Recently, Reddit user u/20195780 posed the question, "What things did you do as a kid that you now realize is extremely weird?" in r/AskReddit. Here are some of the best, sweetest, and funniest answers:
1. Giving weather reports to the spiders and mice in their room.
"There were spiders and mice in my room, which totally freaked me out, so every night before I went to sleep, I'd whisper a report of what the weather was outside to encourage them to go outside rather than stay inside and bite me in my sleep."
2. Making up new names for things.
"Purple was my favorite color, but I didn't like the word, so I called it 'murdalop.'"
3. Drinking through a towel.
"When I was around 8 years old, I liked the way clean towels tasted. Something I really enjoyed was putting a towel over a straw and drinking Kool Aid through it. My mother wasn't a fan of having white towels covered with red spots, so she put a stop to it pretty quick."
4. Tracing out swear words with their eyes.
"One time, my teacher sat me down for 'a talk.' In the middle of this, she suddenly stopped and told me I needed to keep my eyes under control, because I had this terrible nervous habit of twitching my eyes when she was talking to me. In actuality, I was tracing out imaginary swear words with my eyes. Basically, drawing out things like 'PISS OFF' and SHUT UP,' tracing the letters with my eyes as if they were right in front of her face. I didn't realize that she could see my eye movements."
5. Letting the shower run and pretending it was ~light rain~.
"I used to turn on the shower and lay on the floor next to it with a towel over my body and fall asleep with a tiny bit of water splashing on my face. I used to imagine that I was in a cave and it was raining outside."
6. Holding the last bite of food in their mouth.
"I used to keep the last piece of food I was eating in my mouth for a while — sometimes for a hour. For example, if I was eating pizza, the last piece of the last slice would remain in my mouth while I went playing and running around."
7. Standing really still (and naked) in their window so that their neighbors would think they were a statue.
"I used to stand naked in my bedroom window and try to stay as still as possible so the neighbors would think my parents had a statue made of me. I would stand in different poses, too, so they'd think there were multiple Dendronate statues which my parents would rotate around the house. The way I saw it, only important people had statues built of them. I wanted the neighbors to know they lived near a pretty important guy."
8. Doing "science experiments" in the bathroom sink.
"I used to do 'science experiments' in the bathroom sink, meaning that I’d go to the bathroom, lock the door, make sure the sink drain was shut, and then proceed to add every shampoo to the sink in hopes of a reaction. Never got one, but it also never stopped me from trying."
9. Writing in code.
"Several friends and myself had a fascination with writing in code. We had little pocket notebooks full of codes and deciphering instructions (also in code) and would write volumes of notes between us. The notebooks got confiscated by a teacher, but we wouldn't tell her how to decode them, so she tried to get us in trouble. Parents thought it was hilarious. I'm almost 60 now and I still have one of these notebooks around somewhere."
10. Taking "mental pictures."
"I used to blink at things because I thought it would help with my memory. I would imagine my eyes were like cameras and each blink was a shutter click."
11. Sitting in the back of the classroom and cooling their butt on the floor.
"In first grade, we would sit in a group on the floor in front of the teacher while she read us stories. I would sit at the back of the group against the wall and pull my pants halfway down my bum. I liked feeling the cool ground and wall against my bare butt."
12. Covering their butthole while they showered.
"When I was in elementary school, I would use one hand to cover my butt when I showered because I was afraid that a monster would warp through the bathroom wall and attack my butthole."
13. Pretending to be a train.
"When I was around 5, I would basically act like a train and follow the lines on the playground while also using my hands as those little rail things on the wheels. I would also look directly up when it was cold and use my mouth as a chimney. Honestly, it must have looked like I was out of my mind."
14. Keeping kiwifruits as pets.
"My partner used to keep kiwis — the fruits — as pets. He would name them and take care of them. That is, until his mom would take them to blend them into a smoothie. That was a rude awakening for him."
15. Hiding things by sewing them inside stuffed animals.
"I used to steal things from my sister when she was mean to me and then hide them by sewing them inside her stuffed animals. She found out a few months ago and was really freaked out!"
16. Selling "tree soap."
"My friend and I used to rip that soft bark off of trees at school and call it 'tree soap.' We told people if they rubbed it on their hands, it’d wash them and make them super soft. They did make hands soft, though!"
17. Smelling vacuums.
"I loved the way the air that comes out the back of vacuums smelled. I used to follow the vacuum cleaner around while my mom was cleaning with my face against the vent. I would turn it on when other people were not around and smell it."
18. Sucking on toothpaste stains.
"I'd purposely spill toothpaste on my school jumper so I could chew and suck on it throughout the day."
19. Mixing up a "secret sauce."
"I mixed ketchup and mustard together and called it 'my secret sauce.' I used it as a dip for Fritos. I was convinced I’d make millions off it."
20. Chewing sponges.
"I used to like chewing sponges. Bath sponges. I'd get them wet, wring them out a bit, then put the whole thing — or as much as possible — in my mouth and just chew."
21. And lastly, being "the only one to ever do this."
"I used to make random noise and word combinations and get into really weird contorted poses to be 'the only one to ever do this.'"
What weird things did you do as a kid? Let us know in the comments!!!
Answers have been edited for length and/or clarity.