Did you have strange rules growing up?

We always ate at the table. My dad’s favourite line was “You’re either eating or you’re watching TV… you can’t do both at once!”. My mom would usually reply with some remark about men and multitasking. But in reality she didn’t let us eat in front of the TV either.

I like to remind my dad of this now when I see him sat there eating on the couch & watching sports.

Come to think of it my own weirdest rule growing up was not these but that I basically had a home uniform to wear when not on school or church. It was a plaid tunic (various colours), white shirt and white socks and panties.

If there is a hat on the doorknob Daddy and Mommy are not to be disturbed. I think they were playing Cowboys and Indians because it was always a cowboy hat. 🤷‍♀️

Most of the time I was in boarding school where the rules were even weirder.

At home we always had to remove shoes before coming into the house. Not because my parents were hygiene fanatics, but because dad got mad at us four girls 'rampaging' noisily about the place. And I wasn't allowed to use the telephone after 8.00pm 🥺 Bedtimes strictly enforced. Younger girls not allowed into older girls bedrooms unless expressly invited.

My parents have a lot of really strict rules, like the ones you listed. But those are more strict I think, and probably the result of them having so many kids. Like I share a room with my younger siblings, so I have to go to bed at the same time as them so I don't wake them up.

The only strange rule I can think of is me and my siblings never being allowed to touch the TV remote. We got almost no screen time anyway, so I hardly noticed honestly. But it started because one of my toddler brothers went through a phase where they liked to rip off the buttons on the remote and chew on them. And then my parents just liked us never touching/losing/moving the remote, so we have just always known we can't touch it 😂 We have to ask permission to watch TV, and they scroll through the channels and and we can ask to watch something if we see something we like. At which point it becomes a group decision because it has for sure drawn the attention of several siblings and they now want to watch something, too.

my sister and I were never allowed red heels and to this day when with my Dad will never wear red around him

Me and my sisters all was had to wear a dress at dinner.

I had to wear short trousers always until I was nearly 15 and often after that.

When my sister and I were really little we had 5 things we had to do before bed, which was always 8pm. Let's see if I can remember them, lol

Put pjs on
Go potty
Brush your teeth
Pick up our toys
Say goodnight to mom and dad

....I think. It's been 30 years so who knows?! Lol

As a boy I was not allowed to wear a hat of any kind in school. As girls my sisters could not wear any pants in school. However they could wear any hat they wanted.

That's a huge example of things being taught and culture being passed down because of reasons that might have been relevant at the time. It's why we should continually reevaluate our situations.

I had a lot of strange rules growing up. Eat your vegetables, do your homework, don't talk back, clean your room.... maddening!

It seems British society is more rigid with their rules, than in Canada.

What annoying rules did you have that if broken ended up with you getting a sore bum?

yes very strict growing up

Short trousers only until nearly 15.

Nope. The rules were always vague and never really pre-defined. But such rules were never a thing. Mostly was just boiled down to "Don't do stupid shit", "Don't talk back", "Don't break anything", and "Don't get in trouble".

A lot of those are just really old-fashioned standards, and a product of their times.

We had suppers with the family as often as we could, and when we kids started having different schedules, we had supper together every Sunday. We were expected to excuse ourselves before leaving the table, which was considered good manners; our parents did it as well.

Other rules were practical, like bedtimes on school nights so it was easier to get kids up for school in the mornings. With us that only lasted until high school, then we were seen as being responsible enough to get up and get ready for school on our own.

And three of us attended parochial schools, so we wore uniforms, which didn’t include trousers for girls. I was eldest, so by the time my youngest sister was in high school, she was in public school and girls could wear jeans.

an adult who still has rules

Everyone had to dress up for dinner for which you better never be late.

My family are CDD our live are all around rules and hard punishments if broken

I got spanked once for not asking to be excused from the table.

We was a DD family and rules was an every day thing

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