50 People Share The Bizarre Things Their Families Did That They Thought Were Completely Normal At The Time
We might think that we’re completely ‘normal’ even when we’re objectively the equivalent of the wonderfully weird Addams Family. It’s only when we start interacting with others, having people over to our home, and visiting them at theirs, that we begin to truly understand how (ab)normal all of us truly are. Bizarreness (in the best possible way) is in the eye of the beholder! And that’s exactly what we’re going to be taking a look at today.
We’ve collected some of the most fun and peculiar habits and traditions that families have, as shared by internet users in these two r/AskReddit threads here and here. It was only after these people grew up that they realized how utterly strange their relatives were behaving. (Then again, with all the traditions that we personally have, nobody’s judging anyone!)
Read on for the best stories, upvote the ones that you enjoyed the most (or forced you to do a double take), and think about what guests might consider odd about what you do at home. Now, shall we follow the white rabbit down the rabbit hole?
Bored Panda was interested to learn more about wholesome, fun, and long-lasting family traditions, so we reached out to parenting blogger Samantha Scroggin, the founder of 'Walking Outside in Slippers.' "I love having family traditions in my house, and I treasure the ones my husband and I had growing up as well. Some of the most special ones are those that we take from previous generations and share with the next generation," she told us.
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For a while (ages 4-8?) my mom would make us our favorite foods for Thanksgiving. Rather than the normal meal my sister and I would choose two things we wanted. I always chose chicken nuggets and macaroni and cheese. My sister would usually choose Salisbury steak and something like scrambled eggs. Then we would have some veggies also. I always thought it was super awesome because usually we would only eat food I thought was gross like shepherds pie or buttered noodles.
Turns out right my after my dad left we were s**t poor and my mom could not afford traditional holiday meals. I was lucky enough to be born to an amazing mother who has since done very well for her and her children. Even when we were poor I never knew it, we still did cool s**t ( i thought ) like back yard camping trips, hunting for dinosaur eggs on the weekends at the quarry. It was all fun, just had to be free was all.
Samantha, who runs the 'Walking Outside in Slippers' parenting blog, shared some of the best traditions that run in her family. "For my husband, cooking is a way to show love. So he cooks delicious tacos, chicken bowl, and barbecue. His mom is also a great cook. So family meals are something we try to share as a family as much as we can."
Food is often a very important aspect of family traditions, as we've covered on Bored Panda recently. However, there are many other activities and items that you can build traditions around. For example, Samantha shared that, in her family, they have a special Christmas quilt that they all sit under on Christmas Eve, while her dad reads 'The Night Before Christmas.'
"These are fun traditions we all love, including my kids. And hopefully, these are traditions they will want to pass along to their kids. Making traditions fun and memorable, and telling a story about why they matter, will help keep them going, I believe."
Every year for Easter my parents would set up a video camera in the living room over night so that we can "catch" the Easter Bunny in the act while he hid our baskets and colored eggs around the house. We would go to bed right after we set it up and started recording. After about 20 min of recording a stuffed animal bunny would be hopping around the living room using a stop motion technique that my parents used, hopping around hiding our eggs and baskets. As kids we thought it was absolutely amazing that we caught the real Easter Bunny in the act. When we would have family over for Easter dinner we would show everyone how sneaky and clever we were that we got it on camera. Kinda weird but I cannot wait to do this to my kids one day
We got certain foods on a very regular basis, that were wrapped in white labels with basic, black text labelling what they were. "Rice", "Processed Cheese Product", "Tomato sauce". My mom always had a really tired, sad look on her eyes when she brought them home.
I thought lunchmeat came in one type, "Bologna".
Every few months, we'd have "Camping out" in the house. I used to get excited for it. All the power would go out, and we'd use candles and eat stuff out of the fridge all at once. I remember when it was winter, I'd have about 10 blankets on me on those nights.
I was also not allowed to talk about this stuff to any of the other kids.
Yeah..growing up poor didn't suck until you realized you were poor. Living poor, and raising a child in that...that had to be a nightmare.
However, for some new parents, it can be a daunting task to create traditions that will stick, from scratch. Especially if they might not have had any passed down to them while they were growing up. Blogger Samantha explained that you don't have to overthink these things too much. Focus on having fun and togetherness. That's what's going to endure.
