Tag: children

When we were kids, we were like a sponge soaking up everything we hear and see. We copied what our parents said and pretended to be our favourite cartoon characters. Above all, we were cheeky little buggers who’d get ourselves into facepalm-worthy incidents. We asked Singapore millennials about the ‘stupid’ things they had done when they were primary school kids or younger. Here are 10 of the funniest incidents.

Shaver As Comb

I remember playing Pretend with my cousins and we were using a real shaver as a comb. I used the shaver to comb my hair then freaked out when I saw my hair falling off. – Anmol, 24

Playing With Fire

I was playing with fire and candles with some friends during mid-autumn festival. One of them started swiping their finger across the candle flame and before you know it, all of us were doing it because it was cool to us, kids. I wanted to be cooler, so after doing the same a few times, I tried to hold my finger in the flame longer. I got burnt. – Betty, 26

A Sticky Situation

I got bubble gum stuck in my hair because I wanted to see if I could ‘balance’ the gum on my head. It got stuck so badly and became a badly tangled lump of hair. My mum had to rub it off bit by bit with olive oil. – Bling, 26

A Tic Tac Addiction

I was so addicted to Tic Tacs and the sound from shaking it that when I finished the candy, I put in a five cent coin so I could continue shaking the box. When I shook it, I tilted the box above my head and ended up swallowing the five cent coin and had to go to the hospital. – Sammie, 25

Brow Game

My primary five classmate shaved his eyebrows off to prove that eyebrows served no purpose. He looked ridiculous after that. He kept quiet when everyone started poking fun at him. Poor boy. – Shi Ling, 26

Pet Rock

My friend and I picked out a random rock at the garden near our place and kept it as our pet rock. We even gave it a name and brought it with us everywhere in school. One day, we hid the rock in some part of the garden and we couldn’t find it when we went back the next day. We felt so sad after that, it was as if we really lost a real pet. – Marie, 23

Pretending To Be Wrestlers

The boys watched a lot of WWE back then. Once, I went to a friend’s house and a group of us were trying out some wrestling moves. I tried to mimic the wrestlers and jumped down from the top of a ladder and broke my arm. That was the first and last of our ‘wrestling session’. – Neo, 30

Raining Barbie Heads

My sister and I had a lot of Barbie dolls. At one point, I realised that I could pull the dolls’ heads off and fix it back so I started removing the heads quite often. We have this small window at the top of the toilet facing the shower area and once when my sister was bathing, I threw in the dolls’ heads through that window, for fun. She freaked out. – Jennifer, 21

Marksman

I was staying on the 9th floor and whenever I see kids playing at the playground downstairs, I'd take my water gun and shoot water at them from my window. And when their parents come up, I’d close all the doors and pretend no one was home. – Fabian, 24

Exploding Shit

I spent my childhood in Philippines and it was around New Year so my friends and I were playing with fire crackers. We stuck a fire cracker in a pile of dog shit and lit it up. The firecracker exploded along with the shit. It went all over the road and the cars around. We saw the car owners horrified as they came out to check their shit-stained cars but they never found out it was us. – Raymond, 20

Were You A Cheeky Child Too?

Childhood has got to be the best years of our lives. When else can you do and say darndest things like these and get away with it? And if you’re looking for someone to share all your embarrassing childhood tales with, try here. We’re pretty sure these have brought back some childhood memories of yours too. What are some of the stupidest things you’ve done as a kid? Share them with us in the comments! Also read, Meet 14-Year-Old Riddhi And Her 77-Year-Old Best Friend, Aunt Louise.
As we edge into our twenties, we begin to accept the fact that we are really no longer kids. Most of us would be either completing our studies or building up a career. It’s scary to even think of having a baby ourselves. Being a parent is no easy feat. It's even tougher when you're young and hadn't planned to be one yet. We often hear about the trials and tribulations from girls who went through teenage pregnancy, or from being a young mother. However, rarely do we get to hear from the dads who’ve stuck by the ladies through such situations. This Father’s Day, we reached out to 29-year-old Charles John (CJ). This is his story of being a young father to a child out of wedlock.

