18 people share the most ridiculous family house rule they've heard someone enforce.

'No food on the white carpet or shoes in the house' makes sense, but what about when you go to someone's house and learn that nobody is 'allowed' to eat cookies on a Tuesday after midnight?

So, when a Reddit user asked, 'What’s the most ridiculous rule you’ve heard someone have for their house/family/children?' people were ready to share the most insane house rules they've ever heard someone set for their family.

1.

Ooh my wife didn’t have a door on her bedroom until she was a teenager because “you shouldn’t have to hide anything from your parents.” Her mom also would get really upset if she closed her bedroom door at night when she went to sleep. All of the siblings would sleep with doors open. It was a big adjustment for her at first when we got together to sleep with the bedroom door closed - Hoshef

2.

There was a kid in my neighborhood growing up that was not allowed to chew gum. He soaked a piece of leather in sugar water and chomped on that. His parents were some strange religious nuts. They would scream about the devil if you knocked on their door Halloween night. - whoopysnorp

3.

I had a friend in 5th grade and her mother was legitimately insane. She wouldn’t let her daughter come to my house because we had carpeting. I think she had some munchausen by proxy because she was convinced her child was allergic to everything, including dust mites/any innocuous dirt in carpeting. - j4321g4321

4.

Family friend wasn't allowed to say the word 'gross' because it was his mom's maiden name; I'm guessing she'd been teased as a kid and hated it . My brother said it in front of him at our house once and the kid freaked out and told my mom he'd said a really bad word. That mom was just making her kid weirder with that one. - EnvironmentalSkin488

5.

That guests have to pay for their stay... They invited me for dinner, then calculated how many minutes I was over, charged for my portion of food, drink, electricity and water usage. Yes, they counted toilet flushing and timed me on hand washing. I could never do this to anyone. - khalavaster

6.

A friend's parents had a pool table. His mom decided to play with us one day, and gave us the house rules. She said, 'When it's someone's turn to shoot, I tell them. If someone gets ahead of me, they lose their turn. Everyone plays very hard, and in the end, I win.' - CrediblyHandsome

7.

My FIL forbade my wife, and tried to forbid my two children, from driving once they passed their driving test. His wisdom was “put that piece of paper [driving license] in a drawer for five years” to reduce the amount of insurance they would pay. Spoken like he was passing down the knowledge of the Ancients. - ellasfella68

8.

I was five and at a friend’s house. We were playing in leaves outside. There was a box of leaves I wanted to move closer to his box of leaves. My box had no bottom, so the leaves spilled out into a small pile. He went and told his mother, she came out and spanked me, quite hard.

I ran home crying to my Mom, partly because it hurt and partly because of the injustice. She comforted me, but didn’t do much else (or so I thought). I learned, decades later, my Mom called up the spanker and told her to never lay a hand on any of her children ever again. - Utterlybored

9.

My stepmom had a totally bonkers rule about feet. She was irrationally afraid of plantar warts and, according to her, anyone she didn't know intimately had plantar warts. As a family we had a second home/beach house that was basically a small bungalow and only had one restroom with one stall shower.

Nobody, no friends, relatives, could use that shower after the beach because they'll get their plantar wart all over the floor and then she'll take a shower and she'll get plantar warts.

We also had a swimming pool and she would make new people, including children, WEAR SOCKS IN THE SWIMMING POOL. And as far as I know, nobody living in our house including her ever had plantar warts so... unreasonable? Sure. Effective? Sure. - Sister_Christina

10.

When I was a kid, I spent a lot of time at my best friend’s house. Her mom wouldn’t let us drink more than one glass of water in the afternoon because she thought it would dilute the nutrients in our body. Instead she gave us 7-up if we we were thirsty. I ended up secretly drinking water out of the bathroom faucet every time I used the bathroom when I was thirsty at her house. - SeaStarless

11.

My kid had a friend over recently (high school) and we offered him a snack. He said maybe, is that allowed? Then he mentioned getting an A on a test so we said, then you deserve am extra special after school snack.

We offered several options like cereal, goldfish crackers, etc. He cried because no one had ever offered an after school snack, much less said good job on an A. So sad. - FloridaParalegal

12.

I have a friend whose dad had one paper towel specifically used for eating bagels. You cannot re-heat or eat your bagel on anything other than the bagel towel. No plates or bowls were allowed to be used for bagels. You got your turn with the bagel paper towel or you waited till it was free - SWIGGITYGiraffe

13.

My friend’s parents ran a ‘tab’ for him and his brother. They added up how much they spent on food, clothes, sports, etc. and told the two boys that’s how much they would have to pay them back.

I remember once we got yelled at for eating his dad’s ‘snacks’ and he added it to the tab. When they graduated, the parents ‘cleared the tab’ for their graduation gift, so basically they got nothing other than a reminder of how much they cost. - MindRacer789

14.

My ex FIL had a rule that once he sat down for a meal, only his wife and grown children could get him anything he needed from the kitchen. He would not stand up - string1969

15.

We were never allowed to ask for anything while visiting...even a glass of water - Flimsy-Attention-722

16.

The kids could not watch Barney because it's a 'dragon'. It was a religious family - [deleted]

17.

When my sister was expecting her first boy, I got the baby a little stuffed bunny. its ears happened to have a floral pattern. she got rid of it because 'there's no way my boy is playing with flowers.' - anidlezooanimal

18.

I knew a guy who, in his 20s, still had a bedtime enforced. He had to be in bed by 8pm, and if he was sleeping over at a friend's house (in this case at my house during my 21st birthday party) he had to phone his dad at 8pm to say he was going to bed (he didn't go to bed though at least). - Secret_Agent_666