"Almost anything fun you do in your household could be made into a tradition. We love to have karaoke nights in our living room. There's a tradition! No one said traditions have to be stuffy or boring. In fact, the more enjoyable the tradition, the more likely they will remind our kids of special times growing up that they'll want to carry forward to their kids and grandkids."
Growing up, my family had a unique whistle of a few short notes. This was because (especially in the pre cell phone era) when you're in public and it's time to go or you're looking for someone in a crowd, if you heard the whistle it meant someone in the family was looking for you and you should go see what was up.
Having a system like that is *really* useful, but the first time others heard about it they were shocked I'd respond to my mom's whistling "like a dog."
I grew up in the 70s. All the fathers in our little 4 block neighborhood had a different whistle. We'd hear our dad's whistle and it was time to go home. We all knew who was whistling too. We thought it was great.
My mom just screamed "dinner or supper" out the door. She was the only one who did it, so we knew who it was meant for.
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My wife and I have a call and response whistle; I see it as being the equivalent of "Marco" "Polo", but uniquely ours.
My family does that too! It started with my grandmother on my dad's side of the family. My dad's side of the family ran a poultry farm in Virginia and people were often spread out doing the various farm chores so it was a way to call everyone in for meals or to wrap up the day. They briefly tried a bell but had to take it down because the barn cats kept playing with it and ringing the bell.
One of my good friends lives in a nice little neighborhood with her young children and a bunch of kids in the neighborhood as well. When it’s time for her kids to come home for what ever reason, she makes a pretty bird noise and her kids will hear it and know
Our father served in the Canadian Navy . When he came home, he used the Bosun's Whistle (3 notes) to call us.
My father served in the Dutch Navy. Maybe that's where his whistle came from, now you're saying. o0
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Do a little research on the island of Gomera - the people there have a unique whistling 'language' that came about because of the distances between communities and the landscape (very hilly with deep valleys) which made meeting face to face difficult.
Video about it here. The bit in the school is fascinating. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PgEmSb0cKBg
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At home I had a bell for the grandkids. By size, a goat bell I guess. Has a loud clang like a cowbell but a bit higher pitched and traveled real well. The grandkids knew if they heard that to come to the porch/ house. I have a large yard and woods so it was just a practical way to let them know to come in.
I was born mid 50's and lived in flats in Germany in the early 60's - my parents would go on to the balcony (we were 5 flights up) , and whistle 'my' whistle - I can still hear it in my memory even though I am now 67 :)
My family has this too! We still use it when we're all together and I have one for my family
We had a ‘family’ whistle and each of the seven kids had their own whistle. If dad blew the whistle, you ran to him.
There's a village of folks in Mexico that live on a windy mountain side and they have a whole language consisting of different inflections of whistles. The sound of a whistle carries unbroken through the wind where someone yelling something it would get distorted and the message wouldn't make it.
I just did the "Tarzan" yell. People looked at me like I was nuts, but my kids always came running!
How is it any different to calling someone's name? We do that for dogs too.
Hand signs, whistles,certain words.your pet will know. Oh you, not you ,I was just trying to agree with this😋.cat play...
My mom can only whistle exactly one note, but everyone in the family is trained to it. No one else can do the same whistle, though, so it only works for her.
less embarrassing than having a balloon tied to your wrist to go to the beach. my parents were just plain a pain in d butt. no friends, no birthday parties, no talking to neighbors in case someone finds out where you live. Back in the 70's though the only acceptable jobs for women was secretarial, in a factory, in a MilkBar or working in a womenswear shop!
Lorna's family did this in the Canadian show Bomb Girls, I thought it was genius, much better than me yelling "mom" and having every mother except mine look at me.
My family still uses the family whistle. I'm the only one that can't do it, because I can't whistle. But whenever I hear it, I stop and look around. Nice to know my brother is teaching it to the next generation. :)
My Dad's "whistle" was unique ... he had an old conch shell, which he would blow on. We always knew when the "whistle" came from our house - and it could be heard from quite a distance away!
My family has one too, omg! It started with my great grandmother between my grandma and all her siblings. It's now used throughout the whole (large) family!!
I always call my child "daughter" in public places. I'm not too fond of strangers knowing our names. I do the same at places where they ask a name, I never leave my real name
OMG! We have one too! I'm 40 and still drop what I'm doing when I hear it!
with 8 kids to account for, Mom would whistle and we'd each yell "yeah!" as a head count.
