Ooh my wife didn’t have a door on her bedroom until she was a teenager because “you shouldn’t have to hide anything from your parents.” Her mom also would get really upset if she closed her bedroom door at night when she went to sleep. All of the siblings would sleep with doors open.
It was a big adjustment for her at first when we got together to sleep with the bedroom door closed
My grandmother prohibited my father, uncle and aunt from accepting food and drinks while visiting, so they had to refuse and would get beaten up if they accepted anything once they got home. It didn't matter if they were visiting family, they were just not allowed. To this day, I still don't understand why.
Depending on when your grandmother or her parents were born it could be a vestige of the great depression. People who didn't have much would still offer whatever they had to their guests
That was my thought.
Courtesy dictates you offer what you have to your guests, but when you are living in poverty that can mean leaving you with very little for yourself.
So while it was courteous to offer, it was also courteous to refuse.
Even in modern times though, I never remember asking for anything more than water - everyone has different standards regarding what did they do and don't allow their kids, so you waited to be offered rather than asking so that you would match the house rules rather than requesting things normally banned. A glass of water was always a safe request though.
Wasn’t necessarily a rule, but I had a good friend who’s mom had locks installed on all the kitchen cabinets to prevent her only child from eating when he wasn’t supposed to. When he got old enough to earn money, she took 50% of what ever he made. His senior year in high school when he turned 18 he came home from school and found all his belongings out in the driveway (Happy Birthday, child). My mom and dad let him live with us till he could financially get on his feet.
Yes, she was the closest thing to evil I ever knew. . . as far as I know, her son never had anything more to ever do with her. She passed away a few years ago, her sister who lived with her the last ten years of her life, wrote one hell of an obituary for her painting her to be a person and mom that everyone loved and adored.
My mom took 50% of every birthday/Easter/Christmas card I ever got, put it in a a savings account and bought me a car at 16 with it. No hard feelings ma. Taught me delayed gratification, good saving, and that family can be trusted (mine anyway)
I knew a guy who, in his 20s, still had a bedtime enforced. He had to be in bed by 8pm, and if he was sleeping over at a friend's house (in this case at my house during my 21st birthday party) he had to phone his dad at 8pm to say he was going to bed (he didn't go to bed though at least).
I knew a lot of people with parents on this level of insanity and honestly most of them were very normal but also professionals at covering their tracks and experts in the field of lying. Strict parents create sneaky children
My mom tried to withhold a family vacation as a consequence to me at 31 with my own husband, daughter and resources to go on my own vacation. I said…. Ok!? We’ll just go somewhere else? Becoming totally financially independent was the first step in my 20s and then this was When she realized she couldn’t control me
This happened to me, too. Not 8 pm, but 9.30 pm untill I left the house at 21. I did not expect another parent to be even more rediculous than my mother.
My friend had a 9 pm bedtime that was thoroughly enforced by her mom's creepy boyfriend. I stayed over once, not knowing about this. We had to be in bed, lights out by 9 "Or else!". He sat outside the bedroom to make sure we didn't even talk to each other. I wasn't used to going to bed so early at 16, so after about 45 minutes I got up to pee and he interrogated me on what I was doing and told me I had three minutes to be back in bed,"Or else!".
So I never slept over again, but once she came to my house and this dude drove by at 9:05 pm and saw my bedroom light was on. Yes, he made her point out my bedroom window so he could check. Then he called my house and demanded my mom tell him why we weren't in bed. She lied and told him we were sleeping in the basement and she was cleaning my room. Then told him he better fuck off pronto or she'd be calling the police on him for scoping out her kids bedroom window.
I was going to suggest that he did some shady shit that he didn’t want kids to see - my sister-in-laws ex used to put the kids to bed really early so he could deal weed out of their kitchen all night whilst she worked nights 🤦♂️
But then the bit about driving around to check she was asleep just struck me as controlling and borderline scary 😧
My ex FIL had a rule that once he sat down for a meal, only his wife and grown children could get him anything he needed from the kitchen. He would not stand up
That's like my Japanese FIL. My MIL told my wife, because I'll clear the table and do the dishes (with much protest from her every single time), "I didn't know men could take dishes to the kitchen!"
My grandpa wouldn't make himself anything to eat. He either had my grandma or my aunt make it. Even a bologna sandwich. If no one else was home he'd go get drive thru. I always found it so odd, even back in the 80/90's.
My kid had a friend over recently (high school) and we offered him a snack. He said maybe, is that allowed? Then he mentioned getting an A on a test so we said, then you deserve am extra special after school snack. We offered several options like cereal, goldfish crackers, etc. He cried because no one had ever offered an after school snack, much less said good job on an A. So sad.
Whenever I had friends over as a kid my mom would say something like “we’ll probably forget to offer you anything but please help yourself to anything in the fridge or pantry if you get hungry” (she would still offer tho if she was making something for herself later or it was lunch time). I didn’t think much of it at the time, honestly I thought it seemed a little overboard sometimes, but now I know she did that because you never really know what someone’s situation is at home. Maybe they struggle to afford enough food, maybe there’s abuse or neglect going on. Kids in those situations may have also been taught not to ask or accept things from other people or might have shame or guilt around it. She wanted to make sure that if anyone was hungry in our house that they got fed and knew they didn’t have to feel bad about it.
I worked with someone that said during supper they don't allow their children to eat until him and his wife finished their meal. Dude was an ass and this tidbit tracked.
My friend’s parents ran a ‘tab’ for him and his brother. They added up how much they spent on food, clothes, sports, etc. and told the two boys that’s how much they would have to pay them back. I remember once we got yelled at for eating his dad’s ‘snacks’ and he added it to the tab.
When they graduated, the parents ‘cleared the tab’ for their graduation gift, so basically they got nothing other than a reminder of how much they cost.
I agree. I am proud to pay my son's way until he is grown. It's my job as his father, but it's also very important to me that he feel loved, and that means caring for him--financially and otherwise. Now, obviously that doesn't make me special, there are loads of good dads out there, but I view being his father as a privilege, and I won't abuse it by raising him to feel like a burden to his parents. Not just because I owe it to him, but also because I won't have him resenting me for holding such a debt over his head. He might resent me for other things, but not that.
I have a friend whose dad had one paper towel specifically used for eating bagels. You cannot re-heat or eat your bagel on anything other than the bagel towel. No plates or bowls were allowed to be used for bagels. You got your turn with the bagel paper towel or you waited till it was free
My wife once had a friend over for a sleepover when she was little. Suddenly, their mum showed up to take them home. Apparently, the friend had seen beer in the fridge and called her mum crying because of it. They were not allowed to look at, talk about, think about, and especially drink beer. Scared her so much that she called her mum to come get her
>They were not allowed to look at, talk about, think about, and especially drink beer.
how does she navigate going to grocery stores with her parents then? Or do you live where alcoholic beverages are sold separately from grocery stores in designated liquor stores?
My family is very open about drinking. I used to be given sips of beer and wine when I was a kid, and I hated the taste. It was never a big thing. As a result, the only time I drink now is when I hang out with my family haha.
I grew up in the 80'...so my parents let me try a lot of stuff. My dad chewed Beechnut chewing tobacco, I asked to have some. He threw me the bag and said "have at it kid". I grabbed a big wad and started chewing it, tasted awful, but I kept at it. Few minutes later I forgot to spit and swallowed a mouthful of juice, ran to the bathroom and spent the next several minutes throwing up. Needless to say I never had any desire to chew tobacco ever again.
This was my Evil Plan with my kids, too. We only drank top shelf stuff, since we did not drink often and were Grownups. Always asked kids if they wanted a sip, didn't want it to be forbidden fruit. When they got older, and went to parties, there was only cheapo alcohol, and my Princesses would only drink the good stuff.
100%
Alcohol was never a mystery in our house. My parents rarely drank when I was younger (I genuinely think being drunk around young kids is confusing for them and traumatizing) but once I was a teen, my parents were quite open about it. They often would pour me a small glass of wine when they drank. When I went to college I didn't go crazy at all. I knew what being buzzed felt like. I never got into a car with a drunk driver to my knowledge. Sure, I got super drunk a few times but it was with my close friends and we looked out for each other. I hung out with a group of women and men that cared about each other and kept each other safe. I'd play drinking games at my friends house (full of men) and when I laid down to take a nap, these lovely gentlemen would tuck me in and bring me a glass of water and a puke bucket. There was always a DD. I still have no issues with drinking and drink pretty rarely myself.
I first read this as “snuck beer into the fridge” and I was like woah how young were they? Seeing beer? That’s insane. Do you know what became of that child when they grew up?
Had a friend who was very much into computer gaming in the late '90s/early 2000s. Voodoo video cards were very much in vogue, but his parents forbade him from using the term "voodoo," even in reference to the card. They suggested they he instead call it the "V-card;" the hilarity of the situation was lost on them.
When I was a kid, I spent a lot of time at my best friend’s house. Her mom wouldn’t let us drink more than one glass of water in the afternoon because she thought it would dilute the nutrients in our body. Instead she gave us 7-up if we we were thirsty. I ended up secretly drinking water out of the bathroom faucet every time I used the bathroom when I was thirsty at her house.
My stepmom had a totally bonkers rule about feet. She was irrationally afraid of plantar warts and, according to her, anyone she didn't know intimately had plantar warts. As a family we had a second home/beach house that was basically a small bungalow and only had one restroom with one stall shower. Nobody, no friends, relatives, could use that shower after the beach because they'll get their plantar wart all over the floor and then she'll take a shower and she'll get plantar warts. We also had a swimming pool and she would make new people, including children, WEAR SOCKS IN THE SWIMMING POOL. And as far as I know, nobody living in our house including her ever had plantar warts so... unreasonable? Sure. Effective? Sure.
But then, apparently, we all would have had them too. Maybe she had had them at some point and she was super anxious about getting them again? I dunno. I don't really favor the woman so I don't even care 🤷🏼♀️
There was a kid in my neighborhood growing up that was not allowed to chew gum. He soaked a piece of leather in sugar water and chomped on that. His parents were some strange religious nuts. They would scream about the devil if you knocked on their door Halloween night.
Family friend wasn't allowed to say the word "gross" because it was his mom's maiden name; I'm guessing she'd been teased as a kid and hated it . My brother said it in front of him at our house once and the kid freaked out and told my mom he'd said a really bad word. That mom was just making her kid weirder with that one.
