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

The bog roll rationing has had a lasting impact on me. I can imagine a DIL posting in years to come.

"Is my MIL unreasonable? She has to have a stock of at least 30 bog rolls and in every toilet there is one on the dispenser and at least three in reserve".

Not mine but my neighbours mum. If she had any friends over the bad to go home to use the loo

There are posters on MN like that.

Stay at the Table until they had finished their after dinner cigarette. Just sit there breathing it in 🤦🏻‍♀️
No talking at dinner
No drinks
No drinks upstairs
Absolutely no snacks

No TVs in bedrooms. - I still have this rule now. Bedrooms are for sleeping - dh was a bit 🙄 about it initially but he gets it.

Go to the loo before you leave somewhere. Go when you can not when you have to is the motto. Again still in force. And again dh thinks I’m ridiculous. The amount of times I’ve peed just before we got off a long haul flight then had to wait in a massive queue for immigration and felt smug while dh needed a wee desperately....

Crikey my parents were really chilled when we were kids but the few rules they did have if you didn't stick to you knew about it.
I remember

Once up no lying in bed or on the bed. My dad used to say if your tired go to bed earlier tonight.

Ask to leave the table after tea each day. You couldn't just get down.

Manners were a big thing. Always always please and thank you and eat with your cutlery not your hands

In by tea time then I was allowed to go off on my bike wherever I wanted within a certain distance and I never went outside of that even though they would never have known

House phone out of bounds before 6pm.

Uniform off and ready for next day before anything else.

We used to go to the pub with my parents on a Saturday evening,given money for pop crisps and pool and have a ball. We would then walk home via the chippy

Ones I do still stick to even now are the uniforms off and ready because me and dh both work full time do organisation Is key in our house.

The dog had to be fed at 4pm on the dot, my Labrador started her ‘reminders’ by rubbing her face against available legs from 3:00pm onwards. For years, I assumed all dogs were fed at precisely 4pm. In adulthood I have rebelled, my two dogs are fed at 6pm .

My mother is batshit crazy so has loads:-

1. No going to friends houses / out with friends - they were all common
2. No going out on own - we lived in the sticks so basically I never went anywhere - as a result I have social anxiety.
3. No putting heat on during day - wearing jumpers, fleece and hat
4. Windows must be flung open when getting up and no lie ins allowed - even if it's snowing outside.
5. Pathological about cleanliness / tidiness - I have severe anxiety about this as a result
6. No hugs / kisses ever - can't recall a single occassion when she has hugged me. She must have when I was a baby but again I doubt it.
7. No food outside kitchen - all snacks buns etc kept in locked room. I was astounded when she let DW have tea and bisciits in living room.
8. No using toilet after it was cleaned - had to piss outside. Poos she made an exception for.
9. No getting up from bed for a wee - i have severe toilet anxiety as well as a result

10. Too long in shower = power turned off 11. No outside activities except golf - which I hated! 12. No privacy - if she found anything she would just leave it on the bed. 13. No pocket money / spending money. I had 20p in my wallet throughout secondary school for 'emergencies' 14. No praise or encouragement - I was smartest in my class / one of smartest in school and it was never good enough.

Unsurpisingly I don't see her much - would love to cut her off completely but she has threatened to cut me from will.

DD doesn't know her as she's seen her about 3 or 4 times in the last year.

I won't mourn much when she finally dies - although knowing her she'll live to 100 just to spite me.

Weird rules that I intend to enforce:
No tvs in bedrooms
No mobile phones in rooms past bedtime
Internet goes off at ten

@PancakeAndKeith

Laughed out loud!

It will get dark on it!

One we had which I've never heard anyone else mention was 'no talking at the dinner table.' So we would eat together as a family, but we were told off for talking. It didn't just apply to us. If we went out to restaurants, my parents would alwats ask the staff to turn any music down/off, and often after the meal (not during it obviously...) they would comment that the food had been nice, but the occasion had been spoiled by people at nearby tables talking.

I was always puzzled as a child by politicans banging on about the importance of eating together as a family as I couldn't see what was so great about it. It wasn't until I left home that I found out that the ability to make polite conversation over a meal was generally considered to be a useful social skill and not the height of bad manners.

No gum or any kind of eating in the street - it was common apparently - no real idea what that even means to this day. Girls were not allowed to whistle, wink, swear or frown - also common - it was fine for boys! You couldn’t leave the table without finishing everything on your plate, then asking to leave the table - as my mum was a truly terrible cook meal times took a looooong time and were fraught with misery. All I wanted as a child was to be an adult and live my own life!