Oooh, i remember my grandpa had specific whistle for the same 😮. I totally forgot.
Better than my father, when in bigger (Walmart-like) supermarkets, he usually, after sending me away to not disturb him, when he was ready to go, he used to shout through the whole market "RRRRRALPH". I felt so embarrassed, I absolutely hated it!
My father did that wen I was a kid. It worked, I always know wen was time to go home
My mom had an old police whistle. Really loud one. If we were out playing anywhere on the block and she wanted us home she would blow it twice. Once in case we weren't sure we heard it but twice you knew it for sure. Three blocks in any direction. We could hear it. And went home. We weren't dogs being called. Just better than a woman screaming her kids names off the back porch for her kids in the 70s.
My mother had a bell that could be heard 3 streets over. When my friends heard the bell, they knew it was time for me to go. Most of my friends ate ~4:30 pm but we ate at 7pm. I guess it was the same with my siblings because we all came from different places and joined the table for supper. I have the bell now and use it too. We lived in the country for a while and it was really useful. Now I use it in the house when everyone (now just my husband) had headphones they would still hear it.
I still do that when I lose my friends in a store. I'd do the "marco" and they'd do the "polo" lol
My family whistles back and forth to find each other. It's great when you do it in stores and people thing your whistling at them. The looks priceless.
When we lived in an upstairs apartment my husband and I would use a specific whistle to let the other one know we had our hands full and needed them to open the door for us
In our house it's singing the"lion sleeps tonight" or this weird two note whistle my boys invented to find each other. We live in the country. So. Yeah...
My family whistles, too. My grandparent's house was backed by a state forest, where we were allowed to run wild, as long as we stayed within whistle range. They'd occasionally whistle, and we'd have to whistle back to let them know we heard. They had a different one when it was time to come home. That sound carries a lot farther than yelling.
I did this with my two kids. Also taught them that, no matter what, I would not have exited the store without them. Therefore, even if they couldn't see me, I was still there somewhere.
After my great grandfather died, my great grandmother used to use a conch shell to blow a signal to "call" the man who was farming their land and who lived on it when she needed something. According to my great aunt it was usually to get him to go to their house when the weather was bad because she was really scared of bad weather and being alone during it.
We do this with my kids. We use a call and echo system. We have a certain world we call out and the kids have a word they tell back. Works great at the park or other crowded areas. Also helps shorten games of hide and seek because the kids can't help but respond when we call out the code word lol.
It's a great idea. We had one too. Better than yelling kid's names out loud in public places.
Our family and my mother's sister's family would all head to the state park a few times each year. We were allowed to roam and explore. Looking for cool rocks, arrow heads, go fishing, hunt for meal mushrooms, etc. No matter how far we went my uncle would call every back to our set up or home base with the loudest whistle I have ever heard. The park was over 700 acres we could hear that whistle anywhere.
Same 😂 I still is the whistle in stores when I get separated from My kids
My mom's whistle could be heard from the park lol we were a few blocks away. If we didn't hear it, someone else would and would pass along the message that our mom was calling us in.. early 90s ❤️
My das has a whistle like this, too. I'm almost 38 now and I still react to it.
Same! Our dad had a special whistle for us kids, and my older brother didn't only learn it, but he also uses it to get my attention without disturbing the conversation whenever he's visiting (we're in our 40's). The fact that it cuts through the chattering of any family get-together without anyone else noticing is both hilarious and makes me feel like a very good dog.
We also had a neighbor who also used a unique whistle to summon her kids. My own mother just rang a hand bell. Wherever we were, if we heard the bell, it was time to go home.
I did this with my oldest (22m) when he was young. My dad told me off about "training him like a dog". One day the three of us were at a busy shop and I called my kid. Three boys looked up at the words "Nathan". Then I looked at my dad and whistled. Mine walked away from the pack of kids and I told my dad this is why I started whistling to him.
My mom and I have always done this. And my whole family can whistle really loudly with just our tongue for longer distances
My dad did this (single father). Growing up in the 80's - I was allowed to go play all day in my neighborhood. It was around a small lake - probably a mile drive around. When it was time for me to come home or he wanted me to check in, he'd go to the lake front and make his loud whistle. I could hear it anywhere in the neighborhood (if I was outside). When I was in a crowd and needed him, I'd yell daddy in Hebrew. If was one of the only words I knew but nobody else was using it so he'd know it was me.