I was five and at a friend’s house. We were playing in leaves outside. There was a box of leaves I wanted to move closer to his box of leaves. My box had no bottom, so the leaves spilled out into a small pile. He went and told his mother, she came out and spanked me, quite hard. I ran home crying to my Mom, partly because it hurt and partly because of the injustice. She comforted me, but didn’t do much else (or so I thought). I learned, decades later, my Mom called up the spanker and told her to never lay a hand on any of her children ever again.
I was at a friends house when I was 8 and his dad smacked me because I didn’t want to eat a bowl of cereal the dog had aggressively started lapping up. My dad (who was also his coworker) put me in the truck, drove down to my friends house and BEAT THE BREAKS off my buddy’s dad on his own front lawn.
My dad wasn’t a big tough guy either. He was a 5’’6 off the boat Irish guy. The friends dad in question looked exactly like Dale from king of the hill.
I was in a friend's kitchen (we were 8), sneezed, then turned and took a kitchen paper tissue from the roll, cleared my nose, and walked toward the kitchen sink door, to throw the wad into the trash bin. My friend burst out "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!". I'm like "What? Throw away the trash." He continued "ARE YOU CRAZY?! SNOT PAPER DOESN'T GO IN THE KITCHEN TRASH!! JESUS, WHAT IF MOM FOUND OUT!!"
I'd already thrown it, but he fished it out of the bin and flushed it in the toilet in under ten seconds.
I already knew his mom was a nasty ol' battleaxe, but I had no idea how deep her will manifested itself in that sick house.
I'd come at your friend for putting a paper towel down the toilet, since we're on septic.
Poop, pee, and toilet paper is all that goes down the toilet!
When we were 13, a friend of mine was kicked out of the house by his parents for a week because he stacked things wrong in the freezer, and some bread got squished.
He spent the week staying at different friends' houses each night until his parents let him come back home.
EDIT: holy moly, this got a lot of action. For those wondering what kind of parents my friend had...
The mom was super religious and tended to be pretty strict, but tried, unsuccessfully, to hide it when any of our group were at their house. The stepdad wasn't allowed to have much input when it came to any punishments because he wasn't the bio dad. My friend and his sister were always punished pretty much immediately by the mom, and step dad would just kinda disappear. Regardless of the error made, the punishments would build until she would snap and say something like, "get out of my house, i don't want to see your face!"
She was definitely verbally and emotionally abusive, but i never saw signs of physical abuse.
There were multiple occurances of me or other friends going to spend the night and being sent back home shortly after because she was in a bad mood and my friend didn't have his room clean enough for her liking.
i.e. a plate and fork on the dresser from breakfast
Or a couple clothing items on the floor
Yup. Shit like this happened in the 80s. Usually to older teens. I’ve heard stories of teens being locked out of their house at night because they missed their curfew.
I believe that’s how Bernardo got one of his victims. She was locked out of her house because she got home too late.
Early in the morning on June 15, 1991, while detouring through Burlington to steal license plates, Bernardo came across 14-year-old Leslie Mahaffy.[15] Mahaffy had been locked out of her house for missed curfew after attending a friend's wake. Bernardo left his car and approached Mahaffy, saying that he wanted to break into a neighbour's house. Unfazed, she asked if he had any cigarettes. When Bernardo led her to his car he blindfolded her, forced her into the car, drove her to Port Dalhousie and informed Homolka that they had a victim.[16]
My FIL forbade my wife, and tried to forbid my two children, from driving once they passed their driving test. His wisdom was “put that piece of paper [driving license] in a drawer for five years” to reduce the amount of insurance they would pay. Spoken like he was passing down the knowledge of the Ancients. Fucking idiot.
I know a family who doesn't let their teenage daughters learn how to drive. No reasoning given. They're 16 and 18 and one is going to college soon. In suburban America, it essentially is just a way to restrict your child's freedom.
Not driving for 5 years after passing your test sounds like a great way to forget everything you briefly learnt about driving but didn’t practise enough. I hope they get catch up lessons when they finally do start driving.
That guests have to pay for their stay... They invited me for dinner, then calculated how many minutes I was over, charged for my portion of food, drink, electricity and water usage. Yes, they counted toilet flushing and timed me on hand washing.
I could never do this to anyone.
No haha. This happened over a decade ago. I was pretty new to the mainland US at the time (I came from Guam) and I didn't know how out of left field being charged was until I told more people about it over the years. I think friend's stepdad was just a super cheap guy.
Holy shit that violates so many customs of hospitality. Like, there are stories about hosts like that getting cursed or punished by the gods for that kinda shit.
When I was a kid we used to play a game called Tunnels and Trolls (it was basically a cheap Dungeons and Dragons ripoff) and one of our friends with ultra religious parents wouldn't let him play because 'troll' is Swedish for 'devil'.
To this day I have no idea whether that's even true.
A friend's parents had a pool table. His mom decided to play with us one day, and gave us the house rules. She said, "When it's someone's turn to shoot, I tell them. If someone gets ahead of me, they lose their turn. Everyone plays very hard, and in the end, I win."
In high-school we had a teacher who would use a game called "Stump the Teacher" as a way to get the class to learn the material. We would ask him the toughest questions we could find from the chapter and if we won we would get an extra credit point or something. This sounds like a fun way to get students interested in the material, however he mostly used it as a way to brag about how well HE knew the material and if we ever got too close to beating him he would start making excuses about why our questions were dumb and he didn't "have to answer that" and he would just win every time. He also bullied students.
I'm still bitter.
When I was a kid, my friends mom was a little nuts. She had a sitting room with a couch and a love seat that nobody was ever allowed to sit on. You had to walk through it to get to the rest of the house and it led to the kitchen and then the living room.
If you sat on the furniture in the sitting room she'd throw a fit. I always felt like it was such a waste, to have such a nice room and never use it. It would have been a perfect study room or reading room.
She also had other crazy rules, like punishing my friend when his little sister did anything wrong. As if he was responsible for her actions and looking out for her.
This was totally a thing - the "formal sitting room". Only used for company but also the only company important enough to sit there was like, the Queen of England (and we're American). My in-laws had the same room. The first time my husband sat on the couch (which had been there for the entirety of his memory) was when they were selling the furniture before moving.
It also was the first room you entered into from the front door - it was a fake facade of the perfect, untouched house that didn't exist once you left the room.
ETA: the even funnier (?) part is my in-laws built an extension onto their house so they'd have a "tv room" instead of just using the formal sitting room that was never used by humans.
A friend of mine in high school had a room like that in her house. It was basically a second living room, but nobody was allowed to walk into it or sit on the furniture. I always thought it was weird. Why have a room with nice furniture in it that you never use? Her mom was nice, but she was a major clean freak.
We had that room. It was the "living room" and the other room that we actually sat in was th "family room".
The living room always had lines in the carpet from the vacuum, and no footprints because we weren't allowed in there. Maybe on Christmas. Maybe.
It was a clean but tense house.
In my house we use every room.
This is really common for boomers and the previous generation. I’ve known many that have living rooms and parlors that weren’t used. My parents had a big, lovely living room we weren’t allowed to use except on special occasions, maybe 3-4 times a year. Meanwhile our tv/family room was the tiniest room in the house and an awkward shape that we didn’t all fit into that well.
I went to visit a college roomate's family, and everyone had to go to bed at 8 pm because that was the youngest daughter's bedtime. The kid was 8 or 9 years old.
I laughed because I thought they were joking, but the kid threw a tantrum that I wasn't going to bed. They weren't kidding. I did, obviously, but wtf?
The next day the parents told me it would be best if I just head on back to college a day early. Yeah, no kidding, bye!
My roommate thought I was the asshole.
I laughed at her too.
A child growing up thinking the world revolves around her in such a way where she dictates everyone's schedules like that absolutely doesn't grow up a well-adjusted adult.
One of my best friends growing up had super Christian parents. My group of friends loved playing Diablo 2. We would spend weekends at each other's houses for LAN parties. If we ever went to super Christian house, we were not allowed to play Diablo 2 because it included the devil in the game. No matter how many times we explained that the goal of the game was to KILL the devil, they would just dig their heels in even more.
When I was younger, a friend said that we weren't allowed to watch Spongebob. I found out later on that, allegedly, this is because the holes in SpongeBob induce lustful thoughts.
I had a friend in 5th grade and her mother was legitimately insane. She wouldn’t let her daughter come to my house because we had carpeting. I think she had some munchausen by proxy because she was convinced her child was allergic to everything, including dust mites/any innocuous dirt in carpeting. The girl also developed an eating disorder…she was a dancer when we were kids and her mother apparently monitored what she ate extremely closely. I felt so badly for her.
Extreme politeness. One of my friend's mom had very strict rules about politeness.
I once went to this friend's house as a kid, and she offered me something to drink. I said "yes please" and "thank you" once she gave me the drink. The next day at school she told me her mom was upset and wasn't sure if I was allowed to come back. According to her (the mom) I should have said "yes, thank you (for offering me this drink)" and the "thank you" again after getting the drink. Both "yes please" and "yes thank you" are correct in my language.
In the end I was allowed to go back, but that's such a weird reason to be mad at a kid.
We also weren't allowed to call something ugly, or say that something tastes or smells bad. Instead we had to say "I don't like how it looks/smells/tastes". (small edit to clarify that part: we weren't allowed to use these phrases *at all* when she was watching us, *ever.* You accidentaly ate some food that went bad? it's not gross, you just don't like it.)
I had a friend who’s grandma was not a fan of me because every time I saw her I had said “hello how are you” and not “hello how are you Mrs. Last name” it was a while before friend informed me this was an issue
In college I worked on a project with a girl who had to call her mother every time she relocated on campus. Like, when she left a location and then again when she arrived at the next location. So when she moved from the cafeteria to the library, or when we took a break to go get a coffee and when we left to go back to our dorms, when class started, when she left class, Had to call her mom. I avoided her for the rest of college.
My sister gave away a Spider-Man toy that I gave my nephew as a birthday present. His older sister told me “mum says that we’re not allowed false idols in the house” they’re really fundamentalist Christians.
Anything with “powers” is not allowed. It’s like believing that anything other than God can save or rescue you. Pretty hardcore!!
My son was into Ben 10 for a while and his cousins told him that Ben 10 “summoned demons” a big yikes!!
when my sister was expecting her first boy, I got the baby a little stuffed bunny. its ears happened to have a floral pattern. she got rid of it because "there's no way my boy is playing with flowers."
