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.

No washing hair when you have a cold. As a teenager I was SO mortified to go to school with greasy hair.

My mum said that all gay men had thin lips

@BalloonSlayer

My Dad also went bonkers if anyone moved his rear-view mirror, and he was generally an extremely mild-mannered man.

I remember the first time I jogged a boyfriend's rear view mirror and went into a paroxysm of apologies. His face! He said "Erm... it's OK," adjusted it and drove off. No drama. At all. I was stunned. Stunned!

Yes! Completely forgotten this....

As if it was a ritual that was a secret that no one could know about...

I really expected when i learnt to drive it would take me seceral lsssons solely on the dark art of 'adjusting a mirror'.

[quote Benjispruce5]@Cuck00soup it was summer of 76, I remembered it well.
I agree re our parents being affected by post war conditions. My parents were war babies and it’s hard to shake that mentality off. Lots of it the anti waste attitude is now to be admired for the sake of the planet and our health. We never snacked or helped ourselves in the kitchen between mealtimes and those are good habits for life.[/quote]
It occured to me recently reading a thread about cleaning methods that don't use to many chemicals etc that a lot of things that we of the 70s/80s scorned were now back in fashion in the name of environement and climate change.

@Mothermorph

At lower school (1980s) we weren't allowed to clap with both hands as the sound produced was too loud (??!) instead we had to tap our index and middle finger into the palm of our other hand

We had to do this at primary school too.

This still goes on in some ece settings

My husbands mum wouldn’t let him eat ice cream or even have a cold drink, if he had a cold, incase it gave him a chill lol
We hat to finish everything on our dinner plates or had to sit in front of it for hours on end. We weren’t allowed a drink with food as you shouldn’t have food snd drink together 🤷🏻‍♀️

Girls had to sit with their knees together. Always.
The squash was for my brother only, ditto the marmalade - not for girls.
If us girls were hungry we were given dry bread but if you possessed a willy that was worthy of a biscuit [or three.]
Clean vests and pyjamas were issued weekly on a Friday [bath night]
Socks and knickers were twice weekly. [Yuk!]
If you complained at mother tugging through your long hair with the comb you were marched to the hairdressers for a short back and sides.
No bin in the toilet or bathroom - us girls had to wrap used sanitary towels in toilet paper and parade through the house with them to the kitchen to put them in the boiler where they would be burnt.
This was excruciatingly embarrassing especially if there were males/visitors in the house. I'm not surprised that all of us girls had left home by the time we were 17.
Very abusive upbringing altogether really.

every meal meat potato vegetables occasionally my dad would make curry and rice deemef very exotic mum wouldnt touch it !!
Never ever allowed to help yourself to snacks or take anything out the fridge without asking and even then it was a bit of a drama

Hah! The washing thing…..I was at boarding school in the 70s and we were allowed a bath once a week and had to sink wash with a flannel on the other days. I still haven’t recovered from the injustice of receiving a detention for sneaking in one lunchtime, washing my teenage greasy hair you could fry an egg on and trying to dry it on the radiator. That was also why we probably all had terrible acne…..God that boarding school had a lot to answer for and don’t say character building!

Having to eat every single thing on your plate, even if you didn't like it or were full you had to sit there for as long as it took to finish it.

[quote buddhasbelly]@RosesAndHellebores re the McDonald's bit - I just watched The Founder, film about the starting up of McDonald's - the brothers who started it actually seemed lovely, it's quite fascinating seeing how they got rid of crockery and things would've been standard in a restaurant at that time. It was on amazon prime, a good Sunday night watch.

On the rules front, many similar experiences to others that have posted. Also, hair had to be kept short, no styling it took up too much time. I longed to grow my hair to tie it back![/quote]
That was a really good show. It's a bit sad how it all panned out.

bizare staple grocery items that I cant imagine not having
kitchen roll
shower jel
bubble bath
fizzy drink
chocolate biscuits
sweets
fabric conditioner
hair conditioner
mature cheddar
this was in the 70s and I suspect that these were all considered luxuries!!

@coldfeetmama

I was only allowed clean pyjamas on a Sunday night Which was also when I had my hair washed

I could have been swimming Saturday or poorly and sweaty but nope pyjamas had to wait for Sunday night

That is truly bonkers 😂

Oh, pink was for pretty girls. I wasn't allowed it. Had a pink kitchen fitted in my first house and it's still my favourite colour.

I had to dry my feet before coming out of the shower to keep the mat dry. Isn't the mat suppose to be there for your wet feet?
I find it weird 😕

No talking when someone was on the phone (just good manners)
Parents in control of TV choices.
Never, News if the World newspaper ( not appropriate for our family)
The men stood up when ladies entered the room.
Grace before meals.
Prayers at bedtime and morning.
Church on Sunday and holidays of obligation.
No school on Holidays of obligations.
Adults first going through a door.
Adults were Mr or Mrs.
Teachers knew best.
Table manners were important as was laying the table.

Never ever having a meal watching TV.
Don’t interrupt or correct adults.
Backs straight and an knees together as we girls. sat.
2 cardigans and 2 pairs of pants (underware) in winter.
Don’t sit too near the coal fire as it marks your legs.
Don’t bring disgrace on the family.
A Bath once every week. No Bath when the girls had a period. No hair washing when we had a period.
Oh how times have changed.
Talcum powder used after Bath.
No liquid soap all soap was in bars.
Toilet paper was like tracing paper.
The house always smelt of food coming home from school.
Hugs from parents were frequent.
All shoes were shining using cherry blossom polish.
The family were honest, hardworking and loyal.
Police were approachable.

Not allowed to watch Grange Hill. Tucker Jenkins was a bad influence and Trisha Yates lacked ambition.

Yes another one told not to bath/shower when on period.

Also told you couldn't use tampons until after you were married because they took your virginity (with no sex before marriage being another rule).

All dutifully ignored and I've lived to tell the tale. It makes me sad, my Mum was an intelligent woman but they were just fed all this crap and took it. Periods are bad enough without not washing (imagine?!) or not being able to use tampons.

My parents still do this! Even at my house they can’t resist the urge to click the kettle off before it boils.

I remember starting to have hair conditioner.

My hair is fine and wavy and goes in knots really easily and I used to have to sit in front of the fire on a Saturday night to get it dried.

Hair up in a tight bun for school every day coz nits.

Reading
If my parents caught me reading in the ‘50s they would always find me “something useful to do”!

I did not know McDonald's existed until I was at least 17!

I was only allowed 3 or 4 inches of bath water. I rarely take baths now but feel hugely guilty if it fills up past halfway.

No baths or hair washing on your period
No shaving your legs
No nail polish at all
No itv
No watching tv at the table
No leaving the table until your plate was empty and you had permission
No use of the telephone except between 6 pm and 7 pm and even then all conversations were monitored
No hair dye especially sun in
No opinions allowed on anything unless it mirrored theirs

My childhood was very miserable

Not allowed to change the TV channel nor to turn it off, even if my mother was elsewhere and not watching it. Not allowed to eat meat or cheese without a slice of bread. Not allowed to go to my room until it was bedtime.

@smellooo

My mum said that all gay men had thin lips

My dad was always convinced that 2 women walking side by side or eating lunch together were lesbians. Friends mother misheard the word and forever more referred to lesbians as Libyans.