We have that too! We have a "family whistle", like if I'm somewhere kinda far and Insee one of my cousins I'll do the whistle and she'll immediately start looking around to see what member of the family is there! I'm definitely going to teach my kids the same, even though my husband can't whistle haha
My Mom had a real loud whistle. If we heard it it was time to go home
We have costume parties for EVERYTHING.
We recently all dressed up like cowboys because my mom was making chilli.
This just sounds like fun. I like to match what I'm watching to what I'm eating. Noodle = Kung Fu Panda. Not really a conscious thing, just an urge.
At Christmas, we all give each other a set of underwear, which once you receive you have to say, “ooh thank you” really loudly, stand up, then put the underwear on your head to show everyone. I had to have a serious conversation with my wife after her first Christmas with us.
Edit: forgot to add that the underwear must remain on your head, like a fancy crown, until all presents have been given out, and all members of the family were wearing said crown.
No matter how objectively or subjectively peculiar some of the things that families do might seem from an outsider's perspective, traditions in and of themselves are incredibly important.
Their role is to give family members a sense of who they are growing up, how they relate to their loved ones, and what their place is in society. They’re what gives structure to the time that we spend with our nearest and dearest. What’s more, they act as an excuse to get together after everyone’s moved.
Family traditions don’t necessarily have to be something fancy or even all that strange. For example, something as ‘simple’ as eating dinner together every Sunday night can be a wonderful way to stay in touch, even if everyone’s going about their business throughout the week.
On the flip side, there’s nothing wrong with bizarre traditions either. So long as nobody gets hurt or embarrassed, that is. The entire point of a tradition is to unite a group of people by doing an activity together. The activity itself is not important. Though odds are that if you have any guests over, they might find it extremely odd if you pass out a box of vitamins after a meal or set up the camera every Easter to catch the Easter Bunny in action.
When I was like 6 my parents smuggled a12 year old illegal Mexican immigrant over the border to come live with us. Her parents wanted her to get an education in the states so she lived with us for awhile. As a kid I kinda just thought it was a thing everyone did.
My friends family had strange holiday traditions. One example is that they always ordered pizza for Thanksgiving (not too weird). Christmas though. Christmas was kinda weird.
They didn't believe in Santa, and instead had "The Christmas Bunny". Now the Christmas bunny was tricky. He wouldn't just leave your presents under the tree, he would leave a note. The note was a clue that began your hunt for presents. Clues led to clues that led to more clues that led to gifts. The clues would bring you everywhere. Back of the toilet bowl. Moms intimate drawer. Buried in the cat litter box. Outside in the freezing Minnesota winter.
Theses were difficult clues as well. I remember once my friend didn't find his gifts until after New Years. They still do this even though they are all 20+, but now the clues lead them around town. It's pretty intense I guess.
Grew up in a neighbourhood where all the kids would just crash at anyone's house. Like my parents wouldn't freak out if I didn't show up at night they just made a call to figure out where all the kids had ended up. We'd just occupy a room in anyone's house and sleep all jumbled up. So i guess this isn't just a family thing but still, my friends all think we were nuts. I had an awesome time though.
Edit- the sad thing is that I went back to this neighbourhood a couple years ago and new residents had built big a*s fences and hedges around their gardens, the communal bonfire area was overgrown and the huge and highly dangerous (but fantastic) rope swing had been taken down :( I hate modern health and safety.
The world is actually getting safer, statistically. Murder rates, for instance, have fallen drastically. What has changed is that our communications have improved so much that we hear about incidents in far off places that in the past we would never have known about.
We tend to ignore the things that have become routine to us. And it’s only when we slow down, take a step back, and try to view things from an outsider’s perspective that we might come to realize how funny and weird our actions are. Though, arguably, pretty much every family has strange habits: if you’d put any household under the microscope, you might be surprised by just how many abnormal behaviors you’d find. Ironically, bizarre things seem to be the norm!
At the same time, it's vital to remember that you're also an individual, not just part of your family. What this means is that you have your unique goals and aspirations. You also need privacy and time to spend on your hobbies, not just in the company of your relatives. It's important that you (gently) establish these boundaries if you feel that you're never allowed to do things by yourself or 'your way.'
