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People Break Down The Strangest Rules Their Parents Enforced Growing Up

People Break Down The Strangest Rules Their Parents Enforced Growing Up
Image by RitaE from Pixabay

The rules we follow growing up are often rooted in culture and circumstance, but that doesn't mean they always make sense for the world we live in.

Or at least they didn't as kids. Let's revisit and see if things make more sense as grown ups, shall we?

Reddit user WannabeWeeb asked:

What dumb rules did you parents have growing up?

And I'm not out here saying parents need to do better. As a parent, I totally get the idea of being a semi-functional mess... I'm just saying maybe let's talk some stuff out before we start enforcing things as rules?

Like, we see where you were GOOOOOOIIIIIIING there were just some failures of logic on the way there.

Experience

forbidden downton abbey GIFGiphy

"I wasn't allowed to drive at night, or in the rain/snow, because I had no experience driving in those conditions."

"So until I got experience driving at night or in rain/snow, I was forbidden to do it. But I could never gain that experience because I was forbidden to do it."

"Logic was not always a parental strength." - fangfacekitty

Video Game Rules

Video Game GIF by sambmotionGiphy

"Couldn't own a Call Of Duty game because I was shooting people. Halo was great because I was killing aliens." - Perriaction

"My mom actually had similar feelings. Resident Evil, while she didn't like it, was fine because it was obvious fiction. Military shooters were far worse because it's a realistic scenario of killing people, along with glorifying the military." - Hiro-Of-Shadows

No Food For You

Swedish Chef Cooking GIFGiphy

"Never eat in any house except your own." - WiseOpinion47

"Glad I am not the only one that had to deal with this. My friends were always baffled when I would leave just because their mom started cooking."

"Dad's excuse was that my older brother supposedly would beg for food at his friends house when he didn't want to eat my mom's cooking. (He also pretended to be poor to con my aunt into buying him a designer coat so it's plausible)"

"Mom said she didn't care, but she was a health food nut and critical of what the other neighborhood mom's fed their kids." - ProfessionalBee137

Evil

Mermaid Man And Barnacle Boy Superhero GIF by SpongeBob SquarePantsGiphy

"I had a friend whos parents were really religious, but only in certain ways."

"One of those ways was not using the certain words such as evil. We would go to his house and play Resident Evil, but every evil word had to be covered up. So we would often play 'Resident 4.' "

"They had a very large dvd collection of movies also, that all had words sharpied out and censored, but everyone was still allowed to watch the movies so it made no sense." - streetmitch

Twice A Week

eddie vedder clapping GIF by Pearl JamGiphy

"In high school I wasn't allowed to wear 'shirts with words on them' more than twice a week."

"I liked to wear graphic tees and merch I bought at concerts. Mother viewed her kids as an extension of her rather than as individuals, so she tended to control us as much as she could as a means of improving her image."

"Letting me dress the way I wanted to dress twice a week was her version of a compromise." - raisethesong

Dealbreakers

The Goldbergs No GIF by ABC NetworkGiphy

"My parents have a habit of making deals with me, and when I do my part, they completely change it to suit them."

"I was allowed to save up for a console a couple years ago by doing jobs, chores, etc. I was told that once I had the money, I would be allowed to buy it. Fast forward to a year and a bit later, I have the money for a Black Friday offer."

"I ask my mum if I can buy it, and she tells me no. 'You need to wait a few months to prove yourself.' Like wtf does that mean, I have to be 'worthy' of it?"

"I still managed to convince them, but I still wasn't allowed to play on it for another 2 months."

"Another example, I wanted to buy a lightsaber replica off Amazon with my own money. I was told if I saved up, my parents would buy a second one so I could play with a friend. I had the money, and I got my saber."

"But because my grades slipped a tiny bit, my parents took the lightsaber that I SAVE UP FOR off me and refused to buy me another. To this day I still don't have the second one because it sold out. So much for a deal. (And no, there was no mention of grades staying the same, etc)." - GodofMemes_Dank

The Fun Quota

Schitts Creek Comedy GIF by CBCGiphy

"My parents had a fun quota. I couldn't have multiple fun days for a given week."

