People Share The Biggest Unwritten Rules In Their Household
"A Redditor asked: 'What's an unwritten rule in your household?'"
There are rules in life where people are expected to just know how to operate without being told.
For instance, if someone falls down... help them.
When you like a sweater in a store... get money to buy it.
Just leaving with it won't go over well.
And there are more rules, or guidelines to adhere to...
Redditor christygl7 wanted to hear about what is expected in people's homes without words, so they asked:
"What's an unwritten rule in your household?"
If you have to pee... lift the seat cover.
The people in Port Authority always miss that one.
Routine
Cleaning Chores GIF by SpongeBob SquarePants Giphy"Either my wife or I can do any chore when noticed. We thank each other for routine chores as we appreciate each other."
cwsjr2323
"That’s how my fiancée and I handle chores. Whoever’s around when the core needs to be done does the chore, typically. I find she does more regular cleaning of the whole apartment while I do more dishes and cooking."
radtech91
Trashed
"Replacing the trash bag IS PART OF taking out the trash."
UndiagnosedReptard
"Similar to this, in my house, the rule is if the toilet paper ended on your turn (or there’s barely enough for the next person) then it is your job to procure the next roll and put it in the bathroom. It is NOT acceptable to let it run out for the next person."
wavesnfreckles
"We have extra stored in every bathroom. I make sure of it. However, if it runs low/out on the roll, my wife will 100% of the time take the new roll and set it on top of the empty tube on the spindle, refusing to replace it. I actually called her over and shamed her into changing it in front of me the other night (not in an abusive way - we were both laughing about it)."
on_the_nightshift
Finder's Keepers
"If you find money in the laundry while you are doing the laundry, it's yours."
Rich1926
"Yep. My boyfriend learned that lesson the hard way when we first started living together. He had a bad habit of just crumpling up bills in a big wad in his pocket, usually just ones, but sometimes he accidentally leaves a twenty in there. I tipped myself the twenty. It took him a couple of days of trying to figure out where it went before I took pity on him and told him."
"He now both turns out his pockets and washes his own clothes. I still find the occasional single dollar in the dryer."
Head_Razzmatazz7174
Dropped something?
"If food is dropped on the floor it becomes the property of the dog. The dog knew this rule before we did."
Altruistic-Bit-9766
"That was one of the hardest things after our family dog died. Dropped something? Who cares! Riley will get it. But then he didn’t."
"Also, I don’t live at home anymore but coming home to him barking and crying out of excitement and greeting me always made my day and I looked forward to it every time I opened the door and could hear him wiggling in excitement on the side hahaha. It’s a little less exciting coming home now."
ohno807
Obligations...
Water Stay GIF by Kinda Funny Giphy"If the water you take from the Brita pitcher leaves what’s left below a certain line, you are obligated to refill the pitcher on penalty of death."
halcyon3608
If you stay in my home and don't refill the Brita pitcher...
I'm setting your hair on fire at 3 AM!!!
Flushed
Go Away Pink GIF by Hacklock Giphy"Check the toilet after you flush."
NANNYNEGLEY
"This. My brother-in-law never does this. It's annoying and disgusting! You don't want to clean up after yourself because you think it's gross? How do you think it makes me feel to clean up after you?"
purplestarsinthesky
WAKE UP!
"Wake someone up if their alarm goes off. It's a pretty weird one but setting up alarms is a conscious and deliberate decision for all of us and you want to wake up when it goes off, so we just help each other out."
DonMartiniMacaroni
"I'll do this a few times, but my roommate needs to learn not to hit snooze because he's taught his body that alarms don't need to be woken up to. I don't wake him up anymore. He started waking up to them."
stumblinbear
"I’ll wake them up because it annoys me when people snooze especially if I’m next to them in the bed and I don’t have to get up."
chill90ies
No Exceptions!
"Shoes off at the door. No exceptions."
Next-Dark-4975"
"Shoes-on people must not be using the same public bathrooms that I do. 100% of them have a lake of dirty urine in front of the urinal. They must also be amazing at finding two urine-free spots that are shoe-sized on the shores of said lake. It’s fine if they want to bring that into their homes. It’s not allowed in mine, though."
Bmadray
Table Manners
"No tech at the table."
"Even with a teenage daughter this has proved eerily easy; we all love food though!!"
"Also murder is out of the question, it is non-negotiable. If any of us kills another then they are outlawed in the true sense."
"Other than this, we are pretty cool."
Dante2005
Woof
Well Done Applause GIF by MOODMAN Giphy"Let the dog out to go potty before you use the restroom. (Seriously, the dog is asking to go out and you think she can wait while you take a 30-minute poop first? Not cool.)"
InfiniteBackspace
Always let the dogs go first.
If you wait, you won't like the surprise they leave!
Hosts Describe The Worst Examples Of A Guest Making Themselves At Home
You do the good-natured thing of letting someone into your home.
You allow them to eat your food, share your living space, and bathe using your water. And what do they do in return?
Stuff like the people in these stories did.
Reddit user, Mr_Yus_uwu, wanted to know what you should never be okay with a guest doing when they asked:
What was the worst thing your guest did when they took "Make yourself at home" very literally?"