My mom and dad would let us stay home from school occasionally just to sit around and play Nintendo. My brother and I were very young and we'd hang out in our pajamas eating cereal while dad played Legend of Zelda. It was awesome.
My son is allowed one hookie day a year. He tries to insist on calendar year, but it's date of employment
Having no shame with being nude. At least in America that’s weird. Granted my father was not wandering the house nude as he has all daughters, but my mother. Zero Fs to give. My sister, mom, and I just have no shame. I’m eating breakfast, mom wanders in to the kitchen naked to do her netti pot thing. I’m trying to take a bath, here’s mom or sissy trying to have a conversation. Walk in to moms bathroom, literally every door leading there wide open, mom taking a bath (stop and have a chat). Same with my sister. I’ve had so many damn bathtub conversations with my sister and mom. Also my moms total nonchalance about being naked around my best girl friends (no they weren’t uncomfortable she asked or warned them she just wanders around naked sometimes).
So now I’m just always naked in my own home. Blinds open or not I literally just don’t even notice. Being nude is just my inherited natural state lol
My father was paranoid that if someone broke in, they would steal his video games. This was in the 90s, and we had a PC, so the video games came on about 7 or 8 floppy disks. Remember those, kids? Anyway, we had about seven crates of floppy disks for his video game library.
And they had to be hidden under the bed. Every time we went away, the computer room was stripped and the floppy disks were stowed under the bed. Because, y'know, burglars would NEVER look there.
The PC stayed in place. The TV stayed in place. The jewellery and everything else stayed in place. His floppy disks had to be protected at all costs.
We were never broken into. We lived in a small village England with a crime rate of precisely zero. He just had a thing about his floppy disks.
Eventually we found his adult games collection, so maybe that's what it was about.
Nobody's a mind-reader, so you need to communicate with your family if something that they do irritates you. Similarly, try not to get overly defensive if they reach out to you about something that you're doing that annoys them.
There's no real alternative for having an open and honest chat! After growing up and leaving home, you might find that you keep certain habits and traditions while coming up with completely new ones, as you start building your own family. Traditions that might be just as weird (if not more so!) than what you saw back home.
Apparently every morning in my SO's house her dad would get fully dressed for his office job but "forgetting" trousers as a joke. He would open the front door and announce his departure and his kids would yell "You forgot your trousers!" only for him to look down and go "Oh no!" and dash back upstairs to put them on. **Every. Morning.**
It's a cute thing to do for your kids and commit to it for years. It was a fond memory for her until I reminded her that as her dad gets older it's only a matter of time before her dad goes to work without trousers on and it's *not* a joke.
Why would you say that to her? Now instead of enjoying the memories you've infected it with fear. OP is an a**
When I was a toddler if I left the room everyone, which would be my grandparents my mother my aunty, would hide in various places in the room. I would come back and shout "oh oddy body(everybody) gone." They also, on other occasions, would pretend to be dead, which I would say " oh oddy body dead"
I turned out alright, bit disturbed but alright.
Turns out the dog would join in hiding too.
My mom and I are terrible people so we would make up tragic stories about the people around us at restaurants. I went on a date with a guy once and the food was taking forever so I figured... let’s play the stories game. Not only was he mortified but he said “what would your mom think if she heard you talking about people like this?” And I said “she’d probably agree that the dad is cheating on the woman, he looks like a cheater”
We had a shaker which contained a something we called BrownSugarCinnamon. We would spread it on buttered toast. When I moved away I looked for BrownSugarCinnamon at the Grocery Store. Eventually I realized my Mom just mixed Sugar & Cinnamon together, but I never saw that part of the process.
Whenever someone yawned, my parents stuck their finger in their mouth to produce a laugh. I recently did this at the age of 18 and my friend asked what the f**k I was doing after he hit me in the face.
My immediate family? We don't fight. There might be minor, polite disagreements, but shouting at each other arguments? Nope.
When I got married later, my in-laws were constantly at each other's throats. It was so alien to me...like, you actually hate each other? I couldn't cope.
When my parents have a dispute over some random bit of trivia they bet who is right and look it up.
The price they bet on? Getting to (gently) bite the other ones nose.
Yes, I have no idea either...
Share one hotel room for seven people. Didn’t realize people could afford multiple hotel rooms. Still, some of the best experiences of my life.
eat at big boy every sunday after pretending to go to church - yes we literally dressed up in our sunday best, and went to big boy...
