To ask what the weirdest thing you experienced or saw at someone else's house when you were a child?

@posteraroundtheworldyet

Please don't misunderstand what I am saying, information that is illegal should be reported, especially historic sex abuse and child abuse, and we all have a responsibility for this, which is why I and other posters have flagged it as an issue with MN, if you ignore or walk away from these claims then you are not helping counteract child abuse. You don't have to agree, in fact I am quite happy for you not to agree, but it isn't 'batshit' it is just simply about responsibility and a difference in opinion!

Hope this isn't too far off-topic – I was sixteen, so not really a child, and it's not weird, just memorable and sad/funny.

My Mum took me with her when she went to look after her friend's very elderly father ; the friend had to go out for the day and didn't want to leave him alone. He must have been fantastically good-looking once - he had been a Royal Navy captain, and even in extreme old age he was tall, straight-backed, dignified. But now he had what I now realise was Alzheimer's.

I sat in the sitting room with him and he chatted to me. One thing he said was “My daughter bought me this new television. It's very kind of her, but the programmes on it aren't as good as on my old one …”

He told me stories of his travels and adventures in the navy. It was interesting, exciting, and he told them really clearly. I wondered why on earth people said there was anything wrong with him. After about ½ hour he finished - and started again, and told the same stories all over again, in exactly the same words, even the same gestures. When he finished, he started again, and told them a third time ....

Totally different topic, but on this same visit I smelt a bad smell, and went to investigate. I traced it to the kitchen, thought it was the drains, sniffed around the sink, found it wasn't from there. Eventually I traced it to a cupboard, found an open jar in there, called my Mum and said I thought this stuff had gone off. She said, no, it's meant to smell like that. This was my first encounter with Marmite.

I had forgotten this one. Friend at school who told me he lived with his mum, dad, sister and a lodger. Visited his house a few times before I realised that his mum, dad and "lodger" all slept in the same bed. This wasn't a bohemian area in London, but a very working class 1970's council estate. I didn't understand it at the time, but thought it was strange and told my mum, who said nothing to me.

Neighbours house in the 70's .. V posh. Had 5 kids and I was best friends with the 2nd Girl. All luxuries you could imagine. Ponies, Tennis Court, Swimming Pool..

Mum was super glamorous, did charity work etc. We hardly EVER saw her... used to go riding out in the roads for miles with no adult supervision from age about 7.. including catching, tacking etc.

Dad was also never seen. He was a Barrister in London (we were in Rural Hants).. when he wasn't working he was playing golf every Sat/Sunday .

Definitely a house of 'benign neglect' (all things paid for that money could buy , older boys at Boarding school from age 7.. girls all private day school. Cleaner, housekeeper, cook etc , but no actual Parental attention)

So, sleepovers allowed and actively encouraged on one proviso... No one , absolutely no one was allowed to disturb 'mummy' in the morning because 'Uncle Matthew' was coming over to discuss 'business' with mummy. This ruse was dramatically enhanced by 'Uncle Matthew' bringing his daughter with him to play with us. (who we all loved) .. and the awful threat of her not being able to come and play anymore on a Saturday/Sunday morning if we told 'daddy' that 'Uncle Matthew had been here. As 'daddy' didn't like 'Uncle Matthew' ..

It was GENIUS.. None of us twigged it until at least a couple of decades later. .. Weirdly, 'mummy and daddy' still together.

Some of these are awful but I agree they should be shared . I don't remember anything odd as such growing up . I grew up in the 80's / 90s my mum was very house proud no matter if we had not much money she used to always say a bottle of bleach to clean costs nothing and a bar of soap to wash . I think some people who live in filth it's just all they've known . I remember going to friends houses and knowing they were poor and house a tip . My friends used to love coming to play at my house as was so tidy and clean . I used to tell my mum about so and so's house and she'd be shocked. It probably wasn't so bad but compared to my house my mum was always cleaning. I remember as a teen wishing she'd relax a bit as it was a bit ocd .

Carpets hung on walls and none on the floor.
Only being allowed in the hall and never beyond.
An eye-watering farmhouse where china potties appeared to be used by the adults.
An elderly relative who you never saw who would thump the floor of their room to get attention from the mum.

I bulk buy and hate not having lots of food in.

Same here.

We only got one meal a day (evening). Breakfast was just tea. I was always hungry, and now I can't relax unless the cupboards and fridge are so packed I can't find anything (IYSWIM).

DH says I have a siege mentality.

For those who are complaining that this thread is going onto classics, because there are some horrific accounts on here - just remember - this is social history. Most of us are shocked or amazed at how people lived, but for the individuals involved that was there life - there was nothing unusual about it.

Without accounts such as the ones on here, all of this would be lost - we would never know how people really lived.

I agree that some stories are harrowing - but shoving them under the carpet and pretending they never happened makes them more so, not less. We have a responsibility to document life as it was.

