Did you remember some childhood rules that seemed unnecessary and you hated them but turned out to make sense as you grew older? Well, for some of the individuals, that logic never applied because the restrictions they grew up with were truly ridiculous.
From bizarre curfews to nonsensical dietary mandates, some Redditors share tales of eyebrow-raising rules they encountered that defy common sense and continue to puzzle them to this day.
1. Locking The Kitchen Cabinets
A good friend of mine, whose mother had locks installed in the kitchen cabinets to avoid her child from eating when he was not supposed to. When he grew up enough to make money, she took away 50% of what he made—but then it got even more insane.
During our senior year in high school, as he turned 18, he got home from school and found that all of his belongings were out in the driveway. What a welcoming birthday.
However, my parents had him live with us until he could get on his feet financially.
2. They Were Chastised
My grandma banned my father, aunt, and uncle from accepting food and drinks while visiting, so they always refused and if by chance they even accepted it, they would be beaten once they were home. It didn't matter if they were visiting family; they were just not allowed. To this day, I do not understand why that was.
3. Commanding To Do The Chores
While I was growing up, my step mom and father gave me and my sisters chores to do before we were given permission to go out to meet friends. I thought this was pretty normal until I moved out. When I would do the vacuum chores, the mark would overlap and would go in the same direction. I used to also clean the bathroom and wiped everything down which includes the shower, as no water spots were allowed to be seen.
We were also not allowed to leave personal items (shoes, jackets, or bags) to be left behind in any part of the house apart from our room. We were also not allowed in the sitting room that I cleaned every week. Despite having a dishwasher, I had to do the dishes every day by hand. I also had an 11 pm curfew, even on prom night.
Later, I got married, joined the army and moved away and had kids, but that didn't stop. I still lived the 11pm curfew life whenever I went to visit and by that time I was in my 30s. I forgot to add the fact that I was not even getting an allowance for it all. Whenever I wanted money, I had to give up on my lunch at school and save up my lunch money.
I purchased my school clothes when I was above age 12 while working for cropping plants during the summer.
4. No Standing For The Job
My friend and I are Canadian and once I lived with a friend in Berlin. His roommate was German and quite political. He was primarily an anarchist and against any state rules or regulations, however he had a main rule in the apartment that—you had to pee sitting down. We were all men, just to add the fact and my friend cautioned me, 'Careful with Hans. He is big on this rule and wanted me to tell you this.'
I agreed about it out of respect and it was quite weird apart from this one time when we came back from a long night out on the town, and in a drunken state and forgot to sit when I had to pee. Mid-pee I heard banging on the wall from the room while Hans was screaming, 'I hear you urinating while standing, that is not allowed!, in his accent.'
We argued after that and left the next day because I had planned about it anyway. He seemed to be scared of the splash on the bathroom surface and causing sickness.
5. An Open-Door Policy
One of my parents, not my mum while growing up, STRICTLY ensured a no doors closed policy. He left when I was 17, so when I went for a shower or went for #2 in the bathroom, when he and mum made love or anything else, the door had to be cracked at least once. I received hits for closing the door full when I went for a shower, changed clothes or got ready for school and it is not even so twisted.
The rule was applied whenever people came over too. Whoever visited decided it was worth the effort to try to tolerate this crazy rule apart from 'You think you are so smart and I am so dumb' reality.
He died three weeks back and I left his 'viewing' after two hours of talking to relatives and not once looked in the casket. I got my niece and her friend to watch Scream 6.
I also did not go for the funeral but went to a baseball card store and pampered myself with something nice.
6. Need For Some Mental Nourishment
My kid from high school had a friend come over recently and we had offered him a snack and he said, 'Maybe, is that allowed?' and spoke about getting an A on a test so we said, 'Then you deserve an extra special after an extra special after-school snack.'
We offered many different options such as goldfish crackers, cereal and much more. He started crying because nobody had offered him an after-school snack, much less told about a 'good job' on scoring an A. So sad!