"Pretend to go to church" needs more explanation. I was raised Catholic (no more) so "pretending" wasn't an option.
So, my family are huge lovers of mango, and especially my dad. So when it’s mango season he’d buy a lot of mango and we’d all set around and eat mango in our underwear so we wouldn’t ruin our clothes. I thought this was normal as a kid, i even enjoyed it a lot too, but it feels pretty fucking bizarre now. Although i think the worst part is that’ll probably do the same thing with my kids lol.
MY brother and I did it with watermelon. We were kicked outside to not drip on the carpet. My mom would laugh so hard when we came back inside, completely covered in red juice.
My dad tried to 'kill' the Easter bunny every year. He would literally run out into the yard with his gun and take a few shots. Then he would come back inside grumbling about how he would get him next year.
We thought it was both terrifying and hilarious. I didn't realize how weird it was until I told people about that tradition later in life.
Anytime there was a full moon my Dad would pretend to turn into a werewolf and chase me and my sister around our flat howling. If we got caught, we'd turn into one too.
We have "The Blue Binder".
The Blue Binder lists all sorts of aches and pains and tells you what emotional or ancestral issue is causing that pain.
Have seasonal allergies? It's because your dad never forgave his father. Sprained your ankle? It's because you have a fear of moving forward. Your right hand middle finger hurts? It's because you have penis envy.
My mom still swears by this and thinks I contracted Lyme Disease at 21 because of "trauma in the birth canal" spoiler: I don't talk to that psychotic lady anymore
This isn't a journal she writes in to log the family's ailments. Someone else wrote this and she paid real, actual, US Dollars for it. Oh God, it's so good.
Now I hate to bring this up but this was the kind of mentally my religious parents had. If we got into trouble, they would (sometimes, not always) say we deserved it, we "earned" it by being bad. Like there was this one time my mom told me not to go fishing with my older siblings and cousins because I could drown if they weren't watching me. I disobeyed her and went anyway, and while we were at the river setting up a fish hook got stuck in my hand which made me cry and an older cousin had to bring me home. Naturally there was no sympathy from my mother as I had deserved that pain.
My dad never says thank you at the drive thru, it's far too easy and predictable. Instead, he likes to make up words. It essentially amounts to him being handed his bag of food, they say "Have a nice day!", and he replies "ferderber" as he drives away. Straight faced and no looking back. His other go to word is "razzle".
I didn't realize this was weird until I was around 16.
Ooh, ferderber, that sounds like a nice word, it sounds like a word to describe someone who has that distant expression, razzle sounds like a verb describing teasing or something
I grew up in a small town, and my family had a charge account at the local grocery store. When I moved out on my own to the nearest city, I was quite surprised to find that I was supposed to pay for my groceries every time before I left the store, instead of getting a bill in the mail at the end of the month.
My mom would often take my siblings and I to cemeteries at night to play games like Hide and Go Seek. I miss those nights..
When it was getting close to bedtime my parents would call it pumpkin time, like Cinderella. I did this once a few years ago with friends who were over for board games and when everyone started yawning I said it must be getting close to pumpkin time. There was an awkward silence and confused looks before I offered the explanation. I grew up thinking it was normal.
We also called broccoli and cauliflower clouds and trees, my brother refused to eat broccoli and cauliflower but loved clouds and trees. He also hated ham but loved elephant trunk (the small round ham that totally had no resemblance other than being roughly round when cut in slices) I have no idea why ham was offensive but elephant trunk was ok.
To keep me from watching too much tv, my dad told me that we had a one hour limit on our tv viewing. As in, we paid for one hour of tv per day and any more than that we would be charged extra for. Like AOL back in the day.
When I started going to friends houses where the tv was always on I got a bit suspicious, but I just figured they had more money than we did. Eventually after watching tv for hours and hours with one friend I asked her how much tv they paid for and she just looked at me like I was nuts.
So I guess “lying to your kid because it’s easier than getting into a fight over a rule you want to enforce” is the bizarre thing my family did lol.
My wife's family used to pass around a Tupperware full of vitamins after dinner. Like just random pills as if they were mints.
