All families have their own habits and quirks that can seem strange to outsiders. But after reading this Reddit thread, you might find yours are actually pretty tame.

User poothhippers asked people to share the weirdest house rules they had to follow growing up, and the responses did not disappoint.

From outlawing naps to banning mice-themed movies (yes, seriously), here are some of the best ones!

#1

I wasn’t allowed to watch mice-centric movies (The Rescuers, American Tail) because my mom said ‘our cat finds them offensive.’

Image credits: anon

#2

I wasn't allowed to do anything near windows. My mom was convinced that our neighbors were always watching us so I had to crouch down whenever I went by a window.

Image credits: Formal-Distance-4562

#3

I wasn’t allowed to put sugar in my tea because my mum told me that when you go to prison they don’t let you have sugar, so it will makes prison that much harder.

1) Thanks for having so much faith in me mum.

2) I’m pretty sure you are allowed sugar for your tea in prison.

Image credits: anon

#4

Was actually a friend not me. Basically at his house, him and his brother were allowed in only 3 rooms. Their bedrooms and the bathroom. The kitchen, living room and conservatory were completely off limits. 

If they wanted water they had to ask and a parent would bring a glass from the kitchen. The conservatory was used for family meals but apparently a lot of the time they just gave the kids food on plates to eat in their room.

It really weirded me out as a kid when I went round. I would be greeted by the parents, they would escort me to my mates bedroom, then close the door behind me. When it was time to leave my mate had to call for his parents to then escort me out. 

No idea why they had this rule. The mum didn't work and literally sat at home all day every day just chain smoking in the living room.

Image credits: MrR0undabout

#5

We never went out through the front door. Like, ever.

Image credits: Inevitable_Spell5775

#6

My mother was in a constant war with the deer that constantly ate her garden and was willing to try every trick she could find to keep them away from her beloved plants. One article she read was that the smell of human urine deters deer. So, for about 6 months, the 3 boys/men in the house were not allowed to pee in the toilet. We had to go outside and pee somewhere around the perimeter of her garden. At night, we had to pee in jugs next to the toilet so she could sprinkle it around her garden the next day.

It wasn’t as successful as she hoped. The final solution was an 8 ft tall fence around the entire garden a few years later.

Image credits: Dragnil

#7

When I was young my mom made us go to bed at 6pm. I remember the sun being out and hearing kids outside playing. She got married soon after and the guy had a daughter so that rule went away but I really think she just didn’t want to deal with us. We spent all day outside playing when we weren’t at school and wasn’t allowed to come in until she called us in for dinner and then it was baths and bed. I can’t imagine just napping, never checking on my kids and having your young kids roaming the neighborhood all day. I had a friend who lived down the street. Her mom was like my second mom. I remember rollerskating and falling on my knee and scraping it pretty bad and her cleaning and bandaging it because I knew I wasn’t allowed to go home. And on school days we were in after school child care until they closed so then home, dinner, bed.

Image credits: Readerofallthings

#8

Not allowed to take naps when I was a teenager because “I’m too young to be tired” even after I got a job and had to be up at 5am…

Image credits: Mammoth-Tea-5495

#9

We weren’t allowed to say “that’s not fair” because “life isn’t fair.”

To this day I am preoccupied with fairness, equality, justice – to an almost obsessive extent.

Sounds like the beginning of a superhero movie but it’s just crippling f*****g anxiety.

Image credits: LizardPossum

#10

When my brother and I had a fight, we would be locked in a dog cage in the backyard. If we fought in the car, we would get “bagged” and were forced to wear pillowcases on our heads until we reached our destination. It could be 45 minutes up to 4 hours. We laughed about it telling friends and it only dawned on us how f****d up it was when we realized our friends were not laughing.

Image credits: GroundControl2Major1

#11

I wasn’t allowed to say no. I wasn’t allowed to smile either.