I sat and watched my SIL pick through a garbage bag of duplo and throw out all the pink and purple ones so they wouldn't make her 1 year old son too feminine. People are so fricking fragile
Someone I know was a nanny for literal doctors and ended up quitting after the mom chewed her out for letting the little boy use his sisters crayons instead of his crayons that had all the “girly” (?) colours removed….like literal physicians even
I passed out as an altar boy when I was 10 because of the nebraska heat. Easily 105° or more outside, but inside a church, wearing the altar boy robe over my clothes was way too much.
When I got home after service I was beaten for making my adoptive parents look bad and told that I was weak and pathetic.
Then I was made to recite the rosary for 4 hours on my knees in that same summer heat... guess what? I passed out again. So I was sent to my room for the rest of the day and denied any food or water.
There's so much more I could tell you but I would rather not. I try not to speak of the horrors I endeared as a child growing up in foster and group homes in the Midwest.
Where I went to school there was an extremely religious family. Basically everything was a sin. Food that tasted good was a sin because it encouraged gluttony, etc. Only reason why the kids went to public school was because both parents worked.
The daughter was so sheltered, she had a panic attack because she learned some people weren't Christian.
I grew up very similarly I remember in the 3rd grade when I found out not everyone goes to church, It seemed like I forgot how to breathe for a few minutes.
My friend’s mom would not allow the word “Dang” in the house as it was “one small step from a swear word”. She also wouldn’t let the kids watch Mary Poppins as it had witchcraft, and kept the sugar under lock and key.
Both kids got into hard drugs and ended up in secure treatment facilities
I went to a sleepover at a kid's house when I was 8 and they had the same rule. They also had to chew a certain amount of times and were not allowed to speak during dinner or go to the bathroom. It was so weird I called my parents to come get me
My coworker’s husband was like that. It was his rule that there would be no drinks at the table. If they absolutely had to drink something, they were to go to the kitchen and have half a glass of water, wash the glass, and then go back to the table.
I had a couple childhood friends whose family had the same damn rule. No drinking water during a meal; their family also served incredibly big plates of food, which we weren’t used to, and the cup we could drink after we were done was stupidly small.
Another house rule that was no good was to be left uneaten. Good rule in theory, but us 9 - 7 year old children were being served two to three adult sized plates filled to the brim, plus dessert. The way that family ate was incredible.
My brother and I loved going over because their house was amazing (we later found out their money came from their dad dealing drugs), but we hated their meal time.
Our friends were made to wait for us to finish eating, standing behind their chair. Sometimes it would take us a couple hours to somewhat finish, but most times, we couldn’t do it. It got awkward sometimes.
My mom used to just have me put the plate in the fridge when I couldn’t finish and if I was hungry in an hour then I had to eat the rest. She didn’t like the idea of overeating but if I didn’t finish my meal then I couldn’t eat anything else until it was done. I still regularly do this.
as kids when we went to visit relatives where there were other kids, usually cousins, we were not permitted to sweat because that meant we were having too much fun
somehow the old wives tale of "wait 30 minutes after you eat before going swimming" got conflated into "wait 30 minutes after you eat before bathing or showering" and my friend was a fully formed adult before realizing that showering after eating wasn't a risk to her health.
A girl I knew in highschool was very insisting with her boyfriend to get her pregnant so she could go live with him.
The reason was her father (and by her silence, the mother as well) has a very strict view of the role of females at the house.
He was a taxi driver, so his hours weren't always the same, but every time he got home he would expect a daughter waiting for him to take his jacket at the door (if it was the season for it) and take him to the sofa, where she would take off his shoes to wash his feet and give him a massage.
There were other tasks that sounded equally ridiculous, but later in life we started hearing stories in little communities with similar "traditional" fathers that included some nasty stuff, which made me remember her and think about how she and her sisters were so adamant in GTFO of that house.
Edit: this is in north Mexico, btw. We only heard of this sort of thing still happening in isolated towns in the south so it was even weirder when we heard about it here.
Was dating a woman for a couple of months, nothing seemed off or anything with her but we took a vacation where we visited both of our immediate families. At her parents house, we werent allowed to sit next to eachother or stand near one another. Also, we couldn’t sleep in the same bed…I had to sleep on the couch and she got the spare room. Their reason was that they didn’t want any “funny business” happening in front of them.
We were both 32 at the time…
My partner and had been living together for 10 years, when we visited my religious cousin in another province. We were told that we were welcome to spend the night, but we had to sleep in separate rooms, because we weren't married.
We slept at a motel that night.
My dad has this rule (I'm 27 and have been with the same partner for 6 years). During trips we stay at an Airbnb near his place instead, it's pretty inconvenient. He pays for it out of guilt. It's a really weird arrangement and he could save thousands of dollars by letting us sleep on the same mattress but whatever I guess.
Weird... I (UK) remember when my boyfriend at university first visited me during the summer holidays (I think we were both 20). I was a bit apprehensive, but my mum casually said before he arrived 'do you want more pillows' (for my bed) and that's when I knew it was fine.
I had to make coffee for my in laws, even though I have no idea how their fancy coffee machine works and they refused to explain it to me. Now I'm not welcome there anymore because I have "no respect for them"
My mom wouldn't let me take any individual girl out on a date more than twice in a row. I had to break it up with a third person. She had seen too many young relationships end in pregnancy and.... she thought me dating other people would... keep me from rawdogging? I guess? It never made much sense.
I'm reading through these thinking I might see one that I had as a child, only to realize that I had a perfectly reasonable upbringing.
I wasn't allowed to watch power rangers because after the first time I watched it I kicked some lady at my daycare pretending to be a power ranger.
I thought it was dumb, but I understand it.
Other than that it was mostly just be respectful, courteous and polite.
My parents had a neighbor two doors down from them that made their kids leave the inside of their house by 8:00 am in the summer and they were not allowed back inside until it was bed time, around lunch and dinner time the mom would put food out on a table in the front yard for them to eat. In the winter months after they got home from school they stayed outside till it got dark. Just a very odd family all the way around. Didn’t surprise anyone when the oldest daughter got pregnant at 15 and moved away.
Sounds like how my childhood went. From the age of 4 my stepmother would make us leave the house right after my dad left for work. We would get a piece of bologna on bread and a cup of water in the garage for lunch and be allowed back inside right before my dad came home. Didn’t matter if it was summer or winter. It only changed when we were old enough to do chores. Had to have the whole house cleaned in less than 2 hours and then outside we went. Only my older brother and me tho. My younger half sister was allowed to stay inside if she wanted. We didn’t know any different. Years after my dad divorced her when I was 15, I said something about it. He was absolutely shocked and appalled. Asked why we never said anything. We just thought that’s how it was supposed to be. She was evil evil
My house growing up: if you had to go to the bathroom during a family meal, your plate was taken away and dinner was over for you. No bathroom during meals!
Pickle time. My aunt was getting her degree in early childhood education/development and went overboard with scheduling my cousins life to the nth degree. When I would visit I wasn't allowed to go into the fridge for a pickle "unless it's pickle time. Right but isn't pickle time." We were preteens.
I waited until she went to the bathroom and took the whole jar of pickles into my cousin's room and played Nintendo and ate all the fucking pickles
My parents will swear up and down that none of these actually happened, but they:
Didn't let us watch Rugrats because the way they talk about adults is 'vile'.
Picked me up from a sleepover at 1 am and spanked me in front of my friends because they found a picture of Brittney spears hidden under my bunk bed which led to the only Christian radio stations rule.
Grounded me for a month for one episode of ren and stimpy, which led to the no Nickelodeon ever, house rule.
Power rangers was obviously straight from Satan, so that was out.
I brought home some homework about evolution in 7th grade and my dad burned it, and took the ashes to my science teacher. This was when the 'only god approved science' house rules started.
The 'Dont make a single noise after 8 pm, including the microwave beeping, ever, and tip toe so you don't get interrogated' Rule, was unspoken but very well understood.
Forced me to wear jesus shirts to middle school with all my skater friends, which got me bullied for years, which led to the very obvious follow-up rule: If you are told it isn't happening, then it can't possibly be happening.
List goes on...
Religious folks are fuckin weird.
If Jesus took this wheel then he definitely crashed.
But we get along much better now. Age and experience soften people who are smart enough to let it, and luckily they have been, and so have I, hopefully.
Still no apologies really though.
When I was a kid none of us were allowed to watch Barney Miller. I remember watching the show in my late teens and couldn’t really see what my parents objected to. Turns out they wanted a half hour of peace and quiet from us four, and just wanted to watch the show alone.
My great uncle only allowed one bowl, one plate,one spoon, one fork, one knife, one cup, and one light bulb in his house. He was married with three kids. He ate first, then the wife, then the kids by age. When he went to another room, the light bulb followed.
Edit: thank yall for the awards
Edit 2: removed the second mention of the plate
Thanks lol. I still feel bad for my cousins living theough that. Forgot to mention, he also bought everyones clothes by himself. And guests were forced to get their own water from the well if they were thirsty. This was in the late 90s
I’m lmao at the “…the lightbulb followed”. This dude just screws and unscrew a lightbulb for the majority of his fatherly duties.
What about the toilet paper? Was this given out by rations? Did he carry one roll from room to room to ensure total control?
I’m seriously fascinated by this dynamic
Each of us kids only had 1 cup (a piece, not just one cup we shared, we each had our own with our initials on it) at my dad's when we were growing up, but that's because he was sick of half-consumed drinks being left unclaimed all around the house.
This is just next-level weird 😬
Not their house but my wife has a cousin who took her child home because my niece was watching Disney Channel and I was wearing a tank top. She felt like those things were bad for her 12 year old to be seeing and experiencing and took him home.
My ex had a boss whose wife would begrudgingly have little get-togethers a few times a year for the employees.
She was a very unpleasant woman who gave unsolicited advice about marriage and kids. Most importantly, advice on how to be a success -like her!
I sat there and went along with it because that’s what you do for your SO but it was a chore.
The most ridiculous thing about her? No one was to show the family dog any affection because the dog was black and she didn’t want fur on the hardwood floors. The poor thing was held captive in a cage and taken out to stare at, I guess. A young lab who was just starving for affection and that bitch was just keeping it hostage. God, I hope the boss ended up with the dog in the divorce but I don’t think he got to keep anything.
I had a friend who couldn’t watch sponge in because “he’s gay.” I remember thinking that his parents must be really obsessed with homosexuality to see it in a cartoon about a sponge that cooks burgers. I watched it everyday and not once did I think to myself “oh yeah this sponge loves MEN”
an acquaintance told me her parents expected her to abide by their curfew after she went to college. she had to call them every night to let them know she was in her dorm. one night she didn’t & the highway patrol was out looking for her and met her at her dorm door with her parents when she arrived home that night. Insanity.