I'd always go downstairs on Christmas morning after opening all my presents in my parents bedroom, and there would be an unflushed s**t in the toilet, and every year my mum would be outraged that Santa didn't flush it. Even used fake snow on boots to make it look like he walked in and sat down..
Tall glass of whole milk with every meal growing up. Milk with spaghetti, milk and soup, milk with everything. Blew my mind when I went to a friend's house and they had soda!
I bet you all have nice teeth. We had milk like that too. And my Mom swears thats why we all have good teeth.
Putting everything in Tupperware. If we open a pack of biscuits, it needs to be all removed and nearly stack in one. Open a big bag of crisps? Tupperware. Tea bags? Tupperware. Nothing ever gets left in the original packaging it came from...
My mom would set out chips in a bowl the day before a party. Saving herself thirty seconds and making the chips stale. That's just one example.
I was probably about ten or eleven before it occurred to me that probably other people who went on lake vacations in the summer didn't go to nudist colonies.
We don’t refrigerate leftovers. Pizza? Goes in the oven. Turkey from thanksgiving? Oven. Fast food? Microwave. Now that I’m older and understand that food goes bad I refrigerate things, but my parents still don’t. I’m surprised no one’s gotten seriously ill from it.
Eat hot cocoa and toast.
It's buttered toast that you dip in hot cocoa for breakfast. It's delicious.
Night time, 7:00 or 8:00 pm, Grandma made me, child, hot chocolate and peanut butter toast. So yummy.
Probably just hysterical crying. My family (especially my dad's family) just cry about everything. Happy, sad, angry, grieving...didn't really matter. They just seemed to always be crying and once one of them started everyone else would join in.
It really wasn't until after I had had years of therapy that I realized that it really isn't normal to just be crying all the time. I still get teary sometimes, and it's not that I never cry, because frankly no amount of therapy can undo a lifetime of conditioning, but at least now I recognize that if I can't stop crying there is something really wrong with me and it needs to be worked on.
This really sunk in after moving to the UK and meeting my husband's family, who are just so damned English and stoic. It makes visiting my family seem like a trip to the loony bin!
Ahh, my old friend, the great British emotional repression. It's our national past time!
Rice at every meal! Rice with everything! Burgers with a mound of rice instead of buns! Fried egg and rice! Taking the rice cooker on vacation with us!
Rice is a staple along with wheat where I live. We usually have rice after every meal to cleanse our palate
Every weekend my parents couldn't wait to wake me and my brother up at 7 in the morning, drag us out of bed and take us all over the place going to garage sales. I mean like not one or two but this was a 5-6 hour thing.
Every. Single. Weekend.
My mom did this too. The good thing about it was that she bought my sister and I each a little carton of chocolate milk and a donut as incentive to sit in the back seat of the car while she perused. When the donuts and milk were gone, then we got out and walked around with her. I was just in it for the donut.
My parents brushed my teeth for me until I was about 14, they were really obsessed with dental hygiene and thought I wasn't up to the job
My husband's family sings "Happy Birthday" twice. Relighting the candles and everything. The first time I experienced it I was like, "What is this?"
Everyone in my family genetically has large hands and long arms, and I thought it was normal to compare arm and hand sizes at every family event lmao
My family has been using a Langers Apple juice container from probably like 1997 to fill up with drinking water and put into the fridge. Still has the front label and everything. That was back when they used more plastic so it's very sturdy but we still use it today lol
Whenever we buy cordial and we use up all the cordial, my mum will use them as water bottles and when you want a glass of water, you open up the fridge, get a cordial bottle filled with water, and pour the water into a glass.
My parents sleep on different beds since I have memory, not because they don't love each other (they don't love themselves as a couple anymore though). My dad snores very loud, so it's a no-no for my mom.
My dad and stepmum are the same. They went to the next level though and actually live in separate houses (they spend about three nights a week at my stepmum's place together and then leave each other alone for a few days). This year will be their 25th anniversary and I've never met two people more in love, so......I guess it works. #relationshipgoals
My brother used to casualy stand on my head, like i would lay down and he would stand on my head. I don't know why we did it or what excatly I was thinking but yeah...
We were the naked family. We weren't naked all the time, but seeing one another nude was a total non issue. Forgot your towel? Go get it naked. Summer 2004 our air conditioning broke and we all watched the opening ceremonies of the Olympics sweating and naked. I remember discussing college applications with my mom once as she was taking a s**t.
