Weird household rules you had growing up.

[habibihabibi]

A number of odd rules but most memorable:
My mother did not allow us to sit ot lie on beds unless in our pj's ready to sleep.
Not allowed in bedrooms during the day unless poorly.
If we had friends over we had to play in the garden/playroom.
We were not permitted downstairs in pjs ever.
Straight from bath to bed and immediately washed and dressed on waking.

Hit me with your strange rules

We had a rule that we were not allowed to speak unless it was important, as if they had anything important to say. No talking at the dinner table, miserable and my mother was a terrible cook but had to clear our plates plus a glass of milk which I detest and they knew. Most meals ended up with crying and being hit. No TV on Sunday and not allowed to enjoy anything. Joyless pair of bullies, glad he is dead. She has mild dementia now and tries to rewrite history. Just the tip of the iceberg but I don't feel guilty about not looking after her. I am far from perfect but hopefully you reap what you sow.

As teens we weren't allowed to use the hairdryer because of the electricity bill, i had long thick hair then, but the Yorkshire terrier was allowed to after his weekly bath.

I used to think my parents were pretty strict but clearly not by this thread.

The only rules I can remember are no eating in front of the tv (I was amazed when my DM recently admitted that she & my DF regularly eat in front of the tv these days .) As a teenager if I was going out with a boy he always had to pick me up at home and be introduced to my parents with a strict time that I had to be home, my Dad always used to ask ‘what does his Dad do for a job?’ (Clearly trying to work out if he was from the right social class - no question of asking about the mother’s employment).

But apart from that can’t remember any other rules, always had to write thank you letters, but I don’t consider that an odd rule.

Wow some of are mad and some are very sad too.

We weren’t allowed a drink if we had soup for lunch.
I wasn’t allowed to watch Grange Hill or any soap opera.
There was a setting on the shower to stop us having a warm shower. I broke it to ensure I actually had some warm water - I wasn’t popular!
No using the word fart and definitely no swearing.

I’m sure there were more!

Not me but my good friend had to comb the tassels on the sitting room rug so they were flat and uniform after having people over.

A former boyfriend wasn't allowed in the kitchen after mealtimes, so not allowed to get a snack, drink, absolutely nothing.

My parents had a rule that if you couldn't open a new packet of biscuits / crisps / bread/ whatever untill the last one was finished. My sis and I tried flushing stale custard creams down the loo so we could open the bourbons....it didn't turn out well.

This thread takes me well back. No tumble dryer or hairdryer allowed as they were expensive in electricity. Quite rich middle class and could well afford it! Lights off when you.left a room. Plates under bowls. Eating at table. No pj's downstairs. Don't drink milk from the bottle.
I'm still shocked now at how cheap electricity is (I pay my bills). I was brought up to think it was like diamond juice!

I used to think my mum was strict, reading this has changed my mind, we had to eat all our tea and polite etc same almost on here but when I was a teenager I had to be home really early like at 16 in school holidays I still had to be home by 8.30pm if I was 1 minute late it was 1 night I couldn't go out, 2 minutes late 2 nights I couldn't go out etc I hated her for this at the time but now I think I'd use the rule for my own children but probably slightly more relaxed about the time (when the time comes my 2 are only 3 and 4 so a while off yet).
When I was 18 I had to pay rent to her which went up with inflation each year I wouldn't have minded this so much but the same rule wasn't so strict when my brother turned 18!
And not a rule but she never really told me about anything sexual, I got the general birds and the bees chat and knew about periods but she totally flipped out when I asked about going on the pill at 16 I had a boyfriend and we weren't doing it yet but she sent me to my aunties to talk about it and never really felt could talk about anything to do with sex and in turn had shitty boyfriends and didn't make great choices for a couple of years, I also wasn't allowed to go to parties/bars etc before 18 but all my friends were so I just slept at friends most weekends and went anyway.

Were all good now though I understand more now why she was like this at the time, she's lots more relaxed now and is a completely different grandma than she was as a mother when we were younger!

