Meet the Other Phone. Protection built in.

Meet the Other Phone.
Protection built in.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To ask for your weird family behaviours that you didn't realise weren't normal until you were older?

579 replies

Coffeebiscuitsrepeat · 05/07/2020 21:56

  1. We called a toe poking through a sock hole a "potato".
  1. Whoever made the most mess at the dinner table "won the prize"... And the prize was to clean up the mess!
OP posts:
ilovepixie · 06/07/2020 21:57

@bettsbattenburg

We weren't allowed anything at all to drink after 6pm.
Same here, but it was to stop us wetting the bed. I remember being so thirsty and sneaking into the bathroom to drink from the taps.
ilovepixie · 06/07/2020 21:57

@bettsbattenburg

We weren't allowed anything at all to drink after 6pm.
Same here, but it was to stop us wetting the bed. I remember being so thirsty and sneaking into the bathroom to drink from the taps.
ilovepixie · 06/07/2020 21:59

My grannies picnic consisted of a Primus stove which was used to heat up cold boiled potatoes and tinned stewing steak. It was lovely eating that by the side of the road

FilledSoda · 06/07/2020 22:00

Absolutely miserable holidays.
I don't know why we bothered , it was a guilt tripping rage fest . In fact no important occasion could go by without a screaming match .
I was allowed to bring a friend on a trip once , she was horrified and her parents didn't allow her back.
I knew it wasn't right from about 13/14 .

JellyfishandShells · 06/07/2020 22:05

One of my lovely Grans would not permit you to either wash your hair or go swimming if it was 'the wrong time of the month' - god knows what would have happened to you if you did

I remember the no hair washing with a period - my mother didn’t impose it, but it seemed to be a common practice. I’m not sure what the rationale could have been.

missingmum · 06/07/2020 22:09

@SusieOwl4

Yes set meals every day. Saturday was cold ham , baked beans and boiled potatoes. Vanilla ice cream with home made hot chocolate sauce .
Vanilla ice cream with chocolate custard is amazing! I get odd looks whenever I be toon it, it was my fav school pudding.
jessstan2 · 06/07/2020 22:26

Squirrel, I eat kiwi fruit with the skin on, ie I eat the skin. I like it and see nothing wrong with it at all.

ColdTattyWaitingForSummer · 06/07/2020 22:28

No TV in the morning (I was amazed when I called for a friend on my way to school, and they had the big breakfast on!) Also no putting the TV on at all without first checking the listings magazine. You could then watch your chosen show and turn it back off again.

bringbacksideburns · 06/07/2020 22:40

My mum and dad used to keep all tins in the fridge Opened and unopened. I didnt realise this was weird until my friends laughed about it and asked me why one day and I just thought that's where they went normally.

Dip butties - my dad's speciality. In the 1970s everyone had a chip pan and it was always in use and left on the stove with the lid on. We would wait for the lard to melt and get hot and then dad would dip one half of a piece of bread in there and fold it over. I loved them.
Another 'treat" was being asked if I wanted a raw chip. Before they went in the fryer one would be put to one side so we could munch on it.

Every time the theme tune to Emmerdale Farm came on ( before they shortened it to Emmerdale) no matter where I was in the house I would run to either my mum or dad and jump on their knee. Then we would put our cheeks together and hum the theme tune until it finished. Then i would usually say goodnight and go up to bed. It was a little bedtime ritual a couple of times a week Grin
I occasionally used to do it when I was grown up if they were there, for a laugh.

FluffyKittensinabasket · 06/07/2020 22:44

I really can’t think of anything strange that my family did!

bringbacksideburns · 06/07/2020 22:45

Oh and if there was a storm with thunder and lightning my mum always had to switch the TV off because she thought it would make us more of a target to be struck by lightning.

bettsbattenburg · 06/07/2020 22:48

[quote wanderings]@IDontLikeZombies I'd have loved climbing on the roof with ladders! When there was scaffolding on our house, I made good use of it, and saw parts of the house I had never seen before. With the doors thing, at my grandparents' house there was easy access to the back door. While the rest of my family rang the front doorbell, I would sneak in at the back door.[/quote]
I used to climb out of my dormer window and sit on the roof and read HmmGrin

Lurchermom · 06/07/2020 23:03

@Saracen

We never locked the bathroom door because Mum was paranoid someone would fall and hit their head and nobody would be able to rescue them. So in our family, closed door = occupied.

Though I realised gradually that this convention was not universal, the habit of leaving the door unlocked stuck with me. I was embarrassed on several occasions as a young adult when someone burst in upon me!

I still maintain that it's slightly rude to try the bathroom door without knocking first. However, to be safe I do now lock the door whenever there is anyone around other than my DP and kids.

