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.

I wasn't allowed to eg say 50p because peas were green things you ate and I had to say 50 pence.

I had to have a slice (half a slice) of bread with every evening meal. Goodness knows why!

Both of those were my father's rules. He also used to go on about leaving lights on and as others have said no phone calls until after 6pm.

My mum said I couldn't have my ears pierced until I was 16 and by the time I got to 16 I didn't want them done and never have!

Yes to only weekly bathing and unplugging everything. Also if anyone came round you had to switch the TV off. This was before videos or catch up so if you missed something you missed it.

My parents still only bathe/shower once a week and sink wash in between. And unplug everything every night. They reset the microwave clock every damn morning.

I am surprised at how repressed some of your parents were, particularly as some are my age or younger than me.

I'm 38 and still waiting on the periods and sex talk from my mother!

I remember asking her what Tampax was when I was 8/9 after seeing the advert on TV and getting a right telling off.

I didn't start my periods until I was 15 and had to get pads at school because she wouldn't buy me any. Never asked whether I had started etc. At some point packets of pads started appearing in my room as if by magic. Never spoken about.

Won't be like that for my DC.

@AngelinaFibres

I wasn't allowed to wear anything remotely fitted. That was for tarts. I have always worn knee high type boots, but always flat. Boots with a heel are tarty....obviously. This Christmas I was out shopping and I thought I might try a style with a heel. I bought some !!!!! Fitted to the leg, black, block heel, square toe. With a knee length coat they look bloody fabulous. My legs look glorious. The first time I wore them to meet my mother I had that weird, nervous feeling in my stomach. I knew she would comment negatively. She duly did. I am 56. I don't need to care anymore. I am wearing them every minute of every day until I die.

Go girl!

I am taking from this that my mother and grandma must have been extremely modern for their time. Extraordinary when I think about how boundaried they were in terms of manners and etiquette and general behaviour. My mother still thinks McDonald's is disgraceful because there are no knives and forks.

Much of this arises from different times though: telephone charges were cheaper after 6pm for example. Also many homes didn't have constant hw or ch in the 60s/70s.

The only TV that was allowed was University Challenge or David Attenborough, or things like Royal Society Christmas lectures. At some point we inherited a small and rubbishy TV which went in the spare room, and I would sneak in and binge on Buffy or whatever.

Getting dressed as soon as you got up. My parents are still vaguely uncomfortable when they come to ours and DP and I go downstairs in our PJs and make a cup of coffee before we go upstairs again and shower.

I was allowed tampax, and my mum showed me how to use them, but tampax were not allowed in the bathroom. My mum and I both kept packets in our underwear drawers, hidden at the back, and you had to smuggle them out to the outside bin because bathroom bins were dirty. My mum confided to me that when she was about 50 she had a little bag of spares in the glove compartment of her car, in case she got caught short by an unexpected menopausal period, and one time my dad borrowed her car, found them, and returned them to her as something she 'forgot to put away'.

Even so, when I first lived with a partner, my mum was shocked I'd got a jar of tampax on the bathroom shelf (in plain sight! where men might see!) and she discreetly enquired where she should 'put them away'.

By now poor mum has three daughters-in-law and has had to give up and 1) buy and bathroom bin, 2) accept we all have tampax on show and have not yet died of shame.

@SirGawain

A belief of my mum was that to much vinegar dried up your blood.

Yes, what was that all about! I loved vinegar, pickled onions & mint sauce, I was always told that it would dry my blood.

I've just remembered I was allowed to watch a bouquet of barbed wire when most of my classmates weren't. Mother's mantra was always "if you know about it, you can avoid it" and sheltered girls were at greater risk than worldly ones.

My parents - more so my mother - definitely kept me looking as unattractive as possible from when I was a teenager because they were convinced I'd end up pregnant the minute I even looked at a boy.

So I had no autonomy over any aspect of my appearance until I was 18, and even from then until I left home at 21 they did their best to stop me looking attractive.

My mother had absolutely zero faith in me being able to make decisions for myself. As a Roman Catholic she also assumed that if I did get pregnant I'd be going through with it...I've been pregnant twice and have no children. I never wanted children, knew that from when I was 9 and always told her.

