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Every family has its quirks and peculiar moments, sure. But it’s only when you take a step back, get some distance, and look at things from a different perspective that you realize just how bizarre some of those rules and regulations really were.
Recently, some members of AskReddit spilled the tea about the weirdest rules that their parents had at home. It was only after they grew up that they realized just how odd they really were. We’ve collected some of their most intriguing and peculiar childhood stories, and you can check them out as you scroll down.
Bored Panda reached out to u/Main_Masterpiece_793, who sparked the intriguing discussion, and they were kind enough to share their perspective. Check out their thoughts below!
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#1
The Interrupt Rule. If we wanted to talk to our parents but they were talking to someone else, we would place our hand on their arm, they would acknowledge it by placing their hand on ours, and then we would keep our hands there until they turned to ask us what we needed. I did it to a teacher and I'll never forget how confused (and frankly a little freaked out) she looked seeing a child just touching her arm and staring at her while she was talking to another teacher.
We were incredibly curious to find out about the inspiration behind the question. "Honestly, I created the thread out of curiosity and nostalgia," u/Main_Masterpiece_793 said.
"I was thinking back on some of the odd rules I had growing up and wondered how universal that experience was. Turns out, very," the author shared.
"I think a lot of families create weird rules as a way to maintain control or pass down beliefs without always questioning where those rules came from in the first place."
RELATED:
#2
Always talk to the cat in a normal voice and not in the "baby talk" voice people do with pets, because he will think you're stupid.
He probably does, anyway.
#3
Nothing good happens after midnight. Then I visited a Waffle House at 2am.
Upstaged75 1 month ago
Man I miss living near a Waffle House! There's nothing like home fries (smothered and covered) plus a bacon egg and cheese sandwich at 3am. :) I have many great college memories from there.
Bored Panda also asked the author for their thoughts about what good parenting looks like.
"To me, being a great parent is less about rigid rules and more about consistency, emotional presence, and modeling values with integrity," u/Main_Masterpiece_793 told us.
"Rules help shape structure, but when they become arbitrary or fear-based, that’s where the line gets blurry. The best environments allow kids to ask why without being shut down."
Ideally, parents will find a healthy balance between rules, regulations, and restrictions on the one hand and support, warmth, and nurturing on the other. Essentially, what you want to aim for is a home atmosphere where your child feels empowered to grow, learn, and try new things while also having a solid framework of expectations for their behavior.
#5
No one allowed in or out of the house on New Years day until my red headed uncle came to visit. It's good luck if the first person in the door on New Years is a redhead. There were 10 kids in my mom's family. Poor Uncle Bill was run ragged by 2 pm!
FreeTheUnicorn 1 month ago
In Scotland you want a dark haired man to be the first through the door. Traditionally you want to bring a gift like oatcakes, shortbread, whisky and coal if you're going First Footing.
#6
You have to “say hello” to the plants. Every morning, greet the houseplants. Respect the greenery। Spend time there,will i love that now. I am gonna follow it always.
The authoritative parenting style offers that blend of firm limits while also providing a nurturing, responsive, and supportive environment. Clarity and communication are key here. According to the American Psychological Association, authoritative parents take the time to discuss with their kids everything that’s going on. They explain the rules and why they’re there, and genuinely listen to their munchkins’ viewpoints, even if they don’t always accept them.
The benefits for kids who grow up in authoritative households are numerous. As per the APA, children raised this way tend to be:
- Friendly;
- Energetic;
- Cheerful;
- Self-reliant;
- Self-controlled;
- Curious;
- Cooperative;
- Achievement-oriented.
#7
Not me, but a girlfriends family rule, was you got one drink with dinner and couldn’t have a refill.
LakotaWolf (she/her) 1 month ago
Not even if the drink was water? Jeez, that seems horrendous - some foods need help to be "washed down"!
#8
If you turn the light on in the car that a cop will pull you over and give you a ticket.
Upstaged75 1 month ago (edited)
I think every parent in the world has told that one at some point. My dad used to say the same thing. While not illegal in most places, it IS annoying for the driver to drive at night with the dome light on.
#9
My mom always told me growing up that I could wear any color nail polish I wanted, except for red. Because, and I quote, "it's a color that hookers wear". So f*****g bizarre.
