life

<p>When you&#39;re a kid, you might assume everything that goes on in your house is normal because you don&#39;t know any other way.</p><p>And then when you get older and go out in the world a bit, you might realize that your family&#39;s rules unique &mdash; or even downright bizarre.</p><p>One<a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/em2vfz/what_was_a_house_rule_you_had_as_a_kid_that_you/"> Reddit user asked</a>, &quot;What was a house rule you had as a kid that you thought was completely normal until you grew up and realized not all households followed?&quot; More than 10,000 people responded. Here are some of the standouts.</p><h2>1. It&#39;s fun when parents find new names for bribery.</h2><blockquote> <p>My mum used to pay me to be my own babysitter between the ages of 10-14 or so. The rule was that as long as I didn&#39;t make a mess and I&#39;d put myself to bed by the time she got home then I got $10 in the morning. - <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/em2vfz/what_was_a_house_rule_you_had_as_a_kid_that_you/fdmbnv8/">anxiousjellybean</a></p> </blockquote><h2>2. This parent was an evil genius.</h2><blockquote> <p>Maybe it&#39;s not a &quot;house&quot; rule. But when I was six my mom told me that if a behaved she would let me skip school on Saturdays and Sundays. One day my teacher said &quot;see ya Monday&quot; and I knew - <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/em2vfz/what_was_a_house_rule_you_had_as_a_kid_that_you/fdmf74d/">missdontcare_</a></p> </blockquote><div className="ad-splitter"></div><h2>3. When your mom is a lazy legend.</h2><blockquote> <p>My family had a thing we called the food blanket. When we&rsquo;d eat casual meals, we&rsquo;d lay a blanket on the living room floor and eat on it, like a picnic. My parents didn&rsquo;t want to get any food on the carpet. Instead of &ldquo;set the table,&rdquo; my mom would say, &ldquo;go lay out the blanket.&rdquo; I remember being really confused when I learned every family didn&rsquo;t have a food blanket. - <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/em2vfz/what_was_a_house_rule_you_had_as_a_kid_that_you/fdmg2r3/">llamallama-duck</a></p> </blockquote><h2>4. This mom probably meant well.</h2><blockquote> <p>Not a rule, but still to this day I am befuddled at my mothers reasoning. When I was a boy we lived in a pretty rural part of Mexico, horrible infrastructure. Power would often go out in the middle of the night. She would proceed to wake my brother and I up, simply to wait until the power came back on.</p> <p>For the life of me I cannot figure that out. She wasn&rsquo;t afraid of the dark, she just wanted to make sure we saw the power return. - <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/em2vfz/what_was_a_house_rule_you_had_as_a_kid_that_you/fdm727f/">thedraindeimo</a></p> </blockquote><div className="ad-splitter"></div><h2>5. Hopefully parents are realizing this type of tactic doesn&#39;t work.</h2><blockquote> <p>If you don&rsquo;t get A&rsquo;s you don&rsquo;t eat at the table. I legit thought this was normal until I had dinner at a friends&rsquo; house and my friend brought home a devastating report card. His parents were so supportive and loving.. - <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/em2vfz/what_was_a_house_rule_you_had_as_a_kid_that_you/fdm4ee6/">GreatGooseGimbo</a></p> </blockquote><h2>6. Uhhh someone call child services.</h2><blockquote> <p>Wasn&#39;t in my home but my aunt and uncle never let us use the up stairs washroom when we were kids because they thought we&#39;d touch the walls with our dirty hands so they made us piss in a jar they kept under the kitchen sink and just poured it down the drain when we were done. Never thought it war strange until I brought it up to my cousin a few years ago, we laughed pretty hard about it. - <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/em2vfz/what_was_a_house_rule_you_had_as_a_kid_that_you/fdm6dxk/">lazynomad53</a></p> </blockquote><h2>7. Having a room that you never use is suburb privilege!</h2><blockquote> <p>We weren&rsquo;t allowed to walk in our dining room unless we were using the room for a special occasion. The carpet always had that &ldquo;just vacuumed&rdquo; look so it was a dead giveaway if anyone walked across it. - <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/em2vfz/what_was_a_house_rule_you_had_as_a_kid_that_you/fdm1r57/">secretagentsquirrel</a></p> </blockquote><div className="ad-splitter"></div><h2>8. You really could&#39;ve put more effort into learning to use the thing you weren&#39;t allowed to touch.</h2><blockquote> <p>We had a piano growing up that the kids weren&rsquo;t allowed to touch. I was a teenager when mother finally sold the piano when she was redecorating, &amp; she was lamenting how sad she was that neither myself or my sister ever learned how to play it.