appearance

In 1st and 2nd grades it was "cool" to wear a bra, and, of course, none of us did. But I used to roll up my undershirt and tell everyone I was wearing one. I was so cool. lol

m.l.

When I was about 4 or 5 my family was driving thru downtown Chicago. I saw probably my first African-American person and thought they were Chocolate People!

jmr

I used to believe that if a girl thought that you were a boy and you weren't, you would automatically become a boy, because 'girls knew everything'.

One messed up little girl

I used to believe that all the bald people were aliens sent to destroy me

The Ice Cream Sandwich Monster

I Used To Believe That GayNess Came From Lack Of Confidence In Ones Appearance

Mr Payne

I thought that you could get arrested if you went in the handicap restroom if you weren't handicapped

Anon

For a long time when i was little, i never made faces (like put my nose up like a pig) while i was outside and the wind was blowing, because my aunties and uncle told me that if ou do that, then your face will stay like that forever. My aunties even told me that they knew a girl in their class at school who had done that, and that she always had a screwed up face because she'd done just that.

psychologically-damaged child

Up until I was about 10, my dad always called hair gel "Brokaw" because of Tom Brokaw on the news, and how he always had his hair gelled. My brother and I thought that Brokaw was another name for hair gel and called it that.

Anon

One of my old beliefs might sound a bit racist, but, I was young, I used to think that all black and mixed race people HAD to wear a spot on their foreheads.

Ryan

My son had very light blond hair as a small boy and we called him our "little toe-head". He'd always say, "Nossir!" Years later he confessed that he thought we were telling him his head was shaped like a big toe. Poor baby.

Anon

I used to think that the difference between a skirt and a dress was the hemline - a skirt was short and a dress was long. I didn't learn the truth until my girlfriend explained it to me at the age of 21.

Anon

In my elementary school, there were two kids with Down syndrome. I didn't really understand what was up with them because no one would talk about it - I only knew that they looked funny, in sort of the same way, so I assumed they were related.
When I found out the truth I felt like I'd committed some terrible crime, and every time I come across someone with Down syndrome, I'm a little afraid they'll be mad at me for it.

Jenna

My family emigrated from an Eastern European country to live in the USA. After a few years, we all went to the Old Country to visit the relatives. One relative told us they had a very interesting doctor visiting heir little village, and he was BLACK! He had never seen a black person in his life. He never watched American TV, but did see movie posters. We told them that we lived and worked with people of many races in America. That impressed him very much. He thought most black people only appeared in movies like James Bond, or became doctors.

Linda, Los Angeles

When I was little I didnt recognise people by what color/race they were but by their hair. Instead of describing some one as white, black, ect I would say the curly hair girl of the blond girl. It was years before I even really noticed race. When your young things like that dont matter and its sad that sometimes when you grow older you do notice.

just me

When I was younger I used to think that people had all been brutally de-clawed at birth since we don't have claws like most mammals.

Milor

When I was a little girl, I used to believe that all of the kids that wore saddle shoes were retarded. Imagine my shock and disbelief when my own mother actually bought a pair for me and wanted me to wear them! Even at such an early age, I remember thinking, "Is she trying to TELL me something??" :-)

Donna - Pasadena, California

when i was younger i used to always make weird faces at my sisters and cousins(e.i crossing my eyes, etc.) and my parents used to tell me that if i kept making faces that it would stay like that forever.

jessica

when i was little, i used to make faces, especially the one where you put your fingers in your cheeks and pull so you have a horizontally oblong-ish mouth. my mom told me that if the wind blew the wrong way, my face would stay like that forever.

Anon

My brother had a friend and his dad would tell him little fibs but he'd believe them. Once his dad said that he (the dad) was born with a cone head but every night his mom would rub it until it was round like a normal head.

Anon

when i was little i used to think that only cool, or pretty people went to high school or grew up. I didnt have any other brothers or sisters and my parents wheren't from here, so i had no one to tell me other wise. Since everyone on tv and in the movies where so pretty and cool, and the kids would always make fun of me, i though i would never grow up or go to high school.

Luna-Faye