Rules you had in your childhood that now seem bizarre?

[Tattted]

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.

@Benjispruce5

I loved fruit as a child in 70s but my parents bought nowhere near the amount I buy now. I was allowed one piece a day. I remember taking an extra apple and hiding the core behind the toilet u-bend. My mum told me off and I was shocked because I’d forgotten that she would clean and find them all stacked up. I actually remember confessing this to a priest as a sin during confession on Saturday mornings. That’s another stupid rule I have up!

Fruit was expensive! We had apples, pears and bananas. Berries were too expensive.

@MadameFantabulosa

Oh yes, the no washing hair during your period, and no bathing then either, as it would make the blood run faster. Had to wash with a revolting flannel, which was changed once a week.

Also, don’t lock the bathroom door if you’re in the bath because you might faint and drown. When I got my own flat, and my Mum trotted this out again, I asked her if I should leave the front door open, not just the bathroom door, and she dithered a bit before finally saying no.

Tampons made you lose your virginity. I got a concession for the mini ones, but my periods were so heavy they were utterly useless. I wasn’t allowed to buy bigger ones, and could only buy normal flow sanitary towels as “super” ones were “not nice.” Also only allowed to use the outside loo when I had my period in case I made a mess in the nice indoors ones.

She was kind of right about bathroom door locks as they used to be ordinary key locks or bolts so if you did have a problem no one could get in without smashing the door. Modern bathroom and toilet door locks have a thing like a big screwhead on the outside so the door can be opened from the outside if its needed...and on from this its MUCH safer to have a loo or bathroom door that opens outwards as if you do fall in there and get trapped behind the door, then someone will have to get in through a window or take an axe to the door to get you out. Here endeth the loo lesson!

Being quiet outside on a Sunday. I can just about mow the lawn but only after 11 o'clock. I feel much happier if I can hear other people doing it. I judge my neighbours if they do anything noisy outside on Sunday. Bonkers

@Katshouldnotswim

Not quite childhood but I was 17 an just passed my driving test.

It was “illegal” to drive and wear sunglasses apparently and I could be stopped by the police for doing so.

35 years later and I still do a little smug “ I don’t care “ when I drive wearing them !

It is illegal to drive wearing cat 4 sunglasses. But cat 4 are for people climbing mount everest and that sort of thing.

Cat 3 are illegal for night driving

However, not wearing cat 1 & 2 sunglasses when the sun is impairing your driving ability is also illegal in very sunny conditions (rule 237 of highway code).

Now you know the sunglasses rules ;-)

@ShallWeTalkAboutBruno
great name!!

When i was a child, bananas were expensive. We ate what was in season and grown in the UK. Imported fruit was very posh and expensive. I think the only imported fruit we bought regularly was oranges.

@Daenerys77 we always used to smash the egg shells, so that witches wouldn’t go to sea in them and sink ships as well!

Was never allowed black patent shoes, because they were reflective and might shine and show your privates.

After meals, we had to roll up and put our napkins back into our napkin rings (personalised ones). They would normally be washed once a week, and mother would be cross if anyone was overly messy and dirtied their napkin mid-week. This was particularly harsh for the two-year old sibling.

@AngelinaFibres

Being quiet outside on a Sunday. I can just about mow the lawn but only after 11 o'clock. I feel much happier if I can hear other people doing it. I judge my neighbours if they do anything noisy outside on Sunday. Bonkers

I don't judge exactly but i love it when all i can hear is birdsong and I definitely DO NOT like early sunday mowers or DIY-ers

@SoRuff63

Saying “I’m full” was vulgar. We had to say “l have had an ample sufficiency”.

I'd forgotten this one! I remember saying it to my boyfriends mum( he's now DH ) the first time I had dinner there, and everyone looked at me as though I had two heads! I'm surprised he ever went out with me again - they all thought I was a right weirdo

@AngelinaFibres My mother was/is the same - obsessed with not being 'common'. I wanted to go from secondary school to being a hairdresser...OMG you would have thought I'd said I wanted to join the IRA! My father refused point blank to pay for university (this was before loans, when grants were dependant on parent's earnings...I would have got nothing) so I worked in office type jobs for years before I could afford to go.

Still would have much preferred to be a hairdresser.

Was never allowed black patent shoes, because they were reflective and might shine and show your privates

This is brilliantly insane

If you looked into a mirror you were vain.
Not trying to get your ponytail smooth or worried about a spot. Just vain.

