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Silly things your mother did (lighthearted)

461 replies

RaraRachael · 26/01/2021 13:44

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 Grin

OP posts:
Lovelydovey · 27/01/2021 13:27

Not sure it’s a generational thing but DM is very fussy about food. She’s currently in hospital (and surviving on meal replacements as she’s not eating the hospital food). She’s not allowed visitors so I’m smuggling in requests via a nurse friend - but they are very particular, crusty baguette with deli ham and butter, belvoir elderflower presse, homemade lemon and almond cake, cartons of pineapple juice etc. Good job I love her and am willing to accommodate.

She also stills makes a fruit curry that she ate in the 70s (revolting) and various other dated curries that she learned on a cooking course in the 80s. They were avant garde at the time and very bland now.

TofuCat · 27/01/2021 13:28

I was never to sit on a cold surface because I’d get cystitis.

I was forever getting told off for stretching my clothes. Putting a top on without taking my glasses off was forbidden because I’d stretch it. If I sat down and caught my top under my bottom again I’d be bollocked for stretching it and made to stand up and sit down again.

I’ve never eaten roast chicken because mum would cook hers in the microwave only. Just remembering the smell gives me the boak Envy

Littlegoth · 27/01/2021 13:32

@Fuckingcrustybread I’ve seen this before! It was a recipe from a set of 70s recipe cards - my grandma had them too!

mummytolittledragons · 27/01/2021 13:37

Airing clothes before wearing them.
Flat 7 up when you're ill.
Pee in the morning 'or your bladder will burst' lol

starfishmummy · 27/01/2021 13:38

[quote TwoLeftSocksWithHoles]@souvlaki
Yes your right, we also had a drawer full of old, brown paper bags, pieces of string and perished rubber bands. I guess it was caused by shortages during the War (WW2).

I have an uneasy feeling that it may be genetic as I think about what my own kitchen drawers contain Hmm[/quote]
Brown Paper bags Shock

I remember when shops gave you either brown or white paper bags. Delended on the shop or what was in it. Brown paper bags tended to be for things that were dirty - like vegetables, or at placss like hardware shops. White paper bags were usually for "clean" food items and those that had been wrapped in greaseproof paper first or for Mums pack of ciggies if she sent us to get them.

White paper bags would be saved to use again but brown paper bags were deemed to be dirty. She might use one to wrap rubbish in but that was all.

The daft thing was that some of brown ones had been used to contain something already wrapped or that was clean, yet they were still classed as "dirty" while a white bag with grease marks all over it from some cooked meat were considered clean!!

mummytolittledragons · 27/01/2021 13:39

My mother's idea of salad is a plate full of small thing , spring onions, chopped egg, ham, crisps, cheese etc, with salad cream or salt on top Grin

PuppyMonkey · 27/01/2021 13:41

I grew up in the 1970s when people didn’t really use sunscreen for kids - it just wasn’t a thing. But my mum decided that to protect our skin from burning, she’d smother us all in Nivea cream.Shock

It didn’t really work. Grin

TheTeaCosyofDoom · 27/01/2021 13:42

Not Mum, but my darling Auntie Lizzie, RIP, was terrified of thunderstorms. One day Aunt and my cousin Barry and I had been to visit Gran and were on our way back to Aunt's house when it began to rain, always apparently a precursor to thunder and lightning.

The two of us were dragged full pelt back to the house where the three of us had to take refuge in the larder under the stairs. Suddenly Aunt realized that we were standing inches away from the electricity meter. Cue much screaming and we were dragged out and forced to stand behind the dining room door for the duration of the storm.

This was definitely learned behaviour from my Gran. If I was off school when there was a thunderstorm my Mum used to send me up the road to Gran's to make sure she was OK. I would always find her hiding behind the kitchen door with all the doors and windows in the house wide open 'so that if the lightning comes in, it can get out again OK.'

Flowers to all our beloved relatives, wherever they may be.

LyndaSnellsSniff · 27/01/2021 13:43

The ITV thing is very common it seems! It was referred to as “idiot vision” in our house and my parents still think the same. For instance, they refused to watch Downton Abbey because “it’ll just be typical ITV”

Insisting on curling our hair with curling tongs every Sunday night before bed. It was, of course, completely straight again by morning!

Stovetopespresso · 27/01/2021 13:44

only skimmed thread but they're all quite housewife-y things! mine is quite batshit so I can't say all of them but:

  • using vaseline as moisturiser so all lightswitches got slimy
  • asking for donations of primroses round her village and replanting guerilla style in someone else's land
  • taking a random pill a youngster left in her house after a party "just to see what it does, do you think its crack?"
  • regularly having prehistoric visions of how the landscape would have looked (unconnected to the pills)
  • feeding us foraged mushrooms, getting offended when we said no, suffering stomach bug afterwards, totally unconnected Smile
Rolle · 27/01/2021 13:47

Using the same tea bag twice. I thought this was normal until mid 20s.

RedLlama · 27/01/2021 13:47

My Nan used to save the bags that the cereal was in to put sandwiches in when we went on picnics. The lunch box would be a walls ice cream tubs, the old blue ones with the white lids. She used to wash out any ice creams tubs or anything similar and use them for storage. When she died and we cleared the house I swear there were hundreds of the things. Cereal boxes used to be cut up and used to write the shopping list on

Bouledeneige · 27/01/2021 14:00

A lot of recognition and smiles reading everyone's posts.

