Visiting a friend as a child could be a mixed bag, on the one hand, you get to hang out with your pals, on the other hand, you might have to deal with their strange family. Sure, as a kid, many things seem strange the first time you encounter them, but some might be so unusual that you still remember them into adulthood.
One internet user wanted to hear others’ stories about unusual or downright weird house rules they encountered when visiting someone. So get comfortable, hopefully in the safety of your own home, and be sure to upvote your favorites and share any other unusual rules you may have encountered out there.
#21
While sleeping over at one friend's house we HAD to sleep in the living room. When I woke up her whole family was fully dressed and sitting on the sofa, just sitting there, no TV on, basically waiting for us to wake up. It was the weirdest thing and I never slept over ever again. I did not like having her old dad's face watching me when I woke up.
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110points
#22

My friend keeps separate cups in his house for anyone he suspects eats a*s
I have my own cup
108points
#23
My best friend's mom had a rule that we were not allowed to talk about Fantasy writing. Because she was worried that my friend would become interested in the occult and 'fall away'. Which happened anyways because by neurotically forbidding the thing Sandra became interested in that thing.
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104points
#24

We had to pray the Rosary at 3:00, no matter what...anyone who is Catholic can tell you how much time that takes up. Bonus points if you had to do it and aren't even Catholic..
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102points
#25

My Aunt has a rule that we could only take baths, no showers, and no more than two inches of water in the tub. My cousin and I had to bathe together until finally my parents intervened when I was 10 and offered to give them $ so I could enjoy my two inches of water alone. I get being frugal, but geez! I hated staying there.
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102points
#26

Couldn't sleep in the same bed as my SO while we were guests at my cousins place for the weekend because her and I were not married.
SO and I were both 34 and had been living together for about 4 years.
SO and I were both 34 and had been living together for about 4 years.
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94points
#27

My grandpa has never let anyone say the words “butt” or “bum” or even “tuchus” in his home. They were too crass for his delicate ears. If you absolutely had to refer to the bubbly region on the bottom of your back, you had to call it your “seater” or face the consequences. It made my 6 year old self giggle like an idiot when I overheard my mom talking about cedar wood.
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93points
#28
Sort of the opposite, actually.
When I was younger, my aunt came over to my house for Christmas dinner with her two children. After we finished eating and opening gifts, she announced to her children, myself, and my sister that we all had to be in bed by 7 and would wake up at 6 at the latest before going to church as a group.
Now, mind you, this was in my house. I had my own schedule to follow, but just because she wanted her precious children to leave her and her wine headache alone, she started micromanaging us.
Also, she wouldn’t let us eat sugary cereal.
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85points
#29
I went to a birthday party for Jesus at a friend’s house one Christmas, complete with a cake that said, “Happy Birthday, Jesus!” We watched very religious Christmas movies and went caroling in our pajamas. It was very fun, but I can only imagine what every other Christian holiday was like in their house.
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79points
#30
One friend's mother always immediately demanded to witness me calling my own mother, to say where I was. At age 8? Sensible. At age 17 when I worked full time? OTT.
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78points
#31

Stayed over my best friends house at the time when I was maybe 8 years old? All spinach diet. The family was insanely healthy anyway but literally boiled spinach for breakfast, lunch and dinner. That didn't last longer than 2 weeks thank gosh.
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74points
#32

My grandparents have always had a cat. All well and good, cats are nice and I have nothing against them. The problem was that the cat that they had when me and my siblings were young was a rescue cat and super shy. Apparently the logical solution to this was that we had to spend chunks of time being as quiet as possible so as not to disturb it. We were even given homemade 'medals' one at least one occasion for being particularly quiet around the house. As a child, this was pretty torturous a lot of the time, but I never really realised how strange it was until later.
My grandparents are great in general, just a little weird about their cats.
74points
#33
I suppose it isn't too weird in and of itself but an old friend of mine invited me to her new apartment in order to cook dinner for me. When I showed up she told me that the rule was that whoever doesn't cook has to do the dishes and was that okay?
I said yes though I thought it was a little bit rude. The way I was raised was that as a guest, you must always offer to help with dishes or just jump in and help. But as a host you never *ever* ask. But oh well, my friend was probably raised with slightly different values.
Anyway, I start scrubbing after our meal and then my friend'a two roommates who had both made their own meals threw their dishes in the sink too. I gave the girl roommate a significant look and she responded "Oh, all Sam's guests do dishes in this house. It's our rule."
My friend also had to ask her two roommates for permission to invite friends over. She had to give at least a day's notice and they couldn't be there after ten o'clock.
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72points
#34

I was staying with a friend and his family for a while in their home. It was a 5 bedroom house and each bed room had a bathroom in it, great, right? Wrong. The only bathroom that was allowed to be used was the bathroom inside of the master bedroom (his mothers bedroom) and she would proceed to get angry and scream any time someone needed to use it. There were 7 people in the home at the time.
She also had benches around the house but they weren't allowed to be sat on. Bench: 1.
a long seat for several people, typically made of wood or stone.
a long seat for several people, typically made of wood or stone.
I still hear that woman screaming like she's being Indian burned by 40 full grown men when I think about sitting on a bench.
71points
#35
HAD to have milk with dinner. I told them I didn't want any and they said you need to say "I don't care for any milk" .. They still gave me milk anyway with a bunch of ice cubes in it. They were not allowed to have water with dinner.. Like why?
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70points
#36

When I was younger (8 or 9) I stayed the night at a church friend`s house overnight for the first time. The family was middle class and never had problems with money, but told me to save water and money they showered in pairs. I thought they were joking at first, but later that night I showered (incredibly close) to my good friend. Didn't question it just did what I was told. Not too weird, but I thought i would share.
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69points
#37
This is back when I was in year 8 at school, so I would have been 12 going on 13 - I had a sleepover at a friends house and we wanted to go to the shops to buy some sweets, and the girls mum made me phone my mum to ask for permission to cross the road. My mum was as confused as I was.
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59points
#38

We couldn't talk about feces in their home. Everything else like sex, semen, whatever was fine, but poop is not.
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58points
#39

At my friend's house as a kid about 8years old they had two toilets one upstairs one downstairs up stairs was for number 1s and downstairs for number 2s with no explanation why rather Strange rule if you ask me.
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55points
#40

Not just at their house, but even if we went out to eat.
You were allowed only one glass of tea or Coke a day. If you drank said tea or Coke with your breakfast or lunch, you could only drink water the rest of the day.
If I went out to eat with them, his mom would always say, "four ice waters". His mom or stepdad paid for their meals; I had to pay for mine separately. I'd also order a sweet tea, which would often p**s my friend off. She'd insist I drink the water after the tea before we left.
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49points