Getting 'Caught In A Situation'

CJ and Mieko when they were dating
Back then, I had been dating my girlfriend, Mieko, for 2 years. We both used to smoke and drink a lot, but one day she just couldn’t stand the smell of smoke anymore. That was when we suspected that she could be pregnant. Furthermore, she had missed her period for one and a half months. It was only after a pregnancy test kit from 7-11 and a visit to polyclinic later that our suspicions were confirmed. Mieko was pregnant. I was going to be a father.

Her Parents Gave An Ultimatum

I was shocked, of course. A part of me was in panic mode because we were young and not married. But at the same time, I was happy and excited that we were going to have our own flesh and blood. We didn't have big doubts on keeping the baby because we felt it was only right to, but our parents didn’t take it very well. When Mieko told her parents, they gave her an ultimatum to abort the baby or be thrown out of the house. We both struggled with the decision to abort after that. But after seeing the first ultrasound at the hospital – we just couldn’t bear to abort. Even after Mieko told her parents, I struggled to break the news to mine. Mieko eventually texted my mother about it and my mother was shocked. She reasoned that life would be difficult as we were financially very unstable. To add on to the stress we were facing, she is also a practicing Catholic so she wanted Mieko and I to get married before our baby was born. However, Mieko was only 18 and considered a minor so she needed consent from her parents for marriage. Her parents did not approve since Mieko was still very young. We eventually waited till she was 21 and got married.
CJ and Mieko getting married

Harsh Realities

Mieko was only 18 then and working part-time while doing her diploma. I was 22 and just started my first full-time job at Keppel shipyard. Reality hit that we weren’t financially stable to support ourselves, much less bring a child up. My worries were mainly the financial aspects, but this can be worked on. On the negative thoughts people may have of me, I think nobody dared to say negative things to me directly. But I can’t deny that there were sentiments that bothered me slightly. I just ignored it and concentrated on our happiness.

Making The Decision

CJ with his family
Despite everything, Mieko and I decided to keep the baby. We are Roman Catholics and it is against our religion to abort a baby because we believe that every child is a gift from God. We also felt that this would be a new and interesting chapter of our lives together that will better us in our lifestyles, making us more responsible adults.

No Longer Young And Wild

There were definitely many things that we had to change. Before, we would spend freely without thinking. I’d spend a lot on things like cigarettes and alcohol, and go clubbing every week. When Dayna happened, I stayed home more often so I could save more money. I told myself that I’d never allow myself to go ‘bankrupt’ ever again. We've been thriftier. We don’t go clubbing often anymore. Even when we do, it’s probably once in a few months. Our entire paycheck now goes towards daily necessities, bills, and our kids. Compared to our younger, wilder days, we now meet up with friends over meals or they would come over to our place. We’d just chill at night after the girls have gone to sleep and maybe have a few drinks to relax. As a person, I became much more patient. Instead of letting my temper get the better of me, I’ve learnt to take a breath and keep my cool.

Being A Father Is Rewarding

CJ and his family today
Becoming a father in an unplanned pregnancy and before marriage has its challenges. There were many things that I had to change – it’s no longer a care-free lifestyle where I can do whatever I wanted. If my baby girls cried for food in the middle of the night, I'd wake up to feed them. My priority is now my girls. And it’s all worth it when I see them smiling and laughing back at me. As a father, that’s also the most rewarding part – to see your children happy.

Don’t Regret Your Decisions

If there are friends who find themselves in the same position as I was, I’d say, “Whatever it is, if you have a strong feeling on a decision and feel that it’s right, just go for it. Don’t follow people’s decisions and regret on it later.” Also read These 14 Heartwarming Stories Show That A Mother’s Love Is Like No Other.
People say kids say the darndest things. I say we were told the darndest things. We’ve all heard stories like how we've been picked up from the long kang, or that the mangali or the police will catch us if we’re naughty. We asked millennials what other ridiculous things they believed as gullible kids and here are their hilarious stories.

