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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:
Benjispruce5 · 05/02/2022 23:07

@Inspectorslack I still do that, it’s just good manners isn’t it to not leave someone’s eating alone.

BertieBotts · 05/02/2022 23:08

Too be fair I don't think this was a rule, more advice, but I followed it religiously until I left home :o - using one square of toilet paper folded into quarters for a wee, and two squares for a poo Confused

I think I must be leakier as an adult or maybe I just went around smelling of wee as a child Confused

We also had a bath once a week and if I'd had my hair washed at the hairdresser I wasn't supposed to wash it again until it really needed it because it would be "a waste" :o One day I was fighting with my sister and my mum sent me off to have a bath to break up the fight and I remember being totally shocked because I'd only had it washed at the hairdresser the day before.

villanova · 05/02/2022 23:08

I grew up in the 70s, but with parents born in the 20s. We had a 'front room' for special occasions (visitors and Christmas), and that's where the radiogram was, so I could only play my records with special permission.

Our phone was in the living room next to the TV, so all calls were public (and I wasn't allowed to make, only receive, calls) and were definitely not allowed during Coronation Street or Songs of Praise.

Like others, I had brown school shoes, but no other shoes, so had to wear them everywhere. I had very few non-school clothes: one set of 'posh clothes' for church, plus some hand-me-downs for playing. I remember my excitement of getting my first pair of jeans aged 15.

I think the limit on hairwashing was more about hairdrying: we didn't have a hairdryer, and my long hair would take hours to dry, even sitting in front of the open fire. Washing too late would also mean going to bed with wet/ damp hair, and adding to the general bedroom dampness.

Benjispruce5 · 05/02/2022 23:08

We were allowed to watch Swap Shop but not Tiswas as ITV was a bit common.Grin

Crackercrazy · 05/02/2022 23:09

@QueenofDestruction

I was not allowed to wear black clothing, black was only for adults.
That was the rule for me too.
Benjispruce5 · 05/02/2022 23:10

Yep black clothing! Lol

rainbowlou · 05/02/2022 23:12

we couldn’t use the loo after a certain time at night!! God help you if you did!

Mamanyt · 05/02/2022 23:13

I, apparently, had somewhat reasonable parents. Although my mother was prone to throwing herself in the floor, crying and drumming her heels if she didn't get her way...I thought that I was supposed to be the child?

The only odd "rule," and it was the norm for the times (50s-60s) was that I was the TV remote controle.

frazzledfragglefromfragglerock · 05/02/2022 23:15

@The2Omicronnies

It didn’t suffice to switch the socket for hair straighteners off at the wall, we had to physically unplug it.
I do this. But more because of my paranoia about fire! Wasn't by decree of my parents as I'm so old no one had hair straighteners, we were the great untamed! (Or permed if you were allowed lol)
AngelinaFibres · 05/02/2022 23:18

My brother had quite bad acne as a teenager. I am 13 months older, and a woman, so I was allowed spot cream to treat the glorious pustules on my face. My brother was male, and putting cream on your face was effeminate, so he was supposed to just live with it. The cream was clear, but had a strong smell of peroxide,so it would have been obvious if he had defied the rule . He has bad scarring now.

5128gap · 05/02/2022 23:18

If we went on the waltzers when the fair came we were supposed to say 'no thank you' if the fair boys tried to spin us. Otherwise we would be impregnated and abandoned when the fair moved on.
The girls were not to look at the miners on their way to work (we lived on the road to the pit) as it would bring them bad luck for the shift.
If grandad spotted my culture club poster I wasn't to tell him Boy George was a man.

2catsandhappy · 05/02/2022 23:20

I still don't eat on the street.