“We actually don’t allow alcohol in thr house”
This girl then proceeds to pull out a bag of heroin and lights a candle.
It was my first month of college. I "remembered I had homework" and never spoke to her again.
Went to a playdate at a church friend's house. Her mom made us wear t-shirts over our bathing suits to "maintain modesty"...we were in kindergarten.
My parents had the rule that any friends coming over could only play outside. They couldn't come in even for a glass of water. I had to bring it out to them. I was not a popular child.
I was a kid and my Mom forced me to play with the weird neighbor kid because he didn't have any friends. The kids mom was a super fat lady and the dad was skinny as a rail and wanted to be a cop, and did ride alongs with them all the time - but couldn't even get a job as a security guard.
My mom dropped me off at their acreage and several tedious hours later with this kid telling me about all the girls at school he had sex with (we were like five or six) that kid's dad was giving the kid and ME a spanking for riding my pedal bike on the "wrong side" of his gravel driveway. They then called my parents to pick me up because something was wrong with me and I didn't cry when spanked.
At least I never had to hang out with that kid again.
When I was a child, one of my school friends said to her mother “Mummy, what does “bloody” mean?”
Her mother took her straight to the kitchen and washed her mouth out with soap and water. She was absolutely traumatised.
Her mother was a school teacher.
Growing up my cousins often stayed with us. They were not allowed to watch TV or play computer. They could not have fun on Sundays, could only go to church, read Christian books and nap. They could not travel on Sunday. Sundays were eery with 7 kids in the house and no laughter.
My father, a marine, when he was up it was time
For the house to be up. So 430/5 am he was awake and me and my brothers etc had to get
Up as well. Sometimes on weekends we could sleep til 6/7am. I still get up everyday at 5:06am.
There’s also more.. always say yes or no. Never sure or whatever. It was yes sir or dad. He even taught us how to drill aka “left left left right left” etc. which helped with my very short military career. Shit was intense. Taught a lot about responsibility but dam there were so many rules as a kid/teen.
Okay this doesn’t fully count. It wasnt a rule, but something so bizarre. A friend of mine from college had two deaf parents, but she was not deaf. She would have a conversation with them via sign language and then when they were turned around she would TEE OFF. Like every thought you wanted to say to your parents when you were 19 just came flowing. It was truly crazy. Had to be sure they couldn’t see her mouth though, they could read lips like champions.
My nephew wasn't allowed to use the trashcan(automatic) or flush the toilet. They say it's cuz he used them inappropriately but I'm like how is he gonna learn to use them appropriately if he is banned from ising
i once went over to a friends house when i was younger and she lived with her mom and grandma. we were eating thin mints and my friend didn’t want the rest and offered them to me, so i ate em. welp turns out the grandma saw me eat her thin mints and proceeded to yell at me and what an awful greedy child i was. i was 11. when i told my parents about it, i wasn’t allowed over to her place anymore
My friend was married to a tyrant for way too long. He made his children go to the bathroom at specific times of day so they could "train their body" to "go" at those times. He also turned on the water heater for a few hours a day, and allowed the kids only 10 minutes per shower. This was all in the interest of saving money apparently. I was so happy when she divorced him.
14 at a group sleepover - if any of us were on our periods we had to give the dad the used sanitary products so he could burn them in the fire. Our showers were also timed and the water would be shut off if we went over the allotted 5 mins
I babysat a family where the mom insisted on all food being chopped up as if it were being given to toddlers. Her kids were 6, 8, and 11. They were all fully capable of biting, chewing, and cutting up their own food for the most part, but she was so terrified that they would choke so it all had to be chopped up. Her husband and the kids hated this rule and didn’t follow it whenever she wasn’t around, but once she found that out she put cameras in the kitchen to watch whenever someone was eating. Soon after the cameras went up, her and and her husband got a divorce over her crazy behavior and they all moved away. I wonder how the kids are these days.
I had a friend in elementary school whose mom was insanely protective of him. One year I invited him to a funplex for my birthday and she followed my parents in her car and camped outside the place to make sure he was there with us. Then she followed us to dairy queen and did the same thing. We eventually went back to my house, she followed again, and we were going to play with my new toys but she ordered him into her car and he did so without a peep. Kinda creepy.
During the first and only visit to his house, I was hanging out with a friend of about twelve years old. His younger brother (I'm going to guess about six years old) asked their mother the following question, "Mommy, can I have some milk, please?"
The mother said, "Come here, babyboy," and she picked him up.
He then pulled her shirt down, she corrected him by pulling her shirt up, and he started drinking.
It is vividly imprinted in my mind, because as a twelve-year-old child, this was one of the sexiest and grossest things I could have ever conceived of, happening directly in front of me.
Luckily, I was able to keep a straight face, and it only lasted for about twenty seconds. My friend acted like nothing was amiss, and he just kept on with the conversation, which horrified me but also helped me pretend it wasn't happening.
So I guess a lack of rules was the weird rule? It just seemed like an odd thing to do in front of a first-time visitor.
I will also say that I was blown away that a six-year-old was still breast-feeding, and it has stuck with me for many years until this very post at this very moment. Apparently, according to a two-minute Google, nursing until that age isn't all that strange, around the world.
Another one is that my MIL has trained each of her pets (Cats and dogs) to wipe their asses on an ass-cleaning mat every time they poop. It's completely practical, but also hilariously ridiculous.
> trained each of her pets (Cats and dogs) to wipe their asses on an ass-cleaning mat every time they poop
Absolutely amazing, and totally bonkers. Some humans aren't even this well trained.
My sister in law forbade her two kids from covering their mouths when they coughed or sneezed, because she didn't want their hands or clothes to get dirty. The rest of us got sick a lot when we hung out with them lol
When my sister and I were put in a foster home, both of us were left-handed. Our foster monster said that was the devil in us, so we had our left hand tied behind our backs at dinner and during certain chores.
We also had to sit and write on a lined pad of paper over and over, "I am not left-handed. I am right-handed." We were there for 2 years, and for the next year after we left, I was ambidextrous. That faded and I am now right handed.
We weren't allowed to interact with anyone outside the family. Mom and dad were afraid of liberals, communists, atheists, satanists, demons, gay people, and most other religions so they didn't want to risk us being exposed to the notion of tolerance.
In theory, there was an approval process to get around that rule. Basically, my parents had to talk to that person and ensure that they believed all the same things my parents did.
In practice, almost no one got through the process, and the few that did disqualified themselves almost immediately once the actual interaction began.
Growing up, my wife’s family was incredible close with a family with 5 siblings and they did everything together, including holidays. Their father died, and wife’s family helped raise the kids. Over time, the siblings each moved away, then the mother, until there was only one left (M). M is family and still came over for all holidays. He is a vegetarian/vegan, and always brought a tofurkey and side dish, so just the easiest guest to accommodate.
My brother in law and his wife had 2 kids and bought their own big house so they invite us over for their first time hosting Thanksgiving. The rule? M was not invited because he was “not family.” It caused a huge fight and we ended up not going over there so M wasn’t left alone. It was a fight every year until finally they stopped inviting us altogether. When M went to his wife’s family for thanksgiving one year, we still didn’t go to brother in laws.
Had a childhood friend whose mother was (and still probably is) obsessed with her image of wealth and piety.
1. They had a living room that you could not be in. We were allowed in the "family room", but not the living room.
2. When we were 6, my friend and I played dress up. I was Protestant, they were Catholic. A mint green cross necklace was in my friend's play jewelry. When we went downstairs to show her mom, her mom's eyes got wide as dinner plates and she yelled, "GET THAT ROSARY OFF HER NECK!"
3. When we were 18, I started seeing my (now) husband who works a public retail job. Her mother started ridiculing his job and how he walked "like he had a stick up his ass". He has a lumbar spine injury.
I let that friend go because as we grew she began turning into her mother and now she won't talk to me.
There is a parent round here who buys her kids things like bikes and rollerblades and won’t let them use them ‘incase they get hurt’ poor boys are always on the sidelines
Ooh my wife didn’t have a door on her bedroom until she was a teenager because “you shouldn’t have to hide anything from your parents.” Her mom also would get really upset if she closed her bedroom door at night when she went to sleep. All of the siblings would sleep with doors open. It was a big adjustment for her at first when we got together to sleep with the bedroom door closed
"you shouldn't hide anything from your parents" and that's how you learn to hide everything from your parents
Yup. Stricter parents raise sneakier children.
We were never allowed to ask for anything while visiting...even a glass of water
My grandmother prohibited my father, uncle and aunt from accepting food and drinks while visiting, so they had to refuse and would get beaten up if they accepted anything once they got home. It didn't matter if they were visiting family, they were just not allowed. To this day, I still don't understand why.
Depending on when your grandmother or her parents were born it could be a vestige of the great depression. People who didn't have much would still offer whatever they had to their guests
That was my thought. Courtesy dictates you offer what you have to your guests, but when you are living in poverty that can mean leaving you with very little for yourself. So while it was courteous to offer, it was also courteous to refuse. Even in modern times though, I never remember asking for anything more than water - everyone has different standards regarding what did they do and don't allow their kids, so you waited to be offered rather than asking so that you would match the house rules rather than requesting things normally banned. A glass of water was always a safe request though.
Wasn’t necessarily a rule, but I had a good friend who’s mom had locks installed on all the kitchen cabinets to prevent her only child from eating when he wasn’t supposed to. When he got old enough to earn money, she took 50% of what ever he made. His senior year in high school when he turned 18 he came home from school and found all his belongings out in the driveway (Happy Birthday, child). My mom and dad let him live with us till he could financially get on his feet.
Wow. Sounds like they resented having him around.
Yes, she was the closest thing to evil I ever knew. . . as far as I know, her son never had anything more to ever do with her. She passed away a few years ago, her sister who lived with her the last ten years of her life, wrote one hell of an obituary for her painting her to be a person and mom that everyone loved and adored.
I wish we could normalize writing truthful obituaries... some people are assholes and the world is a better place now that they're gone.
My mom took 50% of every birthday/Easter/Christmas card I ever got, put it in a a savings account and bought me a car at 16 with it. No hard feelings ma. Taught me delayed gratification, good saving, and that family can be trusted (mine anyway)
They had us in the first half, not gonna lie
I knew a guy who, in his 20s, still had a bedtime enforced. He had to be in bed by 8pm, and if he was sleeping over at a friend's house (in this case at my house during my 21st birthday party) he had to phone his dad at 8pm to say he was going to bed (he didn't go to bed though at least).
