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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To ask what the strangest thing is that you've seen in a family home/life...

888 replies

purpleworms · 03/01/2019 12:06

...that to them was completely normal?

I have just seen someone asked this on an AMA on their Instagram. Their reply was walking around fully naked in front of parents/siblings/any family members.

While this is obviously okay for some, if it happened in a home I was visiting I'd be Shock but that's just because it's not the norm in my family.

I'm racking my brains but I don't think I've ever noticed anything! But people have such different ways/customs within their home lives and routines. We all regard our own as normal without ever really knowing if what's normal to us is strange to others!

OP posts:
ShirleyPhallus · 04/01/2019 17:53

ShadyLady53

What a fantastic story! Very juicy.

Coralnails · 04/01/2019 17:55

A more lighthearted one, my ex used to insist that we washed up before we ate.

So we'd cook a meal, plate it up, but we had to wash up any pots and pans we'd used before we were allowed to actually eat the meal, so as not to leave a mess, of course the food went cold.

He also wouldn't let me sit on the sofa after he'd 'made it' which meant he'd plumped the cushions, and I wasn't allowed to sit on the bed once it was made.

Yet this is the same ex who stored leftovers in the oven all night and who's dad kept his opened can of tuna in the bread bin. The fridge and microwave were filthy too.

Hence why he's an ex.

Shockers · 04/01/2019 17:59

@DeaflySilence- I don’t sit with my family to eat. I make their meals then sit and eat mine at the breakfast bar and chat to them from there.

I do this because I can’t stand the noise of people eating- it’s a real problem for me.

I’d hate anyone to think that the reason was because I’m subservient to the rest of the family. I cook because I really enjoy it too, not because it’s my job. DH cooks if I’m busy.

I feel as though I’ll need to explain to the kid’s friends now!

onegiftedgal · 04/01/2019 18:00

A few years ago, a nursery mother shoving handfuls of nuts into her twin boys' mouths the moment she collected them. They were troughing them like horses off of her palm. She said she did it to neutralise the sugars that they may have had at nursery.
It was the feeding them like animals that left me gobsmacked.
I'd love to know how those kids are now.

Maccy2018 · 04/01/2019 18:04

I once went to view a house that I was going to do an exchange with, walked into the kitchen & on the table there was a vibrater, went upto the bedroom & there was sex toys all over the room 😂😂

DeaflySilence · 04/01/2019 18:09

"I do this because I can’t stand the noise of people eating- it’s a real problem for me."

That is a different thing entirely, @Shockers (and I believe is a recognised form of misophonia).

Sadly, I'm fairly certain that this woman did this because she was subservient to the men in her family, and she was 'waiting' on them.

Only sons, no daughter, so I have no way of knowing if she'd have been different with a girl who grew up within the family.

babyno5 · 04/01/2019 18:11

@MitziK I’m so sorry 💐💐 🤗 (((big hugs)))( xxx

EustaciaPieface · 04/01/2019 18:24

My husband likes a flat sheet under a duvet which I resisted for a long time, however after trying it once, there is no going back! It feels so cosy and snuggly and makes me sleep like a baby! Try it...

brizzledrizzle · 04/01/2019 18:25

The family over the road who won't let their high school age children have a key and so they wait in the garage for their parents to get home about an hour later.

pineapplepenthouse · 04/01/2019 18:27

Just remembered another one. Boyfriend I had at school when I was 15 had two much younger siblings. Every Tuesday we babysat snogged on his bed while his parents went to a 'meeting'. It never occurred to me to ask what the meeting was and I wasn't really bothered.
Anyway, one night the meeting was at their house and I was round on the Tuesday as usual. I could hear music coming from downstairs so I went to the bathroom to be nosey and get a proper listen. Turns out they were part of a super religious Christian church and the meeting was all singing, praying and loud preaching. The boyfriend was so embarrassed and swore me to secrecy. He even said I was lucky as my parents did normal things like get drunk on a Saturday!
I can't imagine how horrified his parents would have been had they known some of the things we got up to while they were out!!!!

