If you were born in the 1980s or earlier, you had a childhood without computers or the internet. You didn’t know what social media was and you had never heard of Netflix. And during those simpler times when we used to play outside until the sun went down, our parents gave us some rules just like any other parent would. Back then, those rules and routines seemed pretty normal, but when you look back on it? They were actually pretty freaking weird.
Reddit user ctsom asked, “What was a house rule you had as a kid that you thought was completely normal until you grew up and realized not all households followed?” And the responses came flooding in.
Here are 60 rules that people had growing up that would make you say “what the heck?” now.
Boy, has parenting changed.
1) And no one wants sugar bugs in their mouth
“My parents would check my and my brother’s teeth for ‘sugar bugs’ every night after we brushed our teeth, before we got in bed. If they thought we were trying to skip brushing our teeth, they would tell us they could see the sugar bugs and would make us go brush again.
My brother and I were so convinced these sugar bugs were real, we would constantly ask when we’d be able to see them. My parents always told us only people 13 and older could see them, but by the time we got to be 13, we had completely forgotten about the sugar bugs in our teeth,” shared batman1227.
“My mum used to pay me to be my OWN babysitter between the ages of 10-14. As long as I didn’t make a mess and I went to bed by the time she got home, I got $10 in the morning,” shared anxiousjellybean.
“We weren’t allowed to consume anything without asking first. Even a glass of water, we were required to ask first. When my boyfriend and I started dating, I would always ask his parents first and it was a hard habit to break when his mom told me I could literally eat or drink anything. It was so weird to just go into the fridge or pantry without permission. I sometimes fight the urge to ask my boyfriend if I can eat OUR food in OUR apartment.
When I went to my parents’ house over Christmas, I was reprimanded for getting an apple without asking first. It’s just so weird, but it used to be so normal,” posted bigmacnpoet.
“We had ‘wakey wakey time.’ No noise or annoying mum and dad until 7 A.M. This was a really necessary rule because I was a very early riser as a kid, and I loved to talk to my parents. The rule was that — while I could come to their bed and curl up next to them — I couldn’t talk until 7 A.M. It was actually really nice, and made sure I got enough rest myself,” said moorehawke.
“Any of the kids (there were seven of us) could play with any toy that is left out. The owner of the toy could not take it back until whoever was playing with it was done. However, if the toy was put away in the owner’s room, permission needed to be asked,” shared JetScootr.
“We weren’t allowed to walk into our dining room unless we were using the room for a special occasion. The carpet always had that ‘just vacuumed’ look, so it was a dead giveaway if anyone walked across it,” posted secretagentsquirrel1.
“When I was really young I had a ‘night night bell.’ It was this old clay bell that hung in the kitchen and, when I had to go to bed, I got to ring the bell and everyone would come say ‘good night,’ then I would go to bed,” said motorbike-t.
“When I was around six my mom made the ‘rule’ that, if I behaved, she would let me ‘skip’ school on Saturdays and Sundays. This worked for a while, but one day my teacher said, ‘See everyone on Monday!’ and I realized what was going on,” shared missdontcare_.
9) We think ‘food blankets’ should be a household thing
“My family had a thing we called the ‘food blanket.’ When we’d eat casual meals, we’d lay a blanket on the living room floor and eat on it, like a picnic. Instead of ‘set the table,’ my mom would say, ‘Go lay out the blanket!’ I remember being really confused when I learned that every family didn’t have a ‘food blanket’,” posted llamallama-duck.
“If I got hurt doing a specific activity I wasn’t allowed to do that activity again. My mother finally ended that rule when I broke my wrist snowboarding when I was 16 and didn’t tell her until a month later when I couldn’t move my wrist at all and it required surgery with a bone graft to repair all because I wanted to keep snowboarding,” said _njhiker.
“We had ‘family council’ every Sunday night after dinner. We would sit and say good things that happened that week, share our grievances if we had any (we always did), make a dinner menu, and assign chores. Frankly, it was stellar parenting,” posted Illarie.
Every family should incorporate this into their weekly routine.
“I had SUPER laid back parents, but there were four things that they were (randomly) strict about:
No gum. No Play-Doh. No cereal with ‘sugar’ as one of the top 3 ingredients. No The Simpsons.
I had basically no rules growing up, but those four things would make them lose their goddamn minds. I still get anxious when I’m chewing gum, and I’m 35,” said SiFiWiRi.
“First thing upon coming into the house, you had to change into clean pants and wash your hands. Guests were exempt from the pants rule, but not the hand washing rule. Also, if you took your shoes off at any point while you were out, you had to change your socks, as well,” posted ineffectivelyperfect.
14) Everyone in the house needs to be aware of the rule
“I come from a large family. Any time we’d order pizza, we ordered a few different kinds because, obviously, there were different preferences. Any leftovers were then to be left in their respective boxes and placed in the oven.
I thought this was how everyone stored pizza until I did it myself when I lived with a couple of roommates and their reaction was: ‘I just burned this box of pizza. Why was this in the oven?!’,” shared Justgivme1.