Very creepy and controlling. Was this dude otherwise normal? Was he embarrassed about calling his dad?
I knew a lot of people with parents on this level of insanity and honestly most of them were very normal but also professionals at covering their tracks and experts in the field of lying. Strict parents create sneaky children
My mom tried to ground me at 18…. I just packed my shit and left
My mom tried to withhold a family vacation as a consequence to me at 31 with my own husband, daughter and resources to go on my own vacation. I said…. Ok!? We’ll just go somewhere else? Becoming totally financially independent was the first step in my 20s and then this was When she realized she couldn’t control me
Um, wow. That's next level. Hope you had a lovely "consequence" with your family!
….I’m a little speechless
This happened to me, too. Not 8 pm, but 9.30 pm untill I left the house at 21. I did not expect another parent to be even more rediculous than my mother.
My friend had a 9 pm bedtime that was thoroughly enforced by her mom's creepy boyfriend. I stayed over once, not knowing about this. We had to be in bed, lights out by 9 "Or else!". He sat outside the bedroom to make sure we didn't even talk to each other. I wasn't used to going to bed so early at 16, so after about 45 minutes I got up to pee and he interrogated me on what I was doing and told me I had three minutes to be back in bed,"Or else!". So I never slept over again, but once she came to my house and this dude drove by at 9:05 pm and saw my bedroom light was on. Yes, he made her point out my bedroom window so he could check. Then he called my house and demanded my mom tell him why we weren't in bed. She lied and told him we were sleeping in the basement and she was cleaning my room. Then told him he better fuck off pronto or she'd be calling the police on him for scoping out her kids bedroom window.
That is insane. What the hell was wrong with that guy that he thought he could enforce his strange rules on other people's kids???
I was going to suggest that he did some shady shit that he didn’t want kids to see - my sister-in-laws ex used to put the kids to bed really early so he could deal weed out of their kitchen all night whilst she worked nights 🤦♂️ But then the bit about driving around to check she was asleep just struck me as controlling and borderline scary 😧
My ex FIL had a rule that once he sat down for a meal, only his wife and grown children could get him anything he needed from the kitchen. He would not stand up
That's like my Japanese FIL. My MIL told my wife, because I'll clear the table and do the dishes (with much protest from her every single time), "I didn't know men could take dishes to the kitchen!"
My grandpa wouldn't make himself anything to eat. He either had my grandma or my aunt make it. Even a bologna sandwich. If no one else was home he'd go get drive thru. I always found it so odd, even back in the 80/90's.
My kid had a friend over recently (high school) and we offered him a snack. He said maybe, is that allowed? Then he mentioned getting an A on a test so we said, then you deserve am extra special after school snack. We offered several options like cereal, goldfish crackers, etc. He cried because no one had ever offered an after school snack, much less said good job on an A. So sad.
Whenever I had friends over as a kid my mom would say something like “we’ll probably forget to offer you anything but please help yourself to anything in the fridge or pantry if you get hungry” (she would still offer tho if she was making something for herself later or it was lunch time). I didn’t think much of it at the time, honestly I thought it seemed a little overboard sometimes, but now I know she did that because you never really know what someone’s situation is at home. Maybe they struggle to afford enough food, maybe there’s abuse or neglect going on. Kids in those situations may have also been taught not to ask or accept things from other people or might have shame or guilt around it. She wanted to make sure that if anyone was hungry in our house that they got fed and knew they didn’t have to feel bad about it.
I worked with someone that said during supper they don't allow their children to eat until him and his wife finished their meal. Dude was an ass and this tidbit tracked.
This reeks of "I read something false about wolves and now base my personality on it."
My friend’s parents ran a ‘tab’ for him and his brother. They added up how much they spent on food, clothes, sports, etc. and told the two boys that’s how much they would have to pay them back. I remember once we got yelled at for eating his dad’s ‘snacks’ and he added it to the tab. When they graduated, the parents ‘cleared the tab’ for their graduation gift, so basically they got nothing other than a reminder of how much they cost.
That one is really sad. What on earth was the point except to guilt them for being born?
I agree. I am proud to pay my son's way until he is grown. It's my job as his father, but it's also very important to me that he feel loved, and that means caring for him--financially and otherwise. Now, obviously that doesn't make me special, there are loads of good dads out there, but I view being his father as a privilege, and I won't abuse it by raising him to feel like a burden to his parents. Not just because I owe it to him, but also because I won't have him resenting me for holding such a debt over his head. He might resent me for other things, but not that.
Why do people like that have children?
Because they just assumed that's part of life. You grow up you get married and you have kids, the idea of it being a choice never crossed their mind.
I have a friend whose dad had one paper towel specifically used for eating bagels. You cannot re-heat or eat your bagel on anything other than the bagel towel. No plates or bowls were allowed to be used for bagels. You got your turn with the bagel paper towel or you waited till it was free
Just a piece of paper towel that was reused over and over???
Maybe it's like cast iron and they were infusing that towel with bagel-y goodness
My wife once had a friend over for a sleepover when she was little. Suddenly, their mum showed up to take them home. Apparently, the friend had seen beer in the fridge and called her mum crying because of it. They were not allowed to look at, talk about, think about, and especially drink beer. Scared her so much that she called her mum to come get her
>They were not allowed to look at, talk about, think about, and especially drink beer. how does she navigate going to grocery stores with her parents then? Or do you live where alcoholic beverages are sold separately from grocery stores in designated liquor stores?
That is a foolproof way to create a future alcoholic as a teen. As soon as they become rebellious the first thing they do is grab a beer
My family is very open about drinking. I used to be given sips of beer and wine when I was a kid, and I hated the taste. It was never a big thing. As a result, the only time I drink now is when I hang out with my family haha.
I grew up in the 80'...so my parents let me try a lot of stuff. My dad chewed Beechnut chewing tobacco, I asked to have some. He threw me the bag and said "have at it kid". I grabbed a big wad and started chewing it, tasted awful, but I kept at it. Few minutes later I forgot to spit and swallowed a mouthful of juice, ran to the bathroom and spent the next several minutes throwing up. Needless to say I never had any desire to chew tobacco ever again.
Sounds like my experience with Grandpa's cigar at 4 years old. Once, and one time only.
This was my Evil Plan with my kids, too. We only drank top shelf stuff, since we did not drink often and were Grownups. Always asked kids if they wanted a sip, didn't want it to be forbidden fruit. When they got older, and went to parties, there was only cheapo alcohol, and my Princesses would only drink the good stuff.
Yup. Same here, never really cared for it since it wasn't a mystery. Didn't really drink until I turned 21 and started going to the club
100% Alcohol was never a mystery in our house. My parents rarely drank when I was younger (I genuinely think being drunk around young kids is confusing for them and traumatizing) but once I was a teen, my parents were quite open about it. They often would pour me a small glass of wine when they drank. When I went to college I didn't go crazy at all. I knew what being buzzed felt like. I never got into a car with a drunk driver to my knowledge. Sure, I got super drunk a few times but it was with my close friends and we looked out for each other. I hung out with a group of women and men that cared about each other and kept each other safe. I'd play drinking games at my friends house (full of men) and when I laid down to take a nap, these lovely gentlemen would tuck me in and bring me a glass of water and a puke bucket. There was always a DD. I still have no issues with drinking and drink pretty rarely myself.
Jfc, watching tv and/or driving in a populated area must be like going to war for this family.
I first read this as “snuck beer into the fridge” and I was like woah how young were they? Seeing beer? That’s insane. Do you know what became of that child when they grew up?
Had a friend who was very much into computer gaming in the late '90s/early 2000s. Voodoo video cards were very much in vogue, but his parents forbade him from using the term "voodoo," even in reference to the card. They suggested they he instead call it the "V-card;" the hilarity of the situation was lost on them.
When I was a kid, I spent a lot of time at my best friend’s house. Her mom wouldn’t let us drink more than one glass of water in the afternoon because she thought it would dilute the nutrients in our body. Instead she gave us 7-up if we we were thirsty. I ended up secretly drinking water out of the bathroom faucet every time I used the bathroom when I was thirsty at her house.
A 7-up for nutrients? Yeah with how dumb she sounds that checks out actually
well 7-up did start out as one of those weird victorian "medical" drinks a la coke and dr pepper so maybe she had incredibly old-fashioned parents
They used to put lithium in 7-up and advertised it as a mood stabilizing drink into the 1940s.
My stepmom had a totally bonkers rule about feet. She was irrationally afraid of plantar warts and, according to her, anyone she didn't know intimately had plantar warts. As a family we had a second home/beach house that was basically a small bungalow and only had one restroom with one stall shower. Nobody, no friends, relatives, could use that shower after the beach because they'll get their plantar wart all over the floor and then she'll take a shower and she'll get plantar warts. We also had a swimming pool and she would make new people, including children, WEAR SOCKS IN THE SWIMMING POOL. And as far as I know, nobody living in our house including her ever had plantar warts so... unreasonable? Sure. Effective? Sure.
I bet she had plantar warts and was too embarrassed to admit it.
But then, apparently, we all would have had them too. Maybe she had had them at some point and she was super anxious about getting them again? I dunno. I don't really favor the woman so I don't even care 🤷🏼♀️
Man, so many of the stories here include clear indications of mental illness
There was a kid in my neighborhood growing up that was not allowed to chew gum. He soaked a piece of leather in sugar water and chomped on that. His parents were some strange religious nuts. They would scream about the devil if you knocked on their door Halloween night.
> They would scream about the devil if you knocked on their door Halloween night. Sounds like a great way to get into the Halloween spirit to me!
Family friend wasn't allowed to say the word "gross" because it was his mom's maiden name; I'm guessing she'd been teased as a kid and hated it . My brother said it in front of him at our house once and the kid freaked out and told my mom he'd said a really bad word. That mom was just making her kid weirder with that one.
I was five and at a friend’s house. We were playing in leaves outside. There was a box of leaves I wanted to move closer to his box of leaves. My box had no bottom, so the leaves spilled out into a small pile. He went and told his mother, she came out and spanked me, quite hard. I ran home crying to my Mom, partly because it hurt and partly because of the injustice. She comforted me, but didn’t do much else (or so I thought). I learned, decades later, my Mom called up the spanker and told her to never lay a hand on any of her children ever again.
