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.

When I was a lad, (17) there was a programme on TV discussing the problems female athletes had dealing with periods during training and competition. My dad suggested that I go to my room as “it’s of no interest to you”.
I guess he was embarrassed!

Forgot to add that I wore a red hat to his funeral as a tribute to him... ♥ ♥

@Mydogneedsabath

No milk at the same time as orange or squash as it would “ quarrel in my tummy” 😂 Don’t sit with back to the fire as it would make me sick. Sweets only after 2pm on sundays, I’d clock watch from the time I got up😉 No eating in the street ( it was common) my mother would be spinning in her grave to see me now 🤷🏼‍♀️ & my favourite you don’t have butter with peanut butter as it’s got butter in already. And always phone calls after 6 and very rarely to a school friend as I’d been with them all day.

that phone calls was a cost thing....massively expensive to phone in daytime hours...The jingle used to be "Its so cheap to phone your friends after six and at weekends"

My school had a rule about eating in the street because it was unladylike.

Oh yes and an ankle chain was a sign of 'a lady of the night' 😂

My mother always said never trust a man who wore white shoes. After I had met my first boyfriend, she wanted to meet him to see what shoes he was wearing.

Where I grew up, we only had English TV in mon, wed, Fri from 6pm to 8pm. We were not allowed to watch TV the other days, as why would we want to as it wasn't in our language. So we had to listen to the radio instead.

We had a TV lounge and a formal lounge and we kids weren't allowed in the formal lounge. It was only used if we had visitors, who were usually from the church. One day she went out and my brother and I decided to take all the cushions off the posh sofas and make a fort, intending to play in there a bit and then get them back on before mum got home. Well of course it took us longer than we expected to build the perfect cushion fort, and she came home before we had a chance to tidy them back again. Needless to say she wasn't very happy, but we got the cushions back on as fast as lightning. We were banned from entering that room if she wasn't home.

We were not to take bathroom towels swimming, or swimming towels into the bathroom.

If we didn't finish our dinner there was no dessert. We would have to sit there and watch everyone else eat their dessert with our plate of peas or whatever in front of us. We were not to leave the table before those who deserved dessert were finished.

One of us washed the dishes, the other dried and packed away. Not wash and pack away. No, we couldnt deviate from that plan.

Actually I think we weren’t allowed to eat in the street in our uniforms.

Never affected me because we never got take away a and I wasn’t allowed up the street on a Friday anyway.

I thought that orange juice and milk WOULD curdle in your stomach and make you sick? And I only discovered this as an adult! 😂
Stbexh told me he vomited when he drank one after the other. 🤦🏻‍♀️

@freshcarnation

Half a mars bar only. All other chocolate was fine to eat in any quantity but a mars bar was too rich. No drinks with the meal. A cup of tea after eating.

To be fair, it’s bad for your digestion to drink when you eat, your stomach/gut can’t get all the goodies out properly lol a dietitian told me x

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

@bloodywhitecat

Salad and all unwrapped Pick'n'Mix type sweets had to left to stand in Milton for 30 minutes before we were allowed to eat them. I was 18 and had left home before I realised that salad did not need to taste of bleach.

That's batshit crazy

We were never allowed black patent school shoes as they “won’t last five minutes”. When I bought some for my own DDs, my sister laughed at me for being impractical. When I reported back they had indeed lasted as long as any other shoes and you didn’t need to polish them, it was a revelation!

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 .

No watching the ITV news - it was all false! BBC only.
No ankle bracelets - they were for “ladies of the night”.
No brown sauce - it was “common”.
Bacon could be consumed at weekends only.
No sex before marriage or you would be “secondhand goods” and no man would want you!!
Vests were essential as they kept you warm in winter and cool in summer (?)

Black patent Mary Janes for church only. And worn til they were far too small.

@Motnight

Oh yes and an ankle chain was a sign of 'a lady of the night' 😂

Oh yes. Red shoes, ankle chain, anything bleached blonde or leopardskin ....tarts, whores my dad would say.

I wasn't allowed to shower in the morning before school, only in the evening. So I grew up being constantly bullied because of my (very fine and so) greasy hair...

No chewing gum or comic books because they were American and Americans were common.

@SGBK4682

Being taught how to use cutlery properly / have good table manners, and banned from using a fork in the right hand. Also always having to 'lay' the table and sit at it to eat. My dad would make out we would never get on in life or a career if we didn't.

Now I rarely use a knife, always eat with the fork in my right hand and only sit at the table for a family meal or if we have guests. And this had not affected my career one jot, strange to say!!!

I’ve been so grateful my parents did this. So grateful, in fact, that I’ve done the same with mine.

To be fair, I use some of these.
Hands off the walls- because I'll be the one cleaning them.
Fizzy drinks at weekends- teeth
No clean uniform everyday- I'm not a washing fairy. And washing machine is expensive too often.
Ask to leave the table- manners, innit?

@Katshouldnotswim

Not quite childhood but I was 17 an just passed my driving test.

It was “illegal” to drive and wear sunglasses apparently and I could be stopped by the police for doing so.

35 years later and I still do a little smug “ I don’t care “ when I drive wearing them !

Far better to be blinded by the sun and crash🙈

As a child, a crazy aunt would freak out if I swiped the static on the TV screen. Didn't actually touch the screen, so not an aversion to sticky fingerprints. Apparently it would make the TV blow up.

My mother drummed into me from 16 onwards that there were girls men slept with and girls men married and that I absolutely must be a virgin on my wedding day. Over lockdown I spent a lot of time with my mum. She admitted that she was not a virgin on her wedding day . Me neither

@PuppyMonkey

My dad used to stop whatever he was doing at 4pm on a Sunday and make a boiled egg for himself and my eldest brother. The rule was my sisters and I were not allowed to have one, nor my younger brother. Just my dad and eldest brother. Even if we’d all had a big Sunday lunch around 1-ish.

Nobody ever questioned this.

You win 🏅

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.

The law in my family was “two biscuits”, unless a Kit Kat or similar, in which case it was one
I now have to eat two biscuits, even if I only fancy one