It's not so much what they're asking, or what they're doing, but perhaps it's the way they've asked?
No. It's because they're performing self-cleaning procedures in the same place you eat.
Not Our Problem?
"Dinner guest asked to stay overnight because of the snow (which wasn’t forecasted until much later that night). Spouse and I agreed as we didn’t have work the next day. But guest did - and at 7:30 in the morning he was freaking out because we hadn’t shoveled the driveway for him yet. “How am I supposed to get to work on time?!”"
user256049
"What did you guys do after? I kind of want to know the rest lol."
need2peeat218am
"We told him that our “plow guy” gets here when he gets here (we have a looong driveway) and we have no control over that. Then I poured myself a coffee and sat on the couch."
user256049
Just...No.
"Came home, sitting in his boxers on my kitchen counter washing his feet and trimming toenails in my sink has got to take the cake."
Spamh8r
It shouldn't be that hard to be a good house guest. Someone is allowing you to stay in their home, so perhaps don't do anything you wouldn't anyone doing in your own home.
Don't Rearrange Furniture. Or Throw Away Furniture.
"My father in law was staying with us for a month, he lived in Oman. The spare room was an office with a sofa bed in so it could double up for guests. He bought a double bed and got rid of the sofa bed. I lost my office."
Equivalent_Parking_8
"What a twat! You must've been so relieved when he left. Tell me he left."
Peanut_n_oopie
"He left, then moved back in for almost a year when he retired."
Equivalent_Parking_8
Remember To Turn It Off
"I had guests turn the pool heater on in February and not turn it off or tell me it was on. I noticed steam coming off the pool a week later and it was 90*F. The bill was just under $1000."
Fickle-Willingness80
"My uncle did this once. It was fairly cold in Florida for the time of year and they were hosting a wedding party at their home and turned the heater on for the pool. The only difference to your story, however, is that it was not discovered until we came to visit and realized that the pool was uncomfortably warm, considering it was June. They noticed an increase in the bill but never put two and two together."
YouthfulPhotographer
How Do You Burn...Oh, I See
"Started a kitchen fire by cooking spaghetti in cake pans without water."
"Edit: when I heard the fire alarm ring I ran to the kitchen to find him looking over the stove trying to blow out the fire, with his mouth. Like phuuu phuuu. Basically stoking the flames."
"I slide the flaming cake pan into the sink and dosed it in water to put it out."
"Me, yelling at him asking wtf he was doing."
"His only defense: it woulda worked"
"No motherf-cker, it clearly wasn’t working. I realized this day he started abusing oxys and was so high he had no idea what he was doing."
"Sad story really."
tdefreest
And then there's these, the worst offenses imaginable by people you once seemed okay with allowing into your home but will most certainly never be let back in.
Simple Rule of Thumb: Don't Break Into People's Homes
"My husband’s old friend stayed with us for two weeks while we were living in Japan. He was very smug and irritating; an instant ‘expert’ on Japan after a few days, when we had been living there for two years."
"Finally, finally he left on a Friday. My husband and I had separate plans on Saturday. I returned in the afternoon to an unlocked door and the sound of the TV. I thought hubby had returned early."
"Nope. It was Old Friend - thinking we had gone for the weekend, he had broken into our apartment for an extra two-night stay."
"“You weren’t supposed to be here!” he protested - and he refused to leave until my husband came back home and told Old Pal personally that he had overstayed his welcome."
Charismaticjelly
Ratting Out On Your Spouse
"My wife 3 days ago."
"Tasked with feeding her friends cat while they're away for a week."
"They said help yourself to whatever you like."
"She came home with their waffle maker."
"Pretty sure it meant she could score a couple of their Tim tams not make off with their appliances"
Mashy6012
Don't. Touch. The. Coffee. Maker.
"Rearranged my kitchen. That b-tch."
"Edit: it wasn't my mom. It was a guy I'd gone on two dates with that I left alone in my apartment for a few hours. My mistake I guess."
makin_the_frogs_gay
Just, Wow. Wow.
"The $900 phone sex bill. It was the early 90's and the bill came on paper and was about 100 pages."
"Edit: since this got a bunch of attention, I'll elaborate a bit."
"I let a guy stay in my house for a month while he was in summer school and I was going to be gone half the summer. He would call while black out drunk. Other than this, he was an excellent houseguest. He even told me that they were going to be these phone bills coming and that he would pay for it but we had no idea that it was going to be almost $1,000"
"The reason the bill was 100 pages was because each of the 1-900 numbers operated as individual little telephone companies that generated a separate bill for their services, so that $900 bill was about 50 separate bills printed individually that were bundled together by my local provider."
"If I didn't pay that bill somehow they were never going to let me have a telephone again. I was able to call some of the customer service departments and get some of the bills cancelled or reduced. My house guest coughed up $500 and gave me a CD player and a PlayStation and a TV"
MakesCakesEatsMud
2AM Issues
"Caught a friend of a friend masturbating into my kitchen sink at 2am."