"A fun day was something like a friend coming over for a while or me getting to hang out with them." - spacexpurrp

"Disrespect"

You Will Not Cry Full Metal Jacket GIFGiphy

"The main one was that dad didn't tolerate 'disrespect,' which sounds fine until you realize that 'disrespect' was just whatever set him off that time."

"So you'd walk into the room, he'd storm over yelling about 'disrespect,' and tell you to drop and give him 30, while he kicked and stepped on you until you were done. Then he'd ask you if you knew what you did wrong. Of course the answer was no, but if you said that you were 'playing dumb' so, you'd do more pushups, he'd kick you some more, and then he'd ask again."

"If you kept doing that, maybe he'd tell you what he was angry about at some point, but who knows? It wasn't worth it. He probably just didn't like your resting facial expression, or he had a bad day and decided you looked too happy, or something equally inane." - Aperture_T

People Who Work In Remote Places Share Creepiest Things They've Witnessed | George Takei’s Oh Myyy

Male Family Members

chelsea peretti ew GIF by Brooklyn Nine-NineGiphy

"No dresses, skirts, tank tops, sometimes even t-shirts if the sleeves weren't long enough, around any male family members."

"Shorts too, and pants that were too tight around the crotch area. Oh also only thick tights were allowed. Like you should not be able to even make out my skin tone through it if I stretched it out completely."

"... if you think my family members (including my brother and father) are going to look at your 10-year-old kid like that maybe it's they are the problem and not your daughter problem 😀" - ijustwanttobeloved2

Dad

Fathers Day Dad GIFGiphy

"OH… my family had such weird family rules, here are a few:"

"That we couldn't leave the table without drinking a glass of milk first. No idea why."

"We had to complement our family one time a day"

"and if we ever lied my parents would force me to eat a piece of moldy bread. That last one was (maybe?) abuse. I've cut my dad out of my life."

"My dad was the one that made all the rules. He had a lot of control on my mom and she was too brainwashed by Him to notice." - Odd-Blackberry8216

Who Are You Hiding From?

arrested development hiding GIFGiphy

"No strangers or friends are allowed to enter the main home."

"It doesn't matter if it's your best friend of forever. To hang out with friends or guests they have another place that's 6 miles away."

"It has a small garden. You can have a bbq, hang out, and play there. Everything from the post office is delivered there. But we don't sleep there."

"We can, but we don't use it as a home. No outsiders are allowed at the place we use as home." - MJohnVan

"Rebellion"

lion king disney GIFGiphy

"My parents had this gigantic chest that hid the TV in the top part and had three drawers for movies in the bottom part."

"I was only allowed to watch the movies in the bottom 2 drawers. They were parental approved. They were filtered for subject matter, language, and even year they were made; 1939-1964. Those were the earliest and latest releases that I could watch."

"My parents were super religious and put me a very strict religious community of Southern Baptist - Christianity."

"If you listened non-classical music, you were marked as a bad person. Tattoos were part of devil worship, gays had no souls. If a girl showed her ankles it was risqué. There were families who couldn't watch The Lion King because they sang about 'The Circle of Life' and that was just too scandalous."

"Other kids who grew up 'rebelled' by having sex, drinking/doing drugs, and got tattoos. My rebellion was to watch every movie I could get my hands on."

"So, naturally, when I was 18 and went to college, somebody gave me their Netflix password. I started watching the Walking Dead. I had never seen effects or a story like that. It gave me nightmares for years." - Qu33nM4ry

Bad Luck

sad black and white GIFGiphy

"Don't cut nails at night. Don't pet the cat when there's thunder."

"Don't rest your chin on your hand. Don't use piggy banks. Don't bite your nails..."

"It's a long list and the reason for all of it is because doing it is 'bad luck.' " - LowAd8109

The Filibuster

going off alex jones GIFGiphy

"You're not allowed to leave the room while the parents are talking to you."

"I know that sounds like basic human decency, but you have to consider my father would keep ranting on and on about things, practically trapping everyone in the room with him as he did."

"If, during dinner or something, I asked to leave my parents would even spend literally half an hour lecturing me about how inappropriate it was to ask to leave at that moment, thus trapping me for 30 minutes after I had already indicated that I wanted to leave."

