To ask you for the things your parents taught you/ did that you just do without thinking??

[Christmastits]

So tonight is like a zoo on the ward im in, people in and out all night. I'm trying to sleep but I can't. My mum came up today to visit me and we were talking about her new dishwasher and I was thinking about that and how when I was a kid the finish powerball things came out and when I 7 I got to put the tablet in the dishwasher

I remember my dad making this massive deal about how you shouldn't touch the tablet- especially the red ball and really drilled it home. So I used to open the tablet and then squeeze it into the tray in the packet never touching the tablet. I still do that today! It was probably because my dad thought I might eat it but I still do the weird dishwasher stuff.

I once heard of a woman who chopped her bacon in half- binned one half and cooked the rest. Her DH asked why bacon was so small and she said that her mum taught her to do it that way, so they asked the Mum and she said that her Mum had taught her that way- they asked the Granny why she chopped the bacon in half and she said that her pan was too small to cook a whole piece of bacon!! 😂 hilarious!

Also my mum took meat out of the freezer and put it on the microwave (because it's out of the way) so I did the same but DH will pick it up and put it on the cooker as that's what his mum does as her microwave is integrated... really annoys me! Although I've started putting it in the fridge because good hygiene..

So please help me get through tonight with your funny things your parents did that you just copied until you thought about it!

[Taffeta]

Lizzie - I’m the same, as was my mum. Plus we live open plan so I don’t like a messy kitchen as I can’t shut the door on it

DH leaves plates etc “by the dishwasher” and will just pile them up and put them in the dishwasher at the end of the day

His mum does this too

[honeylulu]

Warm the pot with a swill of boiling water that is then chucked away, before making the tea. No idea if this makes any difference!

We all get one more present to unwrap on Boxing Day "from the tree".

Save and reuse wrapping paper if it's not ripped.

[CheapSausagesAndSpam]

I say the names of wildflowers out loud as I pass them because my Mum always has...I realise now that she was teaching me.them...but I do it even when DD isn't with me!

"Bluebells"

"Cowslips"

Just like that!

[whiskyowl]

My Mum taught me to do jobs in the most time-efficient way. So whenever I approach anything, I'm intuitively thinking about how I break it up in the most time-efficient way. So, if I'm making a sandwich, I'll collect the things I need from the fridge on the way to the plates. I never even realised I did this until I saw DH's way of doing things which is MUCH slower because it's completely sequential. I think it does, however, make me quite a lot more stressed than DH about getting complicated or large jobs done!

[wakemeupbefore]

I peel and chop/slice vegetables by hand, (holding them instead laying on the chopping board) just like Nanny did, well, still does. My Grandmothers, both, and Mother, all used chopping boards for the purpose, but for some reason I have always followed Nanny's method.
From Father I have inherited the 'absurd sense of confidence' - as my Sister puts it - that I can do anything, nothing is impossible. Got me in some interesting situations, must say.
for me.

[earlgreymarl]

Nothing I question everything my parents did! I sort of wish there was something!

[LadyChatterlysLoofah]

Another mushroom peeler, by choice for cleanlness. Don't throw the stalk, but do cut and discard the manky cut bit of the stalk....

@Haisuli in a lightning storm, it's actually not a bad idea to unplug tv aerial and phone line (unless you have cable). Aerial and phone line can be struck and cause costly damage, so it would save your connected devices (we had a phone line strike, dramatic!). Not much danger from electric socket though. And apocryphal stories of freak death through being on the landline phone when line struck - use a cordless if you're especially nervous!

[WilyMinx]

Whenever I had a fever as a child, my mum would send me to bed with loads of covers and I would "sweat it off". I still do it for myself, but when my son has one, I have to struggle with myself to keep him cool. My instinct is to pile quilt after quilt over him but everyone warns me against it. I still think my mum's way works.

[Chienrouge]

I didn’t even know mushrooms had a bit that could be peeled off! TBH even if I did I wouldn’t do it, I’m lazy like that. I probably get that off my parents!

[treaclesoda]

If I buy something nice in the supermarket, something that is a 'treat' , I then put it in the fridge or cupboard for 'later'. I can't bring myself to eat it the same day or the next day, it has to be saved for some future occasion that never comes.

