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Original poster

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

OP posts:

IncrediblySadToo · 06/07/2019 23:02

My Dad did actually tend to five off the deep end about me having Zack the lights on (Blackpool bloody illumination!!) and the open fire lit but curtains not drawn so condensation on the windows.

He’d drive up the driveway from work and if we saw him we’d be running around turning lights off and closing curtains and if we didn’t we’d soon hear him ‘I’m home! Why does it appear I live in Blackpool AGAIN?!’

‘Oops’ typical kids...didn’t actually THINK NOT to do it!

Then you’d hear ‘at least the dog loves me and I know she would shut the curtains if she could!’

After rolling my eyes out of my head I’d then go and say hello

There’s not much I wouldn’t give to have him back XX

Wavyheaded · 06/07/2019 23:08

Not allowed to have friends whose parents were divorced.
Not allowed any after school clubs because they took up homework time.
Not allowed outside to play.
Not allowed to go to the shops with friends.
Not allowed to go to friends' houses.
Not allowed to ride a bicycle. To this day I still can't.
Not allowed to have boyfriends.
And many more.

Jeez no wonder I'm damaged.

SpinsterOfArts · 06/07/2019 23:08

Having to ask permission before leaving the dinner table.

This isn't an outlandish rule in itself. What was weird was that my family had never, ever expected this, and suddenly came up with the rule when I was about 11. I felt really infantilised.

Also 'not allowed to talk about X' where X was my latest obsession (undiagnosed ASD, would get fixated on certain things - tv shows, scientific concepts, lists of stuff). I understand now that me talking about them constantly was annoying, but a complete ban seemed very unfair.

Runoutofgas · 06/07/2019 23:10

No singing at the table during dinner. Strange one really considering we're a musical family.

Graphista · 06/07/2019 23:11

Most odd one was "no ironing on the floor" but I blame bro for that one as it came about due to him deciding one night when he was running late to iron his scout uniform on the floor (was awkward getting ironing board out due to layout of cupboard it was in) he left the turned off but hot iron on the floor and accidentally knocked it as he was leaving resulting (thankfully!) in "only" and iron shaped scorch on the the (army!) carpet! Could easily have caused a fire - prat!

Dinner was always at the table same time every day. Seemed annoying when we were younger but as we hit teens and started to be socialising in the evenings more it made sense as we knew by X time we had to let mum know if we'd not be home for tea it was drummed into us. There was also "no snacks in the last hour before dinner" which I also understood and sympathised more with as we got older and ended up having as a rule myself for dd.

No short hair on girls or long hair in boys - yep sexism was alive and well in our house!

"Weird one, you weren’t allowed to lock the bathroom door" without wishing to drag the thread down we had this one until I started locking the door as I knew I was no longer safe to do so. Mum expected dad to back her up on this when I did and she wasn't happy but I suspect he knew if he pushed it I'd likely say something he didn't want me to, so gave mum a load of guff about teen modesty.

"Set weekly menu. Cottage pie, sausages, cardboard fish, pork chop and so on. Every bloody week to this day." This! Even now it's "if it's Tuesday it must be sausage and mash" very rarely slight changes if extremely hot weather and they'll have salad or quiche or something.

"Do any of you visit these parents voluntarily as adults?" Nope!

Exs family had (even for adult children!) - no pj's outside bedrooms, no TVs in bedrooms, dinner same time every night at the table, the girl wasn't allowed boyfriends overnight (this even included her then fiance in her early 20's when they visited even though they lived together and had a child!) though the boys were allowed girlfriends (more sexism), no snacking ever, they had 3 main meals a day and admittedly breakfast was always substantial plus a light supper before bed (this backfired massively they all 4 have issues with food & their weight now)

Knittedfairies · 06/07/2019 23:13

My dad always insisted we had to watch television in the dark; nobody could switch on a light once he'd started watching something. I hated it.

Benjispruce · 06/07/2019 23:16

Your mum was a bit OTT op!

I had a friend whose mum was a bit like that. she walked in on me sitting on her DD's bed and told me to sit on the floor!!! I was . I lived in a clean and tidy house but never had rules like that. Ours were about manners, eating with mouth closed, holding cutlery properly, please and thank you etc

Benjispruce · 06/07/2019 23:20

Have to ask why you can't sit on a bed? Most kids' room don't have chairs, mine wasn't big enough! You don't sleep on the outside so what is the problem?

