People Divulge The Common Things That Were Banned At Home While Growing Up

When growing up with our parents, it's all about following the rules.

The House Rules, specifically, their rules!

Sometimes those rules make total sense, and other times, they're restrictions that just feel like punishment.

Some parents are out of line and cruel.

Most are just trying to create a stable environment.

When we look back in hindsight, we see the results of these adult decisions.

Were they out of line for making the rules?

Or were we out of line for breaking them?

I didn't break many, but proud of the times I did.

Except for the one time of playing handball in church.

Not my finest hour.

Redditor Rare_Independent_789 wanted to chat about all of the things our parents tried to keep from us as kids, so they asked:

"What was banned in your house that everyone else’s family allowed?"

The Classics

" The Simpsons... yet I was allowed to watch South Park 🤔."

- Pound_Cakey

"Same here. I found out later, when my grandpa died, that you could hear a pin drop in the hospital. The first thing my mom heard afterwards from across the hall in the hospital was the beginning of the Simpsons theme song. She's absolutely hated the show since."

- GallicPontiff

GIF by MOODMAN Giphy

Like, what?

"Having friends over. My folks never let us bring friends over to the house."

- SweatsuitCocktail

My parents would b**ch and b**ch about how I only went to other people's houses and never invited my friends over. And then I would invite my friends over, and they'd show their a**es in front of them with all their weird hangups, and those friends would either vow to never come over again or just stop being my friends."

"Example: had my girlfriends stay the night once, we had a pool, and we were all swimming in it, stepmom comes home from work and proceeds to chew out four 16-year-old girls for wearing bikinis in front of her husband and son. Like, f**king WHAT?"

- Alliekat1282

Dear Lord

"The movie The Exorcist. My mom watched it in theaters when she was younger, and it scared her so much, we weren’t allowed to watch it. She still won’t let anyone watch it in her house 30 years later... lol."

- BlondeBombShell1105

"I was so afraid of this movie that I didn’t even want to be in the same room if it came on TV. My mom thought it was funny to tease me about it. Then I finally watched it when I was like 18, a friend and I smoked some weed before we watched it, and laughed at how stupid it was."

"This was in the early 2000’s so I guess I felt it didn’t age well compared to the better special effects and stuff of newer horror movies. I still don’t like to mess with spirits or possession or the devil or anything. I blame Catholic school for that one. But the movie wasn’t like I thought it was going to be anyway."

- elocin1985

Work with the Devil

"MTV. My mom went nuts after our preacher convinced her that the devil was working through the media to corrupt children."

"MTV is still banned in her home some 35 years later."

- will_write_for_tacos

"MTV was not included in our regional cable in North Dakota. It was because a local church group protested it. It was available as a premium channel if you paid extra. But only rich households had premium channels."

- Booty_PIunderer

Be Quiet

"We weren’t allowed to say 'shut up.' To this day, saying 'shut up' is worse to me than 'f**k you.'"

- SweetandSourCaroline

"We weren't allowed to say that either. Stupid, fart, hell, and damn were also banned. 😝 Now I have a potty mouth when I watch sports, but otherwise keep a lid on it. Imagine that one can learn to read the room and use curse words in appropriate situations and context! 🤯"

- slinky999

Bless Us...

"Nickelodeon. Apparently, it was satanic or something."

- SirFelsenAxt

"My mom wouldn’t let us watch You Can’t Do That On Television. It was on Nickelodeon."

- Short-Quit-7659

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What about fruits?

"Funny story. We weren't allowed to watch VeggieTales. We are a Christian family, it's just the veggies' voices that annoyed Mom."

- Top-Block-5938

"I got banned from Veggie Tales in my very Christian household when I was 4, cause I learned to talk back from Larry. I think he said, 'Haha, very funny Bob,' and I said: 'Haha, very funny Mom. 'Disney was also banned (for reasons spanning from the stepmother's giving us nightmares (I was fine. Even if I had nightmares I was too scared to get my mom so it would bother her…also my sister had Nemo nightmares for years so idk why that wasn’t banned) to princesses having boobs/cleavage ig)."