"I'm autistic and sensory overload is a real problem for me, so if I'm trying to leave and find a place where I can calm down and recover, trapping me by yelling what a bad person I am is not going to make it any better." - TheChosenSnail

Hopefully we've gotten some useful what NOT to do tips from these Reddit users and their confessions. Parenting is hard, but it's doable in a loving, logical, and non-abusive way.

People Reveal The Weirdest Thing About Themselves

Reddit user Isitjustmedownhere asked: 'Give an example; how weird are you really?'

Let's get one thing straight: no one is normal. We're all weird in our own ways, and that is actually normal.

Of course, that doesn't mean we don't all have that one strange trait or quirk that outweighs all the other weirdness we possess.

For me, it's the fact that I'm almost 30 years old, and I still have an imaginary friend. Her name is Sarah, she has red hair and green eyes, and I strongly believe that, since I lived in India when I created her and there were no actual people with red hair around, she was based on Daphne Blake from Scooby-Doo.

I also didn't know the name Sarah when I created her, so that came later. I know she's not really there, hence the term 'imaginary friend,' but she's kind of always been around. We all have conversations in our heads; mine are with Sarah. She keeps me on task and efficient.

My mom thinks I'm crazy that I still have an imaginary friend, and writing about her like this makes me think I may actually be crazy, but I don't mind. As I said, we're all weird, and we all have that one trait that outweighs all the other weirdness.

Redditors know this all too well and are eager to share their weird traits.

It all started when Redditor Isitjustmedownhere asked:

"Give an example; how weird are you really?"

Monsters Under My Bed

"My bed doesn't touch any wall."

"Edit: I guess i should clarify im not rich."

– Practical_Eye_3600

"Gosh the monsters can get you from any angle then."

– bikergirlr7

"At first I thought this was a flex on how big your bedroom is, but then I realized you're just a psycho 😁"

– zenOFiniquity8

Can You See Why?

"I bought one of those super-powerful fans to dry a basement carpet. Afterwards, I realized that it can point straight up and that it would be amazing to use on myself post-shower. Now I squeegee my body with my hands, step out of the shower and get blasted by a wide jet of room-temp air. I barely use my towel at all. Wife thinks I'm weird."

– KingBooRadley

Remember

"In 1990 when I was 8 years old and bored on a field trip, I saw a black Oldsmobile Cutlass driving down the street on a hot day to where you could see that mirage like distortion from the heat on the road. I took a “snapshot” by blinking my eyes and told myself “I wonder how long I can remember this image” ….well."

– AquamarineCheetah

"Even before smartphones, I always take "snapshots" by blinking my eyes hoping I'll remember every detail so I can draw it when I get home. Unfortunately, I may have taken so much snapshots that I can no longer remember every detail I want to draw."

"Makes me think my "memory is full.""

– Reasonable-Pirate902

Same, Same

"I have eaten the same lunch every day for the past 4 years and I'm not bored yet."

– OhhGoood

"How f**king big was this lunch when you started?"

– notmyrealnam3

Not Sure Who Was Weirder

"Had a line cook that worked for us for 6 months never said much. My sous chef once told him with no context, "Baw wit da baw daw bang daw bang diggy diggy." The guy smiled, left, and never came back."

– Frostygrunt

Imagination

"I pace around my house for hours listening to music imagining that I have done all the things I simply lack the brain capacity to do, or in some really bizarre scenarios, I can really get immersed in these imaginations sometimes I don't know if this is some form of schizophrenia or what."

– RandomSharinganUser

"I do the same exact thing, sometimes for hours. When I was young it would be a ridiculous amount of time and many years later it’s sort of trickled off into almost nothing (almost). It’s weird but I just thought it’s how my brain processes sh*t."

– Kolkeia

If Only

"Even as an adult I still think that if you are in a car that goes over a cliff; and right as you are about to hit the ground if you jump up you can avoid the damage and will land safely. I know I'm wrong. You shut up. I'm not crying."

– ShotCompetition2593

Pet Food

"As a kid I would snack on my dog's Milkbones."

