“You Had To Give A PowerPoint Presentation... To Your Own Family” – 16 Specific Rules People’s Parents Had Growing Up
by Benjamin Dzialdowski · BuzzFeedRecently, Least_Boysenberry583 asked r/AskReddit, "What rule did your parents enforce that you thought was normal until you visited a friend’s house?" Here are some of the top responses.
1. "Children aren’t allowed to decorate the Christmas tree."
"We couldn’t even touch it. I remember when I was in elementary school and I was at a friend’s house. The mum asked if I wanted to help decorate their tree. I remember being so confused. I was very hesitant but they assured me that it was okay. It was so much fun! When I told my mother, she sternly told me that I better not get any ideas about touching HER Christmas tree. It was always ‘themed’ and precisely decorated. Everything on it had to be perfect."
2. "Girls weren’t allowed to play video games as those were for boys."
"We also couldn’t have anything blue as that’s a boy colour as well.Imagine my shock when I see a girl friend playing Super Mario on her brother’s system and she had blue walls. I couldn’t believe she wasn’t in trouble or being threatened with hell for playing a game meant only for boys.After that, I secretly started playing when my family went to sleep. I was worried for years God was going to punish me."
3. "At dinner, we HAD to wait for my stepdad to sit down before we were allowed to eat."
"Even if the mf wanted to spend 30 min in the bathroom when food was already on the table. I hated that shit. The food would get cold and I wanted to hurl my plate into his smug face. Exactly zero of my friends' families did that, and almost all of them were very Catholic families. When their mums said dinner was ready, though, everybody was expected to get their food and eat. If you took too long, that was a YOU problem."
4. "The ‘outside clothes’ rule. I genuinely thought it was a universal law that you had to change into ‘house clothes’ the second you walked through the door to keep the ‘street dirt’ off the furniture. Then I went to a friend’s house and they just... sat on their bed in the same jeans they wore on the bus? I was vibrating with anxiety the whole time lol."
5. "As someone with strict parents, it’s so bizarre going to your friends’ home for the first time, then they talk back and raise their voice at their parents and then... they do nothing? Like I’m sorry, if I did the same thing to my mum or dad I’d be missing a leg by now."
6. "Thinking ‘bedtime’ meant lights out, eyes closed, no talking. Then visiting a friend and realising they just hung out in their room until they got tired? I felt like I was in a den of outlaws."
7. "No candles with wicks in the house."
"My mum cut the wicks off any candles I got as a gift, and didn't keep any in the common spaces. She was convinced we'd light a candle, forget about it/knock it over, and start a house fire. I distinctly remember going to a friend's house, and she lit a Bath & Body Works candle she'd gotten for Christmas. I was shocked; my dumb kid brain legit thought it was ‘illegal’ to do that in a residential home."
8. "We were not allowed to drink anything until we ate everything on our plates. I thought it was a rule for everyone."
9. "My mother was super stringent about our diet. We were allowed absolutely no junk food at all – she shopped at food co-ops and organic farm stands way before it was popular to do so. We were only ever allowed skim milk, wholewheat bread, organic fruits and veg. She made the bread we ate. I was in shock when I went to a friend's house and they had whole milk and Wonder Bread."
10. "Parents would freak out and try shouting over the TV if anyone swore in a movie."
"They would shout, throw their hands over my eyes, and turn it off if there was a sex scene, forcing me out of the room until it was over. Going to a friend's house and watching a movie with their parents, it was a Pavlovian response to get extremely tense once a curse word was said, waiting for the explosive freak-out. Seeing their parents stay calm and even laugh during an ‘inappropriate’ moment was jarring."
11. "One of my friends who was staying overnight at my house during the weekend had to go home briefly after their parents ate supper to do their dishes, then he could come back over to my place. I did the dishes at my house too when I was home, I just thought it was strange that they couldn't rinse the dishes they used and put in the dishwasher, no he had to walk 20 minutes home, do dishes for like 2-3 minutes, then walk back."
12. "No singing at the table. Now that I’m older, I do understand that three children wailing at the top of their lungs probably was the last thing my parents wanted to hear at the end of their workday. But it was a very solid rule that was upheld strictly - even humming got you snapped at. I assumed this was universal. It sure isn’t."
13. "No locks on ANY inside door, including bathrooms. The only locks allowed were the doors that lead outside the house. You never knew when somebody would walk in on you while you were on the toilet or in the bathtub or shower."
14. "My parents made us do ‘family verbal reports’ every Sunday night."
"Each kid had to stand up and give a 2-minute update on school, friends, and ‘one thing we learned that week.’ It felt completely normal — like a mini-TED talk at the dinner table. Fast forward to college, I casually mention this to my roommate and he stares at me like I grew a second head. ‘You had to give a PowerPoint presentation... to your own family?’ It wasn't until I started dating in my 20s and mentioned it to multiple people that I realised most families just... ate dinner. No quarterly review required. That said, I can give an impromptu presentation to a boardroom with zero prep, so thanks mum and dad I guess."
15. "Not visiting a friend's house but finally moving out and realising that you could actually open windows... my mum nailed all the windows shut at every house we lived in and it just never occurred to me that windows were openable by default."
16. "I went over to a friend's house for his 13th birthday and his parents had been telling him his whole life that only adults could digest the middle of the cinnamon roll and had been taking it from him his whole life. He learned that it was a prank that day and did not find it nearly as funny as the rest of us!"
H/T to Least_Boysenberry583 and r/AskReddit for having the discussion!
Any of your own to add? Let us know in the comments below!
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