“When I got in trouble, I was put on ‘reading restriction’ as a punishment. I loved to read as a kid (and still do!), so it was an effective punishment,” said CharlieChooper.
“I grew up with six siblings. In the TV room, there were more people than couch seats. We had to institute a rule that — if someone got up to go to the bathroom, get a drink, etc. — you couldn’t steal their seat, it was claimed for the night. My parents created it because of all the fights that would happen over seats. We all instantly realized how great a rule it was. No more arguments, but more importantly, your seat was safe for the night,” said waltbosz.
“We can’t take a shower if we’re home alone. My dad apparently busted his head open slipping in the shower when he was living alone in college. He had to get up and drive himself to the emergency room, so now he won’t let us shower if we’re alone, because he’s paranoid the same will happen to us,” shared DeviousOstrich.
“We voted as a family on all important decisions. Under 18s got half a vote each, so the three kids always got outvoted 2v1.5 but we were stupidly content that we’d lost in a ‘fair’ democratic vote.
The system collapsed when we had to decide whether to have a cat or not and Mam unexpectedly abstained,” said Cwlcymro.
“We weren’t allowed ‘sugar cereals’. I grew up on Cheerios, Kix, Chex, and Raisin Bran. Mom didn’t buy anything else. Dad would occasionally buy Grapenuts, but he was happy with Raisin Bran.
Sleepovers were amazing, because it meant I could have a bowl of Lucky Charms or Cocoa Puffs or Fruity Pebbles.
Also no Simpsons here. Despite being a cartoon it wasn’t for kids, so we weren’t allowed to watch it. We didn’t have cable, so pickings were already slim sometimes,” said bestem.
“If you ever ran out of toilet paper whilst on the toilet, you had to sing the “Stranded” song or else no one else in the house would bring you a roll,” posted kteabrown.
“We weren’t allowed to get into the fridge or the cabinets without asking permission. My family was very poor and we had a limited food budget, so eating something without permission very possibly meant eating one ingredient of a meal my step mother was planning on cooking within the next few days.
I went to friends’ houses and they just ate whatever they wanted, whenever they wanted,” shared badhairguy.
“If I told my parents I was leaving at a certain time, I had to leave at that time.
Let’s say I told my parents I would leave a party at 9. I couldn’t leave at 8:50, or I’d get yelled at/grounded. I couldn’t leave at 9:10, or I would get yelled/grounded.
Same thing went for when I was leaving my house to go somewhere,” said 6lesbianlover9.
“My door could only be closed if I was changing clothes.
If my parents suspected that I was hiding anything, they could (and did) go through anything to make sure. Dresser and desk drawers, bags, closet, car, whatever they felt was necessary. Even my mail was fair game. As a result, I got really good at hiding things, shared DonNatalie.
“My mom had a second living room that nobody was allowed to walk into no matter what. Many moms had that room in the 50s and 60s. Plastic cover on the lampshade,” said RonSwansonsOldMan.
“I couldn’t add the jokes in Rudolf The Red Nose Reindeer song. My dad thought it was disrespectful. It’s not really a house rule it’s just a really odd one. Also when a parent says your name you have to reply “coming” not “yeah” because they’ll ignore it,” said Tobby-Lobby.
“When I was sick I couldn’t be in my bed because it would make it dirty. My mom put a towel in a corner on the hardwood floor and I had to stay there until she deemed me better enough to use my bed,” said Zenosparadox1.
“If you don’t get A’s you don’t eat at the table. I legit thought this was normal until I had dinner at a friends’ house and my friend brought home a devastating report card. His parents were so supportive and loving,” said GreatGooseGimbo.
“I wasnt allowed in my parents room, at all. Not even to use their shower if the hall bath was occupied and we were going to be late,” posted appleandcheddar.
“We had to have milk after dinner, but before bed. Asked my mom when I was older what that was about and she realized we could have just had milk with dinner if we wanted, but she had been raised kosher so it wasn’t something she thought about,” said GetMeTheJohnsonFile.
“My father never let us talk around the dinner table. Once when I was 15 I asked everyone around the table how they were doing and how their day was. My dad got up angrily after hurriedly finishing his meal and said: “I can’t stand people talking around a meal, if I wanted to talk to you I would.” We finished our meal in silence,” shared Morb2.
“My friends family had a little bell in the kitchen that would signify five minutes until they all needed to be leaving for church/school/etc. and I always thought it was really cute,” shared inagartenlover.
“I had to answer the phone “hello this is first-name last-name speaking” whenever I answered the phone (this is obv in the 80’s before caller ID on landlines.) My mom tried to make my childhood friends do it too when they called me to play. As in:
“Hi can I talk to geeltulpen?”
“Who is this?”
“It’s friend.”
“Well, friend, when you call this house and I answer the phone, you should say hello to me and then tell me that it’s you, your first name and last name, before you ask to talk to geeltulpen.”
