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.

Every morning was lined up with the various dogs & cats to be given a spoonful of malt & cod liver oil, off the same spoon.

🤢

No drinking while eating at home, but acceptable in restaurants.

Ok to eat crisps without asking but had to ask permission for fruit.

Ice cream eaten from a plastic cup.

Towels shared with other family members.

On Saturday nights dp had their "special time". They cooked a posh meal for themselves and we were all sent up to our rooms from about 6pm after a quick (beans on toast type) tea. This happened until we left home.

I actually like this, purposely making time for themselves

Having a bath while on your period is horrible- you end up sitting in bloody water and will be covered in diluted menstruation blood.

Butter was deadly poisonous, but margarine was healthy.

This and full fat milk. I never tasted either until I was an adult.

School uniform off as soon as I got home.

TV not allowed on in the morning and must have a hot drink before leaving the house

@EdenFlower

Having a bath while on your period is horrible- you end up sitting in bloody water and will be covered in diluted menstruation blood.

But if you've no shower (we didn't), what's the alternative?

God so many. My not so darling dad had his own crisps and fizzy juice. He would eat the crisps while we had none. If we asked for one, he would go absolutely mad about them being his treat then he would throw the packet and refuse to eat them. Also, no one was allowed to drink his fizzy juice. We wouldn't have dared.

HelloKeith The Red Shoes one is an old saying"Red Shoes ,No knickers"! apparently. No idea where it came from ,or how Dorothy from Wizard Of Oz got away with it!

@WowIlikereallyhateyou

Only eat at the table No Tampax No ear piercing until 16+ On pancake day we had to have a big dinner and pancakes for pudding. I always longed for just pancakes, but that was forbidden!! No slip on school shoes Red clothes/shoes forbidden

Also red clothes and shoes forbidden.

Apparently dad didn't like it as he thought it was unlucky....

Oh not having late baths would have been to do with the noise of the immersion heater refilling while people were trying to get to sleep.

Sensible at the time but seems bizarre today - we had pay per minute internet and DSis and I were allowed 1 hour a day! I remember writing emails while offline and connecting up to send them.

Not allowed to wear black.

You had to turn lights out, if you were not using the room. I'm still amazed by family that leave lights on everywhere. I go round the house, tutting and turning them off.

Phone calls after 6pm.

I remember not mixing hot and cold drinks at a meal. No water folllowed by cup of tea. It was one or the other - mixing them damaged your stomach!

@user1471554720

This rule of not being really sick unless you had d&v, couldn't get out of bed. We had this when I was young. I even extended this rule to my working life. I would go to work feeling dizzy with a bad cold. Nearly crashed the car once. Couldn't answer the phone as was hoarse and sneezing every second. Spread cold all around the office. I would come home and go to bed at 7pm trying to rest for the following work day. This was especially true when I was working and living at home. I used to wonder why colleagues never had a sniffle but took plenty of sick leave....

Wfh has been a Godsend for me as commuting to work with a bad cold is exhausting and I feel guilty if I take sick leave. Also I would hate to ask a dr to sign me off for a day with a cold. We cannot take a random sick day and have to get certified sick.

Wtf? You are entitled to 7 days in a row before you have to get certification. Your employer is being unlawful.

Turns lights off is not a crazy rule, yes I was taught to do it as a child and still do it. Have to constantly remind my kids though.

Couldn’t play out after a hair wash or bath as you’d catch a chill!

@Surgarblossom

School uniform off as soon as I got home.

TV not allowed on in the morning and must have a hot drink before leaving the house

yes same here because school uniform was expensive so we didn't have loads of it....2 blouses, one skirt, one cardigan, coat, hat and gloves for winter and 2 dresses, blazer, same cardigan, different hat and white gloves for summer.

@dottydodah it’s ‘Red hat, no knickers.”

@godmum56 we had to take our school uniform off and hang it up . Same uniform all week so needed to be kept nice. My neighbour used to play out in hers because her mum was a bit overly clean and she had a completely clean uniform every day of the week! My mum said it damaged clothes to wash them too often. Some truth there I guess, never mind the environment.

@KnightonShiningArmour yea there was one towel in the bathroom to be used by all. Yuk! It was changed fairly regularly but still, I shudder to think about it now especially as we were a clean family in my mind. I think it was the norm then.

Yup. The rules were crazy. You used to have to get a cert from the doctor at day 3 and an employer wouldn't start paying SSP until day three so loads of people used to come into work with colds, flu, d&v.

@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

Ha not far off in my case!

@Benjispruce5 My gran also used to say red shoes, no knickers - clearly red is the colour to be wary of wearing!

I wasn't allowed to watch any 'American rubbish' on television and I still wouldn't dare swear in front of my parents.

Pillowcase at the end of the bed with unwrapped presents inside for me too. One of my brothers invented a game where we wrapped our new toys up in newspaper on Christmas day evening, then opened them on Boxing day morning, like people in films, actually unwrapping stuff.

As an adult I'm obsessive about beautiful wrapping paper and ribbons.

This is an excellent thread OP. It's been ages since I've enjoyed one so much. So many memories and laughed out loud at some. Others very poignant. Thank you.