I lived a pretty lawless childhood, really. We were somewhat neglected latch-key kids. All the weird rules made perfect sense and came from bitter experience:

No dressing up the cat or trying give her haircuts!

No pretending the sofa was a trampoline and trying to see how long you jump off it to slide along the floor into the hall.

No eating a whole bag of carrots at once (this was specific to DB, who went yellow).

No climbing into the high kitchen cupboards (worktops were fine, I think).

"I wasn't allowed jelly shoes! I grew up in the 90s when everyone had them and I was so upset I wasn't allowed them."

Same 😭 thought for me it was because they weren't "proper shoes" and would "ruin my feet". It has now just occurred to me that I have NEVER worn sandals in my life and this is probably why!

Yeah we had rules

• No soap operas (particularly Home & Away for some reason...)

• Homework had to be done that night in your bedroom, at 7:30 when I could hear the Coronation Street music come on

• Bedroom doors were always kept open including through the night

• Sex did not happen, if you were caught 'playing with yourself' it was then discussed with dad & disapproving looks were flung about with silences or you were asked later on, what you were doing

• One packet of crisps per day only, any more was a serious matter. Ditto biscuits, we had plain digestives only as well

• Fruit juice was a luxury and was for a starter in a posh 3 course dinner

• No desserts or anything, we had 'sweets' where we could choose one appropriate size thing on a Saturday morning, then no more until the following Saturday. Any sweets given from grandparents were thrown away

• Strictly writing thank you notes after a gift, in the evening of the day of receipt

• if visitors came round you had to stay in the same room and smile, but you could talk if spoken to directly

• if were picked on at school, it was because they were jealous of you so you should ignore it

My DC have apple juice every morning & not written a thank you note for years!

We had few rules growing up, other than the standard ones about manners etc. The one batty rule my dad had was that we had to squeegee the shower tiles and dry them with a dedicated shower towel after every use, or the tiles would be ruined. No amount of “but they’re TILES, they’re waterproof!!” would stop him asserting that the bathroom would be wrecked if we didn’t comply. He’d be out of his chair like a shot the second he heard the lock on the door open to check we’d done it properly!

Some of these seem so strict/strange. I don't think we had any rules really. Shoes off and no eating upstairs (which got relaxed as we got older).

I had a school friend who's stepdad was very strict. Either one slice of toast with butter or a small bowl of plain cereal with a dribble of milk for breakfast. Had to clear your plate in the evening. 3 minute shower max, no baths allowed. I hated going there.

I can’t really remember any continuously upheld rules. I was definitely told off and knew not to do certain things, but we didn’t have any arbitrary rules.

My mum had me when she was 20 and my dad was 21. My mum had quite a strict upbringing, and her parents were very much the “children should be seen and not heard” type, and she moved out with her sister when they were 16 because her parents had done with supporting and raising them. I wonder if that contributed to her slightly more relaxed parenting, although I do remember as a child that I was occasionally quite envious of children who’s parents seemed to have quite regimented routines and therefore appeared to be “properly” parenting them.

However, some of these rules make me feel really sad for the people posting them.

We had the crisps rule too. I don't think I've ever eaten more than one pack in a day. Fizzy drinks were allowed once a week and were rationed from a litre bottle. I can see the sense in these rules and they weren't hugely unusual, I don't think. The funniest one is that Coco Pops were only allowed during school holidays. Mum claims not to remember doing this.

There were a lot of things we weren't allowed to do in the car, many of which I can understand, like eating cheese-flavoured crisps or singing Hey Jude. Occasional bursts of other songs were tolerated. Dad is still very anal about stopping during journeys and used to make my brother wee in bottles.

Dad was behind the rule that no pets were allowed upstairs, apart from when my brother got night terrors and was allowed the dog in his room for reassurance. This is the same man who now has a very pampered cat that goes wherever it wants in the house and sleeps on the beds.

I wasn't allowed to help myself to food from the kitchen. I remember going round to my friends house and them helping themselves to an apple and thinking they were so rebellious.

Some rules make sense

1. to save money (assuming the household was a little short)
2. safety - back by x time - pre mobile phones.

The rest are abusive.

MN is a constant reminder to me how different peoples lives can be - maybe that is why I spend so long on here :)

@TheSmallClangerWhistlesAgain

I can see why you couldn't eat cheese crisps in the car, but the bottle thing is a bi euww.

I would then be more worried about spills afterwards!