Had 6 siblings and we would just wander into the bathroom even if someone was in there. Someone could be in the shower, someone on the toilet and someone yelling at the person on the toilet to hurry up! Got married, walked into the bathroom while my husband was in there and he was mortified. Oh my bad.
Make pizza in Frying Pan.
My mom still makes delicious pizza in a pan.
Look up cast iron skillet pizza. It's a fantastic way to make pizza.
Apparently some people think it's odd to fill up a glass of drinking water with the bathroom faucet. I can't stand using the kitchen one.
Note: this post originally had 66 images. It’s been shortened to the top 50 images based on user votes.
I love how the kids who grew up poor in this post had wonderful parents who were trying to make ends meet while ensuring that their children had a good childhood
If a baby was crying in a restaurant, my parents would tell me (probably around 5 years old) to go say hi to it. And I would. Surprisingly usually got the kid to quiet down. Probably made both sets of parents laugh.
For a second, I misread this here and thought it says "My parents would tell me to go hit it." Was quite confused for a sec! 😅
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When my kids were very young we were very poor as I had divorced and left a bad relationship and tried to make ends meet on a teacher's salary. I tried to teach them manners about having holiday dinners at relatives houses that they may not like. I just said get a little bit to taste to see if you like it or not. If you do ask for more. If you don't just say no thank you. However after Christmas all the holiday food went on sale and we could afford it so for New Years I bought their favorite foods and we had a huge meal just for us. I would ask them what they most wanted to eat. We only could afford restaurants once a year on their birthday and they got to pick where.
A minor one, but my mom seemed to think that all foodstuffs (except canned) had to be kept in the fridge. Bread, peanut butter, cookies and crackers, you name it.
She may have been right as back then flour and bread items could get weevils. Little beetle like bugs if left in the pantry.
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My Mum used to smother me and my younger brother in malt vinegar before we played outside every summer. No one else I've asked has heard of this yet I never got sunburned so....
I swear by vinegar and water on sunburn, it just takes all the heat out of it. My friends and family used to laugh at me but it works. You might smell like a chip (UK) but it works like wonder
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My family's got a few odd ones. (a) We are super brief on the phone and sometimes skip greetings. (b). We often just stand around talking while eating (ie do not sit at a table or on a couch). Kinda like a cocktail party but with dinner/lunch. (c) We don't do milk and breakfast cereal, that stuff is gross.
no idea what you mean, or why anyone downvoted you.
Load More Replies... I love how the kids who grew up poor in this post had wonderful parents who were trying to make ends meet while ensuring that their children had a good childhood
If a baby was crying in a restaurant, my parents would tell me (probably around 5 years old) to go say hi to it. And I would. Surprisingly usually got the kid to quiet down. Probably made both sets of parents laugh.
For a second, I misread this here and thought it says "My parents would tell me to go hit it." Was quite confused for a sec! 😅
Load More Replies... When my kids were very young we were very poor as I had divorced and left a bad relationship and tried to make ends meet on a teacher's salary. I tried to teach them manners about having holiday dinners at relatives houses that they may not like. I just said get a little bit to taste to see if you like it or not. If you do ask for more. If you don't just say no thank you. However after Christmas all the holiday food went on sale and we could afford it so for New Years I bought their favorite foods and we had a huge meal just for us. I would ask them what they most wanted to eat. We only could afford restaurants once a year on their birthday and they got to pick where.
A minor one, but my mom seemed to think that all foodstuffs (except canned) had to be kept in the fridge. Bread, peanut butter, cookies and crackers, you name it.
She may have been right as back then flour and bread items could get weevils. Little beetle like bugs if left in the pantry.
Load More Replies... My Mum used to smother me and my younger brother in malt vinegar before we played outside every summer. No one else I've asked has heard of this yet I never got sunburned so....
I swear by vinegar and water on sunburn, it just takes all the heat out of it. My friends and family used to laugh at me but it works. You might smell like a chip (UK) but it works like wonder
Load More Replies... My family's got a few odd ones. (a) We are super brief on the phone and sometimes skip greetings. (b). We often just stand around talking while eating (ie do not sit at a table or on a couch). Kinda like a cocktail party but with dinner/lunch. (c) We don't do milk and breakfast cereal, that stuff is gross.
no idea what you mean, or why anyone downvoted you.
Load More Replies...