“Not being allowed to leave the table until your meal was finished. I remember eating at a friends house and looking really uncomforable trying to finish a food I didn’t like, only to be told, “You don’t have to finish it if you don’t want to.” Mind blowing,” shared MollyWhingo.
“We weren’t allowed to watch anything remotely sexual like if people were kissing on screen my mom would freak out and run to cover the TV with a pillow and go “blah blah cough cough” loudly until it was over.
Once I tried to see a pg13 movie with my friends and my mom cried and my dad called me horrible for making her cry. I was 14,” said Dameunbatido.
“We had to clean up the dishes as soon as everyone was finished eating which included washing, rinsing, drying and putting away all dishes by hand and wiping down all surfaces and sweeping the floor and cleaning the kitchen sinks. It didn’t matter if your favorite show was coming on, the dishes were never allowed to wait even for a minute,” said 911momof8.
“No sliced bread in the house. Like my parents were perfectly normal in every other sense. But I think my mom assumed the uncut bakery bread at the grocery store was better quality or healthier or something? Anyway, I remember going to a friend’s house at like 13 years old and making a sandwich with pre-sliced bread! It was awesome! So much easier!” said hclorin.
“My dad used to give me all the change in his pocket to leave him and my mom alone so they could shut their bedroom door and talk. It wasn’t til many years later that I realized I was basically pimping out my mom,” posted GackPartyof4.
“If I talked back I’d get “quiet days” where the rest of the day I wasn’t allowed to talk to my parents… At all. If I did, I lost privileges like my phone or I’d get grounded. Kinda weird looking back,” said saltypotato95.
After I moved out and lived with my boyfriend, I remember getting angry with him for not leaving the porch light on when he knew I would be home late. His response was pretty much “but you didn’t ask me to,” posted absentbusiness.
“If my sister or I made a mess in our bedroom, my mom would toss everything – including stuff that was already in its right space – into a pile in the middle of the room to make us clean an even bigger mess. I love her dearly but that woman and cleaning, WHEW…” shared yogimonkeymeg.
“No soda. I didn’t drink soda unless I was at a friends because that was normally all they had. My parents were super healthy people so they mostly drank water, juice, tea, and lemonade,” posted SweetCakeShy.
49) Not exactly what I had in mind for summer break
“I was not aware that other kids had no homework over summer. My mom assigned papers, projects, reading, and math workbooks. Real summer sounds fun,” said FidgetyGidget.
I thought it was weird as a kid, but I understand it now: little bits of whatever’s in the bowl aerosolizes when you flush. If the lid is down, it’s less gross than it raining poo germs on your toothbrush. As a kid, my family was the only household I was ever in where the toilet lids were down,” posted RegularWoahMan.
“We had cereal for breakfast on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. On Tuesdays and Thursdays we had eggs. I thought everyone did something similar,” said prudence2001.
Don’t use or touch or move any of dad’s pens, no matter how cheap
No eating until everyone is at the table
No doing laundry without permission
No showering without permission and don’t ask to shower in the mornings
Your space/body/hair does not belong to you until you are 18 and therefore parents decide what you’re allowed to do with it,” posted noprods_nobastards.
“when at home, you’re expected to spend your leisure time with your family. NOT staying in your own room. If you want to play games, set up your PC / laptop at the table in the common place, want to read? why stay in your own room, you HAVE TO be in the living room and pretty much share every moment with family,” said frustrationtoday.
“My mom would lose it if a friend opened our fridge. I would get a talking to when they had left. Apparently, it was a very personal space for my mom? I thought that was how it was, I was terrified when my friend’s would ask me to look for something in their fridge,” shared jess_andthensome.
“you got one cup for the day, no getting a fresh cup with each drink of water. We were allowed to get a new one if we had milk or juice in it, but if it was water or koolaid, you reused the same one all day. Came from having 6 kids in the house plus their friends and running out of dishes when everyone would keep getting a fresh glass,” said AlwaysWantsIceCream.
“We had a rule that you had to say “no one is to take my place” if you got up to get a drink or go to the loo, otherwise your place was free to be taken. There were six of us and not enough seats for everyone to watch TV comfortably,” said caliandris.
“If you felt the need to lock a door in a house you didn’t pay the Bill’s for then you didn’t need a door. Nobody needed a door. No bedroom, bathroom or closet doors. They were all in my moms closet. She got a door,” said thelionintheheart.
People are sharing the rules their parents made them follow growing up that they thought were completely normal
Ashley Brewer
01.16.20
If you were born in the 1980s or earlier, you had a childhood without computers or the internet. You didn’t know what social media was and you had never heard of Netflix. And during those simpler times when we used to play outside until the sun went down, our parents gave us some rules just like any other parent would. Back then, those rules and routines seemed pretty normal, but when you look back on it? They were actually pretty freaking weird.
Reddit user ctsom asked, “What was a house rule you had as a kid that you thought was completely normal until you grew up and realized not all households followed?” And the responses came flooding in.
Here are 60 rules that people had growing up that would make you say “what the heck?” now.
