The worst "naughty" thing you did as a child?

hilz

Ran my finger nail down every corner in a room where my lovely Dad had decorated to split the paper as I liked the patterns of the rips. Mum went bolistic. Dad improved his decorating skills and papered into the corners properly. He was suprisingly quite amused by it but made me his little decorating assistant when I wanted to play outside.

Oh, I did that in my newly decorated bedroom! It was quite satisfying ?

FannyCornforth

JaneJudge

I honestly was never naughty

Hi lovely ?
No. Me neither
I stretched everyone’s patience when I was a teenager though

Me neither!

I was experimental, though ?
"What would happen if I ..........?"
And accident-prone

I was very accident prone.
I was always warned before going anywhere not to touch anything!
I did pick up something in a gift shop and drop it, once.
Not very naughty though, is it? .I feel I've missed out!

When I was about 8, I was staying, with family, on holiday in the South Wales valleys and went for a walk with my 18 month old cousin in her pushchair and another 6yr old cousin to see Aunty D and cousins in the next village, which was about 2-3 miles away. This was around 1957 so no mobiles or even house phones. When we got there my Aunty D was horrified that we had walked all that way and gave us money for the bus fare home. We spent the money on sweets instead and was walking back home when a police car pulled up alongside us and took us home. We had been gone a very long time and my family were all frantic and very cross. I just thought it was very exciting getting a lift home in a police car. I’m still reminded about it to this day!

I was about five, sitting under the expensive polished dining room table with a pair of scissors. I snipped at the edges of the wood underneath and it left a lovely pale mark, so I snipped some more, until it looked beautiful, so I thought. Not really naughty I don't think, just curious, but I dread to think what would have been said had my mum found out. She never did; obviously never went under the table herself!
Also my big brother made me sick by lighting cigarette butts thrown on the pavement with his magnifying glass and telling me to smoke them. I never really got why I was punished as much as him.

In our 2nd year at secondary school my friend and I decided we were going to take the day off school and go into the nearest big town about 10 miles away on the bus. Our school was quite strict & if you were caught playing truant or ‘twagging’ as we called it you got into serious trouble with the school & your parents.

We planned it meticulously for about a week, we had enough money saved for the return bus fare but not much else.
It wasn’t half the fun we thought it would be, we were just aimlessly wandering around the shops, being gawped at by snooty shop assistants because it was obvious we should have been in school. By lunch time our feet ached and we were really hungry but we barely had enough money for a bar of chocolate, we went into Marks to see what we could get with our bit of change and unbelievably ran straight into my Aunty who guessed straight away we were up to no good and should have been at school. There were no INSET days then so we couldn’t make that excuse!

We were terrified of our parents finding out and I begged my Aunty not to tell them, she agreed on condition that we both swore we would never do it again. She then gave each of us some money to get a sandwich and a drink from Marks food hall (that was the best bit about the day) . We never did it again, it wasn’t half the fun we thought it would be and to top it off we missed the bus to get us back home at the usual school finishing time which meant telling more porkies to cover ourselves.

I had a sister who was 15 years older than me. Of course when 4/5 years she was working abd had lovely clothes, to me for dressing up in. Going out one night she layed a beautuful bolero on her bed. As I was always being told I couldn't dress up I decided neutger could she and I cut the bolero into strips following the weave/knit of the garment. Can giess her reaction and my parents' when the boloro was found. Yet I can't remember any punishment being meted out. Must have been (deservedly) so awful I've blocked it from my mind.

Keeping a white mouse in my bedroom without parents knowledge. It escaped and was found on the landing. I really got "whatfor"!!!

Am I i right in thinking that Mischief Night is traditional in the north of England?

Bonfire Night wasn't popular in the Glasgow area when I was a child, which may be due to the fact that feeling between Protestants and Catholics were not always aimable.

Hallowe'en was our special night, but with tricks of any kind-
Paddyann, we called what you call "a turn" "a party-piece" and we did them at children's parties and on Hogmanay as well as at Hallowe'en.

A lot of the pranks others name on Mischief Night were formerly common in Denmark either on New Year's Eve or Twelfth Night.

I cannot remember ever doing or daring to do all the things you others did.

Not because I was a "good" child - I wasn't. It was due to the fact that if giving children rows had been an Olympic sport in the 1950s my mother would have had an unbelievable amount of Gold medals.

I can clearly remember standing with tears running down my face on many occasions in my childhood, but I have completely surpressed the details of the rows andwhat I had done to deserve the. I do know I wished that my parents, who did not believe in coporal punishment would just spank us and have done with it, rather than go on and on and on about whatever it was we had done.

