Dumbest thing you have ever done as a kid?

[Capra ibex]

Tippytoe'd up on a barstool to stick my finger into a light socket.

Pretty sure I could still qualify for some kind financial assistance.

I had a very similar experience but i think my level of stupidity beats yours

My younger brother stuck his finger in a light socket and then turned around with a terrified look on his face and showed me his finger with 2 burn marks which to me was fascinating (for some reason??).

I truly do not know what i was thinking, not much obviously, but i decided to copy him to see what caused the 2 little white dots on his finger.
In my mind i vaguely envisioned a spider bit him or something, because the power switch next to the socket was turned off so i thought it couldn't be electric shock.... i don't know why i went ahead and stuck my finger in there also.... *BBZZZZ* it felt like it was pulling my finger in as well.

I looked at my brother and we both just stared at each other like WTF??

 

[Tudo]

Had a major accident circa 1970 with my nearly brand new ( ahh yes, so long ago ) vw beetle . My then squeeze and I were on our way up rte 9 from Berkeley shores to seaside heights ( nowadays known as "sleaside" I am told ) in bumper to bumper traffic when a van came screaming out of a parking lot right straight into my poor little bug, head-on. I watched my then girlfriend hit the windshield while I mostly braced myself against the steering wheel and was unhurt.


Father drove me and the babe back from the jersey shore to the real world 40 or so miles away. Several years before that I started working rebuilding a 1962 I think corvair and had it almost complete in my parents garage. Suddenly I'm without a set of wheels so it became a prime objective to finish this corvair and get back on the road as a single young man without a set of wheels is a dreadful position to be in. I was missing something to get the car started, FUEL LINES and license plates.


My Dad had a set of plates hanging on the wall that he had on a brand new 59 chevy he bought new but that was a long time ago by now and they hung on the wall in the garage. Well on the corvair they went. I hooked up some rubber tubing for gasoline lines. Now boys and girls for those of you who were born into the age of non leaded gas let me tell you how it was way back. American gas stations, ( Amoco ) high test if memory serves correctly was over 100 octane ( Sunoco was I think 104, Amoco which would burn your hands and was clear was I think higher than that ). Well off we went from Garwood to Kenilworth in my red corvair that I had just finished replacing the pushrod tubes and so much more. Cost me $50 bucks plus all the work and parts but it didn't run right. It had a slight miss. Sputtering along, wheels is better than heels any day and that was about to change for this young man yet again.


As we passed the populated area of Kenilworth heading toward cranford/Garwood/westfield suddenly there was a BAM like a lightning bolt flashed and a thunder boom. It lit up the inside of the car! I looked at my friend John and asked "what the hell was that"? to which he said very non challantly, I think you better pull the car over so we can get out.....and I said what? He started to repeat the same thing but added " CAUSE THE FKING CAR IS ON FIRE!' in a scream.


I pulled the car over slow enough to more or less jump out of the fking thing and within minutes there were cops and fire engines everywhere. The police were understanding and had both of us sit in the back seat of the police car while the fire department extinguished the flames. In new jersey they had car inspections at the time and if you remember I took old expired license plates belonging once upon a time to a 59 chevy and put them on this car which had also been sitting since I was 13 or 14 years old as I REBUILT THIS MOFO FROM THE GROUND UP AND THE LAST DAMN THING TO FINISH IT MECHANICALLY ENOUGH FOR A TEST DRIVE WAS A GASOLINE LINES.


Which of course I used some cheap rubber tubing which MELTED causing the engine fire which soon engulfed the car, wiping out several years of hard work, money from all the parts I worked to buy, firemen everywhere and the police officer who was very understanding as was everybody made his way back to the police car where John and I were sitting and you know the only damn things that were not destroyed by the flames was the G-ddamn inspection sticker on the inside of the windshield that bore the license plate in pen on the inside of the sticker, that sum bitch was fine as were the damn license plates that belonged to my Dad and obviously did not match the plate number on the inside of the inspection sticker which is why the police officer opened the door and apprised me of his discovery while telling me damn, looks like you getting some tickets...fictitious plates, no registration etc etc etc which wound up inflicting what is commonly referred to as " insult to injury" I thought at the time but they collectively added up to more than what the car was worth so it was more than just insult. I lost 2 cars in a matter of a week, a girlfriend, "face" as they call it in Asia, a bunch of money for a young kid back in those days.


Heh I was born for trouble

That was far from the dumbest as I was a real dumbass so I have more than a few like it ha!


