40 People Spill The Tea On The Weirdest Rules They Were Unfortunate Enough To See Enforced
Interview With Author
Rules are a weird thing when you stop and think about them. They’re meant to act as guidelines to ensure that we can co-exist with each other. But make them too loose and what you get is utter chaos. Though if you make them far too strict, you might force others to rebel because they’re considering whether they’re needed at all or if someone’s simply going on a power trip. In short, rules need to be balanced and make sense. And some of them are really, really bizarre.
Redditor u/SalMinellaOnYouTube, who has a cooking channel on YouTube, recently asked the crowd on r/AskReddit about “the most ridiculous rule” that they’ve ever heard someone have for their house, family, or kids. We’ve collected some of the oddest stories that show how some parents go way too far to keep everyone in line. Scroll down to read them.
Bored Panda got in touch with u/SalMinellaOnYouTube, and we had a friendly chat about his thread, Reddit culture, parenting, and cooking videos. Check out our interview with the redditor and YouTuber below!
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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 f****n weird.
We were curious about what had inspired u/SalMinellaOnYouTube to start the viral thread in the first place.
"If I remember correctly, it was someone else having talked about their neighbor's house having no rules when they were a child in a different thread," he told Bored Panda.
Meanwhile, the OP pointed out that he's not sure why the thread got so much attention on the site. He quipped that r/AskReddit is "something like a slot machine."
"The same (or similar) questions can get 0 to thousands of upvotes," he said that a lot depends on who's the first to spot a new question and draw inspiration from it.
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.
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 a*****e.
I laughed at her too.
According to u/SalMinellaOnYouTube, if someone could unequivocally answer what lies at the core of being a good parent, they "could more or less save the world!"
In the YouTuber's opinion, when it comes to parents figuring out whether they're being too strict or too loose with their rules, they should try to put themselves in their shoes.
"I think one way some parents could be helped is by remembering that children judge themselves (and are judged) against their peers," he shared his thoughts.
"So you want to try to make sure you’re not making your children outcasts with drastically different rules from the children you have them regularly interact with."
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.
Wow, so you decide to have kids and then spend their lives making the kids feel quilty for being born. Classy
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.
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.
Bored Panda also wanted to find out more about the content creator's cooking channel. Redditor u/SalMinellaOnYouTube opened up to us that cooking and baking are his passions.
"I have a cooking channel where I do some cooking and also some juvenile comedy so it's not exactly for everyone," he said that he enjoys throwing in silly jokes and Downton Abbey references.
"I’m just sort of learning to use YouTube and everything that comes along with it, like video editing, and it's been a lot of fun," he told Bored Panda.
"My videos are not very polished, but I am actually making the food you see, there are no camera tricks and there is no food artistry happening. If you see it, it is edible. Sometimes it's not edible, like the chicken salad."
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.
Hmmm... it's only enforceable after being informed. They tell you, you laugh, take your bags and skedaddle
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 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
Children break rules all the time because they’re, well, kids! They subconsciously test boundaries and constantly check what they can get away with. So, as a parent, you need to make the rules to be followed under your roof very clear and then enforce them when they (inevitably) get broken.
Not finishing your homework really does mean no playing video games that evening. If you don’t mind the boundaries that you’ve set up, they’ll only get walked over. Actions have to have clear consequences so that everyone’s on the same page. Or you could do things the ‘natural consequences’ way and let your kids learn from their own mistakes. Not finishing homework would mean that you get an F the next day at school and lose some respect from your teacher and classmates.
At the same time, you can’t make the rules way too strict: you’re raising kids, not entering into a multimillion-dollar business contract with them. Following your kids’ every move and limiting what they’re ‘allowed’ to do might make them completely unprepared for the adult world when they grow up.
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 f*****g pickles
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 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).
Parents who smother and protect their kids far too much are known as ‘helicopter parents’ because they ‘hover’ over their kids and pay far too much attention to every single little thing that happens in their lives. In their desire not to appear neglectful, some adults end up reducing their children’s independence.
If someone realizes that their rules might be a tad too strict (an outsider’s perspective is always helpful in these sorts of subjective situations), you could try loosening the rules bit by bit until you get rid of them altogether.
For instance, if you continue to set a strict bedtime for your adult child (e.g. in bed by 8 PM), clearly, there are some trust, abandonment, and other issues at play here. You need to take a big step back and let them start making their own decisions. Otherwise, they’ll never feel comfortable doing anything in their lives without parental approval. In these sorts of cases, seeking the help of a family counselor might be a good move.
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.
How could anyone resist squidwards nose tho. Lustful thoughts activate
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.