Meanwhile, Verywell Mind notes that authoritative parents raise reasonable demands and are very responsive. So, while they may have high expectations, they also provide their kids with all the resources and support that they need in order to succeed. In short, these parents offer a mix of limits, discipline, love, and warmth. Authoritative parents also tend to use positive reinforcement rather than threats or punishment.
Authoritative parents:
- Administer fair and consistent discipline when rules get broken;
- Allow their kids to express opinions and encourage discussions about them;
- Express warmth and nurturing;
- Encourage independence and reasoning;
- Actively listen;
- Place limits, consequences, and expectations on behavior.
#10
Soft drinks are adult drinks.
Imagine my horror when I went to a birthday party in kindergarten and the Mom started to serve soft drinks to us - 5 year olds! Being the rule follower that I was, I said that I wasn’t allowed to drink it because it was an adult drink. The mom convinced me that my parents would be okay if I had a glass. I remember being very upset with my parents after the party because I was so embarrassed.
Upstaged75 1 month ago
They should have explained it better, but the parents have a point. Little kids really shouldn't drink soda. Neither should I but as an adult I can make my own bad choices. :)
#11
Meals would be done in order of age, my parents ate first, then my older brother and sister then me. We never ate together.
#12
All steak had to be WELL DONE. I didn’t know anything less than well done existed until I went to college. Now, I take my steak medium.
What are the most bizarre or unusual rules or traditions that you had to follow when you were little, dear Pandas? When did you first realize that those rules were very different from how things were at your friends’ homes?
Now that you’re older, what do you think are the most peculiar parenting things that you’ve introduced at home yourself? We’d love to hear your thoughts on this! Share them in the comments below.
#13
If there was an event (afterschool or a birthday party or anything) and it was on a day they worked it was an automatic no cuz they were at work. if it was on a day they had off it was a no because they wanted to enjoy their day off. if i offered to be dropped off or picked up by a friends parents or hell Walk it was a no because there could be serial killers waiting to kidnap me. my day was wake up, go to school, come home, eat dinner, go to bed. all day every day.
i had a really lonely childhood once people figured out id always say no to invites.
Scarlett O'Hara's Ghost 1 month ago
Gang r@ped. I wasn't allowed out with friends, no after school job or sports because no matter where I went, I was going to be gang r@ped. I was terrified of it. I had no idea what it was for most of my childhood, but I was terrified. Took me years to finally understand it was the men you know in your life you had to be careful of, not complete strangers roving the streets in groups!!
#14
Not being able to use the couch cushions/pillows and blankets because those were only to decorate when we had guests over.
Ends up my mom has untreated OCD and only told us years later LOL explains a lot of her behavior.
Lauren Caswell 1 month ago
Oh, towels and soaps too! Heaven forbid. It can become a compulsion
#15
We were not allowed to invite a friend over for a sleepover two times in a row; they had to host first before we could invite them again. Looking back, I think this was my Mom’s way of avoiding sleepovers.
#16
If I had a friend over, went to a friend's house, went to the mall with a friend or even went outside and played with any other kids one weekend, I better not even ask to do anything the following weekend. Many weekends I spent alone in my room. I was a straight A kid too. And at 17, I had a 9pm curfew on Saturday nights.
#17
My dad used to tell us that we weren't allowed to touch the painted parts of the car because it would mess it up. Only touch the handles. This was so completely engrained in me that even as an adult I thought that car paint was somehow easily ruined. It wasn't until working in the automotive industry that I realized that, in fact, it's quite durable and, you know, made to be on the road.
Mark Kelly 1 month ago (edited)
Actually you can scratch it if it's covered in dust and you rub the paint it'll create fine scratches especially around door handles like if someone has long fingernails or jewelry
#18
We weren’t necessarily allowed to get hurt. At least I wasn’t. My dad deemed it unsightly and unladylike at first. I liked to climb trees and such as a kid and he noticed I had a scab on my arm when I was in the fifth grade. Snatched me up by my arm and yelled at me telling me it made me ugly and no boy would ever love or want to be with me if I had a bunch of scars. Then got mad at me when I said “I’d hope a boy wouldn’t not want to be with me over some scars on my skin, that’s shallow.” Turns out he was right, but it wasn’t about physical scars, nobody wants to be with someone covered in the emotional scars he left 🥴 also the same man who told me I was fat that same summer and wouldn’t allow me to eat past 5pm because I’d get fat and nobody likes fat women. I also had to ask permission for food and/or eat within his restricted times and regulations until I was like 17. If I ate outside of his restrictions, he tore me a new one. I have a very complicated relationship with food and my body now. There’s plenty more, but yeah, my dad sucked.