The Classic Tales

1. “A tree will grow out from my stomach and my mouth if I swallow seeds.” – Celine 2. “That the moon is a spy because it follows us everywhere.” – Alvin 3. “If you sleep beside a boy, you will get pregnant.” – Carmela 4. “I shouldn’t hold the chopsticks too high when I eat noodles, or else I will marry someone from far, far away. Who knows, I’m dating a Malaysian now, so quite true?” – Natasha 5. “The amount of rice left in your bowl after a meal will determine how many pimples your future wife/husband's face will have.” – Daniel 6. “If you point at the moon and don’t apologise, the moon will cut your ear.” “Cannot shake leg, if not money will fly away.” – Roger 7. “That sweets can grow ants! The very first time, my mum told me in Mandarin “生蚂蚁” (literally translated to mean grow ants), and after that, really seeing sweets with ants, I believed it.” “I used to believe that when I tell lies, my nose will grow like Pinocchio. When I was young, I would always hold my nose after I told a lie, and when adults kept saying that I have a really high nose, I believed it was because of lies.” – Wynn

The Monsters

8. “I believed in the Window Monster. My mom said that if I lean on the window, the Window Monster will grab me.” – Annabelle 9. “You know those black, round manhole covers on the floor of wet markets? I used to think that there are crocodiles inside. My sister told me she lied to me back then because she just wanted to scare me.” – Kristin 10. “It was very popular for those Chinese zombie movies to be playing on TV back then. The zombies are those that will hop around with a yellow talisman on their foreheads. My mom wanted me to bring a talisman to school as a form of protection, non-related to the zombies. When I refused, she told me it was to stop a zombie if I encountered one, just so I would bring the talisman out with me.” – Wen 11. “My brother used to believe in the Toilet Ghost. His back faces the toilet when he uses the computer at home, so he's afraid of it. He still keeps the toilet door closed today, and he’s still scared of bathing at night.” – Mindy

The Dental Stories

12. “My mom made me believe that if I don’t finish my rice, my teeth will start dropping. I remember there was once I didn’t finish my rice and the next day my baby tooth came loose and dropped out. I kept crying and went to the rice container and said sorry and I wanted my tooth back.” – Kenny 13. “When your baby teeth fall off, if it’s the upper set of teeth, you have to throw it out of the window downwards, and if it’s the lower set of teeth, then you have to throw it upwards. This is so that when you grow up, you will have prefect, straight teeth.” 14. “My parents also made me believe in the Tooth Fairy. They would secretly stash coins under my pillow in place of my tooth.” – Daphnie

The Innocent Ones

15. “My grandma used to have the Rediffusion radio box, and the wire ran into one of the other rooms in her house. Like, it ran up the wall to the ceiling then all the way into another room. It seemed like that room was always locked so I used to think someone was inside doing the show, until we moved and they unlocked the room. I found out it was just a storeroom with a power socket.” – Eugene 16. “My preschool teacher would scare me, saying that if I was naughty, she would put a cone over me and make my head disappear.” - Kenny 17. “I used to believe the MSG packets in Mamee Noodles were silicon packets. My mom said it's to keep the noodle dry and that I will die if I ate it. One day I saw a friend open and pour the MSG packet in and I was so horrified, I told him he will die. That's when I learnt I was cheated by my mom.” – Bling

The Ones About Nature

18. “My friend believed that plants have blood too, like animals.” – Bing Han 19. “I used to believe rock sugar came from real rocks. I found out it was a lie when I scrubbed a random rock for a long time.” – Wendy 20.If you step on a snail and the shell cracks, it will become huge and eat you up.” – Mai 21. “Back in my mother's kampong in Malaysia, she would give me a small plate of salt and told me to feed the snails when they appear. She said it's their favourite food. I didn't understand why they would disappear after I fed them but she assured me the snails are just shy. Turns out she just didn't want them to ruin her vegetable garden and made me do the dirty work instead.” – Samantha

The Truly Singaporean Ones

22. “I used to believe that Santa Claus would come from the rubbish chute because HDBs got no chimneys and the chute was the closest thing.” – Samantha 23. “I stay in Bukit Batok and used to think Tampines was just next door, because whenever my father drives us out to Tampines, I would sleep in the car and wake up already there.” – Jeremy