Cough syrup - we had this ancient jar of slop, onions, sugar, vinegar and various other things that would just get topped up when needed. It was passed down from a great, great, granny or something and was horrible.
It worked, only in that we were too scared to cough lol

@noirchatsdeux

My parents - more so my mother - definitely kept me looking as unattractive as possible from when I was a teenager because they were convinced I'd end up pregnant the minute I even looked at a boy.

So I had no autonomy over any aspect of my appearance until I was 18, and even from then until I left home at 21 they did their best to stop me looking attractive.

My mother had absolutely zero faith in me being able to make decisions for myself. As a Roman Catholic she also assumed that if I did get pregnant I'd be going through with it...I've been pregnant twice and have no children. I never wanted children, knew that from when I was 9 and always told her.

My Catholic mother was like this my hair was cut in a pudding bowl shape awful. I never got pregnant but she marched to the GP when she discovered my pill I was 19 he threw her out she said.

Strangely the girls in the local convent were allowed pretty clothes and make up.

No elbows on the table
Don't ask too many questions
Not allowed to wear our hair down
I wasn't allowed to wear jeans until I was 11 and that was because I kicked up a stink and a strop until my mum gave in
Wasn't allowed a drink at the table because my parents thought we'd fill ourselves up with drink and have no room for our food
Anything electrical had to be unplugged at the mains, switching it off was not sufficient (although this changed around 1987 when we got a VCR as it would mean having to reset the clock every morning)

Oh goodness. I think I am regressing. I don't boil the kettle until the end and only eat half a cream egg at a time 🤣🤣🤣 But growing up the kettle was always boiled and Def cream eggs were eaten entirely in one sitting. My father did control the TV any sniff of a potential kiss or swear word and the channel was changed or the whole thing switched off. I do find myself fast forwarding unsavoury bit of films now 😂😂

We were allowed to wear our shoes in the house. I have a strictly no shoes in my house policy.

'nice' ladies did not smoke or eat in the street
never use tampons until married
you always have to open your bowels daily

Not allowed to drink with meals in case it filled us up too much and stopped us from eating.

Wasn’t allowed to wash my hair every day. I had horribly greasy hair and it really needed it. My mother used to put talcum powder through it each evening. It was horrible, I hated feeling dirty. I used to get up in the middle of the night and wash my hair in the sink just so I could feel clean.

We weren’t allowed to watch ITV, ever.

Plus having the TV on during the day was ‘common’. Also, eating in the street.

When my DD was born in 1990, my MIL (born 1928) told I should let her cry because babies need to exercise their lungs. There was some very funny rules about babies/childbirth from that generation.

I went to pick up some shopping for MIL one bitterly cold day In January and when I came back, 2 month old DD and her pram weren’t in the house - although MIL was sitting in the warm watching TV! She happily told me DD was outside getting some fresh air because that’s what babies need. And she was. The pram was right down at the bottom of the garden! Tbf, DD was wrapped up in several layers but MIL was clearly puzzled that I wasn’t happy that she was on her own out of earshot.

I’d forgotten about the rule about not sitting on cold doorsteps as it gave you piles. We had that one in our house too.

Also, no clothes washing on Sundays or New Years Day as it would wash all your luck away.

I wasn’t allowed to shave my legs till I was 14 I bedded to use the razor battery one my gran had bought me. Shoes and clothes for best.

There was a bit of an obsession about having to actually spit out catarrh. Life is much easier since I swallow it.

if anyone came round you had to switch the TV off

I don't understand why you wouldn't do that now. It's not very polite to keep the TV on if you have a visitor (unless you don't want them there and are trying to tell them something!)

@WinterGold I was always told don’t wash on New Year’s Day or you wash a family member away

Can’t use the phone until after 6

Twospaniels i grew up with we opened everything and my mother was still in bed. My kids have what you describe now as I want them to take time to open them and note who gifted them.

Mossstitch, I was told this too, for many years I didn’t wash my hair during a period, but because I tracked it I would wash it the day before! Became great at knowing when I was due though.