What's something you thought as a kid but later realized you were SO wrong about?

Very young I thought there were three ethnic groups. Black, White and Native American Indian.

I was in my late teens before I saw a different group and 30 when I first encounters Mexicans and Asians.   

That my parents weren't idiots, and they knew what they were doing.  But, alas. 

When I was about 6- 8 years old, I thought electricity came from trees that were struck by lightning. That's my dad's fault though.

That people who died in movies, died in real life.

I once saw my (much older) sister hanging out her washing and when she pegged out a bra I said, "I thought only movie stars had those." Talk about naive. :(

All dogs were boys and all cats were girls

my parents were right never trust a cop and their is only two genders the one is made up in their brain

So, flight with a cape . . . Not a real thing.

I had the Superman Costume . . . And by golly, I had enough speed . . . . Even tried altering the altitudes until pain dissuaded me from venturing further . . . George Reeves could do it . . . But the grass stains on the front of my costume was a badge of failure . . .

Until the age of 10, I was raised in a very diverse neighborhood. It was no big deal to have friends that were Black, Mexican or Chinese. As a child I never realized what bigotry was until we moved to a completely white neighborhood.  Even though I myself was white, I thought everybody grew up with different races of people and got along. Ahhhh....if only kids ruled the world!

I thought that cats were nice fluffy friendly things, and not the black-hearted, garden-pooping, wildlife-killing, selfish, hateful things that they turned out to be. I'm not that keen on cats.

As a child, I assumed that my family would be here with me forever .... Not just in my heart.

Human life.

I used to put skin care creams all over my closets, edges and surfaces. The reason ? I wanted their skin stays fresh and keep the quality :))

Dear Nina Varganov,

This is something of a variation on Tinkerbell St. Basil's experience...

I did not encounter the concept of racism until I left my country home for Seattle around the age of twenty, and I always assumed I grew up in an ethnically homogeneous environment.

Then at the age of 62 I was participating in a class on human diversity, and was going on about my early life no exposure to any diversity at all...

Well that night I got to thinking about it and realized that in my tiny town maybe 200 people, there were Hispanic, Native American, Asian, Romany and even one African-American! Looking back, as a small child I had no concept of "other," everybody belonged in my category of "us" !

Age 62, I finally figured that out and I was amazed...