Gwenhwyfar · 04/01/2019 18:33

"except with the apple pie for pudding they served it with milk instead of cream, ice cream or custard hmm"

That's a traditional option.

TomVeiga · 04/01/2019 18:40

This reply has been deleted

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Jaxhog · 04/01/2019 18:43

I once viewed a house that had life sized clowns sitting at the dining table and lying in the spare beds

Nooooooo!

ShirleyPhallus · 04/01/2019 18:46

TomVeiga

Nice rip off of the famous meme Wink

Rayne22 · 04/01/2019 18:47

@EustaciaPieface. I use a flat sheet under my duvet too but not many others seem to do this?

Your right, it is so cosy and warm in winter and also helps keeps your duvet a bit cleaner. My ex thought I was so weird for doing this.

Tinkobell · 04/01/2019 18:48

My parents have always washed the dishes BEFORE placing them in the dishwasher .....drives me mad! A dishwasher is supposed to be labour saving fgs! They have also always covered any sofas with a multitude of throws for "protection" ....after 10 years or so, they replace them, lift off all the throws to reveal a pristine, mint sofa which they give to charity.

Bozlem80 · 04/01/2019 18:50

And another friend used to share a bed with her mum & her brother had his own room, according to her the council didn’t think they needed a 3 bed house so that was the set up they had, my DS has a friend who has a bird & it shits everywhere in the house, he says it stinks, have neighbours down the road & their kids use the walls to draw pictures on, they don’t use the front door there is loads of junk in front of it & they use their bath to store things, they have a 3 bed house 2 sons 1 daughter but the daughter has to sleep on the sofa & the sons have a room each which is odd!

abacucat · 04/01/2019 18:53

Part of my family are farmers. None of them use the front doors in their houses except for funerals and weddings. You only use the back door.

Gwenhwyfar · 04/01/2019 18:54

"I used to walk past the house of a hoarder in an otherwise really beautiful and expensive street. The garden was like a breakers yard and you could hardly get to the front door. I felt so sorry for their next door neighbours. If they needed to sell they'd have no chance."

Remember this documentary from a while back. Villagers were exasperated with the hoarder, but ended up helping him clear out.

NotTheFordType · 04/01/2019 18:56

My son and I keep pet rats.

This basically means every fabric in the house is chewed to fuck.

The settee. My duvet and pillows. His duvet and pillows. The carpet near the doors. The wallpaper near the doors.

We don't mind because we're Crazy Rat People.

BlackForestCake · 04/01/2019 18:57

The worst is the colour of towels they bring for showers after shift. Most are absolutely ‘normal’; some are a funny yellowey grey - like they were once white:

Those are the people who come on Mumsnet to say that it’s just fine to always wash everything at 30º

Ginnymweasley · 04/01/2019 18:58

I had a friend growing up who's mum was very clean and house proud. Children had to enter the house through the garage, children weren't allowed to watch t.v. in the living room so had to watch a small tv in the study. But the oddest thing of all was in the living room there was a massive rug with a fringe on it. You weren't allowed to mess up the fringe. If you did her mum went crazy, she would shout and then go get a special brush she had to brush out the fringe to tidy it up. Every time you walked into the living room you had to step over the fringe not walk on it. I have many memories of jumping over that bloody fringed rug.

Gwenhwyfar · 04/01/2019 19:07

"I also clearly recall the first time I saw parents and children kiss on each others lips, I did not manage to hide my shock at all. I have no idea it was a thing for some families."

I've still never seen this, except on American TV.

KirstyAllsoppsFatterTwin · 04/01/2019 19:12

Those are the people who come on Mumsnet to say that it’s just fine to always wash everything at 30º

Yes! Thank you Blackforest So glad it's not just me that gets exasperated with people who don't know how to do laundry properly and then wonder why everything 'white' is a minging greige colour and smells slightly stale even when it's clean.

KirstyAllsoppsFatterTwin · 04/01/2019 19:14

My parents have always washed the dishes BEFORE placing them in the dishwasher .....drives me mad!

Are you my SIL? This is a running joke in my DH's family. The effort that goes into thoroughly rinsing everything before it goes into the dishwasher is something to behold.

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