Silly things your mother did (lighthearted)

[RaraRachael]

Trying to lighten my current mood and started to think about things my mother did - and insisted that I do - as they were "the done thing" back in the day.

Turning the clothes inside out to put on the washing line in case a bird shat on them
Lining every shelf in your kitchen unit with patterned greaseproof paper
Stuffing the chicken and then sewing it up with a needle and thread

Suffice to say, I stopped these ridiculous traditions when i realised there was no valid purpose to them

My dad would also iron the pleats into his trousers whilst wearing them. Like full iron heat but he was hard as nails god rest his soul.

I remember getting my first pair of Levi's and my mother promptly cut off the label!

I most certainly was not allowed to eat anything walking down the road as this was very common!

She insisted on curling my hair very elaborately for school photographs.

She used to get very cross with my grandma for filling my head full of superstition (which I am still a slave to!), but them promptly followed them all herself.

If we went shopping in London (about a 2 hour drive away) we had to dress up in our best clothes.

My DM has siblings who live at opposite ends of the country and one who lives in another country. It was rare they would come to visit when I was a small child as travelling wasn't as easy. Its only now that Im older that I realised and can't figure out why if one of them came to visit the house would get some form of redecorating. I must actually ask her about this. I couldn't imagine having to paint or get new furniture just because a family member was visiting 😂

Yes to the curling of hair for special occasions! I was a bridesmaid when I was 13 and my mum insisted on ragging my hair the night before. I look absolutely shocking on the photos - no skill or styling went into my spanielification.

Underskirts/slips with all skirts and dresses was essential. Possibly the worst shame in the world was if your skirt had any hint of translucency

@LaMadrilena

Another vote here for no ITV allowed! Also, no soap opera (even on the BBC) because "it's just people arguing" and would encourage us to argue

Same for me. Tbh I don’t watch much terrestrial tv but last night, I watched Martin Clunes in Australia on itv. I felt slightly naughty.

Btw it was very enjoyable and I will watch the other episodes on catch up.

@raffle
Those salads sound awesome, my nan always put mash and pork pie, and loads of cheese with a salad, so never actually healthy,.but she was such a good cook. (Mum not so much🤣)

[quote Velvian]@unmarkedbythat, have you ever watched Miranda? Her mum does that.

I salute magpies, don't put new shoes on the table, chuck salt over my left shoulder...I don't iron underpants and flannels though.[/quote]
No, but I have to now!

[quote WitchesBritchesPumpkinPants]@unmarkedbythat. I'm glad you can
laugh about it!! You're lucky to get on with your brother 😊[/quote]
I am very, very lucky in my brother :) He's a good egg.

Does anyone have an actual recipe for 1960s egg curry with sultanas? I grew up eating it and loved it but have never managed to recreate the taste and texture of that sauce.

@Knittedfairies - oh my God the Brillo pads! I'd forgotten mine did the same until I saw your post!

I could write a book on this:

She always asked my dad about the ratio of pasta (only pasta for some reason) she should use when cooking even though she was an excellent cook and my dad didn't have a clue about cooking. He'd always give her an answer but she'd go on to add as much as she liked anyway. It was like a weird tradition every time we had pasta.

She insisted that I should never sit down on any cold surface because my vagina would catch a cold (based on her personal "scientific" data). Also I was never to go out with wet hair, even in 40C heat, because I'd catch my death!

She also repurposed pretty much everything. It used to drive me insane when I was younger but now I admire her resourcefulness and ability to see how different things can be used for different purposes.

She tried using fitted bed sheets but couldn't get on with them as they were "Too hard to put on" - she also tried to iron those too.

My mum always ironed bedding. I don’t sleep well in unironed bedding. It’s the only thing we do iron other than DD’s school shirts. Perfectly possible (and often necessary) to iron a fitted sheet as none of mine fit the mattress so perfectly the creases come out.

Before we went into school if we had toothpaste or marks on our face she would lick her finger and wipe it off

She kept one room for "best" and we were never allowed there. My father went in there when his accountant visited once a year, much baking was done for this visit to offer him a choice of cake.
She was another one who wanted everything aired.
One thing that I now find quite disturbing was that she did not like my straight hair and took me for a perm when I was 7, I was not allowed to tell anyone about it. WE never had any spicy food at all, even onions were labelled "foreign muck".

My Mum forgot to bring my wedding dress from her house to my Brother's where we were all getting changed.

I'd hidden it there so my husband didn't see it. Made my Mum and Dad fully aware of where it was and what to bring. REALLY made my Mum aware as she's the sensible one and Dad forgets things when he's stressed.

Anyway, makeup and hair done, on schedule no less! I go to get changed and big white bag full of the dress is nowhere in sight! She'd brought, her outfit, my dad's my BILs suit, my DSs dress, coat and SPARE COAT. But not my dress!