– drummerskillit

"Haha, I have a clear memory of myself doing this as well. I was around 3 y/o. Needless to say no one was supervising me."

– Isitjustmedownhere

"When I was younger, one of my responsibilities was to feed the pet fish every day. Instead, I would hide under the futon in the spare bedroom and eat the fish food."

– -GateKeep-

My Favorite Subject

"I'm autistic and have always had a thing for insects. My neurotypical best friend and I used to hang out at this local bar to talk to girls, back in the late 90s. One time he claimed that my tendency to circle conversations back to insects was hurting my game. The next time we went to that bar (with a few other friends), he turned and said sternly "No talking about bugs. Or space, or statistics or other bullsh*t but mainly no bugs." I felt like he was losing his mind over nothing."

"It was summer, the bar had its windows open. Our group hit it off with a group of young ladies, We were all chatting and having a good time. I was talking to one of these girls, my buddy was behind her facing away from me talking to a few other people."

"A cloudless sulphur flies in and lands on little thing that holds coasters."

"Cue Jordan Peele sweating gif."

"The girl notices my tension, and asks if I am looking at the leaf. "Actually, that's a lepidoptera called..." I looked at the back of my friend's head, he wasn't looking, "I mean a butterfly..." I poked it and it spread its wings the girl says "oh that's a BUG?!" and I still remember my friend turning around slowly to look at me with chastisement. The ONE thing he told me not to do."

"I was 21, and was completely not aware that I already had a rep for being an oddball. It got worse from there."

– Phormicidae

*Teeth Chatter*

"I bite ice cream sometimes."

RedditbOiiiiiiiiii

"That's how I am with popsicles. My wife shudders every single time."

monobarreller

Never Speak Of This

"I put ice in my milk."

– GTFOakaFOD

"You should keep that kind of thing to yourself. Even when asked."

– We-R-Doomed

"There's some disturbing sh*t in this thread, but this one takes the cake."

– RatonaMuffin

More Than Super Hearing

"I can hear the television while it's on mute."

– Tira13e

"What does it say to you, child?"

– Mama_Skip

Yikes!

"I put mustard on my omelettes."

– Deleted User

"Oh."

– NotCrustOr-filling

Evened Up

"Whenever I say a word and feel like I used a half of my mouth more than the other half, I have to even it out by saying the word again using the other half of my mouth more. If I don't do it correctly, that can go on forever until I feel it's ok."

"I do it silently so I don't creep people out."

– LesPaltaX

"That sounds like a symptom of OCD (I have it myself). Some people with OCD feel like certain actions have to be balanced (like counting or making sure physical movements are even). You should find a therapist who specializes in OCD, because they can help you."

– MoonlightKayla

I totally have the same need for things to be balanced! Guess I'm weird and a little OCD!

Close up face of a woman in bed, staring into the camera
Photo by Jen Theodore

Experiencing death is a fascinating and frightening idea.

Who doesn't want to know what is waiting for us on the other side?

But so many of us want to know and then come back and live a little longer.

It would be so great to be sure there is something else.

But the whole dying part is not that great, so we'll have to rely on other people's accounts.

Redditor AlaskaStiletto wanted to hear from everyone who has returned to life, so they asked:

"Redditors who have 'died' and come back to life, what did you see?"

Sensations

Happy Good Vibes GIF by Major League SoccerGiphy

"My dad's heart stopped when he had a heart attack and he had to be brought back to life. He kept the paper copy of the heart monitor which shows he flatlined. He said he felt an overwhelming sensation of peace, like nothing he had felt before."

PeachesnPain

Recovery

"I had surgical complications in 2010 that caused a great deal of blood loss. As a result, I had extremely low blood pressure and could barely stay awake. I remember feeling like I was surrounded by loved ones who had passed. They were in a circle around me and I knew they were there to guide me onwards. I told them I was not ready to go because my kids needed me and I came back."

"My nurse later said she was afraid she’d find me dead every time she came into the room."

"It took months, and blood transfusions, but I recovered."

good_golly99

Take Me Back

"Overwhelming peace and happiness. A bright airy and floating feeling. I live a very stressful life. Imagine finding out the person you have had a crush on reveals they have the same feelings for you and then you win the lotto later that day - that was the feeling I had."