I was north west and mischief night was grand

I was an only child of older parents and got bored in the evening and was allowed to watch a tiny TV in their bedroom
up stairs. Mum had started to buy Christmas presents and I knew there was a small tin of quality street in the ottoman so opened it and had quite a few. So I brought a grab bag the next day and put them back. But I left 1 on the bed so got found out
anyway. She did not talk to me for days

To the ladies who punched the bullies - good on you,!
Treetops05 ???

I was 7 or 8 and we were on holiday in Clacton. I was playing at the end of the garden when my grandad came to get me in for dinner. I didn't want to go but he insisted and took hold of my hand. I snatched it back and pushed him away. He lost his footing and fell into a huge patch of nettles. He was in his late 70s and walked with a stick. He just lay there for a few moments, obviously in pain. I was horrified at what I'd done and tried to help him. I ran to get my Mum. Grandad said he had tripped, he never told her I pushed him. He was OK, no broken bones, but the nettle stings were painful for weeks. I still feel horribly guilty about it now.

We also used to put bangers into empty metal dustbins and watch as all the neighbours dashed out of their houses to see what the big explosion was.

Sometimes we went up on to the roof of our flats and dropped metal dustbin lids off the edge of the roof to the pavement 3 floors below just after someone walked by. You should have seen them jump!!

We tied door knockers together along a row of houses and then knocked the first one. When the door was opened it knocked the door next door, and so on and so on. Of course this worked best if we did it when we knew everyone was home, like tea/dinner time.

At secondary school I once put ExLax laxatives in a teacher's coffee because he'd given me lines and detention. Nobody liked him. I was told it had the desired result and he had to go home suddenly.

Some of the things GNers got up to are hilarious!

When I was about 6 mother took me to the local corner shop for some shopping. There was a tray of peaches and I asked if I could have one, she said no so when she was at the till talking I took a bite out of a few of them and turned them over so they still looked whole. I never got caught.

Playing on the railway lines (this was 1950s/1960s, and before electric trains I think.) I apparently said to my mother when she found out about this - "oh it's all right Mummy, if you put your head on the line you can hear the trains coming"! She had visions of a headless child for months afterwards.

Iam64

I was north west and mischief night was grand

I was Border Northwest and I haven't heard of it.

It was a big thing in my part of West Yorkshire.

Mum wouldn't allow chewing gum but of course I wanted some so went to the corner shop and bought a packet. There I am chewing away and mum turns up so I quickly took out of my mouth and stuck on the insides of my petticoats as they were called then. Couldn't for the life of me get it off so hide the offending article in the bushes a few days later and then mum wanted to know why not in the washing basket? I had to confess and got a good old fashioned hiding! Well you did in those days didn't you?!

I had to confess and got a good old fashioned hiding! Well you did in those days didn't you?!

No, I never did.

I was told by another child that chewing gum strangled your insides if you swallowed it so ve never been keen on it!

I was seven and an avid reader, Thomas the Tank Engine etc. I was down the library every day changing my books. One day I was bursting for the loo and could wait no longer. I peed on the library floor whilst getting my books stamped.

On another occasion a girl who lived on our street had a brand new tricycle, blue and silver with a boot. Ooh it was the envy of us all. We longed for a ‘go’ on this new bike. The girl, little madam, promised us all we could have a ride on it, if we did various tasks first. Well these tasks were never ending. She was clearly relishing getting everyone running errands for her. I got fed up and ‘stole’ the bike and rode it round the block. She was round to our house with her mother in tow to complain. But I’d got my story in first, so no punishment ensued. She never forgave me though…

Oh and we used to play ‘chicken’ and stand on the single track rail line when train was coming …..

I never got a ‘hiding’. My parents wouldn’t have dreamt of hitting me in any way. The worst I’d have got would have been a talking-to, but I never had that either. I suppose my parents didn’t know about the very few naughty things I did.

When I was around 5-6 years old my stepfather wallpapered our sitting room with some embossed wallpaper (I can still remember what it looked like, even today). For some reason I took it upon myself to draw around some of the embossments with a blue biro. Parent was absolutely furious but I solemnly declared I had seen my younger brother do so and he was the one who got punished, I felt guilty for years but he grew into a not very nice adult so the guilt dissipated somewhat.

I once smacked my younger sister around the face - I can’t remember why and I got into so much trouble. We’ve never been very close, I wonder if that’s why …

Iam64

What larks chewbacca ?‍?.
It’s a wonder any of us survived
We had mischief night on 4 November. We tide gates and door handles together, took gates off, leaving them propped up so when the house owner opened it in the morning, it fell off

I did this as well, especially when I went to stay with my grandparents in Harrogate and got together with my friends there. I loved Mischief Night.

paddyann54

I've never heard of mischief night ,is it widespread or limited to a particular area?

My grandparents lived in Harrogate in Yorkshire and that was where I did things on Mischief Night.