House Rules People Thought Were Normal Until They Grew Up

Author image for Eric Lund
Eric Lund
Jan 11, 2020 2:00 PM EST

It's the natural development of almost every kid that you think your home life is pretty standard until you visit a friend's house or live with someone else. People just believe dumb things as kids. Some some folks realize how good they had it while others just have more questions about their strange parents. Other times rules were just creatively pragmatic.

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  • 01
    Text - anxiousjellybean 48.4k points · 14 hours ago 3: 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.
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  • 02
    Text - llamallama-duck 37.3k points - 13 hours ago S My family had a thing we called the food blanket. When we'd eat casual meals, we'd lay a blanket on the living room floor and eat on it, like a picnic. My parents didn't want to get any food on the carpet. Instead of "set the table," my mom would say, "go lay out the blanket." I remember being really confused when I learned every family didn't have a food blanket.
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  • 03
    Text - CallMeRawie 6.5k points · 16 hours ago Was literally told by my best friends dad I was only allowed to eat popcorn one kernel at a time..
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  • 04
    Text - waltbosz 5.3k points · 15 hours ago I grew up with 6 siblings. In the TV room, there we more people than couch seats. We had a rule that you couldn't steal someone's seat if they got up to go the bathroom, get a drink, etc. My parents instituted it because of all the fights that would happen over seats. We all instantly realized how great a rule it was. No more arguments, but more importantly, your seat was safe for the night. I never thought it was a "normal" rule as defined by the OP, b
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  • 05
    Text - motorbike-t 38.4k points · 15 hours ago When I was really young I had a "night night bell". It was this old clay bell(?) that hung in the kitchen, and when I had to go to bed I got to ring the bell and everyone would come say goodnight and then I would go to bed. Not really a rule, but a weird little ritual in our house.
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  • 06
    Text - Dameunbatido 31.2k points · 16 hours ago We weren't allowed to watch anything remotely sexual like if people were kissing on screen my mom would freak out and run to cover the TV with a pillow and go "blah blah cough cough" loudly until it was over. Once I tried to see a pg13 movie with my friends and my mom cried and my dad called me horrible for making her cry. I was 14.
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  • 07
    Text - missdontcare_ 35.0k points · 13 hours ago 33 Maybe it's not a "house" rule. But when I was six my mom told me that if a behaved she would let me skip school on Saturdays and Sundays. One day my teacher said "see ya Monday" and I knew
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  • 08
    Text - badhairguy 29.6k points · 14 hours ago O S 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 friends' houses and they just ate whatever they wanted, whenever they wanted.
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  • 09
    Text - gothchrysallis 29.0k points · 14 hours ago 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.
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  • 10
    Text - ParadiseSold 6.8k points · 16 hours ago No singing at the table, unless it's a birthday. Still to this day I don't cope well with quiet, but I guess when I was a kid the karaoke party never stopped. It was a good rule, but not necessary for most households
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  • 11
    Text - secretagentsquirrel1 27.3k points · 16 hours ago We weren't allowed to walk in our dining room unless we were using the room for a special occasion. The carpet always had that "just vacuumed" look so it was a dead giveaway if anyone walked across it.
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  • 12
    Text - GreatGooseGimbo 25.7k points · 15 hours ago · ec If you don't get A's you don't eat at the table. I legit thought this was normal until I had dinner at a friends' house and my friend brought home a devastating report card. His parents were so supportive and loving..
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  • 13
    Text - thedraindeimo 23.0k points · 15 hours ago · edited Not 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* Ev
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  • 14
    Text - · 16 hours ago Ushouldknowthat 21.8k points A... No curfew as long as I told my mom where I would be. I was always honest bcs I loved being 16 with no curfew.
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  • 15
    Text - JetScootr 18.6k points · 15 hours ago & S 2 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.
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  • 16
    Text - code_name_jellyfish 17.8k points · 14 hours ago 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.
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  • 17
    Text - dahaoab 17.0k points · 14 hours ago E If 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.
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  • 18
    Text - CharlieChooper 16.4k points · 15 hours ago When I got in trouble I was put on "reading restriction" as a punishment. I loved to read as a kid (still do!) so it was an effective punishment at the time.
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  • 19
    Text - MollyWhingo 14.7k points · 16 hours ago Not being allowed to leave the table until your meal was finished. I remember eating at a friends house and looking really uncomforable trying to finish a food I didn't like, only to be told, "You don't have to finish it if you don't want to." Mind blowing.
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  • 20
    Text - SuperBubber 14.2k points · 16 hours ago Bare skin was not allowed to touch the leather sofa. No shorts, bare feet, tank tops, etc. Also we had to peel mushrooms. It took forever and was completely stupid.
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  • 21
    Text - Zenosparadox1 12.2k points · 14 hours ago When I was sick I couldn't be in my bed because it would make it dirty. My mom put a towel in a corner on the hardwood floor and I had to stay there until she deeled me better enough to use my bed.
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  • 22
    Text - ryro24 12.0k points · 14 hours ago My parents used a laissez faire parenting style. No censorship whatsoever. I watched Rocky Horror Picture Show with my brother when I was 7. Pretty awkward when I brought the VHS with me to a sleepover at a friend's house. The parents were mortified.
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  • 23
    Text - Gotis1313 11.9k points · 13 hours ago · edited 3 hours ago My sister and I had to read for 30 minutes after school. My parents weren't even home, but we would tattle on each other. Another rule was, I couldn't tell anyone when a certain uncle was staying with us because he was dodging an arrest warrant.
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  • 24
    Text - ineffectivelyperfect 11.2k points · 16 hours ago First thing upon coming in the house you have to change into clean pants and wash your hands. (Guests were exempt from the pants rule but not hand washing). If you took your shoes off while you were out you had to change your socks as well.
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  • 25
    Text - mosaicevolution 11.2k points · 15 hours ago My dad made a rule that I had to kill seven flies a day during my summer break.
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  • 26
    Text - · 15 hours ago WatertotheTree 10.8k points Tape half the house off in winter
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  • 27
    Text - 6lesbianlover9 10.1k points · 15 hours ago 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
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  • 28
    Text - supaloops 9.9k points · 16 hours ago · edited 11 hours ago I was not allowed to clear my plate when eating. I had to always leave some food on the plate. If I wanted to eat that much, I had to go get a little more to leave on the plate. The exact opposite of what most people have as a household rule.
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  • 29
    Text - Snickerdoodleydoo 8.6k points · 15 hours ago Our bed time in high school was 9:00 PM. We weren't allowed to eat any food past 7:00 PM.
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  • 30
    Text - primordialsuper 7.1k points · 15 hours ago No "swearing" which includes the obvious as well as "stupid", "idiot", "shut up" and "fart"
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