</p> <p>Yes. Never learned how to play the thing we weren&rsquo;t allowed to touch, that we did not have any learning music books or an instructor for. That was some big brain time there for me for a while. - <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/em2vfz/what_was_a_house_rule_you_had_as_a_kid_that_you/fdmg905/">Wolfwalker9</a></p> </blockquote><h2>9. This seems a little over the top.</h2><blockquote> <p>If I told my parents I was leaving at a certain time, I had to leave at that time.</p> <p>Let&rsquo;s say I told my parents I would leave a party at 9. I couldn&rsquo;t leave at 8:50, or I&rsquo;d get yelled at/grounded. I couldn&rsquo;t leave at 9:10, or I would get yelled/grounded.</p> <p>Same thing went for when I was leaving my house to go somewhere - <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/em2vfz/what_was_a_house_rule_you_had_as_a_kid_that_you/fdm4hut/">6lesbianlover9</a></p> </blockquote><div className="ad-splitter"></div><h2>10. Cool ways to be uncomfortable year round.</h2><blockquote> <p>Winter meant the thermostat was turned to 55, all vents but living room vent get closed, magnetic sheet put on the vents to prevent leaks, then ALL windows get the plastic sheeting &amp; hairdryer treatment. Sheet hung from ceiling by staircase to prevent living room vent from sending all heat upstairs. Lots of baking done. Of course bathroom and kitchen vents stayed closed year round.</p> <p>Summer meant thermostat set to 80, all vents downstairs get closed and magnetic sheet put on. Curtains would be drawn 24/7, oven use was kept to a minimum. - <span style="display: none;"> </span><span style="display: none;"> </span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/em2vfz/what_was_a_house_rule_you_had_as_a_kid_that_you/fdmavni/">busterann</a></p> </blockquote><h2>11. This will definitely instill a healthy attitude toward intimacy in your children.</h2><blockquote> <p>We weren&#39;t allowed to watch anything remotely sexual like if people were kissing on screen my mom would freak out and run to cover the TV with a pillow and go &quot;blah blah cough cough&quot; loudly until it was over.</p> <p>Once I tried to see a pg13 movie with my friends and my mom cried and my dad called me horrible for making her cry. I was 14. - <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/em2vfz/what_was_a_house_rule_you_had_as_a_kid_that_you/fdm1sms/">Dameunbatido</a></p> </blockquote><div className="ad-splitter"></div><h2>12. These parents had issues with skin of all kinds.</h2><blockquote> <p>Bare skin was not allowed to touch the leather sofa. No shorts, bare feet, tank tops, etc.</p> <p>Also we had to peel mushrooms. It took forever and was completely stupid. - <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/em2vfz/what_was_a_house_rule_you_had_as_a_kid_that_you/fdm1mw3/">SuperBubber</a></p> </blockquote><h2>13. In some cultures, cleaning your plate is a faux pas.</h2><blockquote> <p>I was not allowed to clear my plate when eating. I had to always leave some food on the plate. If I wanted to eat that much, I had to go get a little more to leave on the plate.</p> <p>The exact opposite of what most people have as a household rule.</p> <p>So... the point was my parents never wanted me to feel like I was wanting for food (we were middle class at times and poor at others). They also never wanted me to feel pressured to eat past when I was full. Those were the two pieces of reasoning behind the rule.</p> <p>It made me super rude at potlucks, though. I&rsquo;d waste lots of food. :/ - <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/em2vfz/what_was_a_house_rule_you_had_as_a_kid_that_you/fdm1x66/">supaloops</a></p> </blockquote><div className="ad-splitter"></div><h2>14. This seems... not based on science.</h2><blockquote> <p>When I was sick I couldn&#39;t be in my bed because it would make it dirty. My mom put a towel in a corner on the hardwood floor and I had to stay there until she dee!ed me better enough to use my bed. - <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/em2vfz/what_was_a_house_rule_you_had_as_a_kid_that_you/fdmcd03/">Zenosparadox1</a></p> </blockquote><h2>15. And this family had strict rules around food out of necessity.</h2><blockquote> <p>We weren&#39;t allowed to get into the fridge or the cabinets without asking permission. My family was very poor and we had a limited food budget, so eating something without permission very possibly meant eating one ingredient of a meal my step mother was planning on cooking within the next few days.</p> <p>I went to friends&#39; houses and they just ate whatever they wanted, whenever they wanted. - <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/em2vfz/what_was_a_house_rule_you_had_as_a_kid_that_you/fdm9wjd/">badhairguy</a></p> </blockquote><div className="ad-splitter"></div>

15 people share the extreme rules they grew up with at home.

