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Original poster

Things you thought were normal/harmless until joining mumsnet

595 replies

Antsinyourpanta · 16/09/2021 09:41

(Lighthearted )
lots of things that I thought were quite normal /fine/harmless before I joined MM seem to be quite abhorrent to a large percentage of posters. I often find myself wondering about whether my perceived normal is actually the minority. Some examples

Home made food or cakes - I bloody love home made cakes and think they are always nicer than shop bought - my first thoughts when offered one is usually yum, a cake! I've never given a moments thought to whether the person owns cats or dogs or has a hygeine certificate.

Ensuite bathrooms - I've got an ensuite bathroom. It's used for any instance where you may need a toilet. Apparently this is very very wrong.

Eating carbs

Bayliss and Harding toiletries - I would not be offended by this as a gift unless it was from my husband

(I'm with you on Thorntons though - they are nasty)

Answering the door to someone - if I see ex criminals selling stuff door to door, I dont answer, otherwise I dont have a problem with answering the door, and i get on with all of my neighbours.

Speaking to and socialising with work colleagues - i speak to, socialise (outside of work) and am friends with most of my work colleagues. I'd count many of them as friends. We buy each other birthday cards and presents and sometimes bring in cakes. (See point 1)

What are the things you've been educated on since joining MN?

OP posts:
AnnieSnap · 17/09/2021 21:31

The RSPCA do a good line in kill shelters. They are very caring in front of the media though!

Gillimac37 · 17/09/2021 21:38

Feature walls.

DroopyClematis · 17/09/2021 21:51

@AnnieSnap

The RSPCA do a good line in kill shelters. They are very caring in front of the media though!
Hell yeah! They don't even want you to look at the animals available. You just flit through a laminated book and fill out a form. A bit like Argos or IKEA really.

Interested in this thread?

Then you might like threads about this subject:

Families
CreakingatTheWhinges · 17/09/2021 22:02

Preparing to be flamed for admitting:

  • Occasionally reading a Daily Mail article...and enjoying it.
  • Charging our 21 yr old DS a nominal rent (which is not being saved for his future but helping to cover some of our day to day expenses)
  • Doing laundry/cooking/ironing for said 21 year old
  • Feeding my children different meals on some nights because it's far easier than the moaning/waste of food if they don't like the option on offer
  • Owning loo brushes, only 2 of which are the Joseph Joseph silicone variety
- Not knowing exactly how much DH earns - We only have joint bank accounts and I have no 'get away fund' -Having 'men's jobs' and 'women's jobs' in terms of household chores - Doing all DH's ironing and not minding/feeling exploited
  • Being a SAHM parent ....and enjoying it/feeling grateful that I can be
  • Loving cake, shop bought or home made
  • Drinking alcohol most nights
  • Having several ensuites
  • Not cooking from scratch/organic every day
  • Enjoying my own birthday/Christmas and shock/horror: having a list of ideas of things I would quite like if family/friends ask

I think I had better stop now or I might be asked to leave.... Grin

CherryRipe1 · 17/09/2021 22:34

Being a stepmum. Apparently we are evil cows on par with Cruella DeVile. The natural mum is the golden wombed one & their progeny is the blessed fruit of said golden womb/loins.

Covidconfuse · 17/09/2021 22:52

Am new(ish) to mumsnet and do have loo brushes but didn’t realise these were hated by mumsnet. May I ask why and what the alternative is?!

Jayne35 · 17/09/2021 22:55

I thought charging your adult DCs a bit of housekeeping was fine but according to mumsnet I should let them live at home cost free until they are 40+ 😂 now I feel like a wicked witch asking for £80 a month from my 25yr old full time working DD!

Bertiebiscuit · 17/09/2021 23:01

Husbands - all of them seem so much worse than I feared

ichundich · 17/09/2021 23:09

Going for a walk in lockdown 1.

Wearethechampionsmyfriend · 17/09/2021 23:10

I wonder if some MN actually see themselves in some of these posts or actually think that's not me Hmm

LifeIsTricky · 17/09/2021 23:10

@Byronic A+ on the diagram, all makes sense now.

cricketmum84 · 17/09/2021 23:26

@tickledtiger

MN makes me want a hot tub. Never gave them a second thought before.
Get a hot tub! You will never regret it.

I constantly have a stream of Friday night phone calls asking if it will be operational on Saturday. DH is antisocial and hates it but my family are in one endless queue to join us 😂😂

My 84 year old nan swears it is curing her arthritis.

Leontine · 17/09/2021 23:26

One thing MN has converted me to is taking shoes off in the house. Previously I’d only ever come across one person in my whole life who had a no shoes rule in the house, and that’s only been in recent years (to be fair they did have a crawling baby).

