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

[purpleworms]

...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 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!

Yes /\ /\ that was the case for me as a child. I used to love getting in the bath after my DF because it would be hot and deep. DP and I very rarely have baths, but always ask if the other wants to get in afterwards when we do (post menopause and not if first bather has washed hair).

My mother used to charge one of my boyfriends bed and breakfast money to stay the night. He slept on the (not very comfortable) put u up downstairs.
We lived in a ground floor flat tied to DH's job. We weren't allowed a shed or covering for our bikes so at night we wheeled them in and put them in the very large bathroom. One woman in our babysitting circle ostracized me because we were clearly inferior to them. Looking back it does seem strange, but it was the only solution we could come up with at the time. We also weren't allowed to hang washing out in case someone was offended. I used to wheel my washing round to a friend's and hang it on her line.
No wonder I am fairly tolerant of people's foibles!
We back in to a public footpath and the people in the house on the other side frequently appear at the window naked. They are a man and woman in their 50s with a daughter in their 20s. The people who lived in this house before us used to keep a rally of their 'appearances'.

I was still jumping in the bath WITH my mum at about 7- I remember mentioning it at school and everyone being horrified and me being mortified and having to backtrack.

Our boiler broke when we were children and shared bathwater for a while. Children first! Dad last with top up hot water.

Why do some people find it hard to understand sharing bath water ?

I think it’s a generational thing.
Those of us who grew up in the 60s and 70s will remember life before combi boilers and when showers were considered modern.

At least not everyone thinks we're odd

No mains gas plus we live in a council house.

offensive washing on the line. Never heard of that before.

longwayoff my mum wouldn't hang her knickers outside as she didn't want the neighbours looking at them.
We had builders here once and if I didn't get up early enough to sort the washing, I couldn't get into the back garden. Many times my knickers were on the airer in the front garden, another reason for my mother to spin in her grave!

DS (6) was invited for a play date by the mum of a boy from school - when we arrived the mum answered the door topless. The expectation was that I would stay - we sat in the garden chatting and drinking tea, then she cooked pasta. Still topless when we left. We did become friends but her tendency to entertain topless was never mentioned 😂

Completely topless?? Not even a bra?

What did she wear on the bottom half snow?

@Smeeeeeee we do the same, if I have a bath I always leave the water in for someone. Usually DP but otherwise one of the teenage boys or my daughter who is 12. (No one gets in after them though, they're disgusting as all teenage boys everywhere are)
When the smalls bathe they usually do it together and share the same water, topping up as needed. The two bigger boys will go in (7 & 8) then more than likely my little boy (5) and then my daughter (8) - sometimes she shares with the youngest.
Everyone washes and washes hair in bath because otherwise what's the point? There's always bubbles and/or bath bombs and extra water as needed.
Periods are a different matter and myself and my daughter are both known in our house for our 1 hour luxury baths that don't get left in at that time of the month!

We used to share bathwater as a child, I was the youngest so I always got the worst water! When the immersion was upgraded and we were a bit older I always got in after my one of my sisters or left my water for them.

Aren't we supposed to save water as much as possible. Always makes me laugh when I think of the old saying "don't throw the baby out with the bathwater" - pretty sure I'd have been that baby had I been much older

A bit OT, but regarding bath sharing, traditional Japanese bathrooms have a big tub that's designed for sharing.

The tub itself is often deep rather than elongated, so you can sit with the water right up to your neck. Families take turns to sit in the bathwater, but everyone gets clean before they get into the bath - it's usually a wetroom-type set-up so you wash first, using a washbowl or a showerhead, then have a soak in the bath.

The idea is to keep the hot water in the tub clean and soap free for other members of the family to use. I think it's a brilliant way to share the water (although the traditional order of sharing is father first, then kids, then mum with the cold water, as pp have described above... ) but hard to replicate in traditional western bathrooms.

My mum irons socks and knickers. I've always thought that was a waste of time.

My DP was always the last to get into the bath. Not much fun with 3 older siblings. I think this is understandable if hot water is really in very short supply, but otherwise it is gross.

@elpapadelapepa we visited Japan last year as my brother lives there. My kids favourite part was the bath every night! All four cousins in the bath at once, they had a great time!
Only thing I found odd is not having the toilet in the bathroom, but my SIL (who's Japanese) says that they see that as unhygienic!

Yep and Shockers - skirt on the bottom, naked from the waist up. I was a bit surprised especially as when she answered the front door she could be seen from the street.

Why do some people find it hard to understand sharing bath water?

I have issues sitting in my own filth, never mind anyone elses. I just don't feel clean after a bath. On the rare occasions I have had one (I think over the last 10 years I've probably had 4 or 5, after 20+ mile marathon training runs purely for recovery), I will shower afterwards.

As for dirty sex ponds hot tubs? 🤢

painted portraits of the husband and wife on the wall. They were in their 30-s so not even old, and had little kids. Very very odd.

Dead pet tarantula under a bed. It had been at large for months.

@Smeeeeeee - we have plenty of hot water in the tank but still share. We are on a water meter and I don't like wasting it. As we all bath/shower daily it's not very dirty. Eldest ds 11 - often asks to shower and is allowed. I would only get in at a weekend as a treat. And sometimes I even get in with the kids. - Only one at a time as they are getting larger. They think it's a treat.

My mum irons socks and knickers. I've always thought that was a waste of time

Oh god I remember my grandma used to iron everything. Tea towels, socks, undies, dishcloths, old yellow sisters

DUSTERS not sisters

'old yellow sisters'

'old yellow sisters'