Tulips21 · 05/02/2022 23:21

We were'nt allowed to eat red skittles or blue smarties- ' The E numbers used to make us hype'

AngelinaFibres · 05/02/2022 23:21

@5128gap

If we went on the waltzers when the fair came we were supposed to say 'no thank you' if the fair boys tried to spin us. Otherwise we would be impregnated and abandoned when the fair moved on. The girls were not to look at the miners on their way to work (we lived on the road to the pit) as it would bring them bad luck for the shift. If grandad spotted my culture club poster I wasn't to tell him Boy George was a man.
We weren't allowed to watch 'Fame' when my grandparents were at the house because Leroy wore tights and a dancers belt and the 'bulge' would upset them.
cardiologist349275 · 05/02/2022 23:22

-No hot drinks upstairs. I got a ass whupping for trying to take a hot chocolate upstairs at bedtime once. There I was thinking it the was the most grown up thing in the world, and the next minute my Dad opened a can of whup ass on me before I even got the bottom step Blush

-No plates next to you on the sofa

Craftycorvid · 05/02/2022 23:23

Oh I can relate to a few of these! Many poverty- related, for instance a bath only once a week because it cost to use the immersion heater. Even when times were easier, my parents stuck to the same rule. Much teeth sucking ensued when I insisted on a daily shower because I was working by then and it just wasn’t nice to turn up unwashed.

My grandma had a few food-related ones: no chewing gum as it would ‘stick to your liver’ if you swallowed it. You had to have bread and butter with tinned fruit or other cold pud as otherwise it would ‘chill your stomach’. My mum has a weird one: every Sunday morning we’d have half a grapefruit for breakfast - only on a Sunday. I only found out why a few years ago, and it was quite sad. My mum had been in a TB sanatorium as a young girl and they always served grapefruit halves for breakfast on Sundays. So strange she stuck to that.

bananainpjs · 05/02/2022 23:23

Can’t go outside after I’ve had a bath, I will catch the flu.

Can’t drink fizzy drinks whilst on my period, it will make the period pain worse.

Chichimcgee · 05/02/2022 23:23

No chewing gum, although that was down to the kids playing chewing gum relay I think 🤢

godmum56 · 05/02/2022 23:25

@cardiologist349275

-No hot drinks upstairs. I got a ass whupping for trying to take a hot chocolate upstairs at bedtime once. There I was thinking it the was the most grown up thing in the world, and the next minute my Dad opened a can of whup ass on me before I even got the bottom step Blush

-No plates next to you on the sofa

yes those are both to do with keeping the furnishings clean.
godmum56 · 05/02/2022 23:26

@Tulips21

We were'nt allowed to eat red skittles or blue smarties- ' The E numbers used to make us hype'
my sister told her kids that orange smarties were bad for children so she could eat them
ABitOfAShitShow · 05/02/2022 23:29

@craftyminer

None of us were allowed to learn the recorder at school. Me and my twin brother (in the same class) used to have to read quietly in the corner while everyone else did music.
I need to know more about this. 😂

Will continue reading in case you’ve covered it but I’m so intrigued! I mean, they’re not a joy to listen to, I guess, but it’s quite easy to play decently so I’m guessing it wasn’t that.

sashagabadon · 05/02/2022 23:30

We couldn’t make phone calls until after 6.05pm as the cheaper rate started at 6pm and it would take 5 mins for the BT operator to switch the systems over ConfusedGrin

frazzledfragglefromfragglerock · 05/02/2022 23:33

@StColumbofNavron

I feel very sorry for a whole generation who missed out on T-Bag because of this bizarre no ITV rule.
I was only allowed to watch itv bizarrely. I think it was because my mum didn't want us to watch Grange Hill.

But at least I didn't miss out on T-bag!

jowly · 05/02/2022 23:34

Never go near anyone if you or they had a cold/other bug
Mum used to tell me to cover my face with my scarf in crowded places 'in case I caught something'
Shopping was considered contaminated and I had to wash my hands after putting it away

Tbf my gran would've lived through the flu epidemic and mum would've been a child then so habits were made then.

But how familiar they are now Confused

sproutsandparsnips · 05/02/2022 23:34

Couldn't read it all but can relate to so many!
Sundays we would have dinner at 1 and my dad would have to have Gardeners question time on afterwards. Rice pudding every week, lost in space on before dinner. My father would have a glass of bitter from a 2 litre plastic bottle of Ruddles. My mother would have cider from litre plastic bottle of dry blackthorn and I (aged 6) would be allowed a very tiny bit of it in a special glass.
Only take away was fish and chips.
Apple and cheese for Sunday supper.
Muppets allowed to stay up for on Sundays and Star Trek (repeats) on Mondays.
Viscounts and clubs as a treat.
A friend had French fancies and I loved going as they were never allowed in our house......