EndlesslyUnfinished
"a few months"
"My brother's best friend came to live with us for 'a few months' because he wanted to move back to our state. My parents agreed because he was supposed to go to college and they believe college education is important. Well 8 years later and he is still there, all my parent's children have moved out but for some reason my brother's best friend is still living there."
xyz388
Damn Craig
"My ex husband had a less than savory friend. He walked into my home once, helped himself to my fridge without asking and then when he got himself some silverware, had the audacity to insult it and say it looked like something a grandmother would have. Well yes, yes it does, since it's hers and she gave it to me."
"Another time he went to my MIL's house when we told him we didn't want to hang out. We weren't even home yet! He came in, say down, ordered a pizza that he refused to share with my MIL or BIL, and just sat there watching TV for two hours until we got back from whatever we were doing. He was a grade A a**hole. F**king hate you, Craig."
pinner
Firestarter
"My relative stayed with my grandma and proceeded to burn the house to the ground by deciding to have a bon fire 3 feet from the side of the house."
lolppjoke
"Slightly related, a family members friends were staying at his place he'd inherited from a dead relative while he was in jail and they caught the place on fire making meth."
CranberryTaboo
1 damn cookie...
"One of my guest brought beer for only himself, put his feet on my dining table, and when he left he took the cookies he had brought over as a thank you gift for letting him stay 3 nights at our place because the road to his house flooded. I only had 1 damn cookie and was very annoyed by how cheap he was."
GogoYubari92
Out of H20
"An in-law took about a 28 minute shower after I explained we were in the middle of a drought and that our well was dangerously low. I’m assuming it was going to be a 30 minute shower but we ran out of water."
bandi53
"I wonder if that was intentional, I cant say why but you'd think saying 'hey my house runs on well water and an extensive shower is probably going to use the last of it up' would make any rational person put away their plans for a long shower."
jerrythecactus
You're Out!
"Literally tried to move in. Had a old friend that was in town and I offered to let her stay here for a week instead of getting a hotel. A week turned into two, which became a month. When I confronted her and asked when her new place would be ready, she said she thought she could just stay. Since she had all of her stuff and was here for over two weeks, even the cops wouldn't take her away. Had to formally evict her."
hello_ground_
Hobo What?
"Didn't leave for 6 months, ate all our cheese and wasted all our dishwasher tablets on 're-running the dishwasher bc it did a bad job' (but would run the same load like 10 times???). He was sleeping w/ my flatmate and she undermined all our attempts at getting him to leave once we realised he was a hobosexual."
"EDIT hobosexual - sleeps or dates ppl for housing. And our dishes were clean, he was lazy and couldn't do the 1 chore I gave him. He re ran out of laziness."
Few_Cup3452
Currently...
"Am I allowed to talk about my current guests? My flatmate’s friend has been here for nearly 6 days, they’ve used my food, expensive shower products, let their child run screaming up and down the hallway for hours without stopping, and (me being petty) looked at me like I am a weirdo for being out in my own kitchen. They were supposed to leave yesterday. I’m very annoyed."
"Edit: good news lads my other flatmate said they’re gone. I can breathe easy again, the sun is shining and there will hopefully never be another screaming child in that house. I know staying 1 extra day seems not too big of a deal but there was literally nowhere in the house I could go to escape the screaming. I am very happy."
Ok-Nail2938
35 years later...
"My grandma offered to make him a sandwich. A little while later he said, where is that sandwich coming from, South Dakota? Guess he thought it was taking too long. 35 years later I still think about that asshole sometimes and wonder wtf was he thinking? Just how could you say that to someone's grandmother you just met? He was my cousin's dorky boyfriend's friend. I was about 13 yo and appalled. My grandmother was the sweetest woman and an amazing hostess."
DiligentAdvantage475
Remember to ask if shoes are allowed in the house, compliment the chef, and don't call phone sex lines using the homeowner's phone unless you intend on reimbursing them.
And maybe not even then.
Want to "know" more?
Sign up for the Knowable newsletter here.
Never miss another big, odd, funny, or heartbreaking moment again.
Rules are an imperative part of life, especially when we're growing up. Kids without rules is a recipe for disaster. Now when you're older, sure, rule are made to be broken. But first you have to learn the rules in order to smash them. Often many of us are saddled with some strict family guidelines. But we survived. Well, most of us.
Redditor u/ctsom wanted to hear from everyone about rules of their past by asking..... What was a house rule you had as a kid that you thought was completely normal until you grew up and realized not all households followed?
"Stranded"
GiphyIf 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
"sugar bugs"
My parents would check my and my brother's teeth for "sugar bugs" every night after we brushed our teeth, before we got in bed. If they thought we were trying to skip brushing our teeth they would tell us they could see the sugar bugs in our teeth and would make us go brush again.
My brother and I were so convinced these sugar bugs were real we would constantly ask when we'd be able to see them, my parents always told us only people 13 and older could see them, but by the time we got to be 13 we had completely forgotten about the sugar bugs in our teeth.
I love thinking about creative parenting tactics like this, I've even used that one while babysitting a fussy kid who doesn't want to brush their teeth/get ready for bed and it helps a lot. batman1227
Power Off.