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…
Really? This is very weird and resembles a puritan couple dating. (When being a puritan was common in England)
According to Very Well Family, there are some signs that can help people tell if they’re enforcing rules that are too strict. One of these is that the parent has a zero-tolerance policy for any mistakes. Instead of being overly authoritarian, add a bit of flexibility. Meanwhile, another sign that the rules might be too strict is if the child lies a lot. If they’re disciplined too harshly, they’ll simply learn to lie well to avoid punishment. In short, they become secretive, not necessarily more rule-abiding.
It also helps to take a look at how your friends and neighbors raise their kids. If you realize that you’re far stricter than everyone in your social circle, it might be a sign that you may need to scale things back a bit. Remember that everyone wants to be a great parent, but there’s no such thing as being ‘perfect.’ Take a more realistic, grounded approach to parenting. One that allows for mistakes.
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."
A friend’s mom had gone to Woodstock and never quite recovered.
Her magazines said that processed food was bad, so she wouldn’t let my friend use the food processor they got for Christmas. (I swear I’m not making that up.)
Having once heard “using the microwave” described as “nuking the food”, no one was allowed into the kitchen while the microwave was running. You had to set the timer, hit start, then run to the living room until it beeped.
She read that more people died of lightning strikes than bee stings. (I don’t know if that’s actually true; she read all sorts of b******t so who knows.) She knew lots of beekeepers, and a couple of them died from bee stings, so she inferred that death from lightning was somewhat common. When a thunderstorm was blowing in — and in southwest Missouri, that was all the damn time — she made everyone sit in the middle of the living room. It wasn’t enough to be indoors. You had to be many feet away from any closed window.
My buddy practically lived at my house.
It's so frustrating the c**p that people espouse and believe about radiation etc.. and yet not know that we experience radiation from the earth just by existing (yes, I know I'm being simplistic). Like- do research, be informed, then create informed crazy rules
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.
Why would you knock on their door on Halloween if all they had was sugary leather?
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.
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.
wow, have you managed to escape from your cult yet or are you still trapped?
My best friend growing up, had to walk around her house on her tippy toes, because her parents couldn't stand hearing her footsteps.
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.
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.
So on the very holiday that's meant to be thankful for what you've been given in kindness, that, as I understand it, celebrates generosity and sharing a meal with strangers, this twatwaffle decides to exclude a long time family friend and his wife who was friends with them all their life let him. Wow.
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.
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.
The Christian nuts are not gonna let you play a game with any reference to a devil then 🙄
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 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. F*****g idiot.
Tell him to "put his sorry *ss in a drawer for 5 years or more" to reduce the idiocy price you'd have to pay later as a result of spouse and children not being able to drive in case of emergency... Smh!!!
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
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 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!
So basically, if you really need the toilet, they'd rather you develop a liver disease and face hospitalisation than you leaving the table... just great. I'm pissed now.
The kids could not watch Barney because it's a "dragon". It was a religious family
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 a*s". 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.
“My name is Erin Quinn, and I come from a place called Derry...or Londonderry depending on your persuasion”
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.
That’s sad. I know a kid who’s parents are both over 400 pounds at least and he only eats one meal a day because he’s scared he’s gonna end up the same and he developed a social disorder cuz his dad abusive. (Forgot to mention that the reason his mother is so heavy is because her husband abuses her emotionally)
Growing up my dad and stepmother gave my sister and I chores that we had to do before we were allowed to go out with our friends. I thought it was normal until I moved out.
When I vacuumed the marks couldn't overlap and they had to go in the same direction.
I had to clean the bathroom wipe everything down including the shower no water spots allowed.
No personal items (shoes, jackets, or bags) could be left in any other part of the house besides your room.
We had a sitting room that no one was allowed in that I also had to clean weekly.
We had a dishwasher but I had to do the dishes every day by hand
I had an 11pm curfew even on prom night. After I joined the military and moved away married and had children, I still had the 11pm curfew if I came back to visit. I was in my 30s at this point.
Oh and I forgot to mention I didn't get an allowance for this so if I wanted money I had to not eat lunch at school and save my lunch money.
I also bought all my school clothes from the age of 12 on up working cropping tobacco in the summer.
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.
Couldn't everybody just wear thongs as you do in public shower stalls and be done with it? Also, I've never heard of "plantar"...
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
We were never allowed to ask for anything while visiting...even a glass of water
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."
my 11 year old daughter was at a friend’s house and my daughter said “oh my god” and then got lectured by the parents for using god’s name in vain.
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...?
It was back in the mid 1990s Some article claimed that drinking during meals is unhealthy and children may choke on food if they drink something. And people took it too seriously. When I was in kindergarten, one of teachers always make sure we did not drink anything during meals. We werre allowed to drink only after we finished meal. No idea where that belief came from.
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Why did these people have children if they were just going to abuse them?
Religion… some day we will move past such nonsense, wish i could see that day
Why did these people have children if they were just going to abuse them?
Religion… some day we will move past such nonsense, wish i could see that day
