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.

Mum would take in foreign language students for extra money

Whilst they stayed; there would be a lock on the phone. Which meant you couldn't physically turn the dial. Imagine if there was an emergency. She would have had to dig the key out and remove the device before dialling (which took an age too)

No watching “Crossroads” or reading Enid Blyton! Sweets only on Saturday

@blacknotblue

I used to phone my grandparents to let them know I had arrived home safely but the rule was to give three rings and then put the phone down

That was a pre-mobile classic!

[quote godmum56]oh I have just remembered! Public baths! not swimming baths, baths for having a bath.
We all had one bath a week in shared water in front of the kitchen fire but its not surprising considering that every drop of hot was boiled in pans and buckets on the gas stove and then baled out and thrown down the kitchen sink and the bath carried back downstairs to be hung up in the shed. The alternative for folk like us was the public baths but they were thought to be not nice at all, plus a long bus ride away from us. When we (DH and I) moved into the Bristol flat with no gas connected, we found that there still were public baths in Bristol at Jacob's Well's so we thought it was better than a wash down in an ice cold flat so we tried them. It wasn't as bad because we could drive there so no wet hair on the bus and we stopped on the way home and bought fish and chips to warm us up but it was soooooo cold! Everywhere was unheated and the water was tightly rationed for the money. They used to be known as "slipper baths, no idea why....here are some photos of them long after they closed. www.whateversleft.co.uk/leisure/the-slipper-baths-bristol-south-swimming-baths-bristol/[/quote]
OMG that’s a creepy website @godmum56!

I remember there being slipper baths.
Also remember being on the kitchen floor trying to dry my hair from the warm air vent from the bottom of the oven .
Mum used to boil wash our socks on the cooker top when they weren't as white as she wanted.

I don’t get the obsession some parents had with watching itv.
My mother let us watch everything

Auntycorruption

I am 50. My parents were a bit more old fashioned than most even though they had me at 22. We lived in rural Ireland, 10 miles from a regional town. Lots of people my age and neighbours had to thumb to work I always got driven to work as my mother worked in town and we were 3 miles off a bus route. A lot of the thinking then was parents wouldn't put themselves out for you.

Granny was in the town so I loved going to stay with her. She would heat the sitting room adequately. I could walk to town and meet a friend. She had a phone. It was all a lot more normal. I did my own washing by hand as I got older so could have clean clothes mire often. I stayed with her when I went to college (got a full grant).

Some of these have proper made me laugh this morning 😄 I'm sure there's more but two I can remember are unplugging everything at night, and the telly had to be turned off when hoovering in case it blew up 🤣

@Catra

No watching Neighbours as it would make my brain rot.

Don't eat too much yoghurt or your hair will go curly (?!). I have the straightest hair imaginable and eat yoghurt most days.

The anti Neighbours thing amuses me.

After doing the entrance exam for an extremely academic, selective school, dd1 was called for an interview, as was everyone else who’d reached a certain level in the exam. I told her, ‘ Just be yourself, and if they don’t want you, that’s their loss.’

At one point the head teacher asked her, ‘Now, what about the box?’ (I.e. the telly.)
Dd blithely replied, ‘Well, my favourite programme’s Neighbours.’ (It was.)
She got in.
A fellow pupil, who’d been coached in what to say, inc. that she was only allowed to watch certain children’s programmes and documentaries (very likely true) didn’t.

I wasn't allowed to sit on my bed. Needless to say I happily sat on it ever since starting to live on my own.
Also laying on the bed cover was frowned upon. I'm doing it every now and then too.

@SilenceOfThePrams

We had no itv too.

2 good reasons.
1, with bbc only it was watch it or do something else, not argue with siblings over which channel to watch.
2, no adverts on bbc so no nagging for anything other than blue peter’s everpresent double sided sticky tape.

Best clothes on for going into the city.

And yes no drink with meals or you’ll just fill up on water.

I learned recently that when they mentioned 'sticky backed plastic', they meant Sellotape.

That can't be right, can it??

@Wreath21

ITV was percieved as a bit common. We also had sliced up mars bars, and peanuts were only allowed in a little glass dish, which you had to eat sitting down and never put more than one in your mouth at a time (I think there had been a recent new story about a kid choking on a peanut). But we definitely had to have a bath - or shower - every day.

We weren't allowed to blow up balloons, cos my Dad knew a kid who had choked on one.

My mum didn't like us having boiled sweets for the same reason.

I thought the balloon thing was mad, as a kid, but I don't let my son do it, either.

@user1471554720

One bath a week with about 2 inches of water. When I was a teen and my hair got greasy, I boiled a kettle and washed it every 3 days. Immersion only put on once a week fir a bath. It was a big deal to get my mother to put it on. I would boil a kettle of water every morning for washing underarms.

We couldn't help ourselves to fresh knickers and socks every day. I used to change knickers every 3 days. After 2 days if knickers sweaty, I had to show my mother and ask her to give me fresh ones. My mother had the hot press organised with clothes aired well in one bundle, newly washed in another etc. My father was not even allowed help himself to anything out of the hot press.