The Very Weird Ones

24. “If you bite your fingernails, those leftover fingernails will run to a corner by themselves and when there's enough, it will make a clone of you and take over you – thanks Mr Midnight.” – Jun Yuan 25. “I believed my parents didn't pull my limbs as much as they did for my brothers when we were babies, that's why I'm so short.” “Last time I thought that if I don't shit out from below, the shit will accumulate and come out from my mouth.” – Yun Jie What are some ridiculous or silly things you believed as a kid? Share them with us in the comments below! Also read, The JC Merger Marks The End Of An Era – These Ex-Students Share Their Last Goodbye
Those of you familiar with American TV shows will probably be familiar with kids getting grounded or being made to eat veggies when they misbehaved. For us Singaporeans, discipline takes on quite a different shape and form. We spoke to some Singaporeans about the way they were punished as kids. Some of these are so extreme, you'll realize how good you had it as a kid!

1. Kena whack by all sorts of things

A classic punishment most of us have been through and survived is caning. Some of our parents were so sadistic, they made us choose our own canes at the mama shop. We happily chose our favourite colour and the smallest one because child logic says the smaller, the better. We would eventually come to realise how very wrong we were. Some of us would hide the canes or secretly break them or throw them away, but that wouldn't stop our parents. Even if the cane broke mid-whooping, the horror would continue and we would run around the house, screaming as our parents chased us down with belts, rulers, hangers, feather dusters, and even back scratchers. #goodtimes One girl, Samantha, was even forced to wear a short-sleeved shirt and shorts to school to show the marks from her caning, leaving one to wonder if the pain from the caning or the public shaming was the real punishment.

2. Being made to kneel everywhere, on everything

Kneeling on a washing board, kneeling on coins, being made to kneel through the night without sleep, facing the wall or in front of the altar... Eugene's dad made him kneel on an abacus! And that's not all. After half an hour, when his skin seemed like it was about to tear, his dad got him to kneel on sandpaper! And the offence? Failing his Primary 6 Chinese exam.

3. Being locked in

As a child, getting locked in can be terrifying, as in the case of 3-year-old Daniel, who was locked in the toilet at night, with no lights on. It could have been just 5 minutes, but it felt like a lifetime, leaving him with a fear of the dark to this day. For Melissa, who refused to go to school because they changed her teacher, her mum tied her leg to a table's leg and left her in the room for hours.

4. Being locked out

Breaking curfew usually led to us being locked out. For Oliver, it was an especially cold punishment as he was locked out in the freezing London weather. Ubaidah, who used to fight verbally with her younger brother often, got locked out with her brother by her dad so they could fight as much as they wanted. He told them they won’t be allowed in until he saw blood, although of course, that didn't happen. Some fathers take ‘throwing you out’ quite literally, as did Chun Seng's, who was physically carried and thrown out of the house.

5. Being used as target practice

Jamie lost her wallet and didn’t dare to tell her parents. Her mum got so angry when she found out, she threw a dictionary at her.

6. The passive aggressive treatment

Some of our parents would ignore us, filling us with guilt by saying absolutely nothing at all. We'd question if they've stopped loving us and end up apologising. Clarice ended up with no dinner because she fiddled with food previously.

7. These ones are just sibei jialat

Eugene thought kneeling on an abacus and sandpaper was enough a punishment for failing his Chinese exam, but his dad didn’t think so. At 12 years old, he was picked up from school by his dad, driven further away from home, and then told to get off the car and to walk home himself. One mum learnt from some of her friends to force-feed daughter, Belle, chili-padi. When she refused to open her mouth, she ended up rubbing it all over her lips. As a Primary school kid, the spiciness stung horribly. Wen suffered a similar demise, with her mum applying chili sauce on her lips like lip gloss.

8. The prize for most creative punishment goes to...

As shared by Annabelle, her dad wrapped her up with a cloth and hung her on the wall when she was about 2 years old. What are some unforgettable (or unorthodox) methods your parents have used to punish or discipline you? Let us know in the comments! Also read, 15 S’poreans Share The Sweetest Thing Their Partner Has Done That Will Make You Say ‘Spoil Market’ (Top Image Credit: Oi Vietnam)