Top Ten Childhood Myths

For most of us childhood is a time of wonder and exploration. Each day greets us with a feeling of newness and promise of adventure and finally ends with us protesting that there is still more to do. During our childhoods we learn about the world and how it works but as we do this we often get strange notions that make perfect sense to us at the time. Everyone has a story or two about what they believed as a kid that they later found out are true and the following is only a small collection of some of the most common childhood myths.

10. Color didn’t exist before Color Television

This myth is actually not as common as it was when black and white movies and television shows where still common fair on TV, but it was a very powerful one among several generations of children. The idea behind this myth is that color TV shows look better than black and white shows do. Because of this fact it is a very logical jump to assume that the reason black and white existed at all was because there was no color in the world.

9. Someone in their 30’s is old

When you are in the first blush of life and can still count your age on your fingers adults seem so much older than you. It’s actually kind of funny when you think about how it works. When a child of seven years of age looks at someone ten years of age that seems like a very big difference to them so when they look at someone who not just triples their age but quadruples it that can seem quite ancient to such a young mind. While we eventually learn that someone in their thirties isn’t really old, it’s hard not to see it that way when you are a kid.

8. All I need to survive on my own fits in a knapsack

Most children threaten to run away from home at least once in their lives, and many go so far as to pack for their new life. Most children tend to include favorite toys, maybe some candy, and occasionally a change of clothes or two. In their mind this is everything you need to survive in the world and with a head lifted high in dignity they will march down the road a bit. As they walk along the road slowly the realization that they are leaving behind a pretty good thing starts to sink in and thankfully they seldom make it further than a couple of blocks.

7. Cars can’t turn unless you use the turn signals.

This one comes about from children observing the actions of adults. As an adult drives, they always use their turn signal before turning (unless you live in California). Eventually a child will ask “why do you use the turn signal” and most adults respond “Because I can’t turn without it”. While the adult means that using a turn signal is about safety and laws, the child understands it to mean that the car actually can’t turn unless the turn signal is used.

6. Gravity is created by the world spinning really fast

It’s kind of hard to track down the actual beginning of this myth but most likely it was because of how a tornado or other similar phenomena sucked nearby things into it. This actually makes a lot of sense if you consider that not only children but many adults look at things through the lens of cause and effect. When a child observes something happening that becomes part of their knowledge and they apply that observation to other questions such as why gravity exists. We know the truth of gravity is now about the mass of the earth pulling on us, but that’s a very abstract concept to explain to a child.

5. Sleep isn’t Important

It is a well known fact that almost every child to ever grow up in this world has had a hatred for bedtime. Whether it is their fear of the dark or the fact the adults obviously will be doing something more interesting many children fight sleep. Children are excitable and curious about so many things and their brains are constantly learning and developing as new stimuli crosses their senses so it is no wonder that so many children fight sleep. When you add the abundance of sugar and caffeine in most children’s daily diet you get a kid who is even less willing to sleep. The good news is that children do eventually exhaust themselves; the bad news is that this war with bedtime is unlikely to end peacefully anytime soon.

4. School is harder than a real job

This next common childhood myth comes from the parental phrase “I wish I could just go to school instead of work”. While the truth is that school is much easier than most jobs, as children we have no ability to conceive that anything can be harder than school. During the average school day you have to sit still, try to pay attention to something that may or may not interest you, and then engage in repetitive tasks that are mind-numbingly boring. Given this experience, it’s understandable that a kid will think an adult is crazy for wanting anything to do with school.

3. Everyone else has better parents

Regardless of how awesome a parent is and how much attention they give their children there will be a time when that kid will think that they have the world’s worst parents. It can be a fight over chores, homework, or being told they can’t go play with their friend, but eventually something will happen that a kid will truly believe that everyone else has better parents. What’s funny is when you stop to think about it, most adults still feel that way too.

2. Cooties and Cootie spray

Cooties are perhaps the single most wide spread epidemic among school age children that suddenly is cued the moment they enter adolescence. Cooties was probably started by well meaning parents who didn’t want their children to get too involved with members of the opposite sex and grew from there. Everyone remembers the time in school when if a boy kissed a girl all the boys would scream “Girl Cooties” and then make spraying noises while they doused the victim of this horrible disease with cootie spray. While it has been called different things over the years it really comes down to kids having their very own wonderful world they live in.

1. I am smart enough to make my own decisions

The final entry on this list of childhood myths is one that every parent has had to deal with. While this particular myth seems more common among the angst-filled adolescent set, it’s not uncommon among children of all ages. Whether it is an argument about what to eat or about being allowed to stay out past curfew every child feels at one time or another they are smarter than their parents and know better than they do. This commonly believed myth is held on to quite tenaciously until the moment we hear ourselves saying the exact same thing to our kids that our parents said to us.