"The Whole House Ended Up Burnt To The Ground" – 19 Incredibly Silly And Stupid Things People Did When They Were Children

"I saw someone on TV juggling knives and thought I could do the same."

We all do some incredibly stupid things when we're young. Looking back, we must have been a nightmare to look after, but it's all quite funny to think about now.

Warner Bros. Pictures

Well, because sharing is caring, people have been talking about the silliest things they did as a kid, and here are 21 of the best:

1. "When I was five or six I decided I'd have enough of my Action-Man poster. I decided it would be a good idea to set fire to it."

NBC

"The main problem was that it was inside my brand new wooden Wendy house, which, of course, burst into flames. My parents weren't best pleased."

–casualgem30

2. "I saw someone on TV juggling knives and thought I could do the same."

NBC

"It turned out that I could not, in fact, do the same."

—tiger24___

3. "A young friend of our family was around five and was annoyed by a loose string hanging from the bottom of the couch."

Fox

"Five-year-old-logic decided the best solution was to get a match and burn it off. Predictably, the whole house ended up burnt to the ground, but miraculously no one was hurt!"

—s45b9ebeb9

4. "My parents were getting ready to paint my room when I was a kid, so they let me try a bit of painting (handprints, doodles, etc.)."

Fox

"They were going to paint over it anyway so there wasn't much jeopardy in letting me loose with the paint, so they thought. I decided to expand my artistic playground and went into the garage, where I found my mum's shiny new silver car. After some fairly unsuccessful pimp-my-riding, I wasn't allowed to help out with the painting anymore."

–casualgem30

5. "Once I wanted to see what would happen if I poured wax from a lit candle onto my mother's computer for whatever reason, so I did it."

Paramount Pictures

"I successfully ruined her very expensive computer and also managed to burn my fingers pretty badly in the process because of the flame."

—supernerdanfgeek

6. "I once ate an entire bottle of teething tablets for fun and my mother had to call poison control."

NBC

—supernerdanfgeek

7. "I convinced my 10 yearr old self it'd be fun to get some poison ivy."

Sony Pictures Releasing

—trishateferw

8. "Once at 12, I decided to scare my little sister and pretend to cut off my leg with the flat edge of the saw."

HBO

"Well, the flat edge cuts through jeans and skin, and I needed 21 stitches. Scared her to death tho. So win, I guess."

—kiddo9950

9. "My brother used to try to emulate Jackass and broke several things in the house."

Paramount Pictures

"TV, door, sofa, other random things."

—lilyc9

10. "In middle school I had gone to Home Depot with my parents and grabbed one of those tabs you put in your toilet to see if you have a leak."

ABC

"It was in my coat pocket and I pulled it out on the bus ride home from school. My mischievous neighbour took it out of the wrapper and told another kid it was a Sweet Tart. The bus driver had to pull over because poor Timmy was foaming blue at the mouth. I guess he had a leak?"

—misswhittlebury

11. "I made gunpowder from a recipe I found in an encyclopedia."

DreamWorks Pictures

"It burned a hole straight through a table. Fun times!"

—aditson

12. "When I was four-ish I made an open/closed sign for our big front window and would change it over in the morning and at bedtime."

NBC

"I'd wake up, switch the sign and yell 'We're OPEN!'"

—clairmonde

13. "I was around 11 and my mum had gone to work, leaving our older sister to babysit my twin and me."

Fox

"We wanted an Innocent smoothie pouch but they were frozen, so there came the idea of defrosting it in the microwave; we'd done it before, no harm done. So we put it in, press the button.

What we failed to realise was that the cartons were foil-lined. Microwaves and foil create fire, only a tiny fire, but a fire nonetheless. Young me understands that fire = emergency and thus the logical thing would be to call 999. Our mum literally just got into work when the neighbour called, asking about the fire engine outside the house"

—hobbitgirl96

14. "I was really into pea shooters when I was about four."

BET

"My mom kept a bag of dried beans I was allowed to take a little bit from to play with. I'd shoot them out a straw. But then I thought I could just bypass the whole straw thing and shoot them out the end of my nose, but they were the wrong shape. 

We did have an outdoor play area with a bunch of pea gravel. The first one went okay, and I thought if I pushed it in a little further, it would shoot further. Of course, it got stuck and I had to be taken to the paediatrician, who, naturally, laughed. When we got home, I went to play outside and I used a smaller rock, so it wouldn't get stuck. However, things were swollen from the last one, and this got stuck too. The paediatrician and both nurses laughed so hard that they cried."

—coaster26

15. "I was a very nerdy and theatrical kid who was obsessed with history."

BBC

"I used to dress up in bloomers, a prairie dress, and a bonnet, and sit in my front yard waving to passing cars, pretending that I was I professional historical reenactor."

—eclare721

16. "I was playfully arguing with my dad in the kitchen. For some reason, I decided it would be funny to spray his glasses with lens cleaner while they were on his face so he couldn't see..."

NBC

"He wasn't too happy when he had to flush his eyes with water cause my impulsive, undiagnosed ADHD-riddled self didn't think about it getting into his eyes."

—congdongracie24

17. "When I was four and my little sister was two I locked my mom out of the house."

NBC

"This probably wouldn't matter except for the fact that we had a roaring fire going in the fireplace. My sister was up and crawling around on the floor. My mom ended up having to break the window to get in and save my sister from crawling into the fireplace."

—sarahj4eacfa1dd

18. "Me and my cousin wanted to make french toast but we'd never seen it made."

Buena Vista Pictures Distribution

"We knew it was brownish and sweet and the name suggested it must be toasted, so we doused the bread in chocolate milk and put said bread in the toaster. Our grandfather who was babysitting us was still in bed at the time – he’s now 90, and still says we owe him a toaster.”

—autumnpoe41

19. "I went through a phase of tearing off single pieces of toilet paper, making different coloured dots on them with felt-tip pens, and giving them to family members as gifts."

Netflix

"'Here you are, a pretty tissue I made for you!' Unsure to this day how my creative and artistic genius remains undiscovered!"

—vix_da_vixen

What silly shinanigans did you get up to when you were younger? Let us know in the comments below!