Is it silly for me to enlarge the font when I type? I'm going blind in one eye and really appreciate when I am able to read larger font without having to use my damn magnifying glass

 

[TychoMonolyth]

Cowboys and Indians with BB and Pellet guns. We did it a whole summer. The only rule? "No shooting in the face." lol. Friken things draw blood. Anyway, we're at the cottage by the lake and we're shooting each other again. My brother gets nailed up close so he started to cry. We covered his mouth and we were like "shut up shut up.... they'll take the guns". There was no helicopter parenting back then but I guess my mom heard my brother yelp and she called us in. I had run out of BBs so I had been using sand, small pebbles, anything that could be used as ammo. It was empty by now because I had fired it 10 times with nothing in it. I walked into the cottage and she asked if we were shooting each other. I said "Of course not. Here look." I put the rifle to my neck and pulled the trigger. I tried to keep a straight face, and I guess I was convincing enough because she let us go back outside with our rifles. My brother says.. "you're bleeding" and pointed to my neck. My air rifle still had sand in it. My blood pressure must have hit 300 the instant I pulled the trigger. MOOOOOOTHEEEEERFUCKER!!!!! That hurt so much, I can feel it when I think of it.

We were 7 boys from 10 to 14. Cousins with the same "great" ideas. But the most painful idea was getting our asses whipped for setting the dock on fire and setting it adrift while we shot arrows at it hoping it would land on the little island so it would catch fire. They should have chained us together and kept us in the basement, but I think they were afraid we'd set the place on fire.

 

[rolandomota]

Sign a paper like an idiot so I can come out on that show cops I was 12 i think and that's all you need to know

 

[Bobby Boucher]

I had a very similar experience but i think my level of stupidity beats yours

Tough to judge..

I was up on a concrete floor, completely outstretched on my tippytoes as if I were trying to prove to myself that I could reach the socket. I fell backwards stiff as a board flat onto my back. Knocked the wind right out of me. I must have been 4-5.

I cried a lot as a kid, but I didn't cry then. That fall seemed to bestow upon me the full burden of self-awareness, and I knew, before I even hit the floor, that what I had done was fucking retarded, and that I didn't deserve anybodies pity for it.

I grew up fast.

 

[TychoMonolyth]

I used a knife to remove toast from a toaster and got zapped. I knew I shouldn't do it and was thinking that the whole time, but still did it anyway.
Kiddies don't put a knife into a toaster, especially if it is plugged in and turned on.

lol. Yep. Been there with a space heater and a coat hanger. That's definitely a wakerupper.

 

[armedoldhippy]

shorted the same wire in my oven not once, but twice. second time, i came to up against the far wall. could not see out of left eye because of the blue flash, and my arm muscles were twitching. i was in my thirties, shoulda known better...

 

[MedFaced]

It’s very hard for me to point to a singular dumbest event as I simply shouldn’t have survived my childhood. I have however managed to recall an incredibly dumb moment where no one got hurt. I grew up about a 40minute drive south of Los Angelos. During the late 80’s and early 90’s, it was the Wild West. Homicide rates and gun violence were insanely high compared to now. I’m painting this picture to highlight the environment for those less familiar. This was a time of no street cameras, no tattooed lawyers/doctors, almost no cell phones, lots and lots of shooting. There was a combination of gangs consolidating drug enterprises, and those that emulated the gangsters. So gangsters were shooting the shit out of each other, and the kids from nicer areas would drive around with mom and dad’s gun or one they stole and play gangster. I knew kids at age 11 that were tattooed on the face, neck and arms. I knew a kid that by 13 had been shot seven times. I could go on, but you should get the point by now. Things that seemed very familiar/normal to me then, obviously are not normal at all. I don’t know country living, I don’t know farmer living, that is what I knew, and those were current events that would be discussed on a Jr high school playground amongst 11-13 year olds.

So now that you have feel for what it was like, I’ll get on with the stupidity. One day my Vietnamese buddy stole a box of 22 longs from a neighbor. He was the son of a refugee that had fled after the country in the late 70’s early 80’s. So he shows up at the local hang out with his box of ammo, a long set of plyers and a hammer. We enthusiastically knew what time it was. With glee and a Herculean dedication, we took turns holding a bullet with the plyers while attempting to discharge it. I honestly can’t remember if we found success, but my memory leans towards yes. I think at least one asshole was trying to hammer that bitch while pointing the round in our general direction. We’d laugh, avoid, and throw rocks at him screaming nonsense like “stop it, bitch! Seriously!” At some point this got boring. We had a lighter! Next came the idea. There was a large palm tree stump that must’ve fallen off a landscapers truck or something. It had been in this location for a long time and stood out as there were no palm trees in this area. So we walked over, giggled as we pushed this stump while trying to avoid the swarming but harmless bugs that had made a home out of it. We managed to get it on some train tracks that ran through the spot. Oddly, I remember feeling a fear I didn’t have while hammering bullets when that stump caught fire. It lit up like a pack of matches. It was spectacular and scary to watch. Finally, the flames simmer down and it stabilizes enough that we work up our confidence to walk back towards it. Took a moment just observing with a hypnotic like malaise the damage we caused to the stump. For a brief moment, we just watched it burn. Then my viet buddy tosses the final handful of bullets into the fire! It took longer than anticipated, but sure enough...pop...pop, pop, pop...pop. We giggled and laughed like little girls as we “safely” waited it out...About a little more than a dozen yards away. Can’t remember if law enforcement came out for that one. It was typical in those days for police to not respond too seriously to reports of gunfire without injury. They may have driven through the area, if that.

