35 Random Things People Did As Kids And Realized Only Years Later Were Actually Not OK

It all actually started with a video on Ryan Michaels' Instagram page, where the influencer encouraged commenters to share their strange behavior and habits from childhood, when people only realized later in life just how strange their actions and failures were.

The video now has over 65K likes and hundreds of sincere revelations from various people, and we, the Bored Panda, are bringing you a selection of the most popular and interesting stories and comments from the resulting thread. So, settle in, it's about to get interesting!

Let's start with the fact that kids have almost always done strange things - from prehistoric times to the present day. Well, perhaps today's children do fewer of these strange things and have fewer of these habits - but that's only because a significant portion of their lives is spent online. However, in a couple of decades, they'll have plenty to remember, too, I'm almost certain.

Well, it's not just, or even primarily, a matter of hypothetical parental irresponsibility - it's simply how children learn about the world. By doing something strange, gaining their own experience, learning from their own mistakes, or from those of their friends. This has been the way we are since time immemorial; it's just the way we are now.

"Of course, the price of such habits and mistakes used to be much higher before," says Irina Matveeva, a psychologist and certified NLP specialist, whom Bored Panda asked for a comment here. "It's enough to read any book about children, for instance, from the 19th century, to realize that children have always been incredibly curious -it's just that the risks have been significantly reduced today."

According to the expert, this is a natural process of learning, where experience gained through one's own "experiments" is valued above all else. Even more so than experience gained from the mistakes of others, since children often tend to believe that nothing terrible will happen to them.

"That's why adults sometimes find themselves completely stunned when children, faced with a negative example from one of their peers, repeat their mistake over and over," Irina says.

"But this is simply that very childish notion of one's own invulnerability - when it seems that a friend's failure wasn't because it was actually impossible to do, but simply because they were unlucky or just clumsy. In many ways, this is where that elusive charm of childhood comes," Irina Matveeva concludes.

In fact, so much in our lives is the product of a "social contract" between adults, and children, who are often simply unaware of all these "boring conventions," repeatedly do things that just horrify them or make them blush years and years later.

In any case, our childhood is our memory, and it’s, in one way or another, an integral part of us. Even our shameful actions, failures, and risky habits. They are what made our childhood this interesting. I do believe you have something similar under your belt as well - so please feel free to share it in the comments after reading this list.