My mom freaks out about hearing commercials on TV. The second it goes to commercial break it has to be muted. She also mutes it if she thinks it's about to go to commercial, even though sometimes she's wrong. And she doesn't really pay attention, so she doesn't notice a lot of the time when the commercials are over so she leaves it on mute when the show is back on. It's very difficult to watch TV with her. code_name_jellyfish
Show me the $$$$.....
My mum used to pay me to be my own babysitter between the ages of 10-14 or so. The rule was that as long as I didn't make a mess and I'd put myself to bed by the time she got home then I got $10 in the morning. anxiousjellybean
Only I have two younger brothers, and the rule was that we would ALL get paid, but only if we got along and didn't burn the place down.
It was very effective... Even if we fought while they were away, we'd all be on our best behavior by the time they got back. Didn't want to miss out on that payday. :D tomkel5
Punch Buggie....
GiphyIf you couldn't find something, and you asked someone for help (sibling or parent) and they found it for you, they got to punch you in the arm. dahaoab
Me: Muuuum, where's the whatever?
Mum: If I find it first, I get to smack you.
Me: Nevermind... RandomlyPrecise
Unfair Labors.
I had to wash the dishes every night, even if I wasn't home for the meal. There were times I'd get home from an away basketball game (I was in the team) after 10pm and the dishes had sat since they finished reading around 6:30pm.
My older brother's nightly chore? Take out the garbage.
He'd be done in 2 minutes. I'd have 30+ minutes of washing, drying, putting away, and cleaning up the kitchen. MyBroPoohBear
Off to visit...
We weren't allowed to get into the fridge or the cabinets without asking permission. My family was very poor and we had a limited food budget, so eating something without permission very possibly meant eating one ingredient of a meal my step mother was planning on cooking within the next few days.
I went to friend's houses and they just ate whatever they wanted, whenever they wanted. badhairguy
Be Early.
If I told my parents I was leaving at a certain time, I had to leave at that time.
Let's say I told my parents I would leave a party at 9. I couldn't leave at 8:50, or I'd get yelled at/grounded. I couldn't leave at 9:10, or I would get yelled/grounded.
Same thing went for when I was leaving my house to go somewhere. 6lesbianlover9
Doors Open.
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
befuddled reasoning....
GiphyNot a rule, but still to this day I am befuddled at my mothers reasoning. When I was a boy we lived in a pretty rural part of Mexico, horrible infrastructure. Power would often go out in the middle of the night. She would proceed to wake my brother and I up, simply to wait until the power came back on.
For the life of me I cannot figure that out. She wasn't afraid of the dark, she just wanted to make sure we saw the power return.
Edit: Every one keeps suggesting because if fire reasons and come to think of it, that actually makes a lot of sense. It's actually how we lost that house. Maybe my mother is clairvoyant. thedraindeimo
The Council is Heard!
GiphyWe 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
No Simpsons......
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 goddamn minds. I still get anxious when I'm chewing gum and I'm 35. SiFiWiRi
To the Bone....
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
I had that rule, too. My mom bought me a skateboard. I immediately ate crap on it (as I imagine just about everyone does their first time), and then she took it right back to the store. blankblank
Ask First....
We weren't allowed to eat anything without first asking. Even a glass of water, we were required to ask first. When my boyfriend and I started dating, I would ask his parents if I could eat or drink something if I was hungry or thirsty and it was a hard habit to break when his mom told me I could literally eat or drink anything (other than the alcohol).
It was so weird to just go into the fridge or pantry without permission. I sometimes have to fight the urge to ask my bf if I can eat OUR food in OUR apartment.
When I went to my parent's house over Christmas, I was reprimanded for getting an apple without asking first. It's just all so weird but it used to be so normal. bigmacnpoet
Hands Clean....
GiphyNot 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
I just burned this box.
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 damn oven?" Justgivme1
Hunters....
My Dad used to set up mine and my sister's Easter egg hunts in such a way we followed written clues from place to place, as way to help us learn to read. until I was a young adult, I assumed that was how all kids did Easter egg hunts. QueenElsaArrendelle
When I was young, my mom was big on setting up "treasure hunts" like this for birthdays. I'd have to follow the clues to find my presents. I adored it. beatrixotter
Wakey wakey time.....
Wakey wakey time. No noise annoying mum and dad until 7am. This was a really necessary one bc I was a very early riser as a kid and I loved to talk to my parents. The rule was that I could come to their bed and curl up next to them, but I couldn't talk until 7. It was actually really nice, and made sure I got enough rest myself.
Tragically, once I started rowing like 7 years later, mum and dad had to get up at 4 anyway to get me to the sheds. Sorry guys. moorehawke
Water Sports.
I wasn't allowed to take a shower if I was home alone.
I also learned at age 7 that other households closed the bathroom door when using the toilet and keeping it open was weird. I learned that by keeping the door open at a friend's house, a friend walked by the bathroom, saw me, told their mom, their mom called my mom, and all of a sudden the new house rule was we close the bathroom door when using the toilet. gothchrysallis
Permission First!
GiphyAny of the kids (7 of us) can play with any toy that is left out. The owner of the toy can't take it back until whoever's playing with it is done. If the toy is put away in the owner's room, permission must be asked. JetScootr
Sometimes parents just need a break. So they concoct distorted realities to suppress the desires of their innocent children!
u/ctsom asked, "What was a house rule you had as a kid that you thought was completely normal until you grew up and realized not all households followed?"What was a house rule you had as a kid that you thought was completely normal until you grew up and realized not all households followed?"
