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.

@smellooo

My mum said that all gay men had thin lips

Wtf 😂😂😂

@BlossomingTulip

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 😕

My husband does this.We had this exact conversation last week

Such double standards from my mother. We were not allowed fizzy drinks ever, even at parties, and sweet treats were seriously rationed. We ate what we were served for dinner and that was that. Bedtime was set in stone and we were only to shout her if ill or having a bad dream.

She looked after DD1 (then 2.5) for a couple of nights last spring while we went away. DD1 was allowed to exist on fizzy flavoured water, chicken nuggets and pancakes. She also had open access to the freezer to get herself an ice lolly whenever she felt like it. DM let DD1 sleep in her bed ‘because she was lonely in the travel cot’ (which was NEXT TO THE BED), and happily let her wake up at 5am to play games on a tablet.

DD1 still talks about this trip fondly; apparently Grandma is ‘the best’ and Mummy and Daddy are mean. I sense history repeating itself in c30 years time…

No talking whilst eating at the dining table.
Children should be seen and not heard.
That’s maybe why I’m such a chatterbox now

Was there a rule about being bored on Sundays?

Only boring people are ever bored!

yes no posters on the walls
never had mayonaise until I went to my now dh house
must never swallow chewing gum as could twist round your insides
wasnt allowed dangly earrings even in late teens
or hair dye
in fact didnt dye my hair until it started going grey

@orangetriangle

lots of relatively harmless words were banned ie bum loo and pardon not what and no ain't either!! and we had best crockery best glasses but I never ever remember them being used not even on special occasions

We weren't ever allowed to say fart. My family called it trumping or blooping. As in "has somebody blooped?"

Why was it that so many parents wanted their kids, girls particularly, to go to school greasy and spotty, hairy, dirty and smelly?

Since showering has become an expected daily thing, you just don't get a swarm of teenagers all covered in acne, just a few unfortunate ones with the type that they have medication for and the even fewer whose hygiene could still be improved because you can track them by smell along the corridor twenty minutes after they left.

I wonder if a part of it is racism - where I grew up, it was the kids of other ethnicities who showered, moisturised, looked after their hair and always looked smart and clean, as did their parents.

@RosesAndHellebores

Only boring people are ever bored!

Only stupid people swear was my dad's favourite phrase.

@shinynewapple22

It would be really interesting to know the age of posters on this thread .

A lot of the rules sound quite normal for a 1970s, maybe early 80s upbringing, but it would be interesting to know if some of the
posters with the one bath a week rule were younger .

@shinynewapple22 I was a 90s child. We were washed about 3 to the bath on a Saturday. When I got a bit older, 8 maybe, I would have showers, but I don't recall having many per week. When I got to my teens I would have a shower every 2 days, and that's still my routine. My parents raised most of their kids in the 70s/80s so maybe they thought that worked and kept going the same with me in the 90s!

School uniform, I had a few shirts but 1 jumper and 1 skirt.

The fire could not be lit after March or before October even if it was Baltic.

My Mum wouldn't buy me shampoo , she saw on some RV programme that Fairy Liquid was good to wash hair and said your hair likes Fairy Liquid

We were ok going to the shops on a Sunday but not the ice cream van ( though DSis used to bribe/blackmail me into going depending on her mood ) I had to hope I got the goods before seeing the car arriving back from Church . I was the one who got into trouble even though Mum knew I didn't have any pocket money by Sunday !

Not allowed to watch "Magpie" but "Blue Peter " was ok,

RV = TV

Some of these are of an era, but the no washing whilst on your period is so strange, was that because of an old wives tale?

I’m 36 and my parents were pretty laid back, the only thing they insisted on ( which I think is a good thing) is we eat together at mealtimes, we weren’t allowed to eat in front of the tv ever.

@AngelinaFibres

When there was a thunderstorm the tv and all lights had to be switched off. We used to sit in darkness , in total silence waiting to be blown to oblivion

😂

@farendoftether

No McDonalds ever, only Wimpey because in Wimpey they used proper crockery and cutlery.

This my dad would always have the international grill.

God just reading page one made me glad my parents were sane. I had no silly rules at home. I imagine my mum did though as a child, my dad certainly not.

@orangetriangle

another no eating upstairs no deserts apart from at weekend if you were still hungry you could have a piece of fruit never had chocolate biscuits only plain ones the occasional time we did they were not put out I the biscuit tin but hidden In a cupboard

Hah! We don't allow eating outside the kitchen as it causes mess. So to my mind a sensible rule.

We normally don't have biscuits in the house just because we don't need them! Perhaps a bit strict.

I wasn't allowed to watch home and away because there was a fortune teller in the caravan park and my mum didn't approve!

Not allowed to pluck my eyebrows or shave my legs (subsequently got bullied in secondary school and ended up plucking them myself - the wonky eyebrow look got less attention than my Frida Kahlo eyebrow). My mum started taking me for leg waxes but definitely not allowed to shave as apparently the hair would grow back thicker.

No feet on the sofa
Finish everything on your plate (even if you were full or didn't like it)
My step dad was "always right" and "knows everything" (quickly learned this one was rubbish since I was a precocious kid and often saw through the bullshit)
No piercings or hair dye
Basically all my clothes had to be approved by my mum and step dad (dad and step mum didn't care!).

I also had to sit at the table and ask to be excused when I finished my dinner, but I intend to keep this one going as I think it's nice to have a family meal! The asking to be excused means your kids don't down the food and leg it to carry on what they were doing. Maybe I'm old fashioned though?

It wasn’t the asking to be excised I have a problem with. It was that we had to thank my mother for our lovely meal. Often it wasn’t. I’m autistic and have issues around textures and if I’m honest I was often sitting in tears choking down something vile. But if I didn’t thank my mother for cooking it for me I was smacked.

Don’t tuck your hair behind your ears or it will make your ears stick out.

@RosesAndHellebores

I'm amazed at the lack of sex education and knowledge/poor management of menstruation on this thread.

I was born in 1960. I remember a film about the facts of life at primary school. My mother and grandma discussed menstruation (and the menopause). They both openly talked about contraception and how wonderful it was for all women and meant girls needn't get into "trouble". They were pleased about the abortion act and that there were choices for girls who had made a mistake.

All my friends discussed these things openly and they weren't taboo at all. A few girls had mother's who were iffy about tampons and we, their friends, sympathised.

My headmistress was a former missionary and deeply religious. As we moved up the school she took us for a pastoral/re lesson weekly (we didn't do it for RE). She shared so many stories about how in China you knew if someone you worked with was in trouble because her "rags" weren't pegged out and she went away for a period. Tales about former pupils who had difficult lives due to one mistake and how such mistakes could be avoided and she didn't want to see us suffer when we had choices. I'm sure she must have been very discreet because I don't remember any parents ever complaining.

At 16 most of my friends knew where the family planning clinic was and we talked lots about things like equality for women, etc.

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

Likewise. I went to a C of E secondary in the 80s. Sex ed was all very matter of fact and dealt with as part of the science curriculum. I don't remember homosexuality being mentioned but that would, I suppose, have been illegal at the time.

I was also forced to eat everything on my plate. It really is barbaric. Forced to finish an arbitrary amount of food because there were starving children in Africa who would be grateful for it.
I was also regularly punished for being fat.

Sorry you had the same thing @SiliconHeaven.

I ended up anorexic.