7. Keeping A Check On Your Kids Expenses
My friends' parents had a tab running for him and his brother. They would add up how much they spent on clothes, sports, food and everything else and asked the boys if they would have to pay them back. Once I got yelled at for eating his father's "snacks" once and added them to a tab. I asked what would happen if his tab was due—then I got my answer.
After my friend and his brother graduated, the parents asked them to 'clear the tab' as a graduation gift. Basically, they received nothing apart from a reminder of how much they cost.
8. A Special Family Session
When I was 8 years old or so, I had a friend whose family would shower together (mother, father, 8 year old, 5 year old, and 2 year old). I don't think anything wicked was happening but this didn't happen to save water, financial reasons or anything else because they were quite loaded. It just seemed weird. While I would be hanging out they would all pile into the master shower leaving me to watch TV in the living room.
The kids were not allowed to cut their hair until they were in their teens.
9. Pale And Distressed
My wife had a friend who came for a sleepover when they were little. Suddenly, their mothers came to take them home. When my wife found the reason why, she was shocked.
Apparently, the friend had seen alcohol in the fridge and called her mother crying because of that. They were also not allowed to look at, talk about, think about and majorly drink alcohol. It bothered and scared her to an extent that she had to call her mother to come to get her.
10. Feeling Hydrated With Soda
When I was a child, I spent a lot of time at my best friends' home. Her mother would not let us drink more than a glass of water in the noon as she thought it would dilute our nutrients in the bodies. Instead, she gave us 7Up if we were thirsty. Whenever I was thirsty at their place, I would secretly drink water from the bathroom's faucet as I did whenever I used the bathroom.
11. What A Pessimist
My stepmom had a weird rule about feet. She was irrationally scared of plantar warts. We had a second family home/beach house that was basically a small bungalow and consisted of a restroom along with a stall shower.
Nobody, not even friends or other family members were allowed to use the shower after returning from the beach because they would get the plantar warts all over the floor and she would take a shower, and she would get plantar warts.
We also had a swimming pool where she would make new people that included children wear socks inside the swimming pool. As far as I am aware, nobody in the house including herself had plantar warts so... was it unreasonable? Sure. Effective? Sure.
12. They Were All On Bad Terms
I once had a friend who was a lot into computers and gaming back in the early 2000s and late 90s. Voodoo video cards were the thing back then but his parents banned him from using the word 'voodoo'. Even if it was in reference to the card. However, the alternative word chosen backfired on them.
They advised that he may call it the 'V card' which was hilarious.
13. Resisting To Relax
One of my friends had a bedtime of 9 pm which her mother's creepy boyfriend forcibly imposed. I wasn't aware of this and stayed over once. We were asked to be in bed with lights out by the time 'or else.' He would sit outside the bedroom to ensure we don't talk to each other.
I was not habituated to sleeping so early when I was 16 years old. However, 45 minutes later, I woke up to pee and he interrogated me on what I was doing and told me I had three minutes to be back in bed, 'or else!' I never went there again for a sleepover but my friend came to my house instead. However, this man drove by at 9:05 pm and saw my bedroom light was on. Yes, he made her point out my bedroom window so he could check. Then he called my house and demanded my mom tell him why we were not in bed.
She had to lie and said we were sleeping in the basement and she was cleaning my room. Additionally, she asked him to take off quickly or she would call the cops on him for scoping out her kid's bedroom window.
14. No Thanksgiving
My wife's family while growing up was quite close with this family of 5 siblings where they did everything together which included holidays as well. Once their father passed away, my wife's family helped to raise the kids. Eventually with time, each sibling moved out until only one was left (M). M is like a family and still comes over for all the holidays.
M is a vegan/vegetarian and would always bring a tofurkey and a side dish, so he was just the easiest guest to accommodate. As time passed, my brother in law and his wife had two children and got their own big home so they had us over for the first time hosting a Thanksgiving but the only rule was that M was not invited as she was not 'family' and my wife would not let him get away with that.
This caused huge chaos and fight and we ended up not going over there, so M was not left alone. It became an argument every year until they stopped inviting us altogether. When M went to his wife's family for Thanksgiving, one year we still would not go to my brother-in-law's home.