Order, Order!
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.
GiphyPush Through
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.
Absolutely No Squishy Things!
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 goddamn minds. I still get anxious when I'm chewing gum and I'm 35.
GiphyIn This House, We Earn Our Celebrations
my Dad used to set up mine and my sister's Easter egg hunts in such a way we followed written clues from place to place, as way to help us learn to read. until I was a young adult, I assumed that was how all kids did Easter egg hunts.
As Good A Place As Any
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 fu**ing oven?"
GiphyReality is Arbitrary
I wasn't allowed to take a shower if I was home alone.
I also learned at age 7 that other households closed the bathroom door when using the toilet and keeping it open was weird. I learned that by keeping the door open at a friend's house, a friend walked by the bathroom, saw me, told their mom, their mom called my mom, and all of a sudden the new house rule was we close the bathroom door when using the toilet.
A Careful System
Any of the kids (7 of us) can play with any toy that is left out. The owner of the toy can't take it back until whoever's playing with it is done. If the toy is put away in the owner's room, permission must be asked.
A Little Quick Off The Draw There Ma
My mom freaks out about hearing commercials on TV. The second it goes to commercial break it has to be muted. She also mutes it if she thinks it's about to go to commercial, even though sometimes she's wrong. And she doesn't really pay attention, so she doesn't notice a lot of the time when the commercials are over so she leaves it on mute when the show is back on. It's very difficult to watch TV with her.
GiphyThey're Still In There!
My parents would check my and my brother's teeth for "sugar bugs" every night after we brushed our teeth, before we got in bed. If they thought we were trying to skip brushing our teeth they would tell us they could see the sugar bugs in our teeth and would make us go brush again. My brother and I were so convinced these sugar bugs were real we would constantly ask when we'd be able to see them, my parents always told us only people 13 and older could see them, but by the time we got to be 13 we had completely forgotten about the sugar bugs in our teeth.
GiphyRules aren't always made to broken, in fact in certain households breaking the rules can have some pretty severe consequences. And when you're growing you don't ask why, you just do. Who knows how parents come or heads of house come up with some ideas, hopefully it's to keep things in order and have no malicious intent. You have to wonder though how you made it all the way to college without going nuts.
Redditor u/alfred_the_whale wanted to know what odd things were required in certain homes in life by asking.... What's the weirdest rule you had in your home growing up?
50. False Representation
Wasn't allowed to wear pants (only skirts and dresses), wasn't allowed to listen to music, was told kissing before marriage was a sin, wasn't allowed to play video games. And before you ask, we were not Christian. We were Jewish (and not Hasidic). None of this was standard at our conservative synagogue. These were just the rules my parents enforced for some reason. Neither was raised this way at all.
49. Sauceless
Not mine, my wife's in fact, but her now deceased mother wouldn't let her or her siblings have any kind of sauce. Yeah no ketchup, mayo, mustard, fish sauce, gravy etc. Turning down all the meals at friends houses that included any kind of sauce. And an explanation was never given
48. I Don't Even Know Who I Am
I wasn't allowed to have friends outside my "season." I was born in the season of Buffalo, according to some Lakota Sioux spiritual beliefs. (There's Eagle, Coyote, Buffalo and Bear.) My mother would always inquire about my friends birthdays, and if their season wasn't compatible with mine, I wasn't allowed to be friends with them. This went on until I graduated high school and moved out.
20 years later, I found out she lied my whole life about (us) being part Lakota Sioux. That part of my genetic line is actually Creole.
47. War Never Changes
I wasn't allowed to have G.I. Joe action figures.
This was weird to me because my parents allowed me to have most other 80's toys (He-Man, Transformers, Battle Beasts, M.A.S.K., etc.), which all had various weapons and whatnot to go with them. I was also allowed to have toy swords and guns, and one of those guns was realistic enough to have gotten me in trouble at school when I brought it as part of my Terminator costume. But no G.I. Joes.
I think I asked why once, because I was allowed to watch the cartoon and DID ask for them. I think my mom's response was "I don't want you having them because they promote war."
46. Slang Ban
We weren't allowed to use the phrase "spin out" or any variation of it. This was the number one slang expression for our city in the mid-late 80s and we used it constantly. My mother banned it because "it doesn't mean anything". I remember being outraged by this great injustice, but now I have a 12 year old in my house saying "yeet" and "skrt skrt" constantly and I see where my mother was coming from.
We also weren't allowed to eat Kentucky Fried chicken because apparently it was made from diseased chickens with the diseased parts cut off. Couldn't go to birthday parties there or anything. I still feel weird and guilty if I have KFC. MacDonald's, Pizza Hut etc were fine though so it wasn't a tactic to try to turn us off fast food.
45. It's For Show
In our house growing up we weren't allowed to eat something that my mum had just bought from the shops, there was an unspecified cooling off time where you weren't allowed to touch it. If you did, she would say "I've just bought that, you can't eat it!"
Only now typing that out do I realise that's pretty weird.
