People reveal the VERY bizarre rules they had to follow as children from not watching ‘common’ ITV to bathing just once a week and only sitting in the front room when guests came
- Mumsnet users, who grew up in the UK, have shared rules from their childhood
- Woman began discussion saying she was discouraged from showering everyday
- Many responses said they had strict rules on watching TV and family dinners
- One woman revealed she wasn’t allowed to lie on the sofa
We can all look back and remember being told off for not following the rules as children, but as adults many of us look back and struggle to understand our parents; logic
Mumsnet users, who grew up in the UK, have taken to the forum to share the bizarre rules they were forced to follow throughout their childhood – including eating just half a Mars bar at time, and not lying on the sofa.
The discussion began after a woman revealed she was discouraged from having a shower everyday until the age of 18 because it was viewed as ‘unnecessary and extravagant’.
The thread was soon full of people confessing revealing the baffling restrictions they had imposed as children, from never watching ‘common’ ITV or soaps, always turning down the first offer of a biscuit in case they looked ‘grabby’ and not wearing tights.
Mumsnet users from across the UK have shared the ‘bizarre’ rules they were forced to follow throughout their childhood (file image)
The discussion began after a woman revealed she was discouraged from having a shower every day until age 18
The woman who started the discussion revealed her parents have continued to follow the household rules she had to follow as a child, saying that daily showering and bathing is ‘frowned upon’.
She recalled: ‘I know probably as a young child I didn’t need to, but as I got older and even after I turned 18 and was still living at home, they would have been a bit annoyed about it if I wanted to shower everyday.
‘I should say where we live has no water charges so it wasn’t about that. Now as an adult and a mother myself it seems so strange. I realise it’s probably because my parents both came from large families that had very little money and, back then, no hot running water. Even now my parents bath weekly, but sink wash every day.’
Many responses to the thread came from people who also had to follow strict rules while in the house.
One person wrote: ‘No talking at the dinner table is one that stands out to me! Mealtimes in my house now is one of the cherished times when my teens tell me in detail about their day.’
Another said: ‘Not allowed to lie down on the couch. No nightmare outside of bedrooms. Adults controlled the TV so, no matter what you were watching, you couldn’t complain if an adult switched channels without warning. No talking while adults were on the phone.’
A third added: ‘Once up and dressed in the morning there was no back going into the bedroom until bedtime. No reading too much. Bath only on Friday night, and only for 10 minutes.
‘Not allowed to wear trousers until age 13. No tights – no explanation just verboten. No watching ITV, terribly common.’
Many responses revealed their parents had strict rules about watching TV, while others said they had to practice good table manners
Other responses to the thread shared how their parents had high expectations of how they should behave in public, with one writing: ‘We were absolutely forbidden to touch the windows in our cars when I was young. We weren’t allowed to eat in the car either. No way.
‘My dad now takes my children to McDonald’s drive-thru, they all come home happily eating their meals in the car. My kids are also allowed to breathe on the car windows and ‘draw’ with their finger in the condensation.’
Another said: ‘Ladies don’t paint their fingernails red (only ladies of the night do according to head of year at private school). I still don’t paint my nails red, only neutral and don’t ever watch soaps on TV’
‘Saving new clothes for ‘best’. Then I’d grow out of them so hardly got any wear out of them. My daughters are allowed to wear things straight away. This really bamboozles my mother,’ a third added.
A fourth wrote: ‘When you went to someone’s house and they offered you a biscuit you shouldn’t take it. Politely decline at first and if they insist, then you accept. Otherwise it would look grabby.
‘And we never used the front room in the house other than for guests. It was a 1930s semi and the back room was the ‘sitting room’.
Among the admissions was one woman, who said her mother doesn’t understand why she lets her own children wear their best clothes at any time
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