People Are Sharing The Rules Their Parents Had For Them Growing Up And These 17 Are Pretty Weird

"Don't walk downstairs with glasses or socks on."

We recently asked our BuzzFeed Community parents to tell us about the strange rules that their parents had for them when they were kids. Here are some of their answers:

1.

@tlc_network / Via giphy.com

"My mum’s strange rule was that I could never pet the cat because he shedded everywhere. One time, I literally put my hand on my cat’s head and my mum yelled at me so loudly and didn’t talk to me for the rest of the day. I’m still really confused."

—cool_cat8284

2.

"We weren't allowed to leave the refrigerator open for more than ten seconds. There was a timer on the fridge and it would beep when it went past ten seconds."

—twigletfluff7671

3.

@POWERRANGERS / Via giphy.com

"No Power Rangers. I could watch pretty much everything else on kids TV but Power Rangers was not allowed. Not entirely sure why to this day, but knowing my Mum, she probably just found the music irritating or thought it was too shouty or something."

—bethc31

4.

"We could have a lie in on Sunday (until about 10am-ish) but on Saturday we all had to wake up early. I don't know why because it wasn't like we did anything different on that day."

—twigletfluff7671

5.

@hulu / Via giphy.com

"Dad must be the first to open and read the morning newspaper. If the pages had been separated already, he would refuse to read it."

—charley_victoria97

6.

"Only dad was allowed to use pint glasses."

—charley_victoria97

7.

@disney / Via giphy.com

"My parents were pretty laid back and as I was the youngest they never really worried about age ratings for films or the TV watershed. There were only three films I wasn't allowed to watch until I was thirteen – Nightmare on Elm Street, Silence of the Lambs and... Walt Disney's Fantasia. They gave in and I watched the first two at twelve, but they stuck to their guns with Fantasia. It meant I had seen The Exorcist before a kids classic.

For context, my mum had seen Fantasia when she was a really little kid and it had terrified her (the dancing mushrooms I think) so much it scarred her for life. She bought me a copy on VHS for my thirteenth birthday along with a video player and I was only allowed to watch it in my room."

—rcvaughan

8.

"I wasn't allowed to put on anything scented before bed. Not even lotion on a cold night. I should go to bed scentless or else my mom would get mad."

—limag

9.

Fox / Via giphy.com

"My mum had a thing about The Simpsons – it was the only thing banned in our house! To be fair, it is adult entertainment, and she was savvy enough to know that just because something is animated, doesn't mean it's just for kids."

—raptorneet

10.

"My parents wouldn’t let my siblings and me watch Aussie soaps like Neighbours and Home & Away which were all the rage in the UK during the late 80s and early 90s and all our friends ever spoke about. Even worse, they wouldn’t let us watch a programme called Grange Hill cause it was 'inappropriate' and 'unsuitable for children'. Grange Hill was a literal show FOR KIDS set in a SCHOOL!"

—clothildedauphin

11.

@curbyourenthusiasm / Via giphy.com

"No drawing on the car windows with your finger, as 'your swiggles will stay there forever!'"

—hannah_31

12.

"No shaving allowed at all before I was 18. And I was like, 'why?'"

—eagles1999

13.

@impastortv / Via giphy.com

"Don't walk downstairs with glasses or socks on. Dangerous, apparently!"

—chocolateat22

14.

"I wasn't allowed to shower after 9pm, while my bedtime was 10:30pm. The only exception was when I was working in a store and I had to work until 9pm."

—s463b03bd4

15.

@vh1 / Via giphy.com

"I got my first phone when I was eleven but I had to ask my dad for permission if I wanted to have a friend's phone number and if I could give mine to a friend in return. Was always really awkward on the last day of school when a friend wanted to stay in touch and I'd have to say 'let me ask my dad first.' Needless to say, I never stayed in touch..."

—rubberduckazillaxd

16.

"No boys upstairs. Not even allowed to put one foot on the bottom step. Meh – turned out I'm a lesbian so it wouldn't have even been an issue!"

—ktskts

17.

@vh1 / Via giphy.com

"We weren’t allowed to have blue Smarties as my mum was convinced they contained heroin. They came out in the UK just as Grange Hill and Eastenders were dealing with drug storylines, and my mother read in a magazine that blue Smarties were laced with heroin! Might be a good time to mention that my mum is a doctor, so you'd think she'd know better!"

—chef666

Some submissions have been edited for length or clarity.

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