I grew up with quite strict parents, but I don't begrudge them for it, I still had fun. Some strange rules we had were - we weren't allowed to go to bed with wet hair, your nose will stink. White bread is a dessert, only brown were allowed on 'normal' days. If you dish up food for yourself, you have to eat it. My siblings and I also had a rule where someone will be captain one week, and the other the next. If you were captain you had control of the TV, could bath first and sat in the front of the car. I might implement that rule.

No rules growing up that I can remember..

Don't tap nonsense into a typewriter for hours on end because you like the sound of tapping keys.

Oh my goodness, sooo many and really unreasonable I now realise from reading this, it's been quite reassuring (that SHE was too strict and I am quite normal!).

So -

no sitting in someone else's seat, anywhere. Car, kitchen table, lounge. We all had 'our' seat and that's where we had to sit (and still do )

No talking in the car ever, and definitely no singing!!

No walking to and from school, always given a lift

No going out with friends after school

Not allowed on a bus alone until 16

Not allowed out alone, or to local town with friends.

Only allowed to be friends with certain people, and she had to meet their mum and 'approve'

No ITV and later no C4

No boyfriends upstairs (no boyfriends allowed until 16)

No talking at the table, and no looking at (D)B during meals, it annoyed him

No annoying (D)B ever - me breathing wound him up FFS

No staying at home in the evening if DM went out - I had to go with her and just 'wait' - she was on the PTA at my senior school, and I had to sit in an empty classroom while they had their evening meetings.

No cuddling, chatting to, building a relationship with DF because 'he should never have had children' and she told him I didn't like him

Wow, this is just a few, I could list HUNDREDS. And I've gone off at quite a tangent, sorry.

I'm almost 50 and only just realising my childhood/early adulthood was a bit odd. DM was - and still is - very very controlling. DF was away a lot for months at a time, and also very controlled by her when at home.

This has been really cathartic - great thread, sorry to off load

Not allowed a drink with meals. I remember asking if I could get a glass of water during dinner once as I was thirsty and told no. Even now when I eat, I’ll have a drink with me but won’t touch it until I finish my meal. I didn’t even notice this habit until DH pointed it out to me!

Dinner was at FIVE THIRTY PM. Every. Single. Time. things were pretty relaxed but we had to be HOME at FIVE THIRTY.
If friends were over, they had to leave well BEFORE 5:30pm because it is rude if they are still there at 5:10pm and they are not invited but we cannot always invite them because it is not fair to your brother if your friends are here and not his and it is awkward and we didn't PLAN it blah blah so they must passive aggressively be sort of awkwardly shunted out well in advance, lest they feel resentful that they do not get to eat the canned mushroom soup and mince baked pasta casserole.

It was often explained that "when YOU have your own DC YOU will understand that eating dinner at FIVE THIRTY PM is ABSOLUTELY REQUIRED".

Nope. We eat when it's ready, round here. We come home from collecting DC at after-school club at 6pm and we make something we like and then we eat it at 7 or whenever.

Yeah that was super cathartic, thanks MN! And DB if you are on here (which I doubt) you know it's me now

No eating anything without a plate. Even popping a single grape from the fruit bowl into your mouth would result in a bellowed 'GET A PLATE!!!'

No chewing gum. Choking hazard

No watching American TV shows as they were 'common'. I am missing key 1980's cultural references related to Starsky and Hutch, Knight Rider etc. although Bonanza was permitted. When wheel of fortune started in the UK that was banned to due to its US heritage.

No helping yourself to food ever. Biscuits were kept in a locked cupboard and distributed carefully and only ever with a cup of tea.

Knives must not be sharp lest they injure someone

Sunday tea was egg sandwiches and tinned mandarins with carnation milk. Every week.