I wonder if that has something to do with it? All the kids in my family growing up we’re around my age and none of my friends at school had much younger siblings. Obviously on MN there’s going to be a much higher concentration of people with babies/toddlers.

LipstickLou · 17/09/2021 23:27

@CreakingatheWhinges

What a fabulous list. 22 year old left this spring for the 'big smoke'. Saved a fortune living at home through uni. I am appalled and admiring! A financial wizz, good luck to him. We enabled him to save a huge deposit, mumsnet? privledged Johnny. However they did not see his devotion to his dying grandfather. He came home to feed him, wash him, toilet him. Advantageous position, I think not for a 15 year old boy! I was born the daughter of a titled lady. She married for love, as did I. A person of colour. A good shout on mumsnet, feck no. I have been insulted and even called a bigot (yeah, right). I have a trans child and Jesus that is not allowed if you ask for support. To those that did I thank you. X Friday nights are the biggy. Pissed people being very nasty. Just an observation from a strategy consultant of twenty years.

Leontine · 17/09/2021 23:30

@Covidconfuse you get your hand down there and scrub it with a cloth or some toilet roll.

To be honest it was only until a couple of years ago when Mrs Hinch came about that I found out that people clean the toilet using a toilet brush as my grandmother and mother had never used one. Obviously I knew that toilet brushes existed but I’d just never given them any thought.

Leontine · 17/09/2021 23:33

Oh and another thing I recently saw on here that I was surprised by is how many people seem to think it’s either unacceptable or not normal to go for a wee in the middle of the night!

Geluksvogel · 17/09/2021 23:34

Feeding my child when weaning or even letting them occasionally feed themselves. I should have given them a spear and let them crawl outside to hunt their food and wean themselves.

Also naming a child. Anything outside the top 10 consigns us to trying to hard or them to being a chav or a stripper when older unless we're sending them to private school in which case it's totally ok!

MurielSpriggs · 17/09/2021 23:37

@Covidconfuse

Am new(ish) to mumsnet and do have loo brushes but didn’t realise these were hated by mumsnet. May I ask why and what the alternative is?!
The very nice ladies don't ever defecate or urinate.

In some instances awful working-class tradesmen have shat in their bogs without permission, in which case they move house Grin

gremLynn · 17/09/2021 23:37

@Mariell

I always thought it was perfectly normal to address an issue at the time of an incident occurring.

On Mumsnet the norm is to say nothing at the time but go home and then ask Mumsnet what they should have said or done!

Examples -

A woman over the park spat on me. Should I have said something?

I got run over by a steam roller and my leg is completely flattened, should I go to A&E?

Grin
spaceghetto · 17/09/2021 23:39

Reading my child a book in a restaurant

TRex57128 · 18/09/2021 00:13

Well are you just too well balanced for your own good! 😅

Mamanyt · 18/09/2021 01:22

Yet again, toilet brush. Not only do I have one, I have one shaped like Donald Trump. The hair is the actual brush. And I use it with GREAT glee. Petty of me, but there you go.

Whatamess582 · 18/09/2021 04:32

I’ve learned a lot from Mumsnet but one thing I have never worked out is, if you are a person who washes a towel after every shower, do you also wash your bedsheets every day, and every item of clothing after one wear and tea towels after every hand dry and face cloths after every face wash….
And are your water bills horrifically high?

And when you go to a hotel are you the person who throws their towels in the bath every night to get new fresh ones for the next day?

I’ve asked and never had anyone actually answer. Just someone telling me that because they live alone, washing a towel after every use is ok by them. 🤷🏻‍♀️

ThumbWitchesAbroad · 18/09/2021 06:41

@Antsinyourpanta

I was on one thread and some posters were appalled at pet bowls going in the dishwasher and others were equally disgusted at them being washed in the sink. I've not yet found an alternative that is acceptable....the bath...?
Well, I tend to wash our pets' bowls with the garden hose - guineapigs and lizards - because I don't really want the stuff in the sink, and certainly not in the dishwasher!
DeadButDelicious · 18/09/2021 06:57

Farting. Apparently I should be holding in all wind until I am absolutely, 100% completely on my own, preferably in a large outdoor place, at night, so as not to sully a room with the faint whiff of a trump. Especially if it's your own house.

You aren't allowed to fart in your sleep either as that means you are in bed and if you fart in bed that is GRIM. Also if you ever dare toot in front of your partner well that's it, magic gone, you might as well have shat on him. Actually why are you even farting at all? Maybe you should see your GP.