15. Putting His Foot Down
Back in 2019, I used to live at my friend's place and it was free-for-all there. There were ashtrays in every room, be it hallways, bathrooms, and kitchen as you could literally smoke anywhere. People would drop acid at any given time and nobody would even blink. Once, I killed a spider and the only time I genuinely offended my friend.
Because his parents were hippies, he grew up respecting all forms of life. Because I had fear of spiders, I did not think and reacted with haste to which my friend walked in and exclaimed, 'I cannot believe I allowed this to happen in my house!' He said so while ashing our cigarettes on the carpet and I immediately learnt my lesson.
It is ONE such thing that I am not allowed to do in that household and I genuinely had some of my best years spent at their place. However, it is hilarious and funny how I end up laughing remembering that specific memory.
16. Much ADo About Nothing
When I was 8 years old or so, I once stood in my friends' kitchen and took a kitchen paper tissue from the roll, cleared my nose, and walked toward the kitchen sink door to throw it into the trash bin. My friend screamed, 'WHAT ARE YOU DOING1? I was like, 'What? Throwing away the trash.' He continued, 'Are You Crazy!? Snot Paper Does Not Go In The Kitchen Trash! Jesus, What If Mom Found Out!?'
By that time, I threw it away but he quickly removed it from the bin and flushed it down the toilet drain within less than 10 seconds. I always knew his mother was a nasty ol’ battleax, but I had no idea how deep her will manifested itself in that sick house.
17. Clean Up Your Act, Mother
When I was 13 years old or so, a friend of mine was kicked out of his home for a week because he stacked things in his freezer wrongly and that some bread got squished. He would spend the week staying with different friends at their home every night until his parents let him come back home. His mother was super religious and was quite strict but tried unsuccessfully, to hide it when any of our group were at their house.
My friend and his sister were always punished pretty much immediately by the mom, and the stepdad would stay out of that picture. The mother would suddenly snap out and say, 'Get out of my house. I don't want to see your face"!
She was harmful entirely, verbally as well as emotionally. I never saw any signs of physical abuse though. However, there were multiple scenarios where me or other friends would spend the night at their place and were sent back home because she was not in a good mood and my friend did not clean his room as per her liking i.e. a late and fork on the dresser from breakfast or a couple of clothing items on the floor.
18. You Aren’t Allowed To Drive
My father in law banned my wife—and tried to forbid my two children—from driving once they passed their driving test. The reason behind it was insane. His insight was that, 'Put that piece of paper (driving license) in a drawer for five years' to reduce the insurance they would pay. He spoke like he was passing down the knowledge of the ancients. Complete stupidity!
19. Nickel And Dimed!!
One of the weird rules I came across was when guests paid for their stay. The family invited me for dinner and calculated how many minutes I was over and charged for my drinks, electricity, food and water consumption.
Insanely, they also counted the toilet flushing and timed me on hand washing. I would literally not do this to anybody.
20. The Child Had A Lot On His Plate
My step dad was weird about food. I was a pretty light eater as a child and would eat a little of everything and still have a full plate at the end of the meal. My mother never had a problem as long as I had something. I was around 7 years old when she married my step dad and since then I had to eat everything on my plate. I learned this the hard way.
It went on for two days because the food grew more and more disgusting each day with all the repeated microwaving. I got sent with my disgusting plate of food to go eat with the dogs in the pet room at the back of the house on the little toddler table and chairs.
After 5 days, my mum told my step dad that I learnt my lesson after throwing away the plate for the week. He passed when I was 11, so maybe that’s karma, but I would not be the one to say it.
21. Do Not Sit In The Sitting Room
When I was a child, my friend's mother was crazy as she had a sitting room with a couch and loveseat that no one was allowed to sit on. One must walk through it to get to the rest of the home and it would then lead to the kitchen and living room.
She would create a ruckus if one sat on the furniture in the sitting room. I always felt like having such a nice room and never using it was such a waste. It would have been a perfect study room or reading room.