Whilst she had a full meltdown blaming everyone, I booked a taxi for my DB sent him to their house (40 mins away) and got to ringing the the registry office and party venue to see if we could delay. All the while telling a crazed mum to STFU, as she yelled some more, I have to fix this now.

A vodka later my DM and DD were sent to think about their actions in another room, DS and BIL sent to the registry office to handle it there.

I was fully prepared to call my DB back and get married in jeans and a t-shirt.

Apparently, my MIL asked my DH if he thought I was having second thoughts as no Mother would do this to their child....he laughed and said "no, this is the shit that goes down in their family". He wasn't wrong!

This was not the end of the events of my wedding day....but then you only asked about mothers!

We also had a best room that was called the Front Room. There was a piano and dining table and chairs in it but I can't ever remember eating in there. The only time I remember being in there was when I was about 4 and my grandad was lying in his coffin - I was the same height as it.

We didn't have a lot of money but were taken, once a year, to the local "expensive shop" to get our Sunday clothes. These were only worn on a Sunday but nobody seemed to think of the wastefulness of having an expensive outfit that was only worn once a week and taken off as soon as we got from church.

It was obsessive cleaning rituals mostly. She was always "so busy" because with three children it was hard to maintain show home standards. I have many memories with my mum in the background pushing the carpet sweeper round.
Winter and summer curtains. Not trusting anything that seems too easy.

My mother always called a corkscrew a screwdriver. We just got used to it.

N ITV children's shows, but she watched Coronation St. As an adult in my 50s if I visited she would watch and try to update me with the storyline, I have never watched it, I only knew some characters from when I was living at home.

She always did supermarket shopping on a Saturday, when we were little it made sense, she couldn't drive and my dad worked long hours.

I was trained from a young age to pack the white wine in with the frozen veg so it was chilled by the time we got home.

Don’t get me started on my (otherwise lovely and
PhD-level educated) mother on the rights and wrongs of menstruation.

I seem to recall a slew of books appearing under my pillow at regular intervals from about age 11. Supposedly stuff about puberty and sex Ed, but so obscure and twee that it just messed with what I thought I already knew.

Once I got my period and the festivities had abated (yes, she threw me an extended family dinner and made a speech), she gave me the ‘rules’.

No tampons, cos virgins can’t use them. Some sort of vague exclusion for horseriding girls. No washing my hair on my period (no reason given- but apparently disastrous health consequences if you did). No extra sanitary pads allowed in my school bag (?) so just wear two and toss the top one at lunch break.

Thankfully I had a very sensible (and amused) school mate who set me straight on all this baloney. And who offered to teach my mum too!

@TinkersRucksack

My mother used to use old underwear as dusters. Clean, obviously...

Ah yes, a square cut out of a pair of grey Y-fronts for dusting. Actually I admire the thriftiness and lack of waste - the world needs more underpant dusters and less one-use surface wipes!

Ironed my father's pants - ?!? Why?

Just adding yet another memory (it seems very common) of doing my "turn" to polish the sideboard and dining table and going to the "polish drawer" to pick out a cloth.

Holding my dad's baggy old Y fronts in one hand and tin of polish (a polish tin of hard wax lasted years so no posh Pledge aerosols in our house!) in the other does not fill me with lovely thoughts. I don't think there was ever a real yellow duster in our home.

My mother's prized possession was the pressure cooker. I was terrified of it as I knew it was like a volcano waiting to erupt and one day it did but it was not the boiling contents which shot to the ceiling which scared me so much as the stopper which was like a bullet and anyone in it's path could be seriously harmed. I have been nervous of champagne and fizzy wine bottle corks ever since.

Us children were not allowed to watch commercial TV but she always watched Corrie. EVERYTHING had to go in the airing cupboard for three days before transferring to out wardrobes/drawers and she had a book to keep record. We were in BIG trouble if we took something from the airing cupboard before it had served it’s time.

Only “working girls” would be seen in public with bare legs “hosiery” had to be worn at all times unless in a swimming costume. I have pictures of me, at 16/17, on holiday in Spain wearing shorts and sandals with KNEE HIGH WHITE SOCKS. I stopped that practice when I left home at 18 and the first time she saw me without socks or tights on outside the house she called me a hussy (and I believe she meant it).

My DH’s DM had many rules but one he particularly remembers is that no TV was allowed the night that Top of the Pops was on due to “lewdness”. The particular red flag was Pans People who in her opinion could topple civilisation.

@TinkersRucksack

Oh my god sewing up poultry!!! Thought my mother was the only one who did that...

My MIL does this, the first time I saw it I was absolutely horrified. She still thinks it's a perfectly normal thing to do

According to my dear Mum, you should never wash your hair when you are having your period, always cut the buttons off a coat before sending it to be dry cleaned and nice girls should not use Tampax!