My family was the same (same panic) to the point that when I bought my own house and my dad came to visit he was appalled we had fitted a lock to the bathroom door!
goingtosleep · 06/07/2020 23:14

Used to have cucumber sticks dipped in sugar.
Sugar on white bread and butter.
Egg yolks beaten with sugar and added cocoa was a special treat - mum had to beat it with a spoon in a cup (we didn't have a mixer)
Porridge was for breakfast, no other options, ever. I still like porridge.

dayslikethese1 · 06/07/2020 23:16

My DPs had constant political debates/arguments and you were expected to argue your views at the dinner table. Dinner was always eaten together at the table and TV was strictly rationed (certain programmes allowed and then set switched straight off). My DM disapproves of TVs upstairs or having more than one TV so we had one tiny one in living room. They also didn't approve of quite a few things for political reasons; Barbie, Disney, McDonald's, anything American Grin My DF used to swear at politicians on the TV a lot.

namechangetheworld · 06/07/2020 23:26

No takeaways or meals out throughout my entire childhood; except for one solitary fish and chip meal on our summer holidays. Definitely not a money issue, DM just didn't trust anybody else to cook things 'properly' and was terrified of food poisoning. Everything had to be cremated to ensure it was cooked thoroughly. I didn't think I liked pizza until I was 18 as they were overcooked so much that you literally had to snap pieces off to eat them. We also weren't allowed McDonalds because it was 'common' Hmm.

No Christmas trees ever (because of the mess), and no stockings or decorations either. I thought that was just something that happened on TV until at least Secondary school. We also weren't allowed to open our presents until after Christmas lunch - I thought this was normal for a long time!

My in-laws keep chocolate bars in the fridge which I find really strange.

Slippy78 · 06/07/2020 23:28

My in-laws keep chocolate bars in the fridge which I find really strange.
Not strange at all. Where else would you keep them?

ilovepixie · 06/07/2020 23:36

@Slippy78

My in-laws keep chocolate bars in the fridge which I find really strange. Not strange at all. Where else would you keep them?
We keep our in the fruit bowl 😂😂
namechangetheworld · 06/07/2020 23:40

In the cupboard! I found it so odd when I opened their fridge for the first time and saw all of the Kitkats piled up in there.

Nitpickpicnic · 06/07/2020 23:52

I had the opposite to the ‘stuffy house, shut curtains’ childhood. There was ‘fresh air’ mania.

Windows thrown open before breakfast, no matter the weather. In fact I suspect a good cold wind was preferable. We got turfed out of bed so the bed could air (often we’d be asleep).

Every tiny window and door open so the magical air could penetrate every nook of the house. I spent years being startled out of my wits (half asleep) by slamming doors and windows. No need to be told to get dressed more than once, you dove into clothes so you wouldn’t freeze to death.

Far from it being a heating cost saving tradition, I think it came from my aristocratic side of the family. You needed to get up and let the room air so the servants could get on with their other tasks (!). There was also a strong sense of not using bedrooms during the day, so they stayed ‘done’ and the servants didn’t need to redo them.

Bathrooms too, since of course the droplets in the shower needed to be wiped down. Grin

My friends ogled at things like being served at table (on hols with my grandparents). I was just so damned jealous of them getting lie-ins and having baths/showers whenever suited them. I always hated the look on their faces when I explained they’d be up, washed and dressed before 8am for the whole holiday! And sitting at 4 course meals with silverware and crystal on 35º days when a sandwich out on the grass would be heaven!

I remember staying with a friend at 9 and helping their parents renovate their house over the holidays. We ate fish n chips on the floor in the lounge, with our fingers. Bliss!

Bridecilla · 07/07/2020 00:00

@Badtasteflump

We used to have a 'starter' before Sunday dinner of a big Yorkshire pudding & gravy, just on it's own. I thought my friend's family were a bit strange when I was having Sunday dinner with them and they just had a 'mini Yorkshire on the same plate as their roast.
The first time my Mam went for dinner at my dad's house my Nana dished up Yorkshire puddings with gravy.

My Mam didn't realise it was a starter a d thought they were really poor just having Yorkshires for dinner!

Giffgaff99 · 07/07/2020 00:02

In the 80s when we went abroad on holiday we used to buy gifts for family back at home namely my aunt, uncle, x2 cousins , nan and grandad. I can't remember if they brought for us to not.

Shawbles · 07/07/2020 00:03

@gracepoolesrum

Had a set dinner for each day of the week. Monday was sausages, potato cake and baked beans. Tuesday was chicken Kiev, boiled potatoes and green beans. And so on. The meals were unchanged my entire childhood.

We also never had anyone around to our house unless it was Christmas day. Never hosted anyone not even for a cup of tea.

This is my dream, but my children would only moan. I love routines and not having to think about domestic stuff more than absolutely necessary.
Giffgaff99 · 07/07/2020 00:07

My parents used to have a dripping pot - it was a pot of meat fat they had collected during cooking and they would keep it in the fridge for the Sunday roast

Slippy78 · 07/07/2020 00:12

@Giffgaff99

My parents used to have a dripping pot - it was a pot of meat fat they had collected during cooking and they would keep it in the fridge for the Sunday roast
I still do that :)
Swipe left for the next trending thread