  • no ITV (she also hated Grange Hill as they didn't speak nicely)
  • only turning on the TV to watch specific programmes then switching it off
  • keeping string, rubber bands, bags and brown paper
  • keeping butter wrappers to grease baking tins
  • airing clothes after ironing
  • keeping leftovers and using a mincer with leftover cold meat
  • roast on Sunday and cold meat and salad on Mondays
  • economising on recipes - so lasagne was mince and onions, pasta and white sauce - ketchup on the table for the tomato sauce!
  • wartime food - spam fritters, corned beef, and very basic salads not mixed together - a piece of lettuce, slice of tomato, slice of cucumber.
  • no eating in the street
  • always use a teapot
  • using a trolley for tea things, hostess trolley, electric carving knife
  • always using cups and saucers not mugs
  • making covers for everything - like the toaster
  • licking a pencil before using it
GreeboIsMySpiritAnimal · 27/01/2021 14:08

@Camomila

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

I don't use pants but I cut up old vests to do this.

Me too. It's more eco.

My mum taught me a very precise order in which The Washing Up Must Be Done, and The Way The Coffee Must Be Made, and I've never dared deviate from either.

The main daft thing she did was to frequently put us in actually perilous situations either to save money or because she was convinced she "knew a short cut."

GreeboIsMySpiritAnimal · 27/01/2021 14:13

Oh, I keep butter wrappers to grease baking trays/tins. I thought everyone did? How else do you do it?

JudyP · 27/01/2021 14:13

@Shosha1

I still line shelves! Especially the ones that hold food such as oil or treacle.

My favourite of my Mums was after ironing dry clothes, she would then but them in the airing cupboard before they went into into the wardrobes. Why!

My mum always ironed (everything- even socks!!) and then put it in the hot press before putting it away - as an adult now I just can't get my head around it!
Furrybutts · 27/01/2021 14:22

Oh my!
Just thought of some more promoted by other replies.....

Had to wear rollers in my hair to bed on a Sunday night so my hair was curly for school. Never got a wink of sleep that night.

Not my mum, but my grandad. On arriving to collect him to take him shopping one roasting hot day, he looked at Dd2 aged 9 months sat in her car seat and said " that babbie will catch her death with no shoes on!"

All round the supermarket he kept on that people would think we were too poor to buy her any shoes 😂

Allmyarseandpeggymartin · 27/01/2021 14:28

My mum still says “wash your bedding in may, wash your family away” - so basically don’t do the big spring clean and take the heavy wool blankets off the bed till June.

Makes no sense in a centrally heated house though

Changechangychange · 27/01/2021 14:30

@Allmyarseandpeggymartin

My mum still says “wash your bedding in may, wash your family away” - so basically don’t do the big spring clean and take the heavy wool blankets off the bed till June.

Makes no sense in a centrally heated house though

Mine said “never cast a clout till May is out” - you have to wear a vest until 1st June, regardless of the weather.

Thank god she didn’t actually enforce that one! Grin

DailyMailHater · 27/01/2021 14:31

I was on a video call to my mum the other day whilst making tea, just pasta and a jar of sauce, when I poured the sauce in the pan I then half filled the jar with water and then poured that in as well....mum asked what I was doing. I explained that is what I had always seen her do. She laughed and said that’s because I had 2 adults and 5 kids to feed and we were skint, so she used to water it down to make it go further.....😂 I had no idea and just thought that’s what you did.

MostIneptThatEverStepped · 27/01/2021 14:49

As well as the sultanas coconut and banana curry situation my mum also used to make a dish which was included chicken and pineapple which was sprinkled with flaked almonds. I think it was a 70s version of sweet and sour chicken? Anyway I carefully ate my way round the pineapple. Then forevermore hated savoury dishes with fruit in.

My mum was actually a fantastic cook so I forgive her these few transgressions. Looking back I can't really think of anything silly she did, she was quite a serious person 😂

She was not from the UK so some of the things mentioned here I can't really relate to but my English Nanna was the hoarder of all rubber bands, bits of plastic, carrier bags etc etc.

moanieleminx · 27/01/2021 14:55

My grans neighbour used to spit at the grilling bacon rashers. When it spat back at you, it was considered ready.

These are all about my beloved Gran.

I was often given clothes and shoes miles too big, and made to wear them, because I had to get her money's worth, and I would grow into them.

When my teenage smoking was discovered, I was not allowed to smoke on the street or waiting for the bus. I had to go and sit in the toilet for a nicotine fix. I was also told off for my choice of brand...

I wasn't allowed to wash my hair when on my period. I was allowed a glass of cream soda with my Sunday lunch but not the rest of the week as I would get worms. I couldn't watch too much tv as I would get 'square eyes'.Everything was ironed. We never ever washed our tea cups, just rinsed them. Was also told that if you ate oysters, you could feel them move around inside your tummy.

Bath water was used to water the plants.

Tomato plants were grown year round in the bathroom, to act as an air freshener. I always have to sniff leaves whenever I see a tomato plant now!

When I was ill, I had to drink egg and sherry. She always took the egg tread out though because that was disgusting. Grin

She used to walk every day, to look at the notice in the local undertakers, to see who was dead. It was always the topic of conversation.

Mum is late 60's and to my delight, is heading in the same direction... (not that she will have it).

JanuaryJonez · 27/01/2021 14:59

When I was a young teen my mum always used to pack a spare pair of knickers in my school bag, saying "Just in case you have an accident".

For years I thought she meant if I was in a car accident I'd have a spare pair for the hospital!!

This probably says more about me than her, but I was hit b a car when I was 10 which is probably why I thought that. She obviously meant if I started my period!

Allmyarseandpeggymartin · 27/01/2021 15:28

@Changechangychange My mum cross questions me about if DS has got a vest on all year round!

Just shows you how suspicious they were of the cold and worried about getting “newnaxy” another one of mums words for pneumonia.

ParkheadParadise · 27/01/2021 15:29

Just thought of another one
When I moved into my first house with dd a neighbour stopped mum in the street and told her your daughter hangs out a lovely washing.
My mum was adamant you could tell a lot about someone by the washing they hung out.🤔🤣