'Clapping at TV shows': Former kids share weird things their families did while raising them

Author image for Emmy Pratt
Emmy Pratt • Senior Editor
Mar 17, 2024 8:00 PM EDT

Every family has those little quirky things they do differently than other families. I come from a mother and a father who were always clinically early to every event we have ever attended together. On a good day, we would get to extracurricular activities or movie theaters a good 15-30 minutes early. I know that sounds comically early to anyone who gets to events on time or 5 minutes late, but you don't even know the half of it. I have distinct memories of arriving at theatre shows in Dallas one whole hour before they started. Sometimes, we would be so early that they wouldn't even let us into the building to mull around beforehand. I've never met any family that's earlier than us. I know it's not the weirdest quirk in part because I read the following thread about the weirdest things people experienced as children, and our early bird syndrome doesn't even come close.

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  • 01
    What's something your family raised you doing that you later learnt was really weird?
    via u/BriefDarkWizard
  • 02
    PROVATE Tracer_Bullet_38 • 22h Catholic mother, muslim dad; neither really practicing. We celebrated Christmas though, and on Christmas Eve night instead of doing the "normal" Christmas stuff like cookies, milk, etc. my dad would loudly pretend to violently chase Santa out of the house by yelling and cussing him out and throwing his shoe at him, which we would later find in places like the fireplace. Reply 6.3k
    via u/Tracer_Bullet_38
  • 03
    trickybritt. 1d Grew up in a hoarder house. I look back at my childhood now and can't believe the cluttered nightmare I grew up in. Now I relish throwing things. away when I'm done with them. ... Reply 8.7k
    via u/trickybritt
  • 04
    Анот staubtanz. 22h Using a ship's bell to call for dinner. My parents got tired of yelling for us so they mounted a ship's bell to the hallway wall. They would ring it for dinner and any other occasion when they needed our attention. Like Pavlov's dog I get hungry whenever I hear a ship's bell ring. ... Reply 5k
    via u/staubtanz
  • 05
    GlizzyMcGuire _ • 1d Not cleaning. My mom didn't know how to clean and so couldn't really teach us either. We had this fungus growing out of the carpet at one house that looked like cooked lasagna noodles. We would just kick it out of the way when it sprouted up or my mom would buy a new rug and put it on top of the old rug. Especially if the old rug was stuck to the floor from filth or something. I didn't think anything of it and would have friends over who probably talked all kinds of about me
    via u/GlizzyMcGuire__
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    Velmabutgoth ⚫ 23h • Having your teen partners just.. move in. My brothers both had their girlfriends move in with us when they were 14 and 15, due to their home life being rough. When I was 14 my boyfriend of 3 months got kicked out, so he moved in with us no questions asked, for 2 years. Several of our friends also just moved in with us. ... Reply 4.3k
    via u/Velmabutgoth
  • 07
    ImportantAd5150 • 1d Before I was totally competent swimming by myself, my mom would put a life jacket on me, tie a long piece of nylon rope to it, and chuck me in the river. She'd basically swim me on a leash down the river for fun. Mom, you are the classiest redneck. Reply 8.4k
    via u/ImportantAd5150
  • 08
    Glittering_Sky8421 • 23h When I became an adult I was shocked to find out that other families did things with their kids. My Mom was a shopper, my Dad golfed and played cards at the club. We NEVER had any family activities like hiking, camping, bowling or anything in the 60's and 70's. When I had things my parents could have come to watch, they never did. My daughter was a good tennis player and I spent every afternoon and all weekends with her playing. She did get a full ride tennis scholarship
    via u/Glittering_Sky8421
  • 09
    LeadershipSure8419 • 23h We only ever ate chilli with mashed potatoes and apple sauce. I thought everyone did this till like grade 11 when I had dinner at a friends house. Her mom put out chilli and I asked if they had any applesauce. They all looked at me like I was nuts lol 2.3k ... Reply
    via u/LeadershipSure8419
  • 10
    Akkik-Maujaq • 23h In the summer, my dad used to get us up (myself and 3 siblings) at 9am, give us breakfast and then boot us out of the house and lock the back/front doors from the inside. We weren't allowed back inside until the streetlights came on (unless it was ONLY using the washroom or getting a drink). Our ages were 10, 9, 7 and 4 the first time he did it because he told me "you're old enough to look after them on your own now" and "your not sitting around the house on your fat all day".
