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Original poster

Rules you had in your childhood that now seem bizarre?

999 replies

Tattted · 05/02/2022 17:20

As a child/teen living with my parents we were actively discouraged from showering/bathing everyday. It was really frowned upon and seen as unnecessary and probably a bit extravagant. I know probably as a young child I didn’t need to but as I got older and even after I turned 18 and was still living at home they would have been a bit annoyed about it if I wanted to shower everyday . I should say where we live has no water charges so it wasn’t about that. Now as an adult and a mother myself it seems so strange. I realise it’s probably because my parents both came from large families that had very little money and, back then, no hot running water. Even know my parents bath weekly but sink wash every day.

OP posts:
GoodbyeKat · 05/02/2022 21:29

Mother’s Saturday and Sunday motto was “one up all up” . If she was up at 7am she’d be banging about and then hoovering and coughing because she didn’t want us all to be asleep!

CharlieBoo · 05/02/2022 21:29

No talking at the dinner table is one that stands out to me! Mealtimes in my house now is one of the cherished times when my teens tell me in detail about their day..

Beseen22 · 05/02/2022 21:29

Not allowed out to play on a Sunday.

Not allowed to wear skirts to school because she didn't want to entertain a conversation about skirt length.

Not allowed to touch any buttons more than once because 'I would break It'.

No ears pieced until 16. Did it on my birthday just to wind her up then never wore earrings again.

I remember having awful periods as a teen, I would flood every month and be sick and get sent home every month from school. She picked me up in the car one day miserable and said "I don't think we need to go to the doctors about this because they will just put you on the pill and thats not a nice thing for a young girl to be on"

Quirrelsotherface · 05/02/2022 21:32

Top of the pops had to be turned off if grandad was there in case he saw men in make up

GrinGrinGrin

5128gap · 05/02/2022 21:34

@Beseen22

Not allowed out to play on a Sunday.

Not allowed to wear skirts to school because she didn't want to entertain a conversation about skirt length.

Not allowed to touch any buttons more than once because 'I would break It'.

No ears pieced until 16. Did it on my birthday just to wind her up then never wore earrings again.

I remember having awful periods as a teen, I would flood every month and be sick and get sent home every month from school. She picked me up in the car one day miserable and said "I don't think we need to go to the doctors about this because they will just put you on the pill and thats not a nice thing for a young girl to be on"

That brings back memories! I had to go on the pill at 13 for my periods. My mum told me I must never tell anyone in case they told the boys who would think I was 'easy'.
Quirrelsotherface · 05/02/2022 21:35

To be fair it seemed bizarre back then too but my brother and I used to open fresh pints of milk each morning for our cereal which annoyed my Dad, so he'd then combine all part consumed milk bottles into one, so you'd potentially end up with some slightly off milk in with a fresh pint Envy it was a constant battle between us

Cherrybomb197 · 05/02/2022 21:37

I feel sorry for loads of you on here.

I didn’t have tampons: the only reason being that my mum couldn’t use them: so she just assumed that I wouldn’t either.

Fizzy drinks and chocolate biscuits were for special occasions only. (Basically food was expensive and we were broke)

A full shower every second day, and a half shower every other day (a half shower meant no hair wash). At 10 this changed to full shower every day (I was just about to start my periods and my mum was a bit obsessed about keeping clean)

We were allowed ITV. We really only got into trouble for doing anything dangerous or hurting peoples feelings

Iamanicepersonreally · 05/02/2022 21:38

No chewing gum as it would wrap round your lungs

Cherrybomb197 · 05/02/2022 21:38

Oh. And my dad was completely against me going on the pill at 15. Nothing about sex. No: he just thought it fucked with women’s hormones and made them fat and depressed

Thecurtainsofdestiny · 05/02/2022 21:41

Also - must say "Daddy" not "Dad" ( at age 10) else his feelings would be hurt. Mortifying in front of friends.

5128gap · 05/02/2022 21:42

@Quirrelsotherface

Top of the pops had to be turned off if grandad was there in case he saw men in make up

GrinGrinGrin

Quote 'your grandad didn't fight a war to watch men lollygadding about in lipstick'
AngelinaFibres · 05/02/2022 21:44

Every Saturday night when I was in my 20s my parents rented a video from the local shop .If I was home for the weekend I could choose the video but there must be absolutely no possibility of there ever being any 'heavy petting" or sex scenes. If my grandparents were staying and anything remotely sexual came on the tv my grandmother would leap up and make a cup of tea.
We had to hover above the toilet seat in public toilets because of the germs . My friends mother insisted that her daughters peed in silence so the other women peeing in the cubicles in the same toilet block would have no idea what they were doing.

godmum56 · 05/02/2022 21:44

@Cherrybomb197

I feel sorry for loads of you on here.

I didn’t have tampons: the only reason being that my mum couldn’t use them: so she just assumed that I wouldn’t either.

