30 Weird And Disturbing Rules Parents Had Their Children Follow

We had to take naps on Sunday. Every Sunday. Now that I'm older I realize that was the only chance my parents had to bang.

A "sock tax".

In retrospect, smart. I hated it at the time.

So, I left my dirty socks around the house. I don't know why I would be taking socks off all over the place, I was a damn kid. I guess I was sloppy and it just happened and the socks had to be off right then and there. Parents got fed up with this. And so, to get my dirty socks back, I had to pay a quarter per sock. Doesn't seem like a big deal at first, but it adds up when you're nine years old. Had to literally nickel and dime my way through a few pairs because I was running out of damn socks, I was kind of a sock deserting addict I guess. Finally got in the habit it of picking up my socks for a while and things seemed fine and then hit a heavy relapse.

Parents gave me a big a*s box of my dirty socks for Christmas that year and a few pairs of new ones. Got better after that. Typing this is making me smile, I really love my mom and dad.

My mom wouldn't let me touch my brother. A side hug was ok for pictures and making up after a fight but no cuddly stuff. And her definition of cuddly was him leaning on me on the couch when he's sick. He's 5 years younger than me and we rarely got along so anything like that was rare. It kind of messed with me when I was younger, she made me feel like I was being a pervert but I still had no idea what I was doing. Once on a car trip (I was super sick with whooping cough) I was sprawled across the back seat and my head was touching my brother's leg. She flipped out. "No. No. That's not right. Not ok. Get on your side." He was 10! I was 15! WTF mom??

I wasn't allowed to date black people darker than me.

No Harry Potter, because of all the wizards.

Now, I could understand the rule except for one thing, I was allowed to play DnD, read LotR, have friends who were literally occultists. But no Harry Potter.

When I was 14 my mum banned me from taking selfies. Said they were unnecessary and self absorbed. This was in 2009 and I hated her for it, all my friends were posting cute 'camera in the bathroom mirror' pictures and I couldn't. Now I am grateful because those pictures are cringey af.

I had to chew my food 50 times before swallowing. It is harder than it sounds. Eating soup was a bastard.

My Dad would ground us if the toilet paper was put on incorrectly. He wants it to go under. Now that I'm married and in my own house it always goes over.

I was told that my friends could not sleep over because they may murder me and my family. My parents have always come up with weird excuses to avoid having an honest conversation.

"Can't costs a quarter!" We weren't allowed to give up on something and say "I can't", and we'd have to put a quarter in this Snoopy bank if we did. She wanted to encourage us to look for solutions and ask for help instead of just giving up. In the long run, I think it helped because I went to school for electrical engineering and am now a web developer where I essentially do problem solving all day long.

My family had three valid excuses, and if one of those fit a situation, you were no longer in trouble. You still had to deal with the consequences of your actions like cleaning up a mess or whatever, but no extra punishment.

1. Dad... In my defense, you weren't supposed to find out.

Maybe my parents were supposed to be out of town until Sunday, but they came back a night early and found my friends and I shit faced and a mess everywhere. "Dad, you weren't supposed to find out. I was going to clean it all up and you'd never know." No longer in trouble.

2. Dad, in my defense... it was funny!

This one mostly covered pranking each other. No punishment, but you had to be ready for them to one-up you.

3. Dad... in my defense... there were snakes...

Self explanatory.

-Not me, but my bestfriend who is 18 years old isn't allowed to close her door (even if she is changing clothes) and if her parents catch her door closed, $5 fee. -Also $10 fee if she leaves her bedroom light on. -She's not allowed to watch Harry Potter, Twilight etc.. anything to do with magic, or evil spirts regardless if it is rated G. -Didn't attend Sunday church that morning? Grounded for a week and $5 fee

I wasn't allowed to sit on my bed. I would get into trouble if my friends sat on my bed and crumpled he sheets. They had to stay looking crisp and ironed which is near impossible.

My mother has always had a white couch. Big, fluffy, inviting sectional type.

No one can sit on this couch, or even breathe near it. God forbid i forget to mention this to company coming over.

I have often wondered why the f**k its even there.

Not really weird but I was never allowed to say I was bored. If I said it too often I was made to sit down and do nothing for about an hour. I learnt pretty quick though that anything was better than sitting and doing nothing!

I can't leave the house after sneezing and I can't do anything new on Tuesdays because I was born on a Tuesday. Crazy superstitions that my mom refuses to let go.

My mum wouldn't let me use the dishwasher well into my teens in case I slipped, fell on the open dishwasher and stabbed myself on knives.

She also didn't like me getting things for myself. If I asked her where the chopping board was she'd not tell me. I'd say "just tell me and I can get it" but no, I had to wait for her to stop whatever she was doing to get it for me. It drove me nuts because if I kept asking to get it myself she's shout that I was being demanding. How is wanting to not bother you and be independent in the simplest sense demanding?

Not being allowed to cut our hair...it was down nearly to our knees (it was not religious OR cultural, just, idk). Then my mom let my younger sisters cut theirs but I still wasn't allowed. When I turned 18 and finally could, the hair stylist said I had over a foot of split ends she took off.

Our weirdest rule was the Underwear At the Table Rule. Me and my three sisters were big fans of being naked when we were younger, so from ages 3-8 whenever we'd come home from preschool or school, everything would just come straight off regardless of who was home. So my mother instituted the Underwear at the Table-rule, stating that during dinner everyone needs to be wearing underwear at the very least, otherwise no dinner.

This worked for a while and was later complemented by the rule stating that if you have chest hair, you have to wear a shirt (that one applied more to my dad than to us)

Not my family, but my best friend's family would always rinse their ice off with water before they poured their beverage in the glass to "wash off the mechanical bugs"