When I was a kid, my dad didn't allow me to

[emptygee]

Um, why?

[cjeanette]

I just don't have the time in my life to enforce this sort of rule with my kids. I am just happy they don't jump on the couch. Often.

[dexteroni]

Whaaa? You weren't allowed to use the furniture in your home? That's pretty f'ed up.

[fuddyduddy]

Wow.

My aunt and uncle had a completely white formal living room that their children were not allowed in at all. I always thought that was a bit odd.

[aspentosh]

Fascinating.

[CallingAllAngels]

Wow. My house was strict, but that's insane.

[mbcdefg]

Unless you were constantly covered in mud, that's fucking bizarre.

[Deleted]

My parents had strange rules, too. Like I couldn't have food in any room but the kitchen. I couldn't go in the formal living room without my parents being home.
I could only ride my bike 2 houses down, on the sidewalk, til I was 10. Then I got to choose between the end of the block on the sidewalk, or 2 houses down in the street. I chose the end of the block on the sidewalk, fwiw.
If I went to a friend's house after school in late middle school or HS, I had to call my mom at work to let her know I was going, then call my mom at work when I got to my friend's house, and call again when I was leaving, then once I got home. And I had to be home before my dad got home around 5:10. I was going no more than a block and a half in each direction.

I was a good kid. Never in trouble, straight A student. It was so bizarre.

DH was a bit of a troublemaker, got worse grades, and didn't have a curfew past 14.

[LoveTrains]

Jan 22, 2013 13:57:30 GMT -5 @crackhabit said:

I think he thought I'd ruin it.
He could be kind of a dick, though.

yeah...Umm....I didn't want to go there, but since you did, yeah, it sounds like he was being a dick. 

[emilyinchile]

Jan 22, 2013 14:04:44 GMT -5 @mrsspunky said:

My parents had strange rules, too. Like I couldn't have food in any room but the kitchen. I couldn't go in the formal living room without my parents being home.
I could only ride my bike 2 houses down, on the sidewalk, til I was 10. Then I got to choose between the end of the block on the sidewalk, or 2 houses down in the street. I chose the end of the block on the sidewalk, fwiw.
If I went to a friend's house after school in late middle school or HS, I had to call my mom at work to let her know I was going, then call my mom at work when I got to my friend's house, and call again when I was leaving, then once I got home. And I had to be home before my dad got home around 5:10. I was going no more than a block and a half in each direction.

I was a good kid. Never in trouble, straight A student. It was so bizarre.

DH was a bit of a troublemaker, got worse grades, and didn't have a curfew past 14.

These sound strict but not particularly strange to me. Does that mean I was deprived and never even knew it?

None of this is on the same level as not being able to use any of the furniture.

[chessie]

My parents were very strict about a lot of things as well. Up until I was a Senior they wouldn't allow me to go to a friends house without talking to a parent of the friends house- if the parent was not going to be there I was not allowed to hang out there. And same for the friend, that was over my house--they had to talk to the friends parents, before they could come over.

I get it when your really young, but really got really embarrassing in high school.

[gogreengowhite]

How did he enforce this rule? I can't imagine how this works with a toddler.

I just imagine my 2 year old in a constant meltdown because she can't be near us.

[dexteroni]

Jan 22, 2013 14:08:39 GMT -5 emilyinchile said:

Jan 22, 2013 14:04:44 GMT -5 @mrsspunky said:

My parents had strange rules, too. Like I couldn't have food in any room but the kitchen. I couldn't go in the formal living room without my parents being home.
I could only ride my bike 2 houses down, on the sidewalk, til I was 10. Then I got to choose between the end of the block on the sidewalk, or 2 houses down in the street. I chose the end of the block on the sidewalk, fwiw.
If I went to a friend's house after school in late middle school or HS, I had to call my mom at work to let her know I was going, then call my mom at work when I got to my friend's house, and call again when I was leaving, then once I got home. And I had to be home before my dad got home around 5:10. I was going no more than a block and a half in each direction.

I was a good kid. Never in trouble, straight A student. It was so bizarre.

DH was a bit of a troublemaker, got worse grades, and didn't have a curfew past 14.

These sound strict but not particularly strange to me. Does that mean I was deprived and never even knew it?

None of this is on the same level as not being able to use any of the furniture.

Agree. This just sounds like your mom was being extra, perhaps overly, cautious about your safety.

[Deleted]

My dad put towels down on our sunroom furniture before we sat on it, so our body oils wouldn't mess it up or something like that. It was really light upholstery and I get that it gets dirty easily and is a pain to clean, but as an adult I look back and wonder why they didn't just buy something more practical.

[catbus]

What?

[Deleted]

Growing up I did have friends that weren't allowed in their parents' formal living rooms. We would run in there and back out quickly on dares, or sit momentarily on the furniture if we were really feeling adventurous.

[jackpackage]

When I saw the post title, that's immediately where my mind went. We had bean bag chairs that we were allowed to sit in, but we couldn't sit on the sofa for years after we got new furniture. My dad is not really a dick but he has a load of mental health issues.

[Deleted]

I have this one cheapass batshit crazy aunt that refuses to use her master bathroom because it is nice and/or too much hassle to clean so she purposely uses the downstairs bathroom. wtf...

[KaraOrNot]

That is very odd.

[womet]

My dad didn't let us chew gum in the house. He said the smell made him sick.

[Deleted]

When no one was around would you sneak in to the living room and sit on the couch? I totally would have.

[Deleted]

Weird. I couldn't put things on my walls because I had wallpaper so I decorated the curved wall above the wall paper as well as my door with Absolut Vodka ads.