She had other weird rules like disciplining my friend when his younger sister did anything wrong as if he was responsible for her actions and looked out for her.
22. The Night Is Young…
Once I visited a college roommate's family and everybody had to sleep and go to bed by 8 pm because that was the youngest sibling's bedtime too. The child was probably 8 or 9 years old and I laughed it off as the reaction was chilling. The child threw a tantrum which was basically not going to the bed. They were not kidding, I did.
Next day, the parents told me it would be best if I just headed back to college a day prior. No joking but my roommate thought of me as a jerk. I laughed at her too.
23. The Details Consists The Devil
While growing up, one of my best friends had super Christian parents. Our group of friends enjoyed playing Diablo 2. We would spend weeks at each other's home for LAN parties.
However, if we ever went to the super Christian house, we couldn't play Diablo 2 as it had a devil in the game. No matter how many times we explained that the goal of the game was to DEFEAT the devil, they would just dig their heels in even more.
24. My Favorite, Mommie Dearest!
When I was in 5th grade, I had a friend whose mother was legit insane. She would not let her daughter come to our home because we had carpeting and she convinced her child that she was allergic to everything which includes dust mites/harmless dirt on the carpet. Maybe there was a wicked reason behind it.
I was certain that she had Munchausen syndrome by proxy. My friend was also a dancer when we were children, and her mother monitored where her mother would monitor what she ate, very closely. I felt so badly for her.
25. Minding Your Way
One of my friends' mothers was strict about the rules on politeness. I went to his friend's house as a kid and she offered to drink something and I said, 'Yes please, thank you' once she handed me the drink. Next day, my friend told her mother was upset and not sure if I was allowed to come back.
According to mom, she told me that I should have said, 'Yes thank you (for offering me this drink)' In the end, I was allowed to return to their house, but that was a weird reason to be mad at a kid.
We were not allowed to call something ugly or something smelled bad or tasted bad. Instead we said, 'I don't like how it looks/smells/tastes.'
However, we were not allowed to use phrases at all when she was watching us, ever. You accidentally ate some food that went bad? It’s not gross; you just don't like it.
26. Call Whenever You Relocate
When I was in college, I worked on a project with a girl who called her mother each time she relocated on campus. For instance, whenever she left a location and then again when she arrived at the next location. So when she moved from the cafeteria to the library, or when we took a break to go get a coffee, and again when we left to go back to our dorms. When class started, when she left class, she had to call her mom.
I ignored her for the rest of college.
27. Getting Pissed
When I was 10, I passed out as an altar boy because of the Nebraska heat. It was easily 105° or more outside, but inside a church, wearing the altar boy robe over my clothes was quite a lot. Once I was home after the service, I was hit because my adoptive parents looked bad and told me that I was weak and pathetic. Then I was made to recite the rosary for four hours on my knees in that same summer heat...
And guess what? I passed out again and was sent to my room for the entire day and was denied food and water. There was a lot I could say but I'd rather not. I did not speak about my childhood trauma in foster and group homes in the Midwest.
28. Bed And Boredom
Once I dated a woman for a few months and nothing seemed off with her but we once took a vacation where we visited our immediate families. When we were at her parents' house and were not allowed to sit next to each other or stand near one another.
We were not allowed to also sleep in the same bed and I had to sleep on the couch while she had a spare room. Their reason for it was they did not wish any 'funny business' happening in front of them.
29. One And Only
My great-uncle only permitted one bowl, one plate, one spoon, one fork, one knife, one cup, and one light bulb in his house. He was married with 3 kids. At home, he ate first, then wife, then kids. It went age wise. When he went to another room, the light bulb followed.
30. Don’t Get Lost From The Path
As a kid, my best friend's mother would not let us walk in the house apart from the designated spots. She did not want us to mess up the vacuum trails left on the carpet after she vacuumed.
She wanted the house to look like it was just vacuumed however, the carpet looked worse than it would have looked had she just let us walk everywhere since there were very visible trails leading to each room and the couch and kitchen.