#19
My dad never allowed me to watch the Simpsons growing up. When I turned 18 I watched it and loved it hahaha.
Huddo's sister 1 month ago
We were allowed to watch it until I had a nightmare after watching the Itchy & Scratchy World episode. Then eventually mum agreed to let us watch it, because my brother and I were older. My little sister then tried to imitate Bart by strangling my brother, so it was banned again.
#20
No closed doors to bedrooms and bathrooms, even if you were sleeping or taking a shower or taking a dump. I can't poop in a public restroom because though I know this will never happen I somehow am afraid of someone getting mad at me for closing the stall door.
#21
When our father got home from work, we'd be sent to our rooms, sometimes until the time he left the next morning. He'd get home and not want to interact with us so we'd be sent off across the house, checked on occasionally, spanked or yelled at if we got too loud. Luckily I had my older brother, but it got lonely. And it was better than being around him because he was mean and aggressive. He once left black and blue belt stripes across my brother's back, because he was caught jumping on the bed again. When I was 2 or 3 he put me in time out, facing the corner. Then he fell asleep and hours later I wandered off to go play. He woke up and got angry I left, so he busted into my room, grabbed me by the ankle and lifted me upside down to administer a (thankfully brief) beating. When he'd call us out of our room, he'd scream our names and we were so scared he was going to yell at us or hit us. So. The rule was, when Dad gets home, go to your room.
Lisa Lilla 1 month ago
Sven the doubter, i rememember nearly drowning at 2 and grabbed by a man at 3, shame on you.
#22
I couldn’t listen to modern music bc it was all “inappropriate.” It turns out, my parents, mainly my mom, was just lowkey racist. She forced us to listen to her music which was all about s*x and d***s, but all done by white people.
#23
I have two i havent seen mentioned:
1. You must wake up at 6am, regardless of day, and would be punished if you failed. I often did fail as i had undiagnosed adhd at the time, and it led to frequent arguments. They said it was to 'prepare me for the adult world'. I now dont wake up even close to that early for my actual adult job.
2. I was not allowed to interact with males, as they were worried about me getting into a relationship while i was still in school. As a result, my closest relationships growing up were with other women, and now i am gay.
#24
When we were little and the Avon Lady would come knocking on our door, my mom would tell us to be very quiet and to not make a noise because it's the mean Avon Lady and she has a gun. Lol.
We totally believed her, and it wasn't until I was in the 8th grade that we moved, and my little sister's friend's dad would sell Avon at swap meets. We asked if he had a gun, and her friend looked so confused. Lol. We figured then that my mom was just telling us a story to make sure we were quiet so she didn't have to open the door and deal with the Avon Lady.
It is still one of the silliest memories of my childhood, and up until my mom passed away 4 years ago, we would give her such a hard time for it. Her response was always "well it got uou to be quiet, and she always went away."
I don't know if it's really a rule, but maybe it was. We were never to answer the door to those women.
I miss my mom so much.
Edit: spelling.
Andrew Keir 3 weeks ago
All of this might have gone better if OP's mother had had the courage to tell the Avon Lady that 'she wasn't interested'. It's like other unwanted callers - once you've told them (politely, the first time) that they're not wanted, they mostly don't return. Usually even works with religious advocates.
#25
Can only wear jeans once a week. Cannot change at school by hiding jeans in your backpack. Mom will come and check and make you change.
No black eyeliner, you will become a w***e if you wear black eyeliner.
No crying in public, you will be an embarrassment to the family.
Huddo's sister 1 month ago
My mum always made sure to tell us it's fine to cry in public (especially when my brothers were in palliative care etc) but it's something I've never gotten over the stigma of. I 100% agree that you should never be ashamed of crying and give that as advice to others, but I've never been comfortable doing it myself.
#26
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.
#27
We were only allowed to eat candy on Sundays. Then my sister ate a s**t ton of candy on Sunday and threw up everywhere.