"I also couldn’t watch anything with dragons (basically satan), magic (witchcraft), or SpongeBob (idk man)."

- just-a-horny-s**t

Shut Up, Ariel!

"THIS is the best answer. I was raised in a super strict Christian household, and yet the funniest thing that was banned was The Little Mermaid. Why? Not the rebelling against parents, not the bikini top, not the leaving your whole world for a man you just met thing, but solely because my mom hated Ariel’s voice 😂."

- fellinstingingnettle

Pre-College

"Wearing jeans and tennis shoes to school. I had to wear slacks, a shirt with a button-down collar, and dress shoes every day until I graduated from high school. Once I got to college, those rules were quietly discarded."

- OldBob10

"Old school, the school dress code banned jeans, T-shirts, and sneakers. All boys were required to wear slacks, button shirts, and leather shoes. Girls were only allowed skirts or dresses. Kids got sent home for wearing bell-bottom slacks."

- mountrich

That Hurts

"Love and affection."

- Iocnar

"Yup. To this day, my parents have never once hugged my sister or me. Nor have they ever said I love you to us. She's 49, I'm 42."

"My friends wonder why I'm not a hugger, and I have a tough time explaining my upbringing because it's so foreign to them."

- Independent-Win9088

"Yeah, that one hits home."

- AggressiveCompany175

Prison Tales

"I was gonna say freedom. My mom was very fond of reminding us that she owned us and everything we had, and if we didn't toe the line, we could quickly find ourselves with nothing but dinner, the Bible, and an empty room. I think she got it from being in prison."

- Daetok_Lochannis

Schitts Creek Pain GIF by CBC Giphy

Stay Serious!

"I’m Asian, so basically anything fun."

- Vivid_Potato_6544

"Listen, you're just not trying hard enough. Mrs Hong across the street? HER son had his doctorate while working in the rice fields and playing first chair cello with the orchestra, and he still had time to find a wife, give his mother a grandchild, and adopt 5 orphans. HE never had a problem with Huns! You're just making excuses! And to think of all the sacrifices your poor mother had to make, all so you could go to school and be rich and take care of your family."

- WoedicaWinsWarframe

Grease is the Word

"My dad banned us from having a stove, because he could smell the 'grease.' We also didn’t have a fridge for a long time."

"He has untreated mental health issues."

- HotelPuzzleheaded514

"My FIL decided their new home didn't need an oven- MIL struggled for a couple of years without, especially on holidays where she hosted her big family. She died suddenly 5 years ago, and abusive POS Fil now has no one to berate for bad meals because of no oven. He has recently been known to cook hot dogs in his fireplace. Love this for him."

- p3canj0y363

Just Once

"Doing something fun two nights in a row. 🙄 Apparently, there was a limit on that. 😆 If I did something fun on Friday, I'd better not even think about asking to do something on Saturday."

- Small-Chef350

"Same, it was so annoying seeing all my friends going out all the time and getting told u went out yesterday already or u went out twice this week already. like yeah, and I want to go out again."

- basic*itch823

"This sounds like growing up in a black or Caribbean household. 😂😂 Growing up, I already knew that if I went out yesterday to a birthday party, it was not happening again the next day."

- Easy_Nefariousness38

Carbination Issues

"Soda wasn't banned, per se, but we NEVER bought it. It was only in the fridge if left over from a BBQ or kids' sports event."

"I still have no idea why, my parents swear they used to buy it for us but all the kids confirm - we never bought soda in the house until my oldest sibling finally got a job and would treat us (she would hide it in her room and we'd being cups with ice to watch cartoons together)."

- Goose_Biscuits11

"Ooh, same. I don’t think we ever had any in our house. I only got to drink it when we occasionally got fast food. My mom still brags to this day that she’s proud that she didn’t feed us all that sugar lol."

- glitterolives

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Goodness, so many of you were so deprived.

Although the older I get, the more I realize soda can be toxic in the long run.

Who bans a stove and then demands good food?

Some people are just out of their minds.

A lot is abusive and sad.

I'm sorry for that.

Several other things are just weird.

A few make me laugh.

I wonder what adults nowadays are banning.