When you&#39;re a kid, you might assume everything that goes on in your house is normal because you don&#39;t know any other way.And then when you get older and go out in the world a bit, you might realize that your family&#39;s rules unique &mdash; or even downright bizarre.One Reddit user asked, &quot;What was a house rule you had as a kid that you thought was completely normal until you grew up and realized not all households followed?&quot; More than 10,000 people responded. Here are some of the standouts.1. It&#39;s fun when parents find new names for bribery. My mum used to pay me to be my own babysitter between the ages of 10-14 or so. The rule was that as long as I didn&#39;t make a mess and I&#39;d put myself to bed by the time she got home then I got $10 in the morning. - anxiousjellybean 2. This parent was an evil genius. Maybe it&#39;s not a &quot;house&quot; rule. But when I was six my mom told me that if a behaved she would let me skip school on Saturdays and Sundays. One day my teacher said &quot;see ya Monday&quot; and I knew - missdontcare_ 3. When your mom is a lazy legend. My family had a thing we called the food blanket. When we&rsquo;d eat casual meals, we&rsquo;d lay a blanket on the living room floor and eat on it, like a picnic. My parents didn&rsquo;t want to get any food on the carpet. Instead of &ldquo;set the table,&rdquo; my mom would say, &ldquo;go lay out the blanket.&rdquo; I remember being really confused when I learned every family didn&rsquo;t have a food blanket. - llamallama-duck 4. This mom probably meant well. Not a rule, but still to this day I am befuddled at my mothers reasoning. When I was a boy we lived in a pretty rural part of Mexico, horrible infrastructure. Power would often go out in the middle of the night. She would proceed to wake my brother and I up, simply to wait until the power came back on. For the life of me I cannot figure that out. She wasn&rsquo;t afraid of the dark, she just wanted to make sure we saw the power return. - thedraindeimo 5. Hopefully parents are realizing this type of tactic doesn&#39;t work. If you don&rsquo;t get A&rsquo;s you don&rsquo;t eat at the table. I legit thought this was normal until I had dinner at a friends&rsquo; house and my friend brought home a devastating report card. His parents were so supportive and loving.. - GreatGooseGimbo 6. Uhhh someone call child services. Wasn&#39;t in my home but my aunt and uncle never let us use the up stairs washroom when we were kids because they thought we&#39;d touch the walls with our dirty hands so they made us piss in a jar they kept under the kitchen sink and just poured it down the drain when we were done. Never thought it war strange until I brought it up to my cousin a few years ago, we laughed pretty hard about it. - lazynomad53 7. Having a room that you never use is suburb privilege! We weren&rsquo;t allowed to walk in our dining room unless we were using the room for a special occasion. The carpet always had that &ldquo;just vacuumed&rdquo; look so it was a dead giveaway if anyone walked across it. - secretagentsquirrel 8. You really could&#39;ve put more effort into learning to use the thing you weren&#39;t allowed to touch. We had a piano growing up that the kids weren&rsquo;t allowed to touch. I was a teenager when mother finally sold the piano when she was redecorating, &amp; she was lamenting how sad she was that neither myself or my sister ever learned how to play it. Yes. Never learned how to play the thing we weren&rsquo;t allowed to touch, that we did not have any learning music books or an instructor for. That was some big brain time there for me for a while. - Wolfwalker9 9. This seems a little over the top. If I told my parents I was leaving at a certain time, I had to leave at that time. Let&rsquo;s say I told my parents I would leave a party at 9. I couldn&rsquo;t leave at 8:50, or I&rsquo;d get yelled at/grounded. I couldn&rsquo;t leave at 9:10, or I would get yelled/grounded. Same thing went for when I was leaving my house to go somewhere - 6lesbianlover9 10. Cool ways to be uncomfortable year round. Winter meant the thermostat was turned to 55, all vents but living room vent get closed, magnetic sheet put on the vents to prevent leaks, then ALL windows get the plastic sheeting &amp; hairdryer treatment. Sheet hung from ceiling by staircase to prevent living room vent from sending all heat upstairs. Lots of baking done. Of course bathroom and kitchen vents stayed closed year round. Summer meant thermostat set to 80, all vents downstairs get closed and magnetic sheet put on. Curtains would be drawn 24/7, oven use was kept to a minimum. -   busterann 11. This will definitely instill a healthy attitude toward intimacy in your children. We weren&#39;t allowed to watch anything remotely sexual like if people were kissing on screen my mom would freak out and run to cover the TV with a pillow and go &quot;blah blah cough cough&quot; loudly until it was over. Once I tried to see a pg13 movie with my friends and my mom cried and my dad called me horrible for making her cry. I was 14. - Dameunbatido 12. These parents had issues with skin of all kinds. Bare skin was not allowed to touch the leather sofa. No shorts, bare feet, tank tops, etc. Also we had to peel mushrooms. It took forever and was completely stupid. - SuperBubber 13. In some cultures, cleaning your plate is a faux pas. I was not allowed to clear my plate when eating. I had to always leave some food on the plate. If I wanted to eat that much, I had to go get a little more to leave on the plate. The exact opposite of what most people have as a household rule. So... the point was my parents never wanted me to feel like I was wanting for food (we were middle class at times and poor at others). They also never wanted me to feel pressured to eat past when I was full. Those were the two pieces of reasoning behind the rule. It made me super rude at potlucks, though. I&rsquo;d waste lots of food. :/ - supaloops 14. This seems... not based on science. When I was sick I couldn&#39;t be in my bed because it would make it dirty. My mom put a towel in a corner on the hardwood floor and I had to stay there until she dee!ed me better enough to use my bed. - Zenosparadox1 15. And this family had strict rules around food out of necessity. We weren&#39;t allowed to get into the fridge or the cabinets without asking permission. My family was very poor and we had a limited food budget, so eating something without permission very possibly meant eating one ingredient of a meal my step mother was planning on cooking within the next few days. I went to friends&#39; houses and they just ate whatever they wanted, whenever they wanted. - badhairguy 

When you&#39;re a kid, you might assume everything that goes on in your house is normal because you don&#39;t know any other way.  And then when you get older and go out in the world a bit, you might realize that your family&#39;s rules...