Unusual rules you had to follow in your home or when visiting other people's homes

hollydolly

hollydolly

SF VIP
Location
London England
I saw this elsewhere thought it would be interesting here...

Did you have any unusual rules or habits you had to follow , either in your own home growing up.. or when visiting relatives or friends then or now ?

For example.. when I was a child.. we weren't allowed to sit in my fathers' chair..on pain of death. .. Same in my grandads' house..

Also in my grandfathers' house, although the children could run around freely.. when there was a lot of visitors, the men ate in one room and the women ate in a separate room..

At my granny's.. as children we were only allowed to eat sugar sandwiches.. ..but at home were not allowed to have them.. but neither could we have a sandwich with both margarine and Jam ( Jelly)... had to just be one or the other.. and only one slice.. never more
 

Another one I remember is a friend who lived in the mountains in Spain.. he always made us walk through a paddling type pool before entering his house.. I would maybe have understood it if he was religious or even if he had carpets.. but no.. neither was the case, in fact he lived in a Cave..
 
Don't remember any rules around here. Oh, when I was little my mother stuck soap in my mouth for saying a 'bad' word. Don't remember the word, but it couldn't have been too bad. So I guess the rule was don't piss off mom.
 

Pepper said:
Don't remember any rules around here. Oh, when I was little my mother stuck soap in my mouth for saying a 'bad' word. Don't remember the word, but it couldn't have been too bad. So I guess the rule was don't piss off mom.
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so it wasn't a rule... !!

Another rule in our house was not to speak at the dinner table or risk getting a shoe thrown at our heads.. not such a great rule..
 
JaniceM said:
The only odd thing I ever encountered was when I visited a much-younger relative and I was an adult at the time, she said nobody could be barefoot in her apartment 'because oil from feet would wreck her carpet.' So I had to wear flip-flops indoors.
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wow!! šŸ˜² well obviously I'm used to not wearing shoes in some people's home , but I've never heard that one...
 
I guess it was a rule that we couldn't move furniture or if it was moved to clean under it had to go back to exactly where it was.

Simple explanation is my father was legally blind & knowing where any obstacle was [furniture] made his getting around in the home much easier.
 

Unusual rules you had to follow when visiting other people's homes.​


Hollydolly, you do set my mind off. šŸ˜Š

Yes, there are some very awkward and peculiar people on this planet, the other day I was visiting some folks I've not seen for 10 or more years, and get this...... they asked me to leave my sword at the front door. ;) šŸ˜Š
 
When we were children my dad did a lot of networking,
and we were often brought to other peoples homes that he wanted to do business with etc.
We were told to politely eat whatever was served and not complain about it.
often was not kid type food.... this also was in force if we stayed over or had dinner with friends.
Many an item i was not fond of..... but being polite was key.....

one time i did this .............my friend hated the specific dish her mom served ........and friend was SO mad at me for eating it without a whisper
because her mom always said "see Jeni likes it., you are throwing a fit for nothing" ..... I did not like it ...... but followed my parents rule.
 
Pinky said:
We are used to removing our shoes when we visit relatives, as they do when they visit us .. old Japanese custom. We take our own indoor slippers or are given extras to wear.
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Also an Arabic custom. I had guys working at my store who were Arabic. and always left my shoes at the door when I went in their house.

When my parents bought their own home, mom had my dad hang a mezuzah on the front door jamb, and us kids were expected to touch it whenever we walked out to go to school, and came in after school. My oldest brother would kiss it, or kiss his fingertips and then touch it. He's still more Jewish than the rest of us. :p
 
hollydolly said:
Another rule in our house was not to speak at the dinner table or risk getting a shoe thrown at our heads.. not such a great rule..
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Same here (well no shoe was thrown but a look that would kill and a "go@#$%it, will you shut up, I'm trying to eat!" from my dad) and you're the first person I've ever "met" who it was the same for. In fact, when I was about 12, even though I knew better than to invite any friends over for dinner, my friend's mom I guess got tired of having me over at their house and hinted around that "you know, stacie would like to have dinner at your house sometime". So, I went ahead and invited her and forgot to tell her to not talk and she got the aforementioned yelling at by my dad, she turned white as a sheet and looked scared to death, she asked me after what in the world that was all about and I said "You're allowed to talk at your dinner table?!" She avoided me after that. My least favorite phrase in the world is "the good old days." Phooey on 'em.
 
katlupe said:
My parents were easy going also but I remember I could not tattle on my brother until after supper. (Mother's rule)

Another one was at supper the best piece of meat on the table was reserved for my father. (Another Mother's rule)
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my father always had a different meal to us , for example he'd have pork chops and vegetables, or whole fish.. we'd have canned meatballs..one can between all of us kids, and one pack of Uncle Ben's rice between us, or a small plate of mac & cheese, or a bowl of packet chicken noodle soup .. .. or my mother would buy him dark chocolate, but no chocolate for us .. and he'd leave it right where we kids could see it, but never offered us any..
 
Lewkat said:
Whether we had guests or visited new people to us, I was expected to curtsy to my elders and my brother bow. Had nothing whatsoever with royalty at all, just a courtesy.
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we always had to call friends and aquaintences Aunt and Uncle. It was a courtesy title, but to this day with both parents gone, I'm unsure of who were real relatives and who weren't.. ( my mum was the same age as you Lois ):)
 
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Jeni said:
When we were children my dad did a lot of networking,
and we were often brought to other peoples homes that he wanted to do business with etc.
We were told to politely eat whatever was served and not complain about it.
often was not kid type food.... this also was in force if we stayed over or had dinner with friends.
Many an item i was not fond of..... but being polite was key.....

one time i did this .............my friend hated the specific dish her mom served ........and friend was SO mad at me for eating it without a whisper
because her mom always said "see Jeni likes it., you are throwing a fit for nothing" ..... I did not like it ...... but followed my parents rule.
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One interesting point in your post- your parents' rule was valid in your friends' homes, too..

One of the very few things I agreed with my parents on was parents make the rules, period, and it stands regardless of where you are or with whom.
Throughout all my growing-up years, nearly all the kids/parents/families I knew had that same approach.

In my family's house or anybody else's, it was kinda basic: behave like a civilized human being, show manners/courtesy, don't use/touch anybody else's personal property without their permission. Oh- and don't be wasteful- we were never required to eat anything we didn't like, but if we put it on our plate we were expected to eat it.
 
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