Seemed like a good idea at the time...

I did some odd things as a child. It's probably because my frontal lobe was not properly developed enough for me to accurately consider the consequences of my actions, but I like to think that it's because I was a budding scientist, keen to test hypotheses. 

Coffee: not for fingers. [pic via]

Here are some examples:

When I was around 4 years old, I decided to see what would happen if I placed my fingers in a fresh cup of coffee. Burning, is the answer. 

Also around the same age, at pre-school I wanted to see what would happen if I hit someone with my barbie doll. So out of nowhere I just walked up to some boy and hit him on the head with it. It turns out he didn't really enjoy that (as evidenced by all the crying), and neither did the child-care workers. I received a time out, but I don't remember being all that concerned about hurting the poor kid. Well thank God I didn't turn out to be a psychopath with this somewhat concerning behaviour...

...Or did I?

Shifty eyed dog from The Simpsons [via here]

Err, anyway...

When I was a bit older (around 10-11) I went for an investigation of the sewer with some kids from school, just to see what it was like. Not surprisingly, it didn't smell great, was wet, dark and a bit creepy. When I returned home I noticed my previously white socks were now brown from the sewer water. Concerned I would have to answer questions as to my whereabouts (really where else would you be going that could turn socks brown), I threw them out. 

Also around that age, some other kids in the street and I decided it would be fun to ride down a (somewhat steep) hill in the park in our street in a shopping trolley - you'd get in (at least I had the sense to wear a bike helmet) and the other person would give you a push, and then run after you to try to catch the trolley before it rolled into the big ditch at the bottom of the hill. Thankfully nothing bad ended up happening! 

Not tasty, but not awful. 2/5 stars. [via]

Besides all this weird stuff I got up to, I don't think I was an overly naughty kid. Feeling jealous that I'd never said anything bad enough to get my mouth washed out with soap (which was supposedly all the rage at the time) I asked my babysitter one night if she would do it for me, which for some reason she agreed to. I still didn't actually swear mind you. I also don't know what I expected - of course it tasted like I had soap in my mouth, which really although not appetising, wasn't awful. I'm not sure how deterring this would have been had I actually wanted to swear up a storm! 

I guess they all seemed like good ideas at the time, but looking back now some of these things are a bit baffling! Did you ever do similarly odd things as a kid (or last week even)? Please make me feel better about my strange behaviour by sharing in the comments!