When you're a kid, most of the time, adults make no sense. Parents always seem to devise arbitrary reasons to stifle fun under the guise of "safety and concern." Of course, the best reason I most often recall is... "because I said so!" That one in particular always seemed a little fishy to me. But if we knew what was good for us, we acquiesced. However, in hindsight, every so often, parents have some weird motivations.
Redditor u/Korn_makes_me_horny wanted everyone to tell us about the times in childhood parents made some "questionable" decisions by asking...What's the weirdest rule your parents made you follow as a kid?
Menu Choices
GIF by Pop-TartsGiphyChocolate PopTarts are dessert and therefore can only be eaten on Saturdays. Fruit PopTarts are obviously nutritious and are to be eaten during the week. (There was no healthy option instead of PopTarts.)
Be Home
If someone asked me to hang out with them, I had to go (unless it was after curfew or someone my parents didn't like). As an adult I understand that my parents wanted me to be social and wanted me out of the house, but how it felt as a kid was that I needed to give other people what they wanted, my time was not my own, and my feelings always came second to others. Not a great lesson to give your kid.
In & Out
My friend's Filipino mum would only let us play his Sega Megadrive for 15 minutes before literally kicking us out the house and locking the door so we had to play outside. After 2 hours outside she would give us another 15min on the Megadrive.
I once pooped myself in his driveway because she wouldn't open the door.
king yes GIFThem 90's Shows....
Grew up in the 90's and 00's my mother would not let us watch king of the hill specifically. when I was about 15 I asked my dad why and he said "besides the fact that it is not funny, I have no idea."
Same! Any 'adult' cartoons of the 90s and 2000s (Simpsons, Futurama, Family Guy, King of the Hill, Beavis and Butthead - pretty much every vaguely edgy cartoon of the era) was banned for me growing up because my mom hated them. Made me feel really left out when I was young. It still makes me feel left out, because I never ultimately got into any of them so other people think there's something wrong with me.
Wardrobe Malfunctions
My parents were very chill for the most part but they (particularly my dad but sometimes my mom too) would get on a high horse about the most random issues.
One of them was hats. My parents HATED us wearing hats. Any hats. It was the craziest thing. We really were only allowed to wear them like dress-up clothes and sometimes not even then. Even if it went with our outfit, you couldn't have it on in the house for thirty minutes without hearing one of them snap, "Take that hat off your head!" Going out in public with a hat on was forbidden, unless it was actually snowing. Sometimes, for Christmas and such, relatives would give us hats that they thought we would like, but we were never actually allowed to wear them anywhere.
One other exception was when we did Little League, of course, a ball cap was part of your uniform. My dad would freak out on us if he caught us with it turned backwards or to the side, because "That is disrespectful to the game of baseball! It is not the way that hat is meant to be worn!" It was the 90s, backward ball caps everywhere, so at the time we felt it was especially lame that we couldn't. When I went to summer camp, I packed a baseball cap and wore it backward the entire time because they finally weren't there to stop me, haha.
Wordplay
Not really the weirdest but the only one I remember: we were allowed to say the word 'a**' but not 'a**hole' because that would make it too inappropriate/descriptive. Still funny to this day.
Another one is where my dad buys new things and doesn't allow anyone to use them. "Why are you taking your new umbrella out? It'll get wet!" or "Don't wear your new shoes, they'll get dirty!" These are all things he has said before, lol.
TV or Not to TV
flying harry potter GIFGiphyWe were not allowed to watch Harry Potter, but we were allowed to watch Wizards of Waverly Place.
Meh?
I wasn't allowed to say, "I don't care" when I was a kid. My parents viewed that as leading to a callous attitude about the suffering of others.
Of course, the emotional burden of having to care about everything has left me jaded.
"Do you want peas or carrots for dinner?"
"I don't care"
Gets smacked!!
The Greens
Wet Hot American Summer Cooking GIF by NETFLIXGiphyI was not allowed to mix my salad dressing in with my salad. I had to just hope it coated the leaves while I was eating it.
in the pocket....
I was not allowed to put my hands in my pockets (unless I was getting something out of them). "Only lazy people put their hands in their pockets..."
JTT Forever
justin timberlake GIFGiphyMy mom wouldn't let me put posters on my wall because she said it would start a fire. Ya know, because my JTT posters might spontaneously combust.
The 90's
I wasn't allowed to watch the show Martin because it was full of dirty jokes and bad black stereotypes.
I could watch In Living Color, however.
My parents let me watch in living color with them when I was around 4 years old. Homey D. Clown and the Head Detective defined me.
Free Dogs
Every morning when I woke up we had to eat a hotdog because my dad worked at the hotdog factory and he got unlimited free hotdogs so basically every meal for my entire childhood was hotdogs.
Superstition
Super Bowl Football GIF by Frito-LayGiphyFor several years, everyone had to wear a hat while watching the Steelers game, because my mom decided it was good luck.
"Crude"
Watching The Simpsons, ever. I was 10 when it premiered; now, in my 40s, I'm still not allowed to watch it in their house while visiting. The main reason I was always given was "It's so crude!" "Crude" meaning the fact that Smithers is gay and Marge thought of cheating on Homer in one episode in 1990.
Clip Clip Here.... Clip Clip There....
Flush my nail clipping (as opposed to just throw then in the trash can).
Just gonna put it out there that some people, particularly more witchy peeps, are super careful to discard their hair and nail clippings in such a way that it cannot be collected by another person and used against them in like a spell or such.
Idk what your parents reasoning for flushing the nail clippings but just gonna leave this here lol. Oh as a side note, I'd flush those bad boys just to be totally rid of them VS maybe finding one that missed the trash receptacle just laying around randomly one day when I'm sittin' on the throne. floopyferret
Stay Awake
No sleeping over at a friend's house whatsoever because "little girls shouldn't be doing that", but my mom is a Jehovah's Witness so it wasn't that unexpected along with the no birthdays or holidays rule.
Girl Crush
I couldn't cut my hair above my shoulders… When my mom found out I was gay, she for bid me from going over to any females house except for the one girl I had a crush on. The girl I had a crush on was Mormon so she knew nothing would happen. She thought I was sleeping with all my female friends even though they were straight.
After 16
drag queen avon pride GIF by AVONBRGiphyFor the boys, no parting your hair down the middle until you're 16. For the girls, no make up/eyebrow plucking/shaving until you're 16.
We have never heard of some of these, but we can't say that we disagree with some of them!
Do you have any similar rules? Let us know in the comments.
@chefbenqc/Threads
@the_tre_haus; beckysolwold/Threads
Ron Jarvis/Facebook
@kasialove/Bluesky
Barbara Boetsch/Facebook
@maupt68/Threads
@leftofliberal2025/Threads
@pattistraus/Threads
@sugarpillseattle/Threads
@BlueJock/X
@SentientHaze133/X
@DivinyPete/X
@SeanCasten/X
@IAmJoeTrudeau/X
@sensiblemiddle/X