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.

My DM drummed into me that I had to be married before I had sex, it was imperative that I was a virgin on my wedding night. My DB (4 years older) had a steady stream of girlfriends that he would merrily shag in the room next door to mine. Double standards!

Rules what rules . MY parente didnt do rules i dont remember any .Yet both were both born round about First world war time,They were way ahead of their time though very like modern parents.im beginning to think i was very lucky and very unusual after hearing what othere had to put up with.

@billycat321

I. too. was told that I shouldn't wash my hair when having a period Also cut the buttons of coats etc before sending them to be dry cleaned as 'the machinery would smash them to bits' And 'nice' girls should not use Tampax!

I was maybe 15 when I decided to use Tampax - had to buy them myself, though. My DM said, ‘I thought you could only use those once you were married,’ but she didn’t try to dissuade me.

We weren't allowed to get more tomato sauce once we'd put some on our plate. Apparently we should have put how much we wanted on our plate in the first place. All that happened was we put more on the first time so probably wasted it!

My mum has no recollection of this now!

@mizzo my parents never once got up to watch us open our Christmas present either back in the 80s when I was a child. As a parent now myself i find this so strange and my favourite part of Christmas is seeing the dc open their presents.

No eating on the street/public transport. An excellent rule IMO. And no cheese until you are 11. WTF to that one 😂

@JFM27

Rules what rules . MY parente didnt do rules i dont remember any .Yet both were both born round about First world war time,They were way ahead of their time though very like modern parents.im beginning to think i was very lucky and very unusual after hearing what othere had to put up with.

Oh well, I cannot remember what the rules were but seeing my mother looking at me while raising an eyebrow was a clear indication I had broken one!

No pickles or sauces of any sort as it would stunt our growth/brains. No coffee (apparently bad for us) - I didn't taste it until deep in my teens. No pasta ever due to my father's time as a soldier in Italy in the war when they lived on plain boiled pasta. No more than 2 sweets or 2 biscuits a day even at a birthday party. 1 hour a day after school during weekdays to be devoted to sewing - embroidery for 4 of the days and the 5th day to include any mending. My sister and I had to cook the family dinner each weekday, on alternate days, from the age of 12. We moved often but were never allowed to contact anyone we left behind once we had moved. 1 new dress a year which we had to sew ourselves, (we could help choose the pattern) until age 15, when I got my first shop bought dress! The joy!

My mum used to insist that milk was decanted into a jug.
The problem was that she had different jugs and milk for different meals, which had to be from the correct crockery set.
Whole milk was for breakfast and had to be in the blue jug which was part of the blue crockery set, including sugar bowl, cups and saucers.
Lunch, if at home was semi skim milk in the white jug, using the corresponding white crockery, including sugar bowl, cups and saucers.
Evening meal was the same but with the green crockery and particular wine glasses.
Completely crackers. 😂

Wow, lots of these rules are insane! I'm 50 and had none of these crazy rules as a child/teenager. The superstition-based ones are particularly bonkers .

Definitely, Mossstitch! And ignored it. But, why oh why? My best friend was not allowed a bath during her period either.

We had the bath once a week, when Inwas younger, but it wasn't really a rule. Its just what everyone did back then.

The exception was that a "nice bath" was always suggested if we were poorly in bed. But washing hair was not allowed.

I wasn’t allowed to poop in the upstairs toilet, always downstairs 😂

@The2Omicronnies

It didn’t suffice to switch the socket for hair straighteners off at the wall, we had to physically unplug it.

My cousin’s wife burned their house down by leaving hair straighteners on. Your parents were sensible.

@billycat321

no sex once you know you are pregnant as the baby might see 'IT' and grow up traumatised!

My son and DIL are expecting a baby on a few weeks. They have just had one of those amazing 4D scans where you can see the baby's actual face. My mum was amazed. Later she took me aside and said she wondered if it would affect their 'intimate' life because my son would be able to imagine the baby as an actual person whilst having sex with his wife. Oh dear god mother

bathwater only a few inches high waste of water and no bubble bath expensive
no biscuits between mills but could have four for breakfast!!
never allowed to touch tv turn it off or turn it over
no apple before bed would lay on your stomach
xmas chocolates were kept in a cupboard and occasionally our dad would let us have one
everything unplugged every night
lights off every time you left every room

My Mum believed that washing your hair made your period really heavy @Mossstitch so we were discouraged from washing it then too

My mum forbid me from watching Byker Grove or Grange Hill because she thought it would teach me to be disrespectful and answer back! Even she agrees it was a bit OTT now.

@Twospaniels

At Xmas we could open our santa sack in the morning and then presents from relatives etc had to be opened at intervals throughout the day

If we had sweets or chocolate we could only eat one or one piece each day. If we had a cream egg we could only eat half and save the rest for the next day.

This was in the early 1970’s

Yes restraint is a life skill that was lost after the 70s.

On the plus side it avoided obesity.

We had chocolate biscuits but we didn't have chocolate bars and sweets in the house. We snacked on nuts and dried fruit.

Easter we were given painted wooden eggs and ate easter cake. We weren't given chocolate easter eggs. I don't remember missing it at all.

I remember after 6pm only for calls that weren't local. One phone in the hall and you could only use it standing up of course, same with most people I knew who had one....before the days of portables and mobiles.
When I saw in films and TV that some people actually had one by the bed...!!

@C0mm0nsense

My mum forbid me from watching Byker Grove or Grange Hill because she thought it would teach me to be disrespectful and answer back! Even she agrees it was a bit OTT now.

Same here, well I'm too old for Byker Grove. I was the original Tricia Yates, Tucker Jenkins generation.

These days I have to stop my mum from swearing (she's 84).

Unuggimg was sensible in the days of old fashioned fuse boxes with wire which didn't automatically shut things off if there was an overload of power. I recall a fire in the fuse box as a child.

Yes, it was common to place a milk bottle directly onto the table, so milk was always served in a jug. And butter was never served in the paper wrapper, an ounce was cut off for each mealtime, and presented on a side plate. Mustard was always made from the dried powder, with vinegar? added, and served in a tiny dish, with a silver spoon. No ketchup ever, (common) but HP sauce was allowed at Sunday breakfast only, along with the bacon, sausages and egg.

@1forAll74

I am an oldie, and when sweets came off being rashioned, Mars bars came in the shops,, My Late Mum took charge of a Mars Bar brought home, and put it on a bread board,and sliced it into several thinnish pieces, so i could only have on slice. maybe each day.. The Mars Bars in the oldie days though, were much longer and chunkier.

I wasn't upset about this frugality, it was just a little treat each day,for a week of small slices of Mars bar, as we rarely had any sweet treats then.

My mum always did/does this. And I still can't eat a Mars Bar whole (I'm in my 50s). It has to be cold from the fridge and cut into slices or it doesn't taste right!

@TeaAddict235

No watching of Eastenders/ soaps etc as they 'corrupt the brain'

Ladies don't paint their fingernails red (only ladies of the night do according to head of year at private school)

Still don't paint my nails red only neutral and don't ever watch soaps on tv but do on You Tube and Netflix not the same is it?

I don’t let my mother in law watch Eastenders at our house because it rots the brain.