Shoes were lace-ups like the boys 😭 and shoes and summer sandals were always always brown. How longingly I looked at red shoes, blue shoes, black patent, white summer sandals.
Nope, brown.

Trying to look nice or fashionable was ‘common’. Magazines were common, except Woman’s Realm.
Unfathomable, as they read the Daily Mail.

My friend’s lovely mum was ‘common’. She was an Avon lady when it was new and fashionable. Being an Avon Lady was not on.

The delicious smelling chip shop was both decadent and unworthy of our custom. Both. It’s the roolz.

I'd forgotten the 'ample sufficiency ' thing! And smashing the bottom of egg shells to stop the witches sailing away.
So many of these are around food

@Hyenaormeercat

I know this is about bizarre rules but I'm also feeling quite nostalgic.

Me too - so many of these strike a chord , I really miss my lovely mum and dad and though so many of these seem ( and are! ) bizarre they strangely were so common in so many households .

@SecretSunflower - yes, that was my experience too, right down to being a 1960s child of 1920s parents. They were fair and reasonable for the most part, most of their rules were sensible and well-explained, and they didn’t subscribe to myths about not washing on your period or not drinking with meals.

With one exception. As pp have said, sometimes not being allowed to wash your own hair was a thing. It was an absolute rule. My mother made a rod for her own back, as she insisted I have long hair. She also insisted that I wasn’t allowed to wash or dry it myself. Now my hair - even as a greying middle-aged lady - takes ages to dry (I can go swimming with a friend of similar age and hair length and hers will be towelled dry by the time she emerges from the cubicle, mine will still be pretty damp after a good blitz with the municipal hairdryer).

The whole thing took approximately two hours once a week. Heck, my hairdresser does a CBD in 40 minutes.

I was 18 before I ever washed my own hair myself.

Women musnt go into pubs even if they are going for lunch.
You absolutely cannot go to a fair, theme park or amusement arcade.
The pub thing runs deep. If I go out with my husband we will go in a naice pub that serves naice food because we are retired and he likes a pint with lunch in a pub. Just typing that sentence makes me feel I need to justify his wish to drink one alcoholic drink , once in a blue moon , in the middle of the day because my father would be appalled . If I am out on my own or meeting a female friend it would never occur to me to go into a pub for lunch. Pubs are not for respectable women . My father had a triple heart bypass in Birmingham, so my mum stayed in a B and B nearby, as it was a 2 hour drive from home.There were no cafes nearby but there was a pub. She didn't dare tell my father that she had eaten in there every evening

I did read it is better to drink half an hour before meals or after not with meals. I think it has some some sense; we never practice it though

I'm curious about something, those that had drinks rationed, even water, could you not just drink from the tap?

I grew up somewhere with hot summers so would obviously get very thirsty and most of my memories of drinking are from taps (or sometimes hosepipes, in retrospect yuk at the pastic taste).

@ShallWeTalkAboutBruno

Was never allowed black patent shoes, because they were reflective and might shine and show your privates

This is brilliantly insane

Oh my god I had forgotten that one. So absolutely brilliant

@Luna9

I did read it is better to drink half an hour before meals or after not with meals. I think it has some some sense; we never practice it though

what sense?

We weren’t allowed a glass of water on the table and couldn’t leave until everyone was finished.

Sliced Mars bar or Marathon bar shared between 4 kids
No lounging on sofas
No sleeping in late on a weekend
No tv after 9
No food or drink in bedroom or lounge
No watching soaps
No life

No ear piercing until 16. That was literally it. I mean I went out clubbing at 15, had no curfew, no food/drink rules, nothing but ear piercing.. no

I had them done a month before my 16th birthday and my mum just laughed luckily!

[quote MadameFantabulosa]@Daenerys77 we always used to smash the egg shells, so that witches wouldn’t go to sea in them and sink ships as well![/quote]
We had to break the bottom of the shells too. It was something about some mythical beings using them as boats to get to fairy island and kill the fairies…

Also eating or smoking in the street was common.
We never got juice, but that was back when a tiny glass of orange juice was actually a starter on a hotel menu. Or half a grapefruit.
Meal choices were take it or leave it, we were never asked what we wanted.

I believe there are still people who say no eating in the lounge...I used to know one...her entire lounge was off white...she had a buffet party there and the stress nearly killed her as she had to let people have drinks in her white lounge. The buffet was curry and we were supposed to eat it in the kitchen or dining room!