44. Wicked Stepcarpet
Step mom wouldn't allow my brother and I to go into the living room no matter what because that's where the "nice carpeting" was. Her kids were allowed to go into the living room, just not my brother and I because "we were older and dirtier so we would easily stain the carpet". Only took our Dad two years to convince her to let us in the living room, under supervision.
That rule then changed to my brother and I not being able to sit on the leather couch because we would put holes in the leather by sitting on it. What made this rule hilarious to me is that the big screen TV they had was that kind of projector big screen TV where you had to be eye level with the screen to see anything otherwise you couldn't see anything. If my brother and I wanted to watch the "Family Night" movie, we had two options. We could either stand in the living room and watch it, or sit on the dinning room chairs IN THE DINNING ROOM because the chairs would ruin the carpet if they were in the living room.
43. Ahead Of Schedule
My mom demanded all clocks had to be set ahead by fifteen minutes in our household. So if a clock showed 12:15, the real time would be 12:00.
I have never understood the reason for that, but we got some weird looks from guests because of it.
42. Euphemistic Life And Death
I wasn't allowed to say I died in a video game. I had to say I "lost a turn," instead.
I remember being baffled by the idea that Mario could literally drown in front of my eyes, but I wasn't allowed to say what obviously just happened.
41. A Swear Jar, But Crueler
My mom had something she called the Saturday Box. If we ever left our stuff out in the common areas, she would confiscate it and put it in the Box, where it had to stay until Saturday. When Saturday finally rolled around, we had to pay to get each item out.
40. And The Word Is "No"
A few. Was not allowed to eat between meals. My sister and I were not allowed to take naps. Parents could though.
Also no breakfast foods for lunch or dinner unless it was a night my mom made pancakes for dinner. Which I couldn't eat. I was made too and then would not be able to leave the bathroom the whole night.
Trust me when I got to college I LOVED eating cereal at 10pm. I used to sneak in the pantry and eat in the dark but you cant sneak a bowl of cereal.
My kids will definitely not have these rules.
39. Peace ALL The Way Out
When I was eight years old and went to visit my dad and stepmother during summer break, I had to be out of the house before my stepmother woke up and was not allowed to return until after lunch on the days my dad worked. I would instead leave all day, so be gone from 8:00 until 5:00 when I knew my dad would be home.
38. Emotions Like Mariah
Forbidden to make any noise whatsoever or show any emotion. If we asked to listen to a different radio station in the car -- threat of violence. If we asked to roll down a window while two adults chainsmoked in the car -- threat of violence. If we voiced an opinion about what to watch on the family's one TV set -- threat of violence. Opinion on what's for supper? Threat of violence.
I learned to never speak or give any opinions, ever. The only way to avoid being screamed at and struck was to behave as if I didn't exist. Adult life has been rather unsuccessful as a result. Sorry. Guess I needed to get that off my chest.
It wasn't all bad. There were two exceptions to the above, Xmas and birthday. The parents must have known they couldn't totally oppress children on those days.
What my parents got for making it clear they didn't want a son, was to lose the son. I was about 22 when I realized I didn't have to spend any time with them. It has been a long time since they've heard from me. I found out my mom died by doing a routine google search and finding her obituary. My reaction ... wait for it ... no reaction, as taught.
37. This Is what We Call A Phobia, Kids
Couldn't leave the house until mom made sure everything was powered off. Literally checking anything with a power cord or wall socket. & most of the appliances & sockets hadn't been used in years, yet she still had to check. Usually took us 30 minutes to leave because of it.
36. Sometimes Rules Need Conditions
My mom saw some TV psychologist talk about limiting children's screen time, so for about 6 months I was not allowed to use a TV, game boy, computer, or anything electronic between the hours of 3 and 8 on weekdays. I was about 11 or 12 at the time
She gave up on this eventually because this made me have to stay up until 1 am to get my work done because I needed the computer to work.
35. Cherish This
There were a few movies that we were only allowed to watch once per year. We watched them at Christmas time, and would get in trouble if we watched them at any other time of year. They weren't even Christmas movies (example, one was The Wizard Of Oz), my dad just didn't want us to get sick of them, so they had to stay "special."
34. Sing A Song Of Sixpence
No singing at the dinner table was our big one. My sister and I would never stop singing, we thought that was a rule everyone had at their house until pretty late in our childhoods.
33. But I Have A Home
My mom wouldn't let me wear anything camouflage. I asked her why and she said it was "too aggressive". She also wouldn't let me wear anything with even a slight stain on it, because she said it made me look homeless.
32. Late Dinner And A Movie
No TV. This was the '80s. We finally got a terrible, tiny black and white TV when i was maybe, 12 ish. The only thing I could watch without ruthless mocking was the original Star Trek if there happened to be reruns. I can recite them by heart to this day. I was sooooo pop culture illiterate, it was unreal. I had no idea what Saturday Night Live was, or MTV or anything.
In retrospect I think my dad just hated everything and especially loud noises. I did learn to love reading tho.
Oh, and also dinner was between 10 PM to midnight. I was a night owl also, from babyhood, so this wasn't the worst thing for me but I do remember being woken up to come eat many times. My father just preferred it that way so that's how it was.