I once started over at school friend’s house - I must have been about 12/13. At breakfast the next morning they made toast - but every slice was burnt black - to an absolute crisp, then left to cool. A thick layer of margerine was then added. I went hungry. Then went home. 🤢

A friend of mine had 2 pet snakes in tanks in their living room. I went round one day via the back garden to see the tanks being washed. The snakes were slivering around the kitchen and no one batted an eyelid - I don't think I went back after that!

I had a friend when I was about 8. She's was an only child with very odd parents. Her grandparents brought her a big bag of chocolates every week, mars bars, Milky Way etc, and they were put in a big glass bowl on the dining table. She was allowed to take one whenever she wanted, but didn't seem bothered . I was amazed by this as I only got one chocolate bar a week!
I had tea with them once and got : one lettuce leaf with a slice of tomato on top, with vinegar poured over
I wasn't allowed to use their toilet and if I needed to wee she used to tell me to go outside and wee in their coal house which I did! I wonder if her parents ever noticed the smell in there

my best friend's father and step-mother had naked photos of themselves in the hallway. Of them standing coyly posed against trees etc. In their bedroom they had a giant one of the step mother lying on their bed with her legs akimbo. Whenever they ahd dinner parties they would ask us kids to collect coats and put them in that room. I was always amazed by that. Also her dad was NOT well endowed (like a button on a fur coat) so i could never really understand tha apparent pride!

This didn't happen at someone's house but it was weird.

When I was about 13, a friend's dad gave us a lift into town then arranged to meet us later to take us home. She wanted to buy something (can't remember what, something small though like a magazine), but she was 2p short of the price. I had 2p spare so gave it to her. Anyhow, we met up with her dad and she immediately asked for 2p to give to me, but I said 'no, it's okay, it's only 2p'. He went into this long rant about how she wasn't going to be beholden to anyone, and to me 2p might not be much, but for some people it was a lot of money. Then proceeded to lecture me on 'the value of money' which apparently I needed to know about in order to avoid destitution as an adult.

With hindsight I do wonder what was going on at home, especially as about a year later her parents separated. But at the time it was really odd and bewildering, I just stood there in amazement, while she looked quite embarrassed. And I still maintain that even in the early '80s 2p was not a lot of money.

I remember staying at a friend's house and we came down for a drink in the middle of the night. To my horror there were hundreds, maybe thousands of slugs on the kitchen floor. She carefully stepped between them to get to the tap where as I was paralysed. I'm still irrationality freaked out by slugs 🤯

My neighbours mum used to come round with black eyes, carrying one child usually. The other would be stuck in the house with the violent dad, while he ranted and screamed through the door. We would call the police and she would never press charges. Like a lot of people on here I imagine, I remember the incident but not the names of the people/dates.

I agree that it is a record, and one that should stay. There are plenty of awful things in history, we should never forget them or repeat them.

It’s not up to anyone to report rape/sexual abuse years after the incident.

This may have bought up some very difficult feelings and memories for those that posted what they witnessed. I think if anything they need support with that. It’s absolutely terrible what has been witnessed by some truly harrowing how does a child makes sense of that

They certainly will not be the only ones aware of what was going on and she was a children at the time and didn’t understand. Let’s not put such huge responsibly on someone who was a child at the time and may still be traumatised by this

@Chocolate50
I literally never heard such a strange argument for something in my life.

If I read something on the internet from a stranger it’s my responsibility to report it?! What planet are you living on.

Wtf is wrong with mumsnet at the moment. Proper bat shittery going on.

Ah bold fail. Apologies!

• Life is full of shit stories, of lives that are fucked up. Classics is just recording a thread that is fascinating and probably very interesting for future readers.

This site is full of harrowing stories. So classics can be a cross representation of those stories.

Why should we only save the stupid/funny threads.*

Totally agree with this

Yes it is just that some of the rapists and abusers might still be alive, they might still be abusing and they will have gone onto abusing more children. There is therefore a responsibility on the publishers of this information. Everyone that has this information actually including the people reading and writing it. Hence why some people are flagging it

I do hope our children would have less harrowing stories to contribute in the future.

Life is full of shit stories, of lives that are fucked up.
Classics is just recording a thread that is fascinating and probably very interesting for future readers.

This site is full of harrowing stories. So classics can be a cross representation of those stories.

Why should we only save the stupid/funny threads.

Also remember going to a friend's house when we were young teenagers and her house was FREEZING and the cupboards were empty. Literally no food. Her dad had recently left and her mum was, in retrospect, seriously struggling with three kids to look after on her own. I remember having a sleepover there and being so so cold in the night.

When I was about 12 I went to a friend's house and she told me that she knew when her parents had been having sex because they would come out of their bedroom wearing THEIR parents (my friends grandparents) old pyjamas. How f*cking weird. Her dad was very odd looking back.