The Strangest Rules People Had In Their House As A Kid

Every household usually ends up with some sort of house rules. They might be about daily chores or personal property.

Some rules are pretty standard. Pick up after yourself, don't mess with other people’s stuff.

But some households get a bit more... creative.

Reddit user HumanRole9407 asked:

"What's a rule in your house growing up that you thought was normal but turned out to be very strange?"

Drink

"We were only allowed to have ginger ale if we were sick or on an airplane. It wasn't common, but we would occasionally get a soda to drink, but ginger ale was special, I guess?

"I was well into my 20s and had an epiphany one day that I'm a grown adult with my own money. I can just go buy a ginger ale if I want to have one."

~ InannasPocket

Sleep

"Everyone takes an afternoon nap."

"Turned out, my grandma was narcoleptic and her kids got used to napping with her."

~ Jaives

Food

"Don't feed friends. If friends came over after school, we weren't allowed to offer them snacks or drinks."

"My parents didn't want them to 'eat all our food'. As an adult, I feed everyone."

"I offered food to my kids' friends. I find it so weird that my parents were so stingy.

"We weren't broke, growing up, we were well off. I never minded feeding the kids who came over."

~ Relevant-Package-928

Etiquette

"Every Thursday evening was 'fancy dinner' at which there were so many more rules than dinner the rest of the week."

"The rest of the week the rules were just don't be messy and don't be rude."

"But Fancy Dinner meant dress nicely, no swearing, sit up straight, only talk about polite subjects, elbows off the table, etc..."

"I was confused why we mostly had casual dinners but my parents insisted on fancy dinners even when we didn't have company."

"Now as an adult I know what they were doing. They wanted us to have upward class mobility. They were making us practice our manners so we could make a good impression on fancy people when needed."

"I was grateful for it when I sat down for an academic awards dinner with some of my college professors and was able to talk easily and feel good because I recognized a fancy dinner when I saw one and like a sleeper agent who just heard my code word, I knew exactly what to do."

~ snapwillow

Water

"Not being allowed to get the bath mat wet."

"What's it for, then‽‽"

~ SuperPomegranate7933

"I had this rule growing up too. In fact I stayed with my mom a few days this past Thanksgiving and she got mad at me for getting the bath mat wet."

"I mean just a little dampness, not soaking wet; I used a towel to dry off in the shower before I got out! Then I hung the bath mat up when I was done like she always insists on!"

"I don’t understand, and at this point I think she just wanted a reason to yell at us growing up and a bath mat will always get a little wet at bath time, hence foolproof excuse to blow off some steam by yelling at your child."

~ Timely-Vehicle

Hydration

"Not my house but at a friend's…."

"I slept over at a friend's house once in elementary school and during dinner no one was allowed to drink anything. The mom’s reasoning was that by filling your stomach with water, you would be too full and cause you to not finish your meal."

"After everyone cleaned their plate (required by the parents to not waste anything) everyone got up and went to the refrigerator to get a can of Coke. I asked for a glass to get some water and was given a rolled eye look from her mother."

~ EarlGrey1806

Music

"When I was a kid, the rule in the car was that the driver picks the music."

"When I turned 16 and started driving, it became 'owner of the car picks the music'."

"When I got my own car it became 'most experienced driver in the car picks the music'."

"Basically, my mom just changed the rules at random so that nobody could listen to music they like except her."

~ TopFisherman49

Hide

"Not mine, but a Diné (Navajo) friend's."

"When the doorbell rings, the kids hide."

"My friend and her mother grew up thinking that was just a fun game."

"Then her mother found out that it was because her grandparents were hiding the kids that hadn't been taken to an 'Indian' boarding school."

"Her grandparents told their kids that it was a game so that they wouldn't be scared."

~ afeeney

Misogyny

"Girls were not allowed to be around boys during that time of the month because it was unclean and poisonous to males."

"Turned out to be a crazy lie. Thanks, Evangelical Chrisitanity."

~ NextSplit2683

Socks

"We had to wear socks at all times to keep the carpet clean."

"Now I can't walk barefoot without feeling like a rebel."

~ MustLovelyMe

"We weren't allowed to go downstairs without socks. Destructive oils in our feet would destroy the carpet."

"I'm glad someone else's parents were also a bit nutty."

~ gingr87

Hand Washing

"Don't use the decorative towels to dry your hands, use the old towels."

"Also, only use half a pump of soap to wash your hands."

~ Obvious_Lobster2403

"They usually paired the tiny decorative towels with decorative little soaps in a fancy dish or basket that you weren’t supposed to use, either."

"It was a 1970s thing, as I remember."

~ No-Two79

Idleness

"We were not allowed to lay on the bed and just read, or be on the phone. Everytime we did it, my father would come screaming and mocking us for being lazy or something else."

"When I was a teenager, I always listened for his footsteps in the hallway so I could get up quick enough and pretend to do something."

~ croieile

"Yep, same rule and anxiety in my family. My dad was career military, and 'lounging' was unacceptable."

"I’m married with my own kids now, and I still get a lot of anxiety about my husband walking in to me scrolling or something, especially if there are things to do."

"My husband doesn’t care if I'm goofing off—it’s just the deep-rooted fear of being caught being unproductive. And I have a lloooooott of shame about it even when I am alone."

"Thanks, dad."

~ iakonu_hale

Locks

"No locked doors, ever."

"In fairness, it started as a safety thing when we were kids. When I was a toddler, I fell asleep behind a locked door and my parents thought I was dead cause I wasn’t responding."

"But when it carried into adolescence then adulthood, it became about not letting us have boundaries or our own space."

"My mother assumed we were keeping horrible secrets or plotting against her if we locked a door. Heaven forbid if we just wanted an ounce of privacy!"

~ Severe_Funny_3852

Feet

"We were allowed bare feet in the house, but never on the sofa."

"Because my dad said it would make the sofa smell like feet."

~ Fit_Iron8824

Mental Illness

"You can't eat unless an adult made the food and gave you permission to eat it."

"Didn't get that permission often as there wasn't a present/conscious adult around to ask most of the time. I mainly ate at school."

"We also had plenty of food at home, so it wasn't as though we were impoverished and starving."

"I remember one time my mentally ill mom—clinically diagnosed, but refused treatment for OCD, BPD, and ADHD—snuck up behind me and attacked me because she caught me, half starved, eating shredded cheese out of the bag in the middle of the night."

"I was 13 at the time and just hit a growth spurt."

"The first time I was at a friend's house and saw him just... make a box of mac & cheese for us, I was panicking because he hadn't asked for or receive permission to eat. He was confused, to say the least."

"As an adult, I love food. I enjoy cooking as an art form and have been less than gently asked to leave buffets for eating so much."

"That said, I have a wacky metabolism because of those experiencs, even in my 30s now, and can still eat pretty much anything and be fine. 5"10 155lbs and I can bench 150 without struggling too hard."

"As for my mom? Well, it sucks to suck. I tried to be present and help in her old age, but she's still her same old self.

"I recently moved half the country away to be with my dad. I make us coffee, steak and omelets every morning and we just started rebuilding a 2003 Dyna Wide Glide this week."

"A good therapist and a visit to a dietitian every 5 years does wonders."

~ JonTheArchivist

Were there any unusual rules in your house?