45 Strange Childhood Realities People Later Learned Were Far From “Normal”

Never having a book read to you by a parent. Now that I am one all of my kids gets 2 books minimum every night. I don't think I even had 2 books read to me in my whole childhood. .

That "beatings will continue until morale improves" is supposed to be a joke, not a daily experience.

Moving houses almost every year, trying to find the cheapest place to live. Also d***s, I was introduced to it in primary school and my friends didn't even know what they were at the time.

e_castille: Having to move schools every year was rough. I began high school the most popular girl in my grade and by the time I graduated (five schools later) everyone knew me as a loner. It became a lot more difficult to make friends over time, and I just didn’t see the point anymore when I knew I was going to move on eventually.

My family poops big. Maybe it's genetic, maybe it's our diet, but everyone births giant logs of c**p. If anyone has laid a mega-poop, you know that sometimes it won't flush. It lays across the hole in the bottom of the bowl and the vortex of draining water merely gives it a spin as it mocks you.

Growing up, this was a common enough occurrence that our family had a poop knife. It was an old rusty kitchen knife that hung on a nail in the laundry room, only to be used for that purpose. It was normal to walk through the hallway and have someone call out "hey, can you get me the poop knife"?

I thought it was standard kit. You have your plunger, your toilet brush, and your poop knife.

So said LearnedButt.

Had 2 mums in the 80s. Didn't figure out that wasn't a normal thing till I got to highschool.

That counting wads of cash (d**g money), for my illiterate dad, at the age of 12 because I was the smart one is not normal. Going to d**g deals was not a normal Saturday morning thing for most kids.
Just d***s in general, I got so accustomed to it that I thought all the kids parents were in on it.

My parents used to make me sleep outside as a punishment, like on the back patio. I casually mentioned it to my entire English class and they were all mortified lol 🤣.

That being cornered and beaten wasn't 'regular discipline'.

Everyone walks around naked. Literally rips clothes off at the door. It was never sexual. I was never abused.

Taking your shoes off, and changing into home clothes. Knowing your parents income, household costs and budgeting.
Actually maybe it is normal, I don't know. Do kids these days know costs of rent etc...?

I didn't realise that not everyone automatically turns off lights when they leave a room/area. My dad drilled it into us when we were kids. When I went to other kid's houses, I was astonished that they had all the lights on all the time. I thought it was NUTS and that their parents must be really rich to afford the power bill.

bl00ph00h00: My Mum was really electricity conscious but we had some energy saving bulbs that apparently took the same amount of energy to turn off and on as to run for four hours continuously? So the rules in our house were like: Always turn the lights off, unless you think someone else will enter the room in the next four hours, in which case leave them on.

In kindy I would use Swedish words that I picked up from my grandparents, I couldn’t grasp why the other kids didn’t understand when I would use these words. I had no idea it was another language.

denkapuma: I got into a whole argument with another kid in kindergarten about the pomegranate I brought in as a snack one day. I'd only ever heard the Arabic word for it up until that point. [I had] no clue I wasn't saying the English name

not_the_chosen_onee: I grew up with first generation parents so that meant to little me that everyone else’s parents were also first generation. The idea that some of my friends could only speak English used to shock me, like what do you mean you don’t have native language? Or like your own culture/ food at home. No one's just Australian, right?

Being told 'no' so often. When I was at friend's houses, I would see how easy going their parents were.

My family has this really long ritual that involves singing multiple songs, clapping and chants when celebrating someones birthday. Most other people just sing Happy Birthday and leave it at that.

Examples include hip hip hooray, for he/she is a jolly good fellow, why was he/she born so beautiful...and clapping while counting out the age. Most other people just sing Happy Birthday and leave it at that.

Mum giving us a flannelette pillowcase each when we had colds to wipe our noses with - saved on tissues and was much softer. Husband thought it was the most disgusting thing he ever saw the first time I did it 🤣.

BBQs never involved Salad. 63yo & still it's Meat on Bread with Sauce.

When I was young Adult venturing out on my own, first saw Salad at a BBQ, thought "That's weird ".

Alcoholism.

Farting out loud and everyone finding it funny

I fart a lot, when I was young I’d just rip my farts out loud and no one said anything, then I did it at other people’s and they called me out on it.

My father was a control freak about decor. I only realised when my mother left him that it was not usual for a stay at home mother not to have at least 50 percent control over decisions about furniture, towels, cushions, plates, glasses, etc.

worker_ant_6646: When we were 17, my ex's dad flew off the handle one time we made footprints in the freshly vacuumed carpet before he did. We also went into the formal lounge room and rearranged the decor on the coffee table. It still looked neat and tidy but the ducks were swapped with the coasters and it was unacceptable. My ex was grounded for a week.

Raspberry cordial and milk. Crushed disprin with jam. Pillowcases at the end of the bed to put Christmas or birthday presents in.

AnnaSoprano: My mum did crushed Panadol in honey for me.