Mel writes in:

I don’t remember how old I was, probably about 6 or 7, but I had received a balloon and was very excited about it. Unfortunately, I didn’t quite grasp the idea of helium (except “don’t let go”). When we got home and I stepped out of the car, the balloon slipped from hand. As it floated slowly up into the sky I started crying and yelling at my dad to “get a ladder and get it!!” I didn’t understand why they were laughing at my pain…and I still blame my dad for not trying.

Aaron from Cleveland, OH reveals this bit of his childhood:

One morning when I was maybe three years old, my dad stopped to say goodbye to me as he left for work. I asked him why he had to leave and couldn’t stay to play. He said, “It’s so you can sit here and eat cereal.” Sure, he sounds like a dick, but at the time he worked in a General Motors factory which would be reason enough to backhand me for querying so ignorantly.

Later that week, he and I were out running errands and stopped by the factory so he could get paid. I insisted that he ask for Cocoa Puffs, because I was tired of the Rice Krispies they had been giving him.

I was so stupid, it defies the rules of natural selection that I even live to divulge this.