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.

@Cherrybomb197 hmmmm, there is some evidence that pill can effect girls/women's hormones and cause some side effects e.g. acne, blood clots etc. Your dad was not totally wrong.

@2catsandhappy

I still don't eat on the street.

I vividly remember being at teacher training college and my parents came to visit me for the day. We went to a cafe but there were no free tables so we bought baguettes (1984 soooo French, so much more sophisticated than a sandwich) and sat on a bench in the park next to the cafe. I still have friends there so I go back every few weeks. If we walk past that park it still makes me smile at the memory of the first time I ever saw my parents eating outside, without a table. Presumably it was sort of okay because they were away from home so the chance of anyone seeing them doing this common thing was greatly reduced

Oh and Grange Hill was never allowed!

@SoRuff63

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

Double mouthful!! 🤪

I had a really relaxed upbringing..parents very bohemian and not into rules , but we were not allowed to use the phone until after 6pm too expensive!

We had to clear our plates, if not, it came back for the next meal.

Shared baths, once or twice a week.

No heating on in the house apart from two of four bars of the gas fire, in the room and they were often only half. The house had mould and was freezing.

No more than one biscuit. No fizzy drinks or crisps. Certain foods in the fridge were special for my dad only and must not be eaten.

No mention of periods, no talk about anything unmentionable, it would be unthinkable to leave sanitary towels in the bathroom, and no tampons as they wouldn't be suitable .

My dad to be in control of the tv at all times. No tv in bedrooms.

The phone was for incoming calls only, if I wanted to phone friends I had to go to the nearest call box.

To be dressed as soon as you got up, TBH I can't shake this one even now.

Yes never allowed to say I'm full, only ' I have had sufficient'!
And ' please may I leave the table'?

@Itsnotdeep

my dm used to say "i've had a sufficiency""

Strangely our ITV rule was relaxed for Tiswas. (my mum didn't like Swap Shop).

There was also the rule about the anklet, but I don't think that was my mums. We all just knew that only prostitutes or loose women wore anklets

I dont like my daughter wearing anklets now for this reason! 🤪

@Mossstitch

Did anyone else have the 'not allowed to wash hair when on a period' or just my weird mother (along with a lot of other weird stuff😕)?!! As a greasy haired teenager this blew my mind and eventually ignored her!

Yup, I remember this one.

@Teeeefs

^nightwear not nightware.

FFS.

I was wondering why you all had nightmares in the lounge 🤣🤣

No talking when the weather forecast was on the radio.

@SoRuff63

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

I’m having a weird déjà vu moment. Is that a normal thing to say where you are?

I’m from Newcastle and feel like I’ve heard a dad (that I must have known) say that to his child. And I’ve never heard it since!

In fairness some of these if in 1960-70s aren’t that unreasonable
Baths for instance…whilst homes were still heated via coal or coal gas if you were lucky, it was very expensive to run a hot bath. We shared baths water right up till North Sea gas conversion happened (can’t remember when that was rolled out 1970s? ) . Homes were cold as not many had central heating and used oil fires, or a single gas fire in lounge and maybe some electric heaters.

I was reading these laughing thinking "we didn't have daft rules" then realised....
"Thank you for dinner. Please may I leave the table?"
Sweets only on a Friday
Mars bars chopped into slices (a lovely memory of my dgm!)
Not asking anyone for anything ever
My dad had a thing about us saying we had lost something. If we said it was lost, as opposed to "we can't find it just now" and he found it, he would throw it out!
Milk and orange juice would cuddle in your stomach

@sashagabadon

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

Yes! This, you had to wait just in case the cheap rate was late starting!

Curdle! Not cuddle.
And no chewing gum as if you swallowed it, it would get stuck in your stomach forever and you'd die,??!

@Elderflower14

Forgot to add that I wore a red hat to his funeral as a tribute to him... ♥ ♥

Aw how poignant! 👠👠xx

Comics were a waste of money. Everything from Beano to Jackie magazine. There was no tv. There was no music except Shirley Bassey (begrudgingly for my father) and country music for my mum. All 'pop' was common.
Most of the neighbours were common. The local school was not good enough for us (living as we did on £8 a week because applying for 'the dole' was common even when the only wage earner was long time sick in hospital.) You didn't talk about what went on at home. Which covered everything from chilblains and perpetual damp to the continual rows.
'Showing off' was a sin. It was worse than common. Better kids (only you had to say 'children' because 'kids' was common) crippled with shyness, speechless with it, than show-offs.
And yet we were loved.
I can't understand it. I will never understand my childhood. It wasn't just poverty, it was something more. It changed when I was 16 or 17, in time to help the younger ones.
A lot of it is with me still.

The low grade background misery of childhood.

@MayMorris

In fairness some of these if in 1960-70s aren’t that unreasonable Baths for instance…whilst homes were still heated via coal or coal gas if you were lucky, it was very expensive to run a hot bath. We shared baths water right up till North Sea gas conversion happened (can’t remember when that was rolled out 1970s? ) . Homes were cold as not many had central heating and used oil fires, or a single gas fire in lounge and maybe some electric heaters.

Yes mid 70's We moved into a flat in Bristol which had been empty when the rest of the house was converted so the bloke just disconnected the meter. Bloody freezing and we had no heating cooking or hot water, just two camping gaz stoves for two weeks until the bloke came back and sorted it. We used to go home to parents at weekends to get warm and clean and one time when we came back, the skylight in the bathroom (top flat old house) had blown open and the bath had snow in it.

No eating whilst walking along the street. ‘Common’. Sitting on a bench to eat though - absolutely fine

@WorriedMillie

The law in my family was “two biscuits”, unless a Kit Kat or similar, in which case it was one I now have to eat two biscuits, even if I only fancy one

@Luckyme2

No eating whilst walking along the street. ‘Common’. Sitting on a bench to eat though - absolutely fine

So many things were common.

What was this fear of 'common?' I never understood it, and I still don't. What was wrong with being pretty much like everybody else?

I remember primary school in the 50's, Miss Armstrong, who was terrifying, drew a diagram on the blackboard of our intestines. If you swallowed chewing gum or an orange pip it would get stuck in your appendix and give you appendicitis. She was obviously correct because I've been very, very careful and never once had appendicitis.

@Squirrel26

Not allowed to watch Heartbreak High as it was 'unsuitable', or one particular episode of Casualty as it was 'disturbing'. Everything else was fine...as long as it wasn't on ITV.

We also had to say 'please may I get down' at the end of meals and for a brief (and unsuccessful) period we were supposed to speak only in French at tea time.

Au revoir Rodney! 😜

Oh man, these are hitting hard.

Also bath once a week - as a greasy-haired teenager this was hell; I remember begging to wash my hair and being told no without any reason. My foster dad was pretty intense about the use of hot water.

Also no tampax. And no cycling shorts. clearly considered indecent.