"I never feared death afterward and am relieved when I hear of people dying after suffering from an illness."

rayrayrayray

Free

The Light Minnie GIF by (G)I-DLEGiphy

"I had a heart surgery with near-death experience, for me at least (well the possibility that those effects are caused by morphine is also there) I just saw black and nothing else but it was warm and I had such inner peace, its weird as I sometimes still think about it and wish this feeling of being so light and free again."

TooReDTooHigh

This is why I hate surgery.

You just never know.

Shocked

Giphy

"More of a near-death experience. I was electrocuted. I felt like I was in a deep hole looking straight up in the sky. My life flashed before me. Felt sad for my family, but I had a deep sense of peace."

Admirable_Buyer6528

The SOB

"Nursing in the ICU, we’ve had people try to die on us many times during the years, some successfully. One guy stood out to me. His heart stopped. We called a code, are working on him, and suddenly he comes to. We hadn’t vented him yet, so he was able to talk, and he started screaming, 'Don’t let them take me, don’t let them take me, they are coming,' he was scared and yelling."

"Then he yelled a little more, as we tried to calm him down, he screamed, 'No, No,' and gestured towards the end of the bed, and died again. We didn’t get him back. It was seriously creepy. We called his son to tell him the news, and the son said basically, 'Good, he was an SOB.'”

1-cupcake-at-a-time

Colors

"My sister died and said it was extremely peaceful. She said it was very loud like a train station and lots of talking and she was stuck in this area that was like a curtain with lots of beautiful colors (colors that you don’t see in real life according to her) a man told her 'He was sorry, but she had to go back as it wasn’t her time.'"

Hannah_LL7

"I had a really similar experience except I was in an endless garden with flowers that were colors I had never seen before. It was quiet and peaceful and a woman in a dress looked at me, shook her head, and just said 'Not yet.' As I was coming back, it was extremely loud, like everyone in the world was trying to talk all at once. It was all very disorienting but it changed my perspective on life!"

huntokarrr

The Fog

"I was in a gray fog with a girl who looked a lot like a young version of my grandmother (who was still alive) but dressed like a pioneer in the 1800s she didn't say anything but kept pulling me towards an opening in the wall. I kept refusing to go because I was so tired."

"I finally got tired of her nagging and went and that's when I came to. I had bled out during a c-section and my heart could not beat without blood. They had to deliver the baby and sew up the bleeders. refill me with blood before they could restart my heart so, like, at least 12 minutes gone."

Fluffy-Hotel-5184

Through the Walls

"My spouse was dead for a couple of minutes one miserable night. She maintains that she saw nothing, but only heard people talking about her like through a wall. The only thing she remembers for absolute certain was begging an ER nurse that she didn't want to die."

"She's quite alive and well today."

Hot-Refrigerator6583

Well let's all be happy to be alive.

It seems to be all we have.

Man's waist line
Santhosh Vaithiyanathan/Unsplash

Trying to lose weight is a struggle understood by many people regardless of size.

The goal of reaching a healthy weight may seem unattainable, but with diet and exercise, it can pay off through persistence and discipline.

Seeing the pounds gradually drop off can also be a great motivator and incentivize people to stay the course.

Those who've achieved their respective weight goals shared their experiences when Redditor apprenti8455 asked:

"People who lost a lot of weight, what surprises you the most now?"

Redditors didn't see these coming.

Shiver Me Timbers

"I’m always cold now!"

– Telrom_1

"I had a coworker lose over 130 pounds five or six years ago. I’ve never seen him without a jacket on since."

– r7ndom

"140 lbs lost here starting just before COVID, I feel like that little old lady that's always cold, damn this top comment was on point lmao."

– mr_remy

Drawing Concern

"I lost 100 pounds over a year and a half but since I’m old(70’s) it seems few people comment on it because (I think) they think I’m wasting away from some terminal illness."

– dee-fondy

"Congrats on the weight loss! It’s honestly a real accomplishment 🙂"

"Working in oncology, I can never comment on someone’s weight loss unless I specifically know it was on purpose, regardless of their age. I think it kind of ruffles feathers at times, but like I don’t want to congratulate someone for having cancer or something. It’s a weird place to be in."