31. LARPed Myself Into A Hole
1. My parents listened to a guy in Sunday school who told them about the evils of D&D and all RPG's. They came home and made us get rid of Might and Magic: Secret of the Inner Sanctum. They actually bought us another game to replace it. This was around 1988 and the guy actually told them about LARPing destroying his life.
2. We had to answer the phone with our last name followed by residence. Pretend our last name was Mahaloth. We picked up the phone "Mahaloth Residence".
30. Always In The Dark
No lights. My mother suffered from migraines and couldn't tolerate light so the house was shrouded in darkness. We used candles and kerosene lanterns.
Now I literally turn on every single light in my house every morning just to get my day started. I still crave light after all this time. It hurts me not to have it.
29. Morbid Caution
In order to go anywhere overnight, rather it be a sleepover, or camping trip. I had to have my mother's name, address, and phone number written in permanent marker on my back.... in case my body showed up somewhere.
28. You...All.....
I wasn't allowed to say "y'all". I was living in Arkansas, but my mom didn't want us to sound southern (I wasn't born in Arkansas and neither were my parents). She also thought it would make my sister and I sound uneducated.
We ended up living in Arkansas for 9 years and Texas for 5 years. My sister and I don't have a southern accent, but we do say "y'all" quite often now.
27. Car Mode: Elite
We all had to meticulously record in a ledger every penny spent on our family cars: gas, oil changes (which we did ourselves), alignments, etc. Each ledger was kept in the glove box. Each entry had to include the date, the mileage, price per gallon (gas) or price per quart (oil) or some other description of what was being purchased, total cost, and a few other things I'm sure I've forgotten.
This was super embarrassing if I had to get gas with HS or college friends in my car. I was teased about it. However, I always assumed my Dad had some impressive spreadsheet with which he was tracking...something. Years later, after I bought my own car, I asked my Dad what he did with all of that data, he said, "Not much, really. Occasionally, I'd look to see what kind of gas mileage the cars were getting." 🤦🏻♂️
26. Practice In The Shed
My dad insisted I take up a musical instrument when they were first offered in 4th grade, but then demanded that I never practice at home until I got better because he didn't want to hear bad music.
25. Good For Very Very Bad
Every last Friday of the month my mom would make us stay home from school and play video games as a family. Didn't matter what was happening at school, test or whatnot, it was a rule and a tradition. She'd watch us play Sega or Nintendo games and make us these extravagant lunches. As a kid I always thought it was awesome and I look back on those days fondly.
Unfortunately it was for a darker reason. My dad was overly strict and pretty abusive, although I love the man unconditionally, he was also abusive to my mom and very controlling. Thing was he had a good job and was off on the weekends, and us kids obviously were at school all week. My mom made the rule so that she could spend a day with us, having fun and being together without my dad there instigating a massive fight or beating us kids because there were vacuum lines on the carpet. It was the only real time my mom got to spend alone without my dad there, aside from summer vacations. I didn't realize it at the time but to this day I don't think we missed a single last Friday, she would have never allowed it.
24. Awww...But Wishbone!
My mom didn't let me watch Wishbone because in one episode she walked in and they were burning a witch and she didn't want me to watch a terribly violent and disgusting show while I was so young.
23. Spiritual Tones
Not allowed to whistle at night. Was told that you'd hear one back from someone who isn't there.
Clarification: My mother is Native American, so we have a few superstitions like that. House isn't haunted. Parents aren't schizo. Just mild superstition.
22. Nom Nom Nom
We were told to bite hands and arms at the dinner table if the person reached past or over your plate for something instead of asking for it to be passed to them. But...GET YOUR ELBOWS OFF THE TABLE!!
21. It's The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown
My mom had me believing the Great Pumpkin existed and I could only pick 10 candies and the rest had to be given to the Great Pumpkin. In reality, the Great Pumpkin was my dad's cubicle.
20. Keep it bland....
Salt was for guests only. The actual use of spices was very very looked down on and seen as a huge insult to my mom and dad even though they were absolutely horrid cooks. Ticliff
19. Every other dog....
My dad made up a rule to stop my big brother from asking about getting a dog every ten seconds. We had neighbors on both sides who had dogs, so the rule was that only every other house could have a dog. My brother believed it for a long time. TwinLinds
18. Stand Erect!
I couldn't recline or lay my body down AT ALL if my boyfriend was over. My mom thought that me laying down would give them "thoughts" so I couldn't do it. Once I put my feet up on the couch while my FIANCÉ was over and my mom got pissed and thought I was trying to turn him on.
I also changed into sweatpants from jeans once because I was going to watch a movie with my boyfriend and she thought I changed to give him "better access." I was just uncomfortable in jeans.
Also, no sailor moon, avatar, fairly odd parents, Harry Potter, anything with magic or witchcraft. Also never celebrated Halloween and never trick or treated. OverallDisaster
17. Only Unsweet Tea....
I wasn't allowed to put sugar in my tea because my mum told me that when you go to prison they don't let you have sugar, so it will makes prison that much harder.
- Thanks for having so much faith in me mum.
