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Everyone was beholden to certain rules growing up.

No TV until your homework is done, no sweets before dinner, lights out at 9:30 pm.

Frustrated as we were by these rules, we generally went along with them, as well as other customs and traditions organized by our families, knowing that just about all other kids were dealing with the same thing.

But were they?

Indeed, sometimes in adulthood, we've come to learn that the way things worked in our household were not what the broader population would consider normal.

While sometimes these discoveries only made us love our families more, other times it might have come as a very rude awakening indeed.

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Every family has customs or traditions which are unique to them.

Be it all gathering together to watch The Muppet Christmas Carol every Christmas eve or an annual fried chicken picnic with dark and stormies every fourth of July. They are well aware not everyone does this, which makes it all the more special.

However, depending on the way it was introduced to them, some children are raised to think certain customs or habits done by their family are, indeed, normal.

Only to grow up and realize that theirs might have been the only family in the world which partook in them.

In some cases, this discovery is met with laughs and maybe the tiniest bit of embarrassment.

Other times, it's no laughing matter.

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Man yawning
Photo by Miikka Luotio on Unsplash

We've all found ourselves annoyed by the ticks or habits of others.

Some of these are fairly common, such as chewing with your mouth open, cracking your knuckles, or whether or not they pronounce the "T" in often.

Some habits are a bit more unusual, though.

Only the people guilty of possessing these habits might not realize that they're unusual until they are told by someone else that practically no one, or literally no one, else does them.

It's an eye-opening, sometimes humiliating discovery.

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Landline phone
Photo by Quino Al on Unsplash

The world is ever-changing.

One need only look at the evolution of home entertainment.

First, we had to go to the video store to buy or rent video cassettes, then video cassettes were wiped out by DVDs until video stores became obsolete owing to streaming services.

Making the one-season failure of the Netflix series Blockbuster painfully ironic.

However, those of us who grew up rushing to Blockbuster, hoping the last copy of Jurassic Park will still be there, can't help but wish we could relive the experience.

On the other hand, we are glad to see other things from our childhood have become extinct.

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woman sitting on yellow armless chair near gray laptop computer
Photo by Mimi Thian on Unsplash

While people try their best to be pleasant, sometimes we are so wrapped up in our own worlds that we don't realize some of our behaviors or actions aren't appreciated by everyone.

Things like talking on the phone in a public place or listening to music without headphones have become so normal that people don't always realize others may be irritated by this behavior.

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