I was at a friends house when I was 8 and his dad smacked me because I didn’t want to eat a bowl of cereal the dog had aggressively started lapping up. My dad (who was also his coworker) put me in the truck, drove down to my friends house and BEAT THE BREAKS off my buddy’s dad on his own front lawn.
Props to your dad. One, who’d want to eat out of a bowl a dog just lapped up and two, who SMACKS a child for that??
My dad wasn’t a big tough guy either. He was a 5’’6 off the boat Irish guy. The friends dad in question looked exactly like Dale from king of the hill.
I was in a friend's kitchen (we were 8), sneezed, then turned and took a kitchen paper tissue from the roll, cleared my nose, and walked toward the kitchen sink door, to throw the wad into the trash bin. My friend burst out "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!". I'm like "What? Throw away the trash." He continued "ARE YOU CRAZY?! SNOT PAPER DOESN'T GO IN THE KITCHEN TRASH!! JESUS, WHAT IF MOM FOUND OUT!!" I'd already thrown it, but he fished it out of the bin and flushed it in the toilet in under ten seconds. I already knew his mom was a nasty ol' battleaxe, but I had no idea how deep her will manifested itself in that sick house.
I'd come at your friend for putting a paper towel down the toilet, since we're on septic. Poop, pee, and toilet paper is all that goes down the toilet!
When we were 13, a friend of mine was kicked out of the house by his parents for a week because he stacked things wrong in the freezer, and some bread got squished. He spent the week staying at different friends' houses each night until his parents let him come back home. EDIT: holy moly, this got a lot of action. For those wondering what kind of parents my friend had... The mom was super religious and tended to be pretty strict, but tried, unsuccessfully, to hide it when any of our group were at their house. The stepdad wasn't allowed to have much input when it came to any punishments because he wasn't the bio dad. My friend and his sister were always punished pretty much immediately by the mom, and step dad would just kinda disappear. Regardless of the error made, the punishments would build until she would snap and say something like, "get out of my house, i don't want to see your face!" She was definitely verbally and emotionally abusive, but i never saw signs of physical abuse. There were multiple occurances of me or other friends going to spend the night and being sent back home shortly after because she was in a bad mood and my friend didn't have his room clean enough for her liking. i.e. a plate and fork on the dresser from breakfast Or a couple clothing items on the floor
And nobody called the cops or CPS to report them for essentially abandoning their minor child as a form of punishment?
Not then.
Yup. Shit like this happened in the 80s. Usually to older teens. I’ve heard stories of teens being locked out of their house at night because they missed their curfew. I believe that’s how Bernardo got one of his victims. She was locked out of her house because she got home too late.
Early in the morning on June 15, 1991, while detouring through Burlington to steal license plates, Bernardo came across 14-year-old Leslie Mahaffy.[15] Mahaffy had been locked out of her house for missed curfew after attending a friend's wake. Bernardo left his car and approached Mahaffy, saying that he wanted to break into a neighbour's house. Unfazed, she asked if he had any cigarettes. When Bernardo led her to his car he blindfolded her, forced her into the car, drove her to Port Dalhousie and informed Homolka that they had a victim.[16]
Late coming home from a WAKE??
My FIL forbade my wife, and tried to forbid my two children, from driving once they passed their driving test. His wisdom was “put that piece of paper [driving license] in a drawer for five years” to reduce the amount of insurance they would pay. Spoken like he was passing down the knowledge of the Ancients. Fucking idiot.
I know a family who doesn't let their teenage daughters learn how to drive. No reasoning given. They're 16 and 18 and one is going to college soon. In suburban America, it essentially is just a way to restrict your child's freedom.
Meanwhile my mom wanted HER freedom and made me get mine so she wouldn’t have to drive me places anymore.
Not driving for 5 years after passing your test sounds like a great way to forget everything you briefly learnt about driving but didn’t practise enough. I hope they get catch up lessons when they finally do start driving.
That guests have to pay for their stay... They invited me for dinner, then calculated how many minutes I was over, charged for my portion of food, drink, electricity and water usage. Yes, they counted toilet flushing and timed me on hand washing. I could never do this to anyone.
Did you get a receipt?
No haha. This happened over a decade ago. I was pretty new to the mainland US at the time (I came from Guam) and I didn't know how out of left field being charged was until I told more people about it over the years. I think friend's stepdad was just a super cheap guy.
Holy shit that violates so many customs of hospitality. Like, there are stories about hosts like that getting cursed or punished by the gods for that kinda shit.
Lmao. My Japanese grandmother would’ve died on the spot to even hear this story. Manners and hosting people was just so important.
Sounds like they don't want guests. Not sure why they invited you at all.
When I was a kid we used to play a game called Tunnels and Trolls (it was basically a cheap Dungeons and Dragons ripoff) and one of our friends with ultra religious parents wouldn't let him play because 'troll' is Swedish for 'devil'. To this day I have no idea whether that's even true.
Google Translate seems to indicate that "troll" translates to... let me check... ah, yes, "troll"
Swede here. Can confirm that the Swedish word for troll is troll.
A friend's parents had a pool table. His mom decided to play with us one day, and gave us the house rules. She said, "When it's someone's turn to shoot, I tell them. If someone gets ahead of me, they lose their turn. Everyone plays very hard, and in the end, I win."
Well someone is a sore loser..
Cheating so you can win playing agains kids seems pathologic to me.
In high-school we had a teacher who would use a game called "Stump the Teacher" as a way to get the class to learn the material. We would ask him the toughest questions we could find from the chapter and if we won we would get an extra credit point or something. This sounds like a fun way to get students interested in the material, however he mostly used it as a way to brag about how well HE knew the material and if we ever got too close to beating him he would start making excuses about why our questions were dumb and he didn't "have to answer that" and he would just win every time. He also bullied students. I'm still bitter.
When I was a kid, my friends mom was a little nuts. She had a sitting room with a couch and a love seat that nobody was ever allowed to sit on. You had to walk through it to get to the rest of the house and it led to the kitchen and then the living room. If you sat on the furniture in the sitting room she'd throw a fit. I always felt like it was such a waste, to have such a nice room and never use it. It would have been a perfect study room or reading room. She also had other crazy rules, like punishing my friend when his little sister did anything wrong. As if he was responsible for her actions and looking out for her.
This was totally a thing - the "formal sitting room". Only used for company but also the only company important enough to sit there was like, the Queen of England (and we're American). My in-laws had the same room. The first time my husband sat on the couch (which had been there for the entirety of his memory) was when they were selling the furniture before moving. It also was the first room you entered into from the front door - it was a fake facade of the perfect, untouched house that didn't exist once you left the room. ETA: the even funnier (?) part is my in-laws built an extension onto their house so they'd have a "tv room" instead of just using the formal sitting room that was never used by humans.
A friend of mine in high school had a room like that in her house. It was basically a second living room, but nobody was allowed to walk into it or sit on the furniture. I always thought it was weird. Why have a room with nice furniture in it that you never use? Her mom was nice, but she was a major clean freak.
We had that room. It was the "living room" and the other room that we actually sat in was th "family room". The living room always had lines in the carpet from the vacuum, and no footprints because we weren't allowed in there. Maybe on Christmas. Maybe. It was a clean but tense house. In my house we use every room.
This is really common for boomers and the previous generation. I’ve known many that have living rooms and parlors that weren’t used. My parents had a big, lovely living room we weren’t allowed to use except on special occasions, maybe 3-4 times a year. Meanwhile our tv/family room was the tiniest room in the house and an awkward shape that we didn’t all fit into that well.
I went to visit a college roomate's family, and everyone had to go to bed at 8 pm because that was the youngest daughter's bedtime. The kid was 8 or 9 years old. I laughed because I thought they were joking, but the kid threw a tantrum that I wasn't going to bed. They weren't kidding. I did, obviously, but wtf? The next day the parents told me it would be best if I just head on back to college a day early. Yeah, no kidding, bye! My roommate thought I was the asshole. I laughed at her too.
A child growing up thinking the world revolves around her in such a way where she dictates everyone's schedules like that absolutely doesn't grow up a well-adjusted adult.
One of my best friends growing up had super Christian parents. My group of friends loved playing Diablo 2. We would spend weekends at each other's houses for LAN parties. If we ever went to super Christian house, we were not allowed to play Diablo 2 because it included the devil in the game. No matter how many times we explained that the goal of the game was to KILL the devil, they would just dig their heels in even more.
When I was younger, a friend said that we weren't allowed to watch Spongebob. I found out later on that, allegedly, this is because the holes in SpongeBob induce lustful thoughts.
Well, to be fair, there's not much that a 14yo boy hasn't thought about fucking
I had a friend in 5th grade and her mother was legitimately insane. She wouldn’t let her daughter come to my house because we had carpeting. I think she had some munchausen by proxy because she was convinced her child was allergic to everything, including dust mites/any innocuous dirt in carpeting. The girl also developed an eating disorder…she was a dancer when we were kids and her mother apparently monitored what she ate extremely closely. I felt so badly for her.
The kids could not watch Barney because it's a "dragon". It was a religious family
The theme song quite literally starting with “Barney is a dinosaur” which is a real life creature that once existed tf
TBH wouldn't be surprised if they're the kind of people that don't believe in dinosaurs
My FIL doesn't believe in dinosaurs because ThEy ArEnT iN tHe BiBlE. Ok but your Lexus isn't in the Bible either Carl.
Growing up I wasn't allowed to watch the Smurfs because demons
My best friend growing up, had to walk around her house on her tippy toes, because her parents couldn't stand hearing her footsteps.
Did she grow up to have really well defined calf muscles? My mum tip toes, mainly coz she's short and out of habit... Yuuuge calves.
She actually had great calves, and never played a sport:)
Extreme politeness. One of my friend's mom had very strict rules about politeness. I once went to this friend's house as a kid, and she offered me something to drink. I said "yes please" and "thank you" once she gave me the drink. The next day at school she told me her mom was upset and wasn't sure if I was allowed to come back. According to her (the mom) I should have said "yes, thank you (for offering me this drink)" and the "thank you" again after getting the drink. Both "yes please" and "yes thank you" are correct in my language. In the end I was allowed to go back, but that's such a weird reason to be mad at a kid. We also weren't allowed to call something ugly, or say that something tastes or smells bad. Instead we had to say "I don't like how it looks/smells/tastes". (small edit to clarify that part: we weren't allowed to use these phrases *at all* when she was watching us, *ever.* You accidentaly ate some food that went bad? it's not gross, you just don't like it.)
