toys

When I was five we moved to Texas and my Dad put up a swingset in the back yard. It was up but the legs didn't have the stakes on them to keep it in the ground. I was scared to death when my Dad asked me to give it a try. I was convinced that I would fly into space and would never be heard from again.

Space Man

When I was like five, Iwent to bed everynight with a stuffed animal. And every morning, sure enough, it would end up on the floor. I didn't know how to explain it so... I believed that a mean three foot tall rabbit would hop through my second story window, pick up my "buddy" and throw it on the floor. It would laugh evily as it walked on out my door. Needless to say, the nights I would wake up with the stuffed animal still clutched in my arms were my favorite, no visit from the evil bunny.

Josh

When I was little, I thought you were allowed to have only one toy in any given category at any time. So, when I was given a new doll for Christmas when I was five years old, I thought this meant I could no longer have my old one.

So I set my old doll on the floor and jumped up and down on its head, so it would be destroyed and I could start fresh with my new doll.

I can remember feeling terribly that I "had" to destroy the old one. But somwhere I got the notion that this was necessary.

Years later, I found out that the old doll I had destroyed had belonged to my mom when she was a child. Boy, did I feel awful.

naive Washingtonian

When I was 5 or so, I used to believe that if I broke my crayons in half I'd have twice as many crayons. The fact that they were shorter was no deterrent; I had small hands anyway.

Ward Webber

I used to think that the Malibu Barbie would get a tan when you put her in the sun. I was really disappointed when I saw she was already brown when you bought her.

Bonnie

I clearly remember believing as a small child that if I tried hard enough, I could squeze into my little toy jet and fly around the room. Sadly, it never did work.

Jeff

I was a great one for giving feelings and emotions to imanimate objects, and I still do!! You know those little rubber finger puppet things with big eyes and wiggly arms? Me and my sister would sit for ages in shops picking out all the ones with one arm, or some other disfigurement, because we thought nobody else would want them and we felt so sorry for them! We kept them in egg cartons and I ended up with over 200 "Wigglies" as we called them! To this day I well up at abandoned cars, unwanted toys at jumble sales, bald/crooked Christmas trees, and anything like that!!

Maggie

I used to, as many people, believe that their stuffed toys were alive. In order to make them all feel equally loved, I had to sleep with them all in the bed with me at the same time, and in order to further extend that none would feel left out, i would have to rotate them round so that each one had a turn up top getting hugged and each one had to sleep down at the bottom as well. Needless to say I had very little room in my bed. I still attribute feelings to my stuffed toys and still have as many (even tho I am 34) but I only sleep with one (a very ragged looking Flat Eric)in my bed with me and my husband (much to his relief!!).

Jude Horrocks

I used to think that all puzzles had frames in which to put the pieces. The first puzzle I ever recieved that didn't have one made me very angry, because I thought that the person who gave it to me had somehow picked out a defective puzzle and was refusing to admit it.

Anon

I couldn't just sleep with my favorite toy when I was little, because I thought my other toys would get jealous and "get me" the next night. So I had to sleep with ALL my dolls and stuffed animals in the bed, and there wasn't much room left for me. I kept rolling over and getting poked with hard plastic Barbie feet. Finally I gave up and told them that NONE of them could sleep with me anymore. I was worried they'd be mad, but after a couple of days they still hadn't killed me, so I figured they got over it.

CW

I used to believe that my toys came to life when i wasn't there. I used to creep up the stairs and open the doors really quickly so one day i'd catch them. Strangely enough i never did!!

Sophie Lyon

i really wanted a voltron of my own and my dad said he'd build me one. but I was talking about the "real thing"! I thought I would be flying over my city fighting evil by the afternoon! :-)

chris s.

I remember my dad worked for an amusement machine place and brought me home a puppet sailor - similar to a laughing policeman as seen at Blackpool. It had all the workings and I sat him on the window sill.
We (my younger sister and I) watched Poltergeist (you can guess what is coming)
Remember the clown doll scene? I woke up one morning and for some reason I winked at my sailor puppet - and he winked back. I realise now that it was because I had only just woken up but I FEKKING SH*T MYSELF!!!
He was gone just a few short hours later. That damn film had put me off soft toys for life.

Simon

I used to belive that my toys would come out and invade my house at night.

Amy