# Silly but innocent things you did as a kid **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 7, 2026, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silly-but-innocent-things-you-did-as-a-kid/1032218 "2026-08-07T21:39:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Folacin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folacin/32/3195_2.png) [@Folacin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folacin)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2026, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silly-but-innocent-things-you-did-as-a-kid/1032218/21 "2026-08-08T13:31:03Z")
> [@Spoons](#): > > Dug a hole. > > One of the neighbourhood kids and I decided that, one summer when we were maybe ten years old, that we were going to dig a hole to China. So we started digging in his backyard’s garden. Not me, but my younger brother. He was friends with a kid who lived on a farm several miles out of town. They decided that they needed a tunnel connecting them. I don’t know if Jim actually started digging out at the farm, but my brother spent the better part of a day working on it. We older siblings were aghast that mom let him do it. Her entirely sensible take was that he wasn’t hurting anything and he wasn’t bothering any of us. He did not fill the hole back in, and years later there was still a bit of a depression where he’d been working. He was probably 6 or 7 at the time, so hadn’t made much progress. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2026, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silly-but-innocent-things-you-did-as-a-kid/1032218/22 "2026-08-08T13:40:05Z")
> [@Filbert](#): > > So, of course, I learned the semaphore alphabet. I practiced pretty diligently, even kept a diary written using semaphoring figures. I was convinced this was going to be an important life skill. Sherlock Holmes ([The Adventure of the Dancing Men - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Adventure_of_the_Dancing_Men)) ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2026, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silly-but-innocent-things-you-did-as-a-kid/1032218/23 "2026-08-08T13:40:15Z")
> [@themapleleaf](#): > > Learned something today. That’s only the sound made by giant amoebas, that grow to over a meter in size. The smaller ones are much quieter. > [@Spoons](#): > > Dug a hole. > > One of the neighbourhood kids and I decided that, one summer when we were maybe ten years old, that we were going to dig a hole to China. So we started digging in his backyard’s garden. I think a lot of kids did that. Except that I knew that China, like Cleveland, was in the Northern Hemisphere, and hence couldn’t be on the opposite side of the Earth from me. So I was instead digging a hole to Australia. Still not right, but closer, at least. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2026, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silly-but-innocent-things-you-did-as-a-kid/1032218/24 "2026-08-08T13:58:18Z")
Well, even The Beatles didn’t get it right: > **[Google Image Result for...](https://www.google.com/share.google?q=iddp4ATBL5nprwd2F)** ---
**Author:** ![Filbert](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/filbert/32/3433_2.png) [@Filbert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Filbert)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2026, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silly-but-innocent-things-you-did-as-a-kid/1032218/25 "2026-08-08T13:58:39Z")
If that _was_ flag semaphore that cipher would read; U??UU UU UUU?UUUU??UE?U? where the ? isn’t an actual sign. Maybe a secret message from an owl. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2026, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silly-but-innocent-things-you-did-as-a-kid/1032218/26 "2026-08-08T14:07:11Z")
Oh, I know it wasn’t flag semaphore but it was obviously inspired by it. ---
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2026, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silly-but-innocent-things-you-did-as-a-kid/1032218/27 "2026-08-08T14:09:29Z")
We formed a mock rock band and performed air band shows. ---
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2026, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silly-but-innocent-things-you-did-as-a-kid/1032218/28 "2026-08-08T14:18:14Z")
> [@Folacin](#): > > Her entirely sensible take was that he wasn’t hurting anything and he wasn’t bothering any of us. I don’t think that was enirely sensible, but it worked that time, so OK. Still it seems noteworthy to me that collapsing self dug holes kill many children, specially when dug on sand. Here is an **[example](https://www.cbsnews.com/miami/news/a-sand-hole-collapse-in-florida-killed-a-child-such-deaths-occur-several-times-a-year-in-the-us-2/)**, it is an all too common accident and tragically preventable. ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_Batty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jack_batty/32/3201_2.png) [@Jack\_Batty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Batty)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2026, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silly-but-innocent-things-you-did-as-a-kid/1032218/29 "2026-08-08T14:42:13Z")