[dexteroni]

Jan 22, 2013 14:24:32 GMT -5 @crackhabit said:

Jan 22, 2013 14:20:11 GMT -5 @forcuatro said:

When no one was around would you sneak in to the living room and sit on the couch? I totally would have.

LOL. Totally. My mom didn't care, so I'd be all up on the furniture when he was out or asleep or I knew I couldn't get caught.

He had a majorly bad temper, so it was stay off the furniture or get yelled at and berated and sent to my room, so I just stayed off when he was around. I don't remember what he did when I was a toddler.

Sorry your dad was a jerk.

[Chirp]

Jan 22, 2013 14:15:19 GMT -5 @carmensandiego said:

Growing up I did have friends that weren't allowed in their parents' formal living rooms. We would run in there and back out quickly on dares, or sit momentarily on the furniture if we were really feeling adventurous.

We did that too. My high school boyfriend had one of those formal living rooms. The carpet was bright white, the couches were bright white, the tables were glass top, and the walls had fancy wallpaper. I went in there once. Luckily, his parents loved me so they thought it was funny when they caught me running through. BF started to walk through to catch up with me and his mom yelled at him to go around.

[jenikate]

Jan 22, 2013 13:51:04 GMT -5 @crackhabit said:

sit on the furniture.
I had to sit on the floor. Like, until I was a teenager.
Exceptions were at meals, I could sit at the table, and I had a bed to sleep in.

Random memory that just popped up while I was reading the sofa thread.

My grandparents had these same rules. My brother and I spent a lot of time with them when we were young. We couldn't sit at the table unless eating. There was a very small chair at the side of the kitchen that we could sit on if we needed to sit, but weren't eating. In the living room we had to sit on the floor. We could only go into the bedroom we were staying in when my grandmother said it was time, and we would have to wait for her to tell us it was time to come out in the morning. We weren't allowed to leave the bedroom in our PJs.

I tried to tell my DH about this a few times and he looks at me like I am crazy. I know they loved us, but they had weird ways of showing it.

[mbcdefg]

Jan 22, 2013 14:04:44 GMT -5 @mrsspunky said:

I could only ride my bike 2 houses down, on the sidewalk, til I was 10. Then I got to choose between the end of the block on the sidewalk, or 2 houses down in the street. I chose the end of the block on the sidewalk, fwiw.

My dad had a similar rule when we were riding out bikes. he had to be able to see me if he was sitting on the porch (and we were NEVER allowed to ride bikes without being supervised, or anywhere besides the sidewalk).

I just got bored with only going 50 feet, and stopped riding my bike. I tried to ride a bike a few years ago and immediately fell over.

[madringal]

Jan 22, 2013 14:17:05 GMT -5 @missy1 said:

I have this one cheapass batshit crazy aunt that refuses to use her master bathroom because it is nice and/or too much hassle to clean so she purposely uses the downstairs bathroom. wtf...

We have a cousin (by marriage) whose dad won't let anyone use the dishwasher, because it is "a really expensive one" and he wants to say that it s brand new when he sells the house.  It is now 15 years old and has never been used. 

[quorra]

I had some odd rules growing up.

If I went outside to play, I was expected to stay outside for several hours.  Keeping in mind, it was very hot where we lived in the summer, and if I wanted a drink, I was expected to use the garden hose and drink out of that.  To this day, the smell of well water grosses me out.  God forbid if I wanted to come inside to cool off or get a "real" drink.

Couldn't have anything to drink with meals because it "filled you up and you won't eat".  Now I have issues with trying to drink anything during the day.  Just got used to not drinking at all except for water at school here and there (and I hated drinking that nasty ass hose water, so...yeah).

Those are the two strangest I remember.

[shell403b]

The PP that listed out all the phone calls to be made before and after hanging out with someone must be my sister-from-another-mister b/c it was THE SAME at my house.

I wasn't allowed to watch MTV or see PG-13 movies. My mother told me once that she was told that PG-13 was worse than R. Really, Mom-O?

What else? I think we had rules about not going into/using the fancy living room at my house when I was little; now, I remember specifically being at my grandfather's funeral last month and I avoid their formal living room, like I couldn't be in there or something. Weird.

My mother wouldn't let me use her washing machine b/c she was (still is?) convinced I'd break the damn thing. Dishwasher? Fine. Car? Ok by her. Washing machine? Get your damn hands off the washing machine. Way weird.

Maybe I should have done a s/o post to see what other weird shit your parents made you do/wouldn't let you do.

[awick14]

Jan 23, 2013 14:18:04 GMT -5 quorra said:

I had some odd rules growing up.

If I went outside to play, I was expected to stay outside for several hours.  Keeping in mind, it was very hot where we lived in the summer, and if I wanted a drink, I was expected to use the garden hose and drink out of that.  To this day, the smell of well water grosses me out.  God forbid if I wanted to come inside to cool off or get a "real" drink.

Couldn't have anything to drink with meals because it "filled you up and you won't eat".  Now I have issues with trying to drink anything during the day.  Just got used to not drinking at all except for water at school here and there (and I hated drinking that nasty ass hose water, so...yeah).

Those are the two strangest I remember.

When I was younger we had a similar rule, as the bolded one, but it made more sense. We were only allowed to have one glass of juice/water with our meal. That way we didn't fill up on fluids. I was the exception to this rule though as I had some medical problems that made me choke on food if I did not chew long enough so if I wanted more to drink I was allowed to have more to drink but I was watched carefully so I didn't fill up on fluids.