Parents set rules for kids so that they know which behaviors are acceptable and which are not. As the CDC writes, children will have to be in public places when they grow up, places that might have certain rules. So they must get used to adhering to rules. But what if those rules don't always make sense?
Like when parents don't let their kids watch TV while lying in bed. Why is there a TV in the bedroom, then?!? It's true: not all the rules we heard from our parents make sense, but some might be extra silly. Like many from this thread, where a person asked: "What's a rule your parents had that you thought was silly at the time and still can't quite understand?"
What are the strangest rules your parents had in your house growing up? Let us know in the comments, and don't forget to upvote your favorite entries!
#21
My father was a doctor, I had to answer the phone “Doctor XYZ residence u/Jesture4 speaking.” I can’t tell you how many times people would just talking about all their medical problems and I’d have to remind them, “this is his residence”.
72points
#22
I was born in 1993 and my younger brother in 1998. Neither of us were allowed to eat beef when we were growing up, until I’d say 2004/2005? My parents were super strict about this rule too, I live in the UK so most birthday parties around that time were hosted in the party bus at McDonald’s (still miss that bus!), and my parents would always tell the birthday child’s parents that we were not allowed to order a hamburger for our happy meal!
I remember one birthday party at McDonald’s I actually swapped my happy meal with another child who had a burger and on this particular occasion I had to leave early as we had some sort of family event right after it. My parents walked in whilst we were all eating and saw me eating this burger, and boy was I in trouble! I was told if it happened again I’d be banned from going to anymore birthday parties!
What made this rule silly is the fact that both of my parents ate beef!
68points
#23
My mom refuses to use the dishwasher or let anyone use it till this day because she believes it uses up significantly more water than traditionally cleaning dishes in the sink. I'm pretty sure she's wrong but she swears by it. She's pretty old school though.
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62points
#25
I wasn't allowed to take our dog for a walk outside of his scheduled walk time.
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59points
#26
I never understood why I couldn't say the word " lie" parents are deceased and I still don't get it.
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55points
#28
No drinking soda from a can, get a glass and pour it into that. My Mum would mysteriously say it was something "only common people do". Years later I asked her and she just replied "It *is* common". I *think* she is figuring it's like people drinking from beer cans and in her mind that is socially unacceptable.
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50points
#29
Don't sing at the dinner table. You could sing "Happy Birthday" if it was actually someone's birthday and a cake with lit candles was present. Any other time, NO SINGING AT THE TABLE!
43points
#30
We were allowed to wear shoes in the bathroom but no where else in the house. To get to the bathroom you had to walk in through the front door, through the kitchen, through the living room and then through my bedroom (all of which were off limit areas for shoes, which I do understand and still implement in my house unless you're a guest that's leaving quickly). I can't count the number of times I'd be standing in front of the bathroom mirror getting ready to leave with shoes on and the second I walked into my bedroom, she'd yell at me to take my shoes off. Really f*****g weird and makes her sound crazy lol. I guess she kind of was but normally in a fun way.
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43points
#31
Turn the light off. I was grounded several times growing up because I didn't turn the light off because the bill would be sooooo much higher and then I found out how much it cost. 10 cents if I left the bathroom light on. I started leaving dimes next to the lights I left on. F**k you step dad, you worked in the pentagon. You can afford it.
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16points