisscandy

When I was young I once read statistics about rape in a magazine, and didn't know what the word meant. When I asked my dad, he said it was "when a man attacks a woman." It made sense to me that this was a worse crime than simple assault, and deserved a separate name.

Bongo Powers

When I first heard the news about person jailed for assault and battery, I thought they were throwing batteries at someone and the victim's eyes got blind from battery acid.

Anon

When the news were talking about death or jail sentences, I thought that they were writing complete sentences about jail and death.

Anon

When I was 12 years old, I used to think that a statutory rapist was a rapist who rapes a statue.

Anon

My older cousin told me that If I slept with the light on, and it was still on past 12:00am, The police would come and arrest my parents and me. Mortified that I would get arrested, and still believing in the boogieman when it was dark, I would go to sleep before dark. I beleived that until I was 7, when finally, I asked my dad about this scary law. I was relieved.

Katy is Krazy

I used to believe that you should never take candy from a stranger, because there could be fire inside the candy! Uh-oh!

PiePieTootToot

When I was little and we would watch America's Most Wanted they said most of the people could be found in Florida, where I live and I thought that the murderer's were outside the window watching and would kill us for watching the show and trying to catch them. It terrified me!

Sarah