– LizardofDeath

Unleashing Insults

"I remember when I lost the first big chunk of weight (around 50 lbs) it was like it gave some people license to talk sh*t about the 'old' me. Old coworkers, friends, made a lot of not just negative, but harsh comments about what I used to look like. One person I met after the big loss saw a picture of me prior and said, 'Wow, we wouldn’t even be friends!'”

"It wasn’t extremely common, but I was a little alarmed by some of the attention. My weight has been up and down since then, but every time I gain a little it gets me a little down thinking about those things people said."

– alanamablamaspama

Not Everything Goes After Losing Weight

"The loose skin is a bit unexpected."

– KeltarCentauri

"I haven’t experienced it myself, but surgery to remove skin takes a long time to recover. Longer than bariatric surgery and usually isn’t covered by insurance unless you have both."

– KatMagic1977

"It definitely does take a long time to recover. My Dad dropped a little over 200 pounds a few years back and decided to go through with skin removal surgery to deal with the excess. His procedure was extensive, as in he had skin taken from just about every part of his body excluding his head, and he went through hell for weeks in recovery, and he was bedridden for a lot of it."

– Jaew96

These Redditors shared their pleasantly surprising experiences.

Shopping

"I can buy clothes in any store I want."

– WaySavvyD

"When I lost weight I was dying to go find cute, smaller clothes and I really struggled. As someone who had always been restricted to one or two stores that catered to plus-sized clothing, a full mall of shops with items in my size was daunting. Too many options and not enough knowledge of brands that were good vs cheap. I usually went home pretty frustrated."

– ganache98012

No More Symptoms

"Lost about 80 pounds in the past year and a half, biggest thing that I’ve noticed that I haven’t seen mentioned on here yet is my acid reflux and heartburn are basically gone. I used to be popping tums every couple hours and now they just sit in the medicine cabinet collecting dust."

– colleennicole93

Expanding Capabilities

"I'm all for not judging people by their appearance and I recognise that there are unhealthy, unachievable beauty standards, but one thing that is undeniable is that I can just do stuff now. Just stamina and flexibility alone are worth it, appearance is tertiary at best."

– Ramblonius

People Change Their Tune

"How much nicer people are to you."

"My feet weren't 'wide' they were 'fat.'"

– LiZZygsu

"Have to agree. Lost 220 lbs, people make eye contact and hold open doors and stuff"

"And on the foot thing, I also lost a full shoe size numerically and also wear regular width now 😅"

– awholedamngarden

It's gonna take some getting used to.

Bones Everywhere

"Having bones. Collarbones, wrist bones, knee bones, hip bones, ribs. I have so many bones sticking out everywhere and it’s weird as hell."

– Princess-Pancake-97

"I noticed the shadow of my ribs the other day and it threw me, there’s a whole skeleton in here."

– bekastrange

Knee Pillow

"Right?! And they’re so … pointy! Now I get why people sleep with pillows between their legs - the knee bones laying on top of each other (side sleeper here) is weird and jarring."

– snic2030

"I lost only 40 pounds within the last year or so. I’m struggling to relate to most of these comments as I feel like I just 'slimmed down' rather than dropped a ton. But wow, the pillow between the knees at night. YES! I can relate to this. I think a lot of my weight was in my thighs. I never needed to do this up until recently."

– Strongbad23

More Mobility

"I’ve lost 100 lbs since 2020. It’s a collection of little things that surprise me. For at least 10 years I couldn’t put on socks, or tie my shoes. I couldn’t bend over and pick something up. I couldn’t climb a ladder to fix something. Simple things like that I can do now that fascinate me."

"Edit: Some additional little things are sitting in a chair with arms, sitting in a booth in a restaurant, being able to shop in a normal store AND not needing to buy the biggest size there, being able to easily wipe my butt, and looking down and being able to see my penis."

– dma1965

People making significant changes, whether for mental or physical health, can surely find a newfound perspective on life.

But they can also discover different issues they never saw coming.

That being said, overcoming any challenge in life is laudable, especially if it leads to gaining confidence and ditching insecurities.