We didn't own dressing gowns, these were for wonen getting up at night feeding a baby. A few times when I was sick and couldn't get dressed, I put on my outdoor coat over my nightie.

Had to get dressed each morning straightaway, also had to put on full clothes after the once weekly bath, no louging around watching TV in a nightie of an evening.

Heating was sparse and I was always cool despite wearing lots of layers. When I was sick I went to school as it was warmer than at home. Got sent home a few times sick.

No inviting friends to ours or me going to sleepovers or birthday parties ever. I didn't go to friends houses as 'we would have to ask them to our house'. It felt very miserable as a teen, nothing to look forward to. As a teen, I asked my mother if I could arrange to meet a friend in town while she did the food shop. We were rural. She said no, as she didn't want to be stuck to a time and wanted the freedom to do a food shop at anytime Sat morning.

No going out for nights with anyone of either sex. An odd night out was arranged when I was late teen but it would be arranged for weeks in advance with a friend. If my friend pullef out, another night wouldn't happen for months again. I often cried when a friend said she 'didn't feel like going out'. I was rural and had to get driven by my parents so I didn't gave the luxury of choosing to go out or not just on a whim. I was in college at 18, staying with my granny in town. I mentioned to my mother about going on a date. She started saying 'I don't know, getting ready to stop me!!! I said I am not asking her, I am informing her that I am going.

No going out for meals on birthdays. No going for a cup of coffee if we were in town. Eat enough at home. No eating chips on the street in the town 10 miles away as people would think we didn't have a dinner at home. It was fine at the seaside 50 miles away. The first time I ate chips in the street as an adult after a night out I felt guilty.

We only had 2 channels of tv so not much fights about programmes.

No phone until I was 20. Once I answered it and my father thought i had made a call. I couldn't reason and he tried to stick me with the bill. From then on I never answered it. If my parents answered it and my friend was on they would call me to the phone. At least they would know I had not made a call. A few times I heard the phone ringing and went out to bring in clothes off the line, any excuse so I don't have to answer and be accused of making a call. I wouldn't call parents to the phone if it rang as I was bitter about being accused in the wrong.

Oh, bless your heart...your post has made me feel really melancholy.

I'm sorry to hear that your upbringing was so hurtful. 💐

@Ameanstreakamilewide yes, they couldn’t say Sellotape because it’s a brand name, and it was on BBC. They had to use a generic name.

@bananaleafy

Mum would take in foreign language students for extra money

Whilst they stayed; there would be a lock on the phone. Which meant you couldn't physically turn the dial. Imagine if there was an emergency. She would have had to dig the key out and remove the device before dialling (which took an age too)

the locks that i remember still allowed you to dial 999 but nothing else.

That’s just common sense on your parents part 😂

I just remembered my dad caught me watching The Graham Norton Show in my teens and went mad. He made me turn it off. I thought it was because he was rude, but no it was because he is gay...
No wonder I was closeted so long 🙄

learned recently that when they mentioned 'sticky backed plastic', they meant Sellotape.

That can't be right, can it??

No. I think they called sellotape sticky tape. Sticky backed plastic was used a lot to cover washing up bottles and things. I don’t know what else it’s called.

Sticky backed plastic is clear Fablon isn’t it?

Sellotape would be Adhesive tape?

Hoover would be vacuum cleaner?

Sticky backed plastic is fablon!

Off to have a nice hot shower now in my centrally heated double glazed house, and then walk the dog that I not only allow upstairs but let sleep on the bed

Followed by a MEAL OUT with FRIENDS

I do think the clue is very very often in our own parents' upbringing. There was less oddness when staying with Dad, which I attribute to the fact that my stepmum had had a fairly normal and relaxed upbringing (was the youngest by a good few years so probably not given a lot of pointless rules) unlike my parents and stepdad.

Yes I remember this, not being allowed to have pickles or vinegar while on your period!

This thread has reminded me that when we were kids it was the absolute law that if you had an ice-cream from an ice cream van or stall you must sit down to eat it. So finding a wall or bench nearby to sit on. To start with I thought it was in case of spillage etc but it continued far beyond the age we were likely to spill or drop an ice cream. I remember once my mum buying us some lollies and there was no where suitable in the immediate vicinity to sit and eat them so we had to walk home (tbf only about 5 min away) and put them in bowls to eat with a spoon!🤣🤣

I've never heard that one! We got given a list of period myths at school that said you can definitely wash your hair and have a bath although you may prefer to have a shower. We didn't have a shower, so I used to crouch and shower myself with one of those rubber tap hose things One day my friend told me blood doesn't come out in the bath due to the water pressure, tested this and found out she was right. You don't end up bathing in diluted blood at all

My grandad once told me I couldn't possibly drink directly from a can of pop because it was uncouth :o He went to fetch me a glass.