Cherylshaw · 06/07/2019 23:24

No whistling (as it made our lady hang her head in shame 🤣)
We weren't allowed a drink with meals as we would fill ourselves up
We had to leave the room to pump/trump even if it was silent
No covers/quilts/throws etc allowed in living room

Benjispruce · 06/07/2019 23:24

We had a no food in bedroom rule but I don't think that's weird and wish I'd imposed it on my teens very time I can't find a mug or plate because they are all in teen DD's rooms.

We couldn't go outside after a bath because our pores were open and we might get a chill!!! lol

Cherylshaw · 06/07/2019 23:24

The no whistling rule was only for girls, boys were allowed to whistle 😅

cloudni9e · 06/07/2019 23:27

So funny because there was an outraged thread on here earlier about the persons kid being on the beds with her outside clothes on and I never would've known it was a thing unless I'd seen this first. 😆

cloudni9e · 06/07/2019 23:29

When I was living with 1 parent with lodgers as a kid I was never allowed to leave anything on any surface downstairs at night and I wasn't allowed to go out after school with the other kids although my parent was almost always out until really late but I'd never know because they wouldn't tell me and if I got caught going out I was in a lot of trouble.

cloudni9e · 06/07/2019 23:30

Oh yeah we had a no whistling rule 1 parents house too although they used to whistle quite often 😆

cloudni9e · 06/07/2019 23:30

Leave the room to fart one too although neither parent was religious 😆

Halsall · 06/07/2019 23:35

I'm absolutely gobsmacked, but also fascinated, by this thread. Maybe I had insanely permissive parents but I honestly can't remember 'rules'.

Agree with Benjispruce, there were things we just knew to do/not to do because of good manners - like not eating in the street - but we kids never had anything drilled into us like 'no lying on beds in the daytime' or 'no sitting on the furniture' (WTF?) or similar weird behavioural edicts.

MajesticWhine · 06/07/2019 23:40

No tv on a Saturday morning.
Having to finish all your food (this is why I am overweight because I still do it)

Frazzled2207 · 06/07/2019 23:42

Also amazed by some of these especially the no sitting on the bed rule.

I was an only child and my parents were fairly relaxed. I don't even remember a set bedtime.

I definitely wasn't allowed to swear. The dog was not allowed upstairs (until she got old). I honestly can't remember anything else.

roisinagusniamh · 06/07/2019 23:44

The no singing at the table rule seems to have been common , why would you sing while eating ?
A lot of those rules make sense.
No food or TV in bedrooms is one of mine now.

Gwenhwyfar · 06/07/2019 23:48

"That's not extreme. If the lights are on and curtains open, everyone can see in.

...and???"

Well, I'm currently sitting in a room with no curtains with the lights on so I suppose I'm a hypocrite, but I'm on the first floor. If you're on the ground floor, most people wouldn't really want to have everyone seeing in.
On the other hand, there are religious traditions in Scandinavia/Netherlands that ban the use of curtains because 'you should have nothing to hide'.

shockeroo · 06/07/2019 23:48

At one point in one of the houses I lived in had locks on the doors so if I didn't come to eat at a certain time I wouldn't eat and I couldn't access the kitchen. That was pretty extreme but I also lived in a house as a kid where the only rule was no smoking grass outside because the cop shop was nearby n cops often walked round where we were. So I've experienced extremes 😆 I wasn't in foster care just had a slightly odd life.

shockeroo · 06/07/2019 23:49

You could smoke it inside for clarification 🤭

Luxembourgmama · 06/07/2019 23:50

I think your mums rules are great OP I try to implement the same

Strokethefurrywall · 07/07/2019 00:02

No boys sleeping over, no helping yourself to food, no grange hill, no eastenders, no coronation street (thank god, both are utter shit), no TV in bedrooms.

I got my first tv in my room when I was about 19! Even now we don't have TV in bedrooms.

Strokethefurrywall · 07/07/2019 00:02

Oh, and we always had to make our beds. That's it.

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