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Weird household rules you had growing up.

325 replies

habibihabibi · 06/07/2019 18:14

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 Grin

OP posts:
tinkering · 06/07/2019 20:10

No shoes to be worn upstairs (downstairs fine)

If you have a drink you must finish it before having another one or leaving the house. Doesn’t matter if you’re full or fancy something else, they would sit and watch you force it down quickly if we were in a rush to go out.

foreverhanging · 06/07/2019 20:20

We weren't allowed to sing and dance at the table.

My dh's family do both and it's so ingrained in me it makes me so uncomfortable!

MrsGaryLightbody · 06/07/2019 20:27

@EdWinchester hi sister Grin

floraloctopus · 06/07/2019 20:36

Anything on commercial channels was common. As for Saturday morning television - you'd never live the shame down.

Brushing your hair in public (shop changing room after trying on a sweatshirt) was 'the height of bad manners'

Likethebattle · 06/07/2019 20:37

Not that many rules but my mum is an utter slattern so couldn’t give half a shit!

PlatoAteMySnozcumber · 06/07/2019 20:42

Only the upstairs loo could be used for pooing. Woe betide you if you pooed in the downstairs loo!

I seriously tried to implement this rule in my house but it proved impossible* to police so I just gave up. We don’t have windows in the downstairs toilet so it was a totally legitimate reason IMO.

  • perfectly possible but just really weird and awkward
FaithInfinity · 06/07/2019 20:45

We were never allowed a can of drink to ourselves. Had to share with my sister. I still remember my first can to myself, I was almost 12 (!) on a school trip to France!

Weird one, you weren’t allowed to lock the bathroom door because that’s where the towels and medicine were kept in a cupboard and Mum needed access at all times, didn’t matter if you were in the shower! Also the cupboard with the towels etc was a full length mirrored door..opposite the toilet! Hmm I didn’t realise how weird that was until my friends commented!

AmphetamineGazelle · 06/07/2019 20:51

No CITV apart from Rainbow when we were veey small. (My mother liked Rainbow and I suspect she liked Newsround since it was easy to understand.)

No sitting on the living room furniture. 'Get off my settee!' Was a frequent one.

Set weekly menu. Cottage pie, sausages, cardboard fish, pork chop and so on. Every bloody week to this day.

Enforced shower and hairwash every morning. Sometimes twice a day if it looked less than clean. She blames me for my ruined hair. All for showering daily but not the hair. She balks that I only wash 4 year old DDs curls once a week.

No boyfriends in same bed. Poor DH had to sleep in the spare room the week after we had completed on our first house.

No posters on walls. She used to take them down every day and leave them on my bed, throwing the most 'offensive ones away'.

Not allowed to choose my own clothes until I moved out. I looked like I was 50 at 14. After some rebelling I was allowed to choose from a shop if she agreed.

No pocket money and all birthday and xmas money was removed to be spent under her close supervision.

No homework on dining or kitchen table or anywhere else apart from bedrooms. She removed my desk for a dressing table so I had to do it on the floor. She'd also throw it away if left out.

No friends back. No going out alone. No private diaries. (She read them.)

Namechangeymcnamechange11 · 06/07/2019 20:53

Sitting up properly on the sofa/chairs ("no sprawling!") If you were sprawling, it meant you were tired and needing to go to bed Confused

Do things as soon as you are told to do them.

DM has chilled out a lot. She frequently sprawls on her own sofa Grin

OhTheRoses · 06/07/2019 20:55

No chewing gum
Always having a hankie
No TV in bedrooms
No overnight visitors of opp sex in bedrooms
Eating at the table only
No lolling about in pj's
No eating or smoking in the street
My stepfather introduced the counting of toilet paper sheets - my children absolutely rip the piss out of it (apols for pun).

TBH apart from the bog roll counting my rules have been similar. Except for no partners which I have relaxed for serious relationships. I was not amused when ds brought home a friend with benefits.

lookatgiraffenow · 06/07/2019 20:58

No drinks with meals - the liquid would fill your tummy and you wouldn't finish your food.

