When I was three I saw a National Geographic magazine featuring photos of starving children in Africa with distended abdomens. It got me to exploring my own abdomen-which appeared to have a hole in it (my belly button). I became hysterical thinking that all my food would fall out of the hole, that I would begin to stave to death and that my belly would stick out just like thise kids in the magazine. Everyone in my family had to show me their navel and assure me that their food had never fallen out through it.
A childhood belief about belly buttons
others believed things like this
- I used to think that my belly button was where I was once shot and that the navel was a healed up bullet hole— Tony
- When I was a kid my dad told me that if you unscrewed your belly button your bum would fall off.— Ann
- i was told that if you fiddled with your belly-button too much, my bum would fall off.Anon
- someone could unscrew my belly button, and if they did, my head would fall offAnon
- I believed that if you pushed your belly button, your bum would fall off.— Wendy
- I used to believe that if your belly button came undone your skin would fall off! Anon