DH grew up with a myriad of rules such as having to eat his breakfast over the sink to avoid crumbs and washing up, never putting a cup or glass down ANYWHERE without a coaster, and it resulted in him not having friends to stay over (he just couldn't bear the hassle of explaining all the rules). When I was growing up there were no rules really and I still find my mum's relaxed approach to everything astonishing and mildly infuriating. Her house is constantly a bomb site and she lets her grandkids do more or less what they like. My two are spending their first night at hers without us tonight - they couldn't be more excited 😁

Some of these are so odd and anal. I had a friend who had to burn her sanitary protection in the fire in the living room. The father insisted they all (two daughters and mother) do it. They weren't allowed to wrap and put in any bin.

You see a lot of odd rules on here. Kids not allowed in their parents room, parents hiding chocolate in their bedroom, kids having to ask if they are allowed to eat something, hard core punishments encouraged for minor misdemeanours. 😔

No Grange Hill because mum thought it would corrupt us! Give me strength 🙄

Mainly dining room table ones. At the end of the meal you had to ask “may I leave the table?” and it had to be “may”. Expected to eat everything on your plate etc.

We didn't have many rules in general, but somehow birthdays were full of rules:

If it was a school day, one small present could be opened before school.

If the party could not be on the birthday itself, it had to be after the actual day, otherwise the birthday itself would come as a bit of a disappointment. (Advice from the book "1000 ways to amuse children".)

The birthday child was banished from the dining room until it was time to eat, and then had to be led in with their eyes closed, after everyone else was seated. They would always sit at the head of the table.

Serve the guests first (this was a general rule, not just for birthdays).

No balloons allowed, as some of us were afraid of them popping.

Pin the tail would always be played. Because one or two of us were sticklers for game rules, we the children invented some extra rules, which were carefully planned and typed, at the time of doing the party invitations. We turned it into to most complex game ever!

1. Before the party, a blindfold would be chosen, which would be different from the previous party, and usually it was a scarf or a winter hat, which had to be tried and tested beforehand, to make sure that whoever wore it could not see anything. Those flimsy cardboard ones supplied with modern pin the tail kits would not have passed the test of hands waved in front of face!
2. After being blindfolded, each player must be asked "can you see", or how many fingers someone is holding up. (The birthday child would do this for the first player.) If they answered "yes" or the right number of fingers, they would have to be blindfolded again.
3. Children under five only needed to be turned round once: older children had to be spun at least twice, in both directions.
4. Feeling around was not allowed - anyone who did this would be spun again.
5. The birthday child would have their go last, and would be spun the same number of times as their age, while everyone counted.
6. If there was no clear winner, a ruler would be used to measure the distance, or joint winners were allowed.

My mum was dismayed to discover that at my junior school, it was customary for the birthday child to hand out sweets; however, she did allow us to do this.

I don't know why some of the bastards discussed on here ever bothered having kids.

@Smallnmighty
Gosh what a lot of rules. I seriously think your dm needs help.

We weren’t allowed to use the words “Pee” or “Poo”, but weren’t taught any other words for them. Couldn’t explain that we needed to go to the toilet because we weren’t allowed to use that word yet, either.

We were expected to be out of the house making our own entertainment except at meal times. Rural farm. If you said you were bored you'd be found a job. Bored is not part of my vocab.

Not allowed to cry as no one likes to hear that noise.
Not allowed to have more than one toy at a time to play with
All toys to be kept in bedroom
Not allowed to eat at dining table with parents, a separate camping table was in kitchen for children
Do not make a noise
Absolutely must not be late home if you were it would be ranted about for weeks
No posters of any sort on walls
Do not make a mess
Sit properly on sofa (upright with feet on floor)
Bed times were rigid and non negotiable if we were having fun playing with friends outside that didn’t matter that we were the onl6 children called in and sent to bed
No friends were allowed in the house to play
Do not associate with children from council estate they are common

So me rules would suddenly be invented as you had just broken it so there would be trouble for that

I grew up extremely anxious as the goalposts were (still are) moved constantly and I was always worried I’d done something wrong as the punishments were harsh and disproportionate to the “crime”

I can see as an adult my DF is a controlling bully my DM will do whatever he says and has mental health issues.

I left home and married extremely young to get away from them, they are both still batshit now and I am LC