No chewing gum or bubble gum - if you swallowed it, it'd wrap round your heart and you would die. Plus it was common.

No eating in the street - common.

Only BBC programmes - STV, common. This was in the day of three channel tvs so not a great choice.

No ankle bracelets. Ladies of the night wore them.

TalkinAboutManetManet · 06/07/2019 21:00

We weren’t allowed touch the counter tops, curtains, or walls.

Not allowed to go in the good room, or parents’ bedroom.

No partners in the same room until you got married.

TalkinAboutManetManet · 06/07/2019 21:00

Same bedroom, that is.
You could bring your fiancé into the kitchen Grin

IthinkIsawahairbrushbackthere · 06/07/2019 21:10

My mum would insist that the living room curtains stayed closed in the morning until the fire caught light. I remember questioning her and asking why? Was it because the sunlight would somehow overpower the flames in the grate and put them out? Was the fire in the grate somehow scared of the sun? She had no explanation other than that it was what her mother did and that was how it had to be.

I couldn't read in the living room if we had visitors. I wasn't allowed to go to my room. I had to sit and talk to people.

Maybe that is why I love to have an hour or so on my own now.

foreverhanging · 06/07/2019 21:11

I forgot one - you weren't allowed to go in to anyone's bedroom.

I still hover at doorways !

topcat2014 · 06/07/2019 21:17

Do any of you visit these parents voluntarily as adults?

Floopily · 06/07/2019 21:18

No using the phone before 6pm
No sitting on the pavement outside the house
No going in the front room without knocking when mother had her boyfriend there
No ITV is one I remember from when my dad was still alive, I was desperate to watch the Love Boat and got shouted at because ITV was 'common"

AriadneesWeb · 06/07/2019 21:26

I had to take my school uniform off when I got home. Entirely sensible because uniform was too expensive to replace if I ruined it while playing. Also we couldn’t afford to buy enough sets of uniform to wear a different one every day so I had to keep it clean. We didn’t have an automatic washing machine either so another reason to keep the uniform clean.

I have a rule about only eating at the table in my house. I don’t want crumbs or sticky fingers on my nice carpets and furniture. No doubt in 20 years time my DC will be calling me draconian.

OhTheRoses · 06/07/2019 21:26

We tended not to have drinks with meals though. Drinking lots of water wasn't a thing in the 60s. I know now why I always had headaches as a child.

Frith2013 · 06/07/2019 21:29

I counted 30 mad rules instantly so probably best I don’t post. There were probably over 100.

A few examples:

Not allowed to talk on the drive if we were going out in the car. Or people would know we were going out (10 miles from a town).

Not allowed to get up after going to bed, not even to go to the toilet.

Not allowed to use the tv, piano, bike, computer, eat, drink, use the phone, go outside without asking. And it could be a no, for no particular reason.

ReganSomerset · 06/07/2019 21:34

Ooh, yes frith, don't talk when loading the car in case burglars hear and rob us. We had that rule too. Also the rule about not saying fart.

topcat I do, yes.

Wolfcubisthefemalenominal · 06/07/2019 21:35

No drinks with meals unless it was afternoon tea on a Sunday
No leaving the table until your plate was clear
No itv or channel 4, tv very limited anyway and when I was very small no tv at all unless it was accompanied by some sort of learning like counting the number of steps postman pat climbed

There were lots of others but these stick out after reading others

Thecurtainsofdestiny · 06/07/2019 21:39

No bubble gum (chewing gum was allowed).

Two biscuits for snack.

Only milk or water ( not juice or squash) as a drink at dinner.

Don't lock bathroom door ( embarrassing as a teenager when dad would come in. Didn't know this was odd till years later).

No reading at the table.

No watching Dallas or Dynasty...felt left out for years!

Bath on Sundays and Thursdays.

Handsoffmysweets · 06/07/2019 21:42

This reply has been withdrawn

This has been withdrawn by MNHQ at the poster's request.

EggysMom · 06/07/2019 21:43

Do any of you visit these parents voluntarily as adults?

Not terribly often.

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