Fizzy drinks and chocolate biscuits were for special occasions only. (Basically food was expensive and we were broke)

A full shower every second day, and a half shower every other day (a half shower meant no hair wash). At 10 this changed to full shower every day (I was just about to start my periods and my mum was a bit obsessed about keeping clean)

We were allowed ITV. We really only got into trouble for doing anything dangerous or hurting peoples feelings

Yes, I think a lot of the things that seem weird now were money/circumstances based. I was born and brought up in a house with no running hot water at all, actually there was only one sink and tap and that was in the kitchen. Every drop of water was heated in saucepans on the gas stove. We moved into a council house where the water was heated by a back boiler behind the fire and with an electric immersion in summer. The tank was tiny and woefully inadequate, also the immersion cost a lot to use so hot water had to be rationed both because there wasn't much and because heating more was slow and expensive. Same with telephone use and fizzy drinks and treats generally.
GrannytoaUnicorn · 05/02/2022 21:46

@Mossstitch Presuming this was during a bath?! That logic I can kind of understand! 🤢

ShallWeTalkAboutBruno · 05/02/2022 21:46

I don’t think we had any rules such as these! We were taught to use table manners of course but I don’t think these can be classed as rules. All other things were due to money… we only bathed on a Wednesday and Sunday, but that was for financial reasons rather than being an actual rule.
Otherwise, friends were always welcome to come and play, and we could play out at any time. No bans on TV programmes, although we obviously weren’t allowed to watch anything after the watershed.
We always asked if we wanted a snack, but I do the same with my children to be honest.

VirginiaQ · 05/02/2022 21:46

Loads of these such as not watching ITV because it was common. Also not allowed a whole chocolate bar so it had to be cut into 3 for us three kids (Mars Bar into 6th as it was considered too rich).

Also not allowed to drink a fizzy drink if you'd been eating cherries (not a common occurrence. A rare treat) Not really sure why but I became convinced that if you di you would die instantly.

Also not allowed in the swimming pool for at least an hour after eating otherwise you would get cramp and drown. I think there may be some genuine reason for this as I still hear it now.

godmum56 · 05/02/2022 21:46

@Cherrybomb197

Oh. And my dad was completely against me going on the pill at 15. Nothing about sex. No: he just thought it fucked with women’s hormones and made them fat and depressed
he may have had a point.....
Rollonspring1111 · 05/02/2022 21:46

We weren't allowed to watch the TV lying sideways on the sofa. Something vision related my gran said.

Justmuddlingalong · 05/02/2022 21:47

Every friend of our DParents was known to us kids as Auntie or Uncle whatever. Neighbours were Mr or Mrs so and so.

Balonziaga · 05/02/2022 21:47

No hairdryers in our house. Confused

Blow drying your hair was frivolous and a bit 'tarty'
My mum had short fine hair. Mine was long and thick. Consequently I hated washing my hair as it would hang in long wet coils dripping cold water down my back for hours, no matter how much I 'towel dried' it. Also always looked awful as it was wavy with a tendency to frizz that needs blow drying.

No kitchen roll. Wasteful.

If you wanted to make a phone call, you sat on the hard backed chair in the hallway and spent a maximum of 10 mins on your call (that would be made after 6pm for cheaper rates). As the 10 minute mark approached, my dad would start pacing the hall tapping at his watch so you couldn't concentrate on what you were saying anyway.

Sheets changed once a week but midweek, you had to turn your pillowcases and duvet cover inside out to get a few days more 'wear' out of them.

Two toppings only on a jacket potato (butter counted as one) as anything else was greedy.

Pearbear · 05/02/2022 21:47

Eating an apple before bed would clean your teeth and you didn’t need to brush them.

Sunday was a family day after we’d been to church where I wasn’t allowed to wear trousers. So no playing out with our friends and no tv was allowed until the evening when we watched Songs of Praise and Howard’s Way.

We weren’t allowed to watch Chanel 4 as Brookside had shown the first lesbian kiss on tv.

GrannytoaUnicorn · 05/02/2022 21:48

@MissMarplesGoddaughter

Not being allowed to eat an orange and have a glass of milk together. My mother said the oj would curdle the milk in your stomach.
It does! A well known flight attendant trick for irritating children, seconds before they get off the plane...!! Grin
godmum56 · 05/02/2022 21:48

@VirginiaQ

Loads of these such as not watching ITV because it was common. Also not allowed a whole chocolate bar so it had to be cut into 3 for us three kids (Mars Bar into 6th as it was considered too rich).

Also not allowed to drink a fizzy drink if you'd been eating cherries (not a common occurrence. A rare treat) Not really sure why but I became convinced that if you di you would die instantly.

Also not allowed in the swimming pool for at least an hour after eating otherwise you would get cramp and drown. I think there may be some genuine reason for this as I still hear it now.

The jury is out on the swimming one. www.bbc.com/future/article/20130401-can-you-swim-just-after-eating
Hyenaormeercat · 05/02/2022 21:49

Pearbear we had the apple cleaned teeth too!

Chichimcgee · 05/02/2022 21:50

Not a bizarre rule but one I struggled with.
‘Eat all your dinner or you’ll have it for breakfast’

Issue was I decided to be a vegetarian. It was really unusual back then, my poor mum had no clue. So everyone has spaghetti bolognaise. I’d have about 10 servings of plain spaghetti, it was soooo hard to choke down so much plain claggy spaghetti. This was every meal as well. Anything with rice I’d have mountains of plain rice. Stew was just plain potatoes.
I can’t have gluten now and I’m just thankful we didn’t know about that when I was kid!