Who Am I Speaking To?

"I had to answer the phone 'hello this is first-name last-name speaking' whenever I answered the phone."

"This is obv in the 80’s before caller ID on landlines."

"My mom tried to make my childhood friends do it too when they called me to play."

"As in:"

“'Hi can I talk to geeltulpen?'”

“'Who is this?'”

"'It’s friend'.”

“'Well, friend, when you call this house and I answer the phone, you should say hello to me and then tell me that it’s you, your first name and last name, before you ask to talk to geeltulpen'.”

"Boy, was I popular."- geeltulpen

No Secrets In This House!

"My door could only be closed if I was changing clothes."

'If my parents suspected that I was hiding anything, they could, and did, go through anything to make sure."

"Dresser and desk drawers, bags, closet, car, whatever they felt was necessary."

"Even my mail was fair game."

'As a result, I got really good at hiding things."- DonNatalie

Treating Family Like A Business

"We had 'family council' every Sunday night after dinner."

"We would sit and say good things that happened that week, share our grievances if we had any, we always did, make a dinner menu, and assign chores."

"Frankly, it was stellar parenting."

"Though, if I mention it to my mother now, she will brag about it for a solid 20 minutes before we can move on."- Illarie

What A Unique Way/Of Communicating With/The Whole Family

"Haiku night dinners."

"Some nights we spoke in haiku."

"And only haiku."- bronwen-noodle

Hilarious... And Inhumane?

"If you ever ran out of toilet paper whilst on the toilet, you had to sing the 'Stranded' song or else no one else in the house would bring you a roll."- kteabrown

Don't Have A Cow, Man!

"I had SUPER laid back parents but there were a few certain things that they were randomly crazy strict about."

"No gum."

"No play doh."

"No cereal with sugar as one of the top 3 ingredients."

"No Simpsons."

"I had basically no rules growing up, but those four things would make them lose their g*ddamn minds."

"I still get anxious when I’m chewing gum and I’m 35."- SiFiWiRi

Some People Hate Pineapple On Pizza That Much!

"I come from a large family."

"Any time we'd order pizza, we ordered a few different kinds because, obviously, there were different preferences."

"Any left overs were left in their respective boxes and placed in the oven."

"I did that when I lived with a couple of roommates and of course their reaction was: 'I just burned this box. Why was this in the f**king oven?'"-Justgivme1

One And Done!

"If I got hurt doing a certain activity I wasn’t allowed to do that activity again."

"My mother ended that rule though when I broke my wrist snowboarding when I was 16 and didn’t tell her until a month later when I couldn’t move my wrist at all and it required surgery with a bone graft to repair."-_njhiker

Keep Your Filthy Hands Out Of There!!!

"Not mine but my mother in law and her sister will fuss at you if you wash your hands in the kitchen sink."

"I think that's weird."

"If there's a sink and some hand soap I say wash away."

"My wife isn't like that."- singuslarity

Most rules come from a place of love... or concern.

And in some cases, having proper phone etiquette and weekly open conversations with our families might have had positive effects on our lives.

Although, when visiting the home of your partner's parents and you find yourself in need of toilet paper, better think twice before singing for more.