95 Fantastic Facts about Kids

An FDA official named Dr. Frances Oldham Kelsey saved the US from a generation of children with birth defects such as flipper-like arms and feet by repeatedly blocking the authorization of a drug, already approved in Europe, known as Thalidomide.

27. Mars, Inc. thought E.T. to be so ugly they feared the character would frighten children and refused to allow M&Ms to be used in the movie. This opened the door to Hershey's, who took the opportunity to market Reese's Pieces.

28. The book "To train up a child" by Michael Pearl advocates the use of severe corporal punishment and even starvation to control children. It has been linked to multiple child deaths.

29. The cousin of the "Internet Bully Hero" named Casey Heynes, that slams a kid on the floor at school for bullying him, committed suicide because of bullying.

30. In 1937, a gas leak in the basement of a local school in New London, Texas caused a massive explosion which killed almost 300 children and teachers, the deadliest school disaster in US history. Adolf Hitler even sent his condolences by telegram.

Johnny Depp's daughter named Lily-Rose Depp nearly died from an E.Coli infection and had an extended hospital stay. In order to thank the hospital for taking care of her, Depp dressed up as Jack Sparrow and read stories to kids for four hours.

32. In Billy Madison, Adam Sandler got special permission from the actors and their parents to actually hit the kids with dodgeballs.

33. With the exception of 2004, the Nickelodeon specials "Kids Pick the President" have correctly predicted the winner of every U.S. presidential election since 1988.

34. In the 1913 Tour de France, Eugène Christophe's front fork on his bike broke. He carried it 10 km to the nearest blacksmith, where he used the forge to weld it back together. He was penalized 3 minutes because he had a local kid pump the bellows for him.

35. Psychologist David T. Lykken proposed that having kids should be licensed, and that being unmarried, financially unstable, and having poor health were factors against being given permission to breed.

In the Japanese localization of "Inside Out," Pixar replaced the scenes involving broccoli with bell peppers because Japanese kids don't think broccoli is gross.

37. In the Broken Toy Experiment, 2-year-old kids were given toys that were rigged to break spectacularly. Those who showed the most guilt went on to have fewer behavioral problems later on.

38. In 2008, Nebraska implemented a law to allow parents to drop off unwanted newborns at safe havens. The law didn't state an age limit, and nearly all the children abandoned were over 10 years old, some were even 17.

39. There is a dinosaur heavy metal band named Hevisaurus in Finland that is incredibly popular with children.

40. Babies learn a language by hearing it, but they must hear it spoken directly to them in person by another human being. As little as 12 hours with a human tutor produces dramatic results in babies, compared with no results even after many more hours of exposure to foreign language TV shows.

General Electric in Schenectady, New York has the zip code 12345 and receives thousands of letters to Santa yearly from kids who guess Santa's address. Employees there often use their breaks to write response letters.

42. A former bonded child laborer named Iqbal Masih from Pakistan escaped the carpet factory at the age of 10, helped free over 3000 kids from slavery, helped bring down Pakistani carpet exports by $34 million, before being murdered at the age of 13.

43. Wendy's founder Dave Thomas worried kids may see his success as a high school dropout an excuse to do the same, so he went back to high school to earn his GED decades later.

44. The term "Stranger Danger" may leave children more susceptible to abuse because it puts focus on strangers when in reality 93% of children know their abuser.

45. Children born blind still smile, meaning smiling is not a learned response. It is something humans do innately.

South Korea bans children aged under 16 from playing online games between midnight and 6 am under a so-called "Cinderella Law".

47. An Oregon couple, with 2 disabled children of their own, launched a non-profit called "Magic Wheelchair" that develops and hand-crafts Halloween costume options for wheelchair-bound children.

48. In 1983, Kansas City Chiefs running back Joe Delaney died attempting to save 3 children from drowning. Despite being unable to swim, Delaney told a bystander there: ‘I’ve got to save those kids. If I don’t come up, get somebody,’ before rushing into the water.

49. In 2013, a 17-year old kid named Tyler Hadley murdered his parents and hid their bodies in a locked bedroom so he could throw a huge house party.

50. The video "Runaway" Train by Soul Asylum had different versions depending in what country it was shown. They each showed photos and videos of missing kids from the areas where it was shown. 26 kids from the video were eventually found.