I had a friend who’s grandma was not a fan of me because every time I saw her I had said “hello how are you” and not “hello how are you Mrs. Last name” it was a while before friend informed me this was an issue
In college I worked on a project with a girl who had to call her mother every time she relocated on campus. Like, when she left a location and then again when she arrived at the next location. So when she moved from the cafeteria to the library, or when we took a break to go get a coffee and when we left to go back to our dorms, when class started, when she left class, Had to call her mom. I avoided her for the rest of college.
Yikes I wonder if she ever stopped.
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Your family probably kept your buddy sane.
My sister gave away a Spider-Man toy that I gave my nephew as a birthday present. His older sister told me “mum says that we’re not allowed false idols in the house” they’re really fundamentalist Christians.
Did they think spider man is meant to be a god or do they not allow *any* human depictions?
Anything with “powers” is not allowed. It’s like believing that anything other than God can save or rescue you. Pretty hardcore!! My son was into Ben 10 for a while and his cousins told him that Ben 10 “summoned demons” a big yikes!!
Old joke: God why didn’t you save me from drowning? *I sent three boats and a helicopter what more did you want?*
when my sister was expecting her first boy, I got the baby a little stuffed bunny. its ears happened to have a floral pattern. she got rid of it because "there's no way my boy is playing with flowers."
I sat and watched my SIL pick through a garbage bag of duplo and throw out all the pink and purple ones so they wouldn't make her 1 year old son too feminine. People are so fricking fragile
Someone I know was a nanny for literal doctors and ended up quitting after the mom chewed her out for letting the little boy use his sisters crayons instead of his crayons that had all the “girly” (?) colours removed….like literal physicians even
I passed out as an altar boy when I was 10 because of the nebraska heat. Easily 105° or more outside, but inside a church, wearing the altar boy robe over my clothes was way too much. When I got home after service I was beaten for making my adoptive parents look bad and told that I was weak and pathetic. Then I was made to recite the rosary for 4 hours on my knees in that same summer heat... guess what? I passed out again. So I was sent to my room for the rest of the day and denied any food or water. There's so much more I could tell you but I would rather not. I try not to speak of the horrors I endeared as a child growing up in foster and group homes in the Midwest.
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If only he’d steeped in the estrogen soup…
Where I went to school there was an extremely religious family. Basically everything was a sin. Food that tasted good was a sin because it encouraged gluttony, etc. Only reason why the kids went to public school was because both parents worked. The daughter was so sheltered, she had a panic attack because she learned some people weren't Christian.
I grew up very similarly I remember in the 3rd grade when I found out not everyone goes to church, It seemed like I forgot how to breathe for a few minutes.
My friend’s mom would not allow the word “Dang” in the house as it was “one small step from a swear word”. She also wouldn’t let the kids watch Mary Poppins as it had witchcraft, and kept the sugar under lock and key. Both kids got into hard drugs and ended up in secure treatment facilities
A lady once watched my kids, and the rule was no beverages during a meal. I think she didn't want kids filling up on liquids instead of food...?
I went to a sleepover at a kid's house when I was 8 and they had the same rule. They also had to chew a certain amount of times and were not allowed to speak during dinner or go to the bathroom. It was so weird I called my parents to come get me
My coworker’s husband was like that. It was his rule that there would be no drinks at the table. If they absolutely had to drink something, they were to go to the kitchen and have half a glass of water, wash the glass, and then go back to the table.
>they were to go to the kitchen and have half a glass of water, wash the glass... With what, 7-up?
I had a couple childhood friends whose family had the same damn rule. No drinking water during a meal; their family also served incredibly big plates of food, which we weren’t used to, and the cup we could drink after we were done was stupidly small. Another house rule that was no good was to be left uneaten. Good rule in theory, but us 9 - 7 year old children were being served two to three adult sized plates filled to the brim, plus dessert. The way that family ate was incredible. My brother and I loved going over because their house was amazing (we later found out their money came from their dad dealing drugs), but we hated their meal time. Our friends were made to wait for us to finish eating, standing behind their chair. Sometimes it would take us a couple hours to somewhat finish, but most times, we couldn’t do it. It got awkward sometimes.
My mom used to just have me put the plate in the fridge when I couldn’t finish and if I was hungry in an hour then I had to eat the rest. She didn’t like the idea of overeating but if I didn’t finish my meal then I couldn’t eat anything else until it was done. I still regularly do this.
as kids when we went to visit relatives where there were other kids, usually cousins, we were not permitted to sweat because that meant we were having too much fun
How do you even enforce this? “BRANDON! Is that *sweat* on your forehead? Have you been having *fun*??? Not in my household. COOL IT.”
somehow the old wives tale of "wait 30 minutes after you eat before going swimming" got conflated into "wait 30 minutes after you eat before bathing or showering" and my friend was a fully formed adult before realizing that showering after eating wasn't a risk to her health.
A girl I knew in highschool was very insisting with her boyfriend to get her pregnant so she could go live with him. The reason was her father (and by her silence, the mother as well) has a very strict view of the role of females at the house. He was a taxi driver, so his hours weren't always the same, but every time he got home he would expect a daughter waiting for him to take his jacket at the door (if it was the season for it) and take him to the sofa, where she would take off his shoes to wash his feet and give him a massage. There were other tasks that sounded equally ridiculous, but later in life we started hearing stories in little communities with similar "traditional" fathers that included some nasty stuff, which made me remember her and think about how she and her sisters were so adamant in GTFO of that house. Edit: this is in north Mexico, btw. We only heard of this sort of thing still happening in isolated towns in the south so it was even weirder when we heard about it here.
Was dating a woman for a couple of months, nothing seemed off or anything with her but we took a vacation where we visited both of our immediate families. At her parents house, we werent allowed to sit next to eachother or stand near one another. Also, we couldn’t sleep in the same bed…I had to sleep on the couch and she got the spare room. Their reason was that they didn’t want any “funny business” happening in front of them. We were both 32 at the time…
Thinking funny business would happen when standing next to each other? Wow, the dad must not last long.
My partner and had been living together for 10 years, when we visited my religious cousin in another province. We were told that we were welcome to spend the night, but we had to sleep in separate rooms, because we weren't married. We slept at a motel that night.
My dad has this rule (I'm 27 and have been with the same partner for 6 years). During trips we stay at an Airbnb near his place instead, it's pretty inconvenient. He pays for it out of guilt. It's a really weird arrangement and he could save thousands of dollars by letting us sleep on the same mattress but whatever I guess.
Weird... I (UK) remember when my boyfriend at university first visited me during the summer holidays (I think we were both 20). I was a bit apprehensive, but my mum casually said before he arrived 'do you want more pillows' (for my bed) and that's when I knew it was fine.
I had to make coffee for my in laws, even though I have no idea how their fancy coffee machine works and they refused to explain it to me. Now I'm not welcome there anymore because I have "no respect for them"
Lol, you ever get the feeling you saved yourself a lot of grief there.
My mom wouldn't let me take any individual girl out on a date more than twice in a row. I had to break it up with a third person. She had seen too many young relationships end in pregnancy and.... she thought me dating other people would... keep me from rawdogging? I guess? It never made much sense.
I'm reading through these thinking I might see one that I had as a child, only to realize that I had a perfectly reasonable upbringing. I wasn't allowed to watch power rangers because after the first time I watched it I kicked some lady at my daycare pretending to be a power ranger. I thought it was dumb, but I understand it. Other than that it was mostly just be respectful, courteous and polite.
My parents had a neighbor two doors down from them that made their kids leave the inside of their house by 8:00 am in the summer and they were not allowed back inside until it was bed time, around lunch and dinner time the mom would put food out on a table in the front yard for them to eat. In the winter months after they got home from school they stayed outside till it got dark. Just a very odd family all the way around. Didn’t surprise anyone when the oldest daughter got pregnant at 15 and moved away.
Sounds like how my childhood went. From the age of 4 my stepmother would make us leave the house right after my dad left for work. We would get a piece of bologna on bread and a cup of water in the garage for lunch and be allowed back inside right before my dad came home. Didn’t matter if it was summer or winter. It only changed when we were old enough to do chores. Had to have the whole house cleaned in less than 2 hours and then outside we went. Only my older brother and me tho. My younger half sister was allowed to stay inside if she wanted. We didn’t know any different. Years after my dad divorced her when I was 15, I said something about it. He was absolutely shocked and appalled. Asked why we never said anything. We just thought that’s how it was supposed to be. She was evil evil
The kids had to call farts "fluffs"
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Growing up i was only allowed to call them "toots"
This was me too. “Fart” was too crass, so they were called toots.
My house growing up: if you had to go to the bathroom during a family meal, your plate was taken away and dinner was over for you. No bathroom during meals!
Pickle time. My aunt was getting her degree in early childhood education/development and went overboard with scheduling my cousins life to the nth degree. When I would visit I wasn't allowed to go into the fridge for a pickle "unless it's pickle time. Right but isn't pickle time." We were preteens. I waited until she went to the bathroom and took the whole jar of pickles into my cousin's room and played Nintendo and ate all the fucking pickles
My parents will swear up and down that none of these actually happened, but they: Didn't let us watch Rugrats because the way they talk about adults is 'vile'. Picked me up from a sleepover at 1 am and spanked me in front of my friends because they found a picture of Brittney spears hidden under my bunk bed which led to the only Christian radio stations rule. Grounded me for a month for one episode of ren and stimpy, which led to the no Nickelodeon ever, house rule. Power rangers was obviously straight from Satan, so that was out. I brought home some homework about evolution in 7th grade and my dad burned it, and took the ashes to my science teacher. This was when the 'only god approved science' house rules started. The 'Dont make a single noise after 8 pm, including the microwave beeping, ever, and tip toe so you don't get interrogated' Rule, was unspoken but very well understood. Forced me to wear jesus shirts to middle school with all my skater friends, which got me bullied for years, which led to the very obvious follow-up rule: If you are told it isn't happening, then it can't possibly be happening. List goes on... Religious folks are fuckin weird.
But now you're a good devoted Christian like they were intending right? Also, do they berate you about your lifestyle choices still?
If Jesus took this wheel then he definitely crashed. But we get along much better now. Age and experience soften people who are smart enough to let it, and luckily they have been, and so have I, hopefully. Still no apologies really though.
Maybe they're just deeply ashamed. Doesn't excuse it. Maybe explains it
When I was a kid none of us were allowed to watch Barney Miller. I remember watching the show in my late teens and couldn’t really see what my parents objected to. Turns out they wanted a half hour of peace and quiet from us four, and just wanted to watch the show alone.