    via u/Akkik-Maujaq
  • 11
    Realized when I was 14-15 that he just wanted us out of the house so he could drink and watch NHL. We never really questioned why he was kicking us out because the other kids that lived on the street were also outside around the same time as us. Once we were invited into my brothers friends house to play his Wii and we were like "???????? Youre allowed to go inside and play the Wii??????? [????" Edit - for those mentioning the Wii :: this was around 2006 Edit 2 - for those concerned with how we
    via u/Akkik-Maujaq
  • 12
    CatRiot2020 • 1d Leaving a shot of old grandad for Santa. He gets tired of milk and it helps him feel warm. Reply 1.9k
    via u/CatRiot2020
  • 13
    ImIn Jeopardy • 1d Not cleaning our bathtubs. In the 18 years I spent living with my parents, I probably cleaned my bathtub 3 times. We just considered it normal for it to be moldy and dirty. At least that's how I saw it, because my parents just never talked about it. When I was a teenager, my mom started giving me tasks to do around the house. I would sweep and mop the floors, I would clean the surfaces, I would clean the toilets and sinks... But the bathtubs were never mentioned. They were jus
    via u/ImInJeopardy
  • 14
    ilovedawater • 22h Clapping at shows we were watching on TV as if we were part of a live audience. Friends thought that was weird. ... Reply 1.4k
    via u/ilovedawater
  • 15
    ariellann 23h We were not allowed to have a drink with our meals. It could be the driest food ever or you could be nope, no water, finish the meal thirsty as all first. Bathing/showering only on Saturday evenings. I must have smelled so bad back then, especially since my dad smoked in the house. It was to save money on the water bill. But a pack of cigarettes a day was in the budget. Reply 2.5k
    via u/ariellann
  • 16
    yeetgodmcnechass⚫ 23h If I had friends over my mom wouldn't allow me to offer them anything to eat, nor anything to drink except bottled water. They also weren't allowed to use the upstairs washroom, they had to use the tiny one in the basement. They also weren't allowed to sit on any of the couches and half the time not even on the chairs. Fairly certain my mom was trying to make visits by friends as unwelcoming as possible so they wouldn't visit, and ditch me as a friend. She thought that all
    via u/yeetgodmcnechass
  • 17
    TheThalmorEmbassy • 1d Apparently other people's moms didn't just give their kids five bucks for lunch and then sleep all day Reply 1.1k
    via u/TheThalmorEmbassy
  • 18
    thatwasdramatic • 22h Whenever it was one of our birthdays, my father made us keep a pen and pad next to the phone to list everyone who called and when. He'd then keep a "blacklist" of everyone who didn't call, or didn't call in a timely fashion (for example, the closer you were related, the earlier in the day you should call under his rules). I didn't realise this was messed up until I was an adult and had a lot of therapy. Reply 2.2k
    via u/thatwasdramatic
  • 19
    toon_84 22h Not flushing the toilet at night. Our toilet used to be fed by a rainwater reservoir that was stored in a cupboard up high in my parents room. When you flushed it used to drip for a while and would disturb them (can't blame them). I just got used to doing it and when I moved in with my girlfriend she was disgusted that things were left until the morning (can't blame her either) ... Reply 826
    via u/toon_84
  • 20
    BeatrixPlz 1d • Whistling for each other. My mom didn't like yelling up the stairs. Apparently an easier solution for walking up them and addressing whomever she needed was to stand at the bottom and give a couple of sharp whistles. We would approach the top of the stairs, and from the bottom she'd tell us what she needed. Time for dinner? Whistle. I want you to come downstairs? Whistle. When I whistled for my at the time husband, he got irritated and said he wasn't a dog. I thought about it and
    via u/BeatrixPlz
  • 21
    TheLightningCount1 • 1d So you take regular spaghetti right. With regular spaghetti sauce. Now add soy sauce to it. ... Reply 1.4k
    via u/TheLightningCount1

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Ruined Childhood childhood memory families kids crazy things parents say childhood parenting little kids family parenting tweets Parenting Fail parents children
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