It sounds funny but my mum takes it to quite problematic levels. I remember as a child that we would get treated to something like a melon (which were expensive) and then it would it in the fridge until it went mouldy because we weren't allowed to eat it because it was for 'later'. And then it would end up in the bin. It wasn't cruelty, we had plenty to eat, it was just this mentality that everything has to be saved for 'best'.

[Mybabystolemysanity]

Closing garden gates, because my Dad used to send us back to do it if we didn't. Used to go demented if the postman or someone came and didn't close it. Now I get the same way.

And closing curtains/blinds at dusk. I know everyone does it, but now I get anxious if I have to sit in a room when it's dark out with the curtains open. Again this is from my Dad.

[KingLooieCatz]

I wipe mushrooms with a damp kitchen towel. I have a mushroom brush but find the kitchen towel more effective.

I wonder if peeling and discarding the stalks goes back to days when mushrooms were genuinely grown in manure enriched compost? I saw on a random TV prog that they are grown on sterile compost now.

[Yokohamajojo]

My DH always used to stick a hole in sausages before frying or oven bake them and then read somewhere that in the olden days there was so much more crap and lower meat content in sausages so it made sense but not now if you buy better quality sausages

[Grumpbum]

Are eggs not supposed to go in the fridge?!

[BalloonSlayer]

We had a old fashioned spoon with an odd handle that was sort of bent in half in the tea caddy.

For YEARS I thought it was an Proper Tea Spoon (ie like fish knives are a certain shape) and it was Really Special, and we were lucky to have such an implement. I assumed it was a treasured family heirloom. Then one day Mum explained that it was just an old spoon which they had bent in half so it would fit in the tea caddy.

[FiveTwoFaster]

The bacon story is a story that got told at our management meeting “the pot roast story” as a way of demonstrating that you don’t have to do things one way just ‘because that’s the way we’ve always done them’. If you google it, it comes up. Meant to tell you change isn’t always bad!

[senua]

Years ago (talking the 1960s here) we used to have ordinary full-fat milk. The cream would separate and float to the top, so you used to have to shake the bottle to redistribute the fat.
Nowadays we have semi-skimmed and it is homogenised. I still shake the bottle ... and DD has picked up the habit.

[Dilligaf81]

If I ask dh if he wants a cup of tea in the evening he will look at his watch first. Winds me up the watch won't tell you if you want one and he's not at an age where it'll make him get up in the middle of the night, makes me irrationally angry. He gets this from his do who have one coffee a day at a set time and then their teas at a set time.
I get my irrational amount of shoes and clothes from my mum, alway making sure I look well put together. I've relaxed it a bit so wear jeans etc but my go to look is a nice dress.
My DM does some funny food stuff but to be fair she'd never describe herself as a good cook so she's more likely to copy what I do food wise and she has stopped peeling mushrooms because I told her it's not necessary.

[BalloonSlayer]

Dilligaf in Gulliver's Travels there's a bit where the Lilliputians are analysing Gulliver's possessions, but the reader isn't told what they are. There is a big round thing on a chain which the Lilliputians decide must be Gulliver's God, because he consults it before making any decision

[Raisinbrain]

I didn't know you could peel mushrooms!

Mind you, I hate them and have only cooked them a handful of times.

And my mum never taught me how to cook anything.

[meredintofpandiculation]

The bacon story is a story that got told at our management meeting “the pot roast story” as a way of demonstrating that you don’t have to do things one way just ‘because that’s the way we’ve always done them’. Thank you for that FiveTwoFaster - I'd been told the same story, but I couldn't remember what it was meant to teach me. Goes to show that attaching a bit of teaching to a memorable anecdote doesn't necessarily work. Much the same way as you can remember particularly amusing adverts but not have a clue what product they were advertising.

[greenlynx]

I never drink cold milk from the fridge , always warm it up first. My daughter is the same

[greenlynx]

my mum always says that warm milk is calming you down whereas cold milk causes sore throat.

[Someoneasdumbasthis]

whenever I wash I remember my DF telling me to wash and dry between my toes otherwise mushrooms would grow there! I found myself telling DCs that the other day.

My Nana would always say "what doesn't come off in the wash will come off in the wipe" which I still follow. Drives DH bonkers.

[carinwashingmachine]

Another one who didn't know you could peel mushrooms. They don't have peel?

My mother taught me to clean green beans by siting down in a comfortable chair with a big bag of them, and patiently taking both ends off each bean with a little knife.

I now suspect she may have been keeping me busy, these days I line them up on a chopping board and guillotine the lot in one go!