Mrs Irish Mom 1 month ago
Small piece each day would be better than gorging on loads of sweets on Sunday
#29
"Never talk to anyone about what happens in this house.".
LakotaWolf (she/her) 1 month ago
I got that one too XD One time I told my teacher at school that my mom had pressed a gun to my throat and had said she would k!ll me and my sister if my dad went on an upcoming business trip (he worked for IBM at that time.) It scared me badly enough that I thought my mom really WOULD k!ll me. When the teacher called in a conference with my mother and the principal of the school, my mom laughed it off and said I'd watched a cowboy movie the night prior and there had been guns in the movie, so CLEARLY I was just confabulating the movie with reality. The teacher and principal believed her. She beat me with wooden cooking utensils and her fists for nearly an hour once we got back home for "tattling" on what went on in our house. I was 6. I never told another adult about how my mother abused me.
#30
We weren't allowed to sleep late. even on weekends. It was awful.
#31
Not mine but my mom says my grandma used to make them take off all their clothes except the underwear at the corridor as soon as they got home. We suspect she had untreated OCD lol.
LakotaWolf (she/her) 1 month ago
Were they at least allowed to put on "inside"/house clothes after that, or did they have to stay nearly naked? O_O
#33
Wasn’t allowed to go to the bathroom after I went to bed … my parents were a*****e.
#34
Having to change clothes (ex: shorts or tank tops) when relatives or family friends came over, so that the men/boys "wouldn't look".
#35
We had to be quiet, including turning off the TV when dad came home.
#36
We weren't allowed to refer to either parent as "he" or "she." Had to be "Mom" or "Dad" or acceptable variations.
Damned_Cat 1 month ago
A childhood friend of mine was only allowed to call his parent "mother" and "father". His parents felt that it was disrespectful and low class to use nicknames like "mom/mommy" or 'dad/daddy".
#37
Shut up was a swear word in our house.
If we asked our parents if our friends could hang out in front of said friend, answer was immediately no.
I had to ask to have a sleepover with a friend 7 days in advance. Anything less than that was immediately no.
Doors were locked at 830pm. If we tried to come home after that, it was sleeping on the porch. We had a box on the porch that had pillows and blankets for this reason.
Was not allowed to sleep in later than 915 am on the weekends.
#39
I had to share any food I brought home even if purchased with my own money. My mom didn't cook or keep food at home but ate out every morning.
Tempest 1 month ago
Not a rule but a habit I had as a kid was to share any food I got from friends/school with my entire family. It was common for kids to bring a cake to school on their birthday and share with the entire class. I would try to ask for a second piece if there was any excess but if not I’ll save the piece I was given to take it home. Once home this single piece of cake would be cut into equal portions for all of my family, including for my grandma who didn’t live with us. I would insist that this be done every time. My mom would save grandma’s share and give her when we visited her. At times she would receive tiny pieces of different cake slices. She was always so excited about this but now as an adult I would personally not like to eat days old cake like that. And no we weren’t too poor to afford cakes by ourselves. It’s just that I really wanted to share what I received. I was a weird kid!
#40
We were never ever allowed in their bedroom not even if we were sick or scared. We would stand at the open door and yell for them.
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Rick Murray 1 month ago
My mother refused to let me go to local discos and parties, primarily because they ended up with a lot of drunk 12 year olds due to some irresponsible parenting. Given what happened during the parties and how many of those kids grew up to make terrible (and in some cases fatal) life decisions - gee, who'd have thought that getting a bunch of children drunk every weekend would be a bad thing? 🤦🏻♀️
Gingersnap In Iowa 1 month ago
Laundry day was Friday. If you wanted to wear a certain outfit you had to plan ahead bc laundry was only done on Friday.
Rick Murray 1 month ago
My mother refused to let me go to local discos and parties, primarily because they ended up with a lot of drunk 12 year olds due to some irresponsible parenting. Given what happened during the parties and how many of those kids grew up to make terrible (and in some cases fatal) life decisions - gee, who'd have thought that getting a bunch of children drunk every weekend would be a bad thing? 🤦🏻♀️
Gingersnap In Iowa 1 month ago
Laundry day was Friday. If you wanted to wear a certain outfit you had to plan ahead bc laundry was only done on Friday.
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