- I'm pretty sure you are allowed sugar for your tea in prison. Griff-Man17
16. Lightning Crashes....
My grandmother said not to poop during a lightning storm because a bolt of lightning might strike the pipe and electrocute me. pavlovs_bog
15. Eating Buns.
My dad had diverticulosis (pockets in the intestine) and couldn't eat sesame seeds (among other things). When we would eat fast food sandwiches, everyone had to give their bottom buns to Dad, in exchange for his top buns. So all my life I grew up eating burgers with 2 top, seeded buns.
This was never explained, and it was from before I born, so it was literally when I was in college that I realized that it wasn't normal. I thought it was just Dad-Privilege TM to have 2 bottom buns. LtheDutch
14. Pizza What?
At my friend's house they had a "no pizza-balling" rule.
There were 3 teenage brothers and when they ordered pizzas (at least a couple larges), tempers flared quickly when people would try to grab as many slices as they could.
The first rule in place was that you couldn't have more than one slice at a time, and you could grab another once you had the last bite in your mouth. But one of the brothers quickly figured it out that if you ball up a slice he could fit it in his mouth and grab another one. Hence, no pizza-balling. tokyokish
13. But it's MY $$$!!
I could only buy things if I was buying them for a birthday or Christmas gift for somebody else. Mind you, this was my own money I earned from my job. My mom knew how long it took to get home from school, so if I stopped at the store, she knew and I'd be in trouble. melindseyme
12. Hush. I'm watching my stories!
Bedtime was 7pm until I was in my teens. I didn't realize other kids had much later bedtime until I was a teenager. I think it was mostly because my mum's favorite soapy comes on at 7pm. We were noisy kids. Daddyssillypuppy
My bedtime was 8pm until I was a senior in high school. Most nights went something like this:
"Goodnight son"
"Dad, it's only 8pm"
"I didn't ask what time it was. Go to bed" jfox73
11. Hmmm.....
No pooping or peeing within the hours of 2:00 to 4:00 am, not sure if they had a reason, but it was always so random. They just always told me not too. ColesFinsta
10. So Severe....
My parents acted like referring to them as "he" or "she" while they were in the room was the equivalent of saying "f**k you." So referring to my parents with pronouns was effectively not allowed. gentrifiedavocado
9. Life Lessons....
No violent video games unless they were about history. therealmacter
I talked my mother into incorporating Age of Empires into my homeschool history class because it was "educational." Korncakes
8. Use the Side....
We were not allowed to use the front door. Ever. There was a metal screen on it with a deadbolt that needed a key for either side... my step dad kept the key and even visitors had to go to the back through the side gate.
Edit: My step dad told us only cops use the front door. Anyone who came to the front was automatically suspect to him. We were too NEVER answer the door to strangers for this reason. All of our friends/visitors were to go through the back. Alices-Nightmares
7. Sing Out Louise....
No singing at the dinner table. This rule was frequently broken. Our parents thought it detracted from meaningful conversation and family bonding time, but I think it ended up actually enhancing my relationships with my siblings. lightlySaltedGuy
6. Feed Me....
I should never ask what's for lunch/ dinner. Elviikk
That's actually quite funny, whenever my parents asked me what I wanted for dinner I would always say food. They stopped asking me what I wanted to eat when I said it in front of some guests, which made it seem like they didn't feed me. Squady97
5. Finding Comfort.
Wasn't me but my neighbor. When my dad would would come home from work my friend would have to go home. His parents told him that because that meant it was dinnertime and therefore he should come home. Him being a child, didn't grasp that portion of the rule, he only understood come home when my dad gets home. This translated in my friend being terrified of my father. If he saw my dad turning into the driveway, he would drop whatever we we're doing and sprint home. If my dad would make it home and get out of the car, he would cry and run home. Somehow in his head, my father was bad.
It took some time before my friend was comfortable around my father. Not_all_aware
4. Stay Out!
My father woke up at anywhere between 10 and 12 every day. Immediately upon waking, he would stumble to the bathroom, where he would spend 45 to 75 minutes coughing mucus out of his lungs and spitting it into the sink. He had advanced emphysema because of his decades-long smoking habit. During this time, no one was to talk to him, look at him, or interact with him in any way beyond bringing him crappy instant coffee.
I learned this lesson the hard way the first week after my mother married him, because I had to pee, so I opened the door and was immediately confronted with a 38 year-old 400 lb man in nothing but his underwear, red-faced and screaming at me to get the hell out of the bathroom. Ourobius
3. Knock... Knock...
"Don't lock the bathroom door!"
... "why not?"
"Because you don't need to!"
... "Lady, I need my privacy." DEPRESSED_RAINBOW
2. Just 1!
We were only allowed 1 towel a week. We could do whatever we wanted with it, but we didn't get another until next week. Reddit
This was a test. You were supposed to weaponize your towel and take your siblings towels, becoming the towel god. How do you live with being such a disappointment? KJBenson
1. Stay Humble.
We weren't allowed to say "I am the best" or "I am the greatest!" My dad grew up in a competitive household. SomeCrazyGarbage
I went to private Christian school and some kids told me they got in trouble at home if they said something was awesome. "Only God is awesome," they'd be told. Mahaloth