Every family has its own little rules and habits, but some are a lot stranger than others. As kids, we rarely question them because they’re all we’ve ever known. Here are 25 weird things people grew up thinking were completely normal until they stepped into someone else’s house and realized they definitely weren’t.
More Cereal
“It wasn’t after moving out, but in third grade I spent the night at a friend’s house. The next morning her mother served us cereal for breakfast. After I ate mine, she asked me if I wanted more. I told her I already ate mine. She asked me again if I wanted more. I was genuinely confused. More cereal? It was like seeing colors I’d never seen before!”
No Accidents
“There were no ‘accidents’ in my mother’s house. Spilling a drink, dropping a plate, all accidents were treated as if you had done it maliciously and with intent. Her logic was, if you didn’t mean to do it, you wouldn’t have done it in the first place.”
Washing Dishes
“Had supper at a friend’s house, went to the sink, and started washing dirty dishes after the meal was over. You should have seen his mom’s eyes.”
Grandma’s Coffee
“I thought every grandparent wouldn’t let their grandchild get up in the morning before grandma had her coffee.”
Mom’s Food
“Don’t eat mom’s food or drink mom’s soda, even if there’s nothing else to eat.”
Outside Rule
“We weren’t allowed inside the house until supper time. After school we’d cause havoc around the neighbourhood until we were allowed in. Thought it was totally normal. As an adult I realized my parents really don’t like kids.”
Parent Dishes
“My parents had dishes we were allowed to use and ones that we weren’t. I’m not talking about, like, fine china. We had a set of Corel dishes that had a black design that the ‘kids’ used and a set with blue designs that only the parents could use.”
Water Bottles
“Each child in our family had a glass bottle of water with a screw-on top that was kept in the refrigerator. If we got thirsty, we went to the fridge, drank, and put it back where we got it. We were responsible for filling it too. I thought everyone did that growing up.”
Real Vegetables
“I thought I hated vegetables until I spent the night at a friend’s house and her mom served us a vegetable medley that wasn’t cooked to mush.”
Shared Bathwater
“My dad used to have us share bathwater. if someone took a bath, they were supposed to leave the tub full after in case someone else wanted to use it.”
Sock Basket
“The communal sock basket. I didn’t really have my own socks until I went to college.”
No Privacy
“Everything is for everyone. Thank god for the existence of passwords; the phone was my only secure place growing up.”
Constant Yelling
“Yelling at each other over mundane stuff is fine. Spoiler: it is not fine, and I much prefer the outside world way of doing things where it has to be life and death importance to yell about.”
Locked In
“Once I spent the night at a friend’s house, I realized that most other children don’t get locked into their room at night. It was messed up.”
Shoe Limit
“No one in the family may have more than two pairs of shoes by the door. It seemed unnecessarily strict when I first moved out and realized it was unusual, but it is one of the things that it pains me to admit my parents were right about all along.”
Female Pets
“We were only allowed to have female pets growing up (dogs, hamsters, birds, etc.). My parents strongly believed they were of better temperament lol.”
No Singing
“No singing at the table, you’ll poke your eye out. One time I got a little too animated with a fork.”
Stay Quiet
“No loud noises. I didn’t realize it was a problem until many years later when I needed to scream and was physically incapable of doing so.”
Spoons Only
“Only cereal and desserts are eaten with a spoon. I hate eating a curry with a fork because the rice would fall between the tines. Now I’ve left home and I use a spoon for most things.”
One Glass
“I was only allowed to use one glass per day. Didn’t matter what I was drinking. I had to wash it out and reuse it from breakfast until I went to bed.”
Thirty Chews
“Chew every mouthful 30 times.”
No Emotions
“I wasn’t allowed to show any emotion aside from happiness. Got locked in my room for crying and couldn’t come out until I had a smile on my face.”
Headphones Only
“I don’t think it’s that weird, but our rule was that if you were going to listen to music, you had to wear headphones. Over time, it also expanded to playing video games and watching videos on the pc/phone.”
Sunset TV
“I wasn’t allowed to turn on the TV until the sun went down. TV was for after you did all your outside activities. I still do this today.”
Last Coke
“Never drink the last Coke. It would sit in the fridge for days until a new 12-pack was purchased.”