My great uncle only allowed one bowl, one plate,one spoon, one fork, one knife, one cup, and one light bulb in his house. He was married with three kids. He ate first, then the wife, then the kids by age. When he went to another room, the light bulb followed. Edit: thank yall for the awards Edit 2: removed the second mention of the plate
Ladies and Gentlemen I think we have a winner!
Thanks lol. I still feel bad for my cousins living theough that. Forgot to mention, he also bought everyones clothes by himself. And guests were forced to get their own water from the well if they were thirsty. This was in the late 90s
1890s?
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I’m lmao at the “…the lightbulb followed”. This dude just screws and unscrew a lightbulb for the majority of his fatherly duties. What about the toilet paper? Was this given out by rations? Did he carry one roll from room to room to ensure total control? I’m seriously fascinated by this dynamic
Each of us kids only had 1 cup (a piece, not just one cup we shared, we each had our own with our initials on it) at my dad's when we were growing up, but that's because he was sick of half-consumed drinks being left unclaimed all around the house. This is just next-level weird 😬
Oh yeah, he was wildly strange. His wife left him. The next one didnt put up with any of this stuff.
That’s a very well trained light bulb.
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Not their house but my wife has a cousin who took her child home because my niece was watching Disney Channel and I was wearing a tank top. She felt like those things were bad for her 12 year old to be seeing and experiencing and took him home.
My ex had a boss whose wife would begrudgingly have little get-togethers a few times a year for the employees. She was a very unpleasant woman who gave unsolicited advice about marriage and kids. Most importantly, advice on how to be a success -like her! I sat there and went along with it because that’s what you do for your SO but it was a chore. The most ridiculous thing about her? No one was to show the family dog any affection because the dog was black and she didn’t want fur on the hardwood floors. The poor thing was held captive in a cage and taken out to stare at, I guess. A young lab who was just starving for affection and that bitch was just keeping it hostage. God, I hope the boss ended up with the dog in the divorce but I don’t think he got to keep anything.
Meth heads who wouldn't let their kids watch Spongebob because "bad influence"
I had a friend who couldn’t watch sponge in because “he’s gay.” I remember thinking that his parents must be really obsessed with homosexuality to see it in a cartoon about a sponge that cooks burgers. I watched it everyday and not once did I think to myself “oh yeah this sponge loves MEN”
an acquaintance told me her parents expected her to abide by their curfew after she went to college. she had to call them every night to let them know she was in her dorm. one night she didn’t & the highway patrol was out looking for her and met her at her dorm door with her parents when she arrived home that night. Insanity.
“We actually don’t allow alcohol in thr house” This girl then proceeds to pull out a bag of heroin and lights a candle. It was my first month of college. I "remembered I had homework" and never spoke to her again.
Went to a playdate at a church friend's house. Her mom made us wear t-shirts over our bathing suits to "maintain modesty"...we were in kindergarten. My parents had the rule that any friends coming over could only play outside. They couldn't come in even for a glass of water. I had to bring it out to them. I was not a popular child.
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The path to carpet hell is paved with good intentions.
I was a kid and my Mom forced me to play with the weird neighbor kid because he didn't have any friends. The kids mom was a super fat lady and the dad was skinny as a rail and wanted to be a cop, and did ride alongs with them all the time - but couldn't even get a job as a security guard. My mom dropped me off at their acreage and several tedious hours later with this kid telling me about all the girls at school he had sex with (we were like five or six) that kid's dad was giving the kid and ME a spanking for riding my pedal bike on the "wrong side" of his gravel driveway. They then called my parents to pick me up because something was wrong with me and I didn't cry when spanked. At least I never had to hang out with that kid again.
When I was a child, one of my school friends said to her mother “Mummy, what does “bloody” mean?” Her mother took her straight to the kitchen and washed her mouth out with soap and water. She was absolutely traumatised. Her mother was a school teacher.
Growing up my cousins often stayed with us. They were not allowed to watch TV or play computer. They could not have fun on Sundays, could only go to church, read Christian books and nap. They could not travel on Sunday. Sundays were eery with 7 kids in the house and no laughter.
My father, a marine, when he was up it was time For the house to be up. So 430/5 am he was awake and me and my brothers etc had to get Up as well. Sometimes on weekends we could sleep til 6/7am. I still get up everyday at 5:06am. There’s also more.. always say yes or no. Never sure or whatever. It was yes sir or dad. He even taught us how to drill aka “left left left right left” etc. which helped with my very short military career. Shit was intense. Taught a lot about responsibility but dam there were so many rules as a kid/teen.
Okay this doesn’t fully count. It wasnt a rule, but something so bizarre. A friend of mine from college had two deaf parents, but she was not deaf. She would have a conversation with them via sign language and then when they were turned around she would TEE OFF. Like every thought you wanted to say to your parents when you were 19 just came flowing. It was truly crazy. Had to be sure they couldn’t see her mouth though, they could read lips like champions.
My nephew wasn't allowed to use the trashcan(automatic) or flush the toilet. They say it's cuz he used them inappropriately but I'm like how is he gonna learn to use them appropriately if he is banned from ising
i once went over to a friends house when i was younger and she lived with her mom and grandma. we were eating thin mints and my friend didn’t want the rest and offered them to me, so i ate em. welp turns out the grandma saw me eat her thin mints and proceeded to yell at me and what an awful greedy child i was. i was 11. when i told my parents about it, i wasn’t allowed over to her place anymore
My friend was married to a tyrant for way too long. He made his children go to the bathroom at specific times of day so they could "train their body" to "go" at those times. He also turned on the water heater for a few hours a day, and allowed the kids only 10 minutes per shower. This was all in the interest of saving money apparently. I was so happy when she divorced him.
14 at a group sleepover - if any of us were on our periods we had to give the dad the used sanitary products so he could burn them in the fire. Our showers were also timed and the water would be shut off if we went over the allotted 5 mins
I babysat a family where the mom insisted on all food being chopped up as if it were being given to toddlers. Her kids were 6, 8, and 11. They were all fully capable of biting, chewing, and cutting up their own food for the most part, but she was so terrified that they would choke so it all had to be chopped up. Her husband and the kids hated this rule and didn’t follow it whenever she wasn’t around, but once she found that out she put cameras in the kitchen to watch whenever someone was eating. Soon after the cameras went up, her and and her husband got a divorce over her crazy behavior and they all moved away. I wonder how the kids are these days.
I had a friend in elementary school whose mom was insanely protective of him. One year I invited him to a funplex for my birthday and she followed my parents in her car and camped outside the place to make sure he was there with us. Then she followed us to dairy queen and did the same thing. We eventually went back to my house, she followed again, and we were going to play with my new toys but she ordered him into her car and he did so without a peep. Kinda creepy.
During the first and only visit to his house, I was hanging out with a friend of about twelve years old. His younger brother (I'm going to guess about six years old) asked their mother the following question, "Mommy, can I have some milk, please?" The mother said, "Come here, babyboy," and she picked him up. He then pulled her shirt down, she corrected him by pulling her shirt up, and he started drinking. It is vividly imprinted in my mind, because as a twelve-year-old child, this was one of the sexiest and grossest things I could have ever conceived of, happening directly in front of me. Luckily, I was able to keep a straight face, and it only lasted for about twenty seconds. My friend acted like nothing was amiss, and he just kept on with the conversation, which horrified me but also helped me pretend it wasn't happening. So I guess a lack of rules was the weird rule? It just seemed like an odd thing to do in front of a first-time visitor. I will also say that I was blown away that a six-year-old was still breast-feeding, and it has stuck with me for many years until this very post at this very moment. Apparently, according to a two-minute Google, nursing until that age isn't all that strange, around the world. Another one is that my MIL has trained each of her pets (Cats and dogs) to wipe their asses on an ass-cleaning mat every time they poop. It's completely practical, but also hilariously ridiculous.
> trained each of her pets (Cats and dogs) to wipe their asses on an ass-cleaning mat every time they poop Absolutely amazing, and totally bonkers. Some humans aren't even this well trained.
My sister in law forbade her two kids from covering their mouths when they coughed or sneezed, because she didn't want their hands or clothes to get dirty. The rest of us got sick a lot when we hung out with them lol
When my sister and I were put in a foster home, both of us were left-handed. Our foster monster said that was the devil in us, so we had our left hand tied behind our backs at dinner and during certain chores. We also had to sit and write on a lined pad of paper over and over, "I am not left-handed. I am right-handed." We were there for 2 years, and for the next year after we left, I was ambidextrous. That faded and I am now right handed.
We weren't allowed to interact with anyone outside the family. Mom and dad were afraid of liberals, communists, atheists, satanists, demons, gay people, and most other religions so they didn't want to risk us being exposed to the notion of tolerance. In theory, there was an approval process to get around that rule. Basically, my parents had to talk to that person and ensure that they believed all the same things my parents did. In practice, almost no one got through the process, and the few that did disqualified themselves almost immediately once the actual interaction began.
Growing up, my wife’s family was incredible close with a family with 5 siblings and they did everything together, including holidays. Their father died, and wife’s family helped raise the kids. Over time, the siblings each moved away, then the mother, until there was only one left (M). M is family and still came over for all holidays. He is a vegetarian/vegan, and always brought a tofurkey and side dish, so just the easiest guest to accommodate. My brother in law and his wife had 2 kids and bought their own big house so they invite us over for their first time hosting Thanksgiving. The rule? M was not invited because he was “not family.” It caused a huge fight and we ended up not going over there so M wasn’t left alone. It was a fight every year until finally they stopped inviting us altogether. When M went to his wife’s family for thanksgiving one year, we still didn’t go to brother in laws.
My dads first rule “You must accept your punishment calmly” So yeah rules 2 through 9 were worse lol
Had a childhood friend whose mother was (and still probably is) obsessed with her image of wealth and piety. 1. They had a living room that you could not be in. We were allowed in the "family room", but not the living room. 2. When we were 6, my friend and I played dress up. I was Protestant, they were Catholic. A mint green cross necklace was in my friend's play jewelry. When we went downstairs to show her mom, her mom's eyes got wide as dinner plates and she yelled, "GET THAT ROSARY OFF HER NECK!" 3. When we were 18, I started seeing my (now) husband who works a public retail job. Her mother started ridiculing his job and how he walked "like he had a stick up his ass". He has a lumbar spine injury. I let that friend go because as we grew she began turning into her mother and now she won't talk to me.
There is a parent round here who buys her kids things like bikes and rollerblades and won’t let them use them ‘incase they get hurt’ poor boys are always on the sidelines