Tennis racket guitars, Tide box drums, TeeVee tray Hammond Organ. Ah, good shows. We had 'em too. ---
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2026, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silly-but-innocent-things-you-did-as-a-kid/1032218/30 "2026-08-08T14:42:55Z")
Along the lines of @Tibby’s adventure, my incident was innocent (because I wasn’t fully aware of the risk), but potentially catastrophic. My parents were involved in amateur theater, and my father obtained some [flash paper](https://youtube.com/shorts/hiZQuWSecnk?si=H6c25eQ1L29gLpNb) (nitrocellulose) for an effect a show called for. When ignited, it emits a bright flash (duh!) and then quickly goes out with no remaining ash or residue. I was fascinated by it, and somehow imagined that any similar tissue paper might behave in the same way. So I tried setting fire to tissue in my room. I don’t recall doing any damage, exactly how my parents reacted, or if/how I was punished, but my sister remembers what she calls my “trying to burn the house down.” I also remember, back when you could still get “strike anywhere” wooden kitchen matches, striking them and in the same motion tossing them so they looked like little fireworks. But I didn’t do that inside. The only occasion I recall doing it was on a bridge over a small stream. I was a bit of a firebug as a kid. ---
**Author:** ![Buck\_Godot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/buck_godot/32/6573_2.png) [@Buck\_Godot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Buck_Godot)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2026, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silly-but-innocent-things-you-did-as-a-kid/1032218/31 "2026-08-09T04:58:54Z")
When I was 4 or five years old I was best friends with a girl down the street. We played lots of “Let’s pretend” games with each other. One that we played repeatedly was “Fairy and Plumber” it was basically playing house where she was a fairy and I was a plumber. Her choosing the role of a fairy makes sense what with the magic powers and all, but I have absolutely no explanation as to why I out of all the possible alter egos I decided that a plumber was the thing to be. ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2026, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silly-but-innocent-things-you-did-as-a-kid/1032218/32 "2026-08-09T05:51:19Z")
IIRC a comment by Isaac Asimov, the antipodes of the continental US are in the Indian Ocean and the only actual land would be two small islands totaling about seven square miles so any kid who succeeded in digging a hole that far and accurately would likely drown. I and my brother never tried that but our family owned land near Prescott, AZ that was part of an old mining claim. On the road that led to the lot there was a big dent into the hillside that we’d been told was an [adit](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adit) that had been blown closed when everything was a abandoned when the mines played out. We got about two feet before the earth ran out and we ran into very large rocks. Mean ol’ dad refused to buy us a pick so that was that. ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2026, 7:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silly-but-innocent-things-you-did-as-a-kid/1032218/33 "2026-08-09T07:25:16Z")
The drowning kid would be tragic, but it would be pretty spectacular when all that seawater drains down the hole, reaches the Earth’s core and flashes into steam. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2026, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silly-but-innocent-things-you-did-as-a-kid/1032218/34 "2026-08-27T16:15:38Z")
> [@Spoons](#): > > Dug a hole. > > One of the neighbourhood kids and I decided that, one summer when we were maybe ten years old, that we were going to dig a hole to China. So we started digging in his backyard’s garden. Hey, we did that too! The hole got deep enough that my little brother and I could hide in it simultaneously and enjoy the rich wet clay smell. Then we got the idea to grab an old screen from a window and put it over the hole, and then one we figured out that if one of us hid in the hole and the other one put the screen on top and covered it with pine straw, it made a perfect trap: invite an unsuspecting neighborhood kid into the backyard and give them the scare of a lifetime. ---
**Author:** ![fedman1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e495f1/32.png) [@fedman1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fedman1)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2026, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silly-but-innocent-things-you-did-as-a-kid/1032218/35 "2026-08-29T00:41:20Z")
that sounds more like the notorious Calvin from Calvin and Hobbes comic [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silly-but-innocent-things-you-did-as-a-kid/1032218.md?page=1)