I’ll save the time I learned that a seal bomb is a small stick of dynamite for another occasion.

 

[TychoMonolyth]

shorted the same wire in my oven not once, but twice. second time, i came to up against the far wall. could not see out of left eye because of the blue flash, and my arm muscles were twitching. i was in my thirties, shoulda known better...

God damn Hippy. That's 220! Lol

 

['Boogieman']

It’s very hard for me to point to a singular dumbest event as I simply shouldn’t have survived my childhood. I have however managed to recall an incredibly dumb moment where no one got hurt. I grew up about a 40minute drive south of Los Angelos. During the late 80’s and early 90’s, it was the Wild West. Homicide rates and gun violence were insanely high compared to now. I’m painting this picture to highlight the environment for those less familiar. This was a time of no street cameras, no tattooed lawyers/doctors, almost no cell phones, lots and lots of shooting. There was a combination of gangs consolidating drug enterprises, and those that emulated the gangsters. So gangsters were shooting the shit out of each other, and the kids from nicer areas would drive around with mom and dad’s gun or one they stole and play gangster. I knew kids at age 11 that were tattooed on the face, neck and arms. I knew a kid that by 13 had been shot seven times. I could go on, but you should get the point by now. Things that seemed very familiar/normal to me then, obviously are not normal at all. I don’t know country living, I don’t know farmer living, that is what I knew, and those were current events that would be discussed on a Jr high school playground amongst 11-13 year olds.

So now that you have feel for what it was like, I’ll get on with the stupidity. One day my Vietnamese buddy stole a box of 22 longs from a neighbor. He was the son of a refugee that had fled after the country in the late 70’s early 80’s. So he shows up at the local hang out with his box of ammo, a long set of plyers and a hammer. We enthusiastically knew what time it was. With glee and a Herculean dedication, we took turns holding a bullet with the plyers while attempting to discharge it. I honestly can’t remember if we found success, but my memory leans towards yes. I think at least one asshole was trying to hammer that bitch while pointing the round in our general direction. We’d laugh, avoid, and throw rocks at him screaming nonsense like “stop it, bitch! Seriously!” At some point this got boring. We had a lighter! Next came the idea. There was a large palm tree stump that must’ve fallen off a landscapers truck or something. It had been in this location for a long time and stood out as there were no palm trees in this area. So we walked over, giggled as we pushed this stump while trying to avoid the swarming but harmless bugs that had made a home out of it. We managed to get it on some train tracks that ran through the spot. Oddly, I remember feeling a fear I didn’t have while hammering bullets when that stump caught fire. It lit up like a pack of matches. It was spectacular and scary to watch. Finally, the flames simmer down and it stabilizes enough that we work up our confidence to walk back towards it. Took a moment just observing with a hypnotic like malaise the damage we caused to the stump. For a brief moment, we just watched it burn. Then my viet buddy tosses the final handful of bullets into the fire! It took longer than anticipated, but sure enough...pop...pop, pop, pop...pop. We giggled and laughed like little girls as we “safely” waited it out...About a little more than a dozen yards away. Can’t remember if law enforcement came out for that one. It was typical in those days for police to not respond too seriously to reports of gunfire without injury. They may have driven through the area, if that.

I’ll save the time I learned that a seal bomb is a small stick of dynamite for another occasion.

I grew up in Gary Indiana so definitely understand where your coming from. You also ignited another memory when you mentioned railroad tracks.

My cousin and I found a abandoned 100ft cable that was likely once a power line next to railroad tracks. We dragged that thing for hours because we thought it was a copper line. After a while we heard a train coming and we both thought let's use this train to cut this line and make it easier to carry. Big mistake, the line got stuck in the part that turns the wheels and was whipping around taking out small trees and branches and we just started running. We got out of there ok but cops where everywhere and the train was stopped until the next day.

 

[flylowgethigh]

I was gonna hold this one back cause it was later in my childhood, maybe 7th grade, but that story drug it out. So the parents did buy a house in the new subdivision I broke my arm skateboarding years earlier. They are building all these houses and the framers are leaving whole boxes of these .22 blanks with purple ends - used to shoot nails through wall footers onto the concrete slabs.

Workers had left a scrap wood pile burning behind one of the houses and me, my younger bro and another kid were F'ing off like little delinquents and I tossed a handful of those .22 blanks in the fire. They went off like popcorn.

One went right between my brother's eyes into the bridge of his nose.

Like I said, we were free range kids back then.

edit: This one has a mixed ending. I was reminded of it cause my father for some reason kept my 3rd grade report card and I was smart, but a real sh*t. Got A's in smart but some flat out "U"s for cooperation. So I had drawn a huge pic on my desk of a guy pissing for some reason (you could draw on a desk back then), like the decals people put on their PU truck of calvin pissing on_______. That got me sent to the principal's office for a paddling - yeah they did that back then. I was waiting and waiting outside his office and he came out crying and let me off!!!

They had just shot Kennedy and he had gotten the news. That is how I found out, AND missed a whacking. So 3rd grade kid doing stupid things but got away with it.