Image credits: Anxious-Load4600

#12

Unless it was for school or I was with one of my parents, my sister and I were never allowed to leave the apartment. We couldn't have friends over and we couldn't go to friends' houses..probably why I'm such a homebody now with anxiety issues around people.

Image credits: SilverInteraction768

#13

If the fridge door was open. With or without a child kneeling behind it. My dad would body slam it close.

We got a lot of concussions (probably mum didn't believe in hospital visits until pain was present for 3 days and head injuries were "easy to fake" according to her).

Image credits: Delicious_Lie7512

#14

Not allowed to walk around in socks with no shoes. I got my revenge when I moved into my first when I moved into my first nice apartment alone. They came to visit and I made them take their shoes off at the door.

Image credits: puledrotauren

#15

I wasn't allowed to be inside during the day. If the sun is up, I gotta go.

Image credits: babyfresno77

#16

Going to the toilet.

First I had to ask permission then I had to wait until the toilet door was unlocked. My mother would then stand by the open toilet door until I sat down I would then hand her the toilet paper mother would tear off three squares and hand them to me. That’s all I was allowed if I needed more my parents took it as a sign that I was eating and drinking too much.

Image credits: AngelicAmazonian321

#17

Don’t bring snakes inside.

To be fair, it was a reactionary rule.

#18

My parents assumed eating food unseasoned was healthier for you, so we were forbidden to use salt, pepper and condiments in our meals for almost a decade.

Image credits: sheerduckinghubris

#19

No laughing in the house, if you want to laugh go outside.

Image credits: So_Salty_Shells

#20

We weren’t allowed to look directly at the microwave when it was running.

#21

There were false accusations that I was taking too many of the good pieces of food shared with my sibling. For example, the buttery popcorn pieces, the nacho with the most toppings, the chunkiest puppy chow pieces, etc. So I wasn't allowed to look at the food while we ate it. I had to look straight ahead at the TV and eat without looking.

Image credits: Waste_Coat_4506

#22

Not allowed in the house after school. Change clothes, do your homework on the backporch, then do your chores. After that you could do anything you wanted but couldn't go in the house until mom called us for supper. After everyone had eaten everything mom had put on our plate, dad would go set and watch TV. He picked the show and no one could speak. We were sent to bed at random times.

We were afraid of dad, his punishment was illegal to say the least. We were never touched for a hug or bedtime thing.

Image credits: johndotold

#23

We weren’t allowed to talk during meals. My parents said it was to teach us discipline, but it just made dinners really awkward.

Image credits: google_face

#24

Guests weren’t allowed to use the upstairs washroom (and by guests I mean specifically if me or my siblings had friends over). We weren’t allowed to offer them any food or drinks except water. I’m pretty sure my mom just wanted to make my house as inhospitable as possible so that she could destroy those friendships. She thought that friends were a distraction and that studying was all that mattered.

#25

We weren’t allowed to chew gum after 4:30 because we wouldn’t be “getting enough use out of it” before we had dinner at 6:00.

Image credits: SuLiaodai

#26

We weren’t allowed outside if an adult wasn’t home. Even into high school.

Got off the bus with a group of kids and stood outside chatting with them for a few minutes before going home. Neighbor tattled on me. Grounded for 2 weeks.
Decided okay – if I can’t stay outside for a few minutes, I’ll invite them into the house (since no one said I couldn’t)… yep. Grounded for a month.

No wonder I have problems making friends mom ??‍♀️.

Image credits: allthecrazything

#27

My parents never let me look at people kissing on tv when i was a kid. Not sure what they were trying to teach me but I guess I should thank them for my adult awkwardness in PDA situations.

Image credits: CaterpillarSea5577

#28

If I stepped outside in my socks, even right outside the door for two seconds, the socks were considered dirty and I wasn’t allowed back inside unless I was barefoot. Meanwhile, shoes could be worn in the house no problem.

Image credits: Candid-Researcher866

#29

Couldn’t walk in the living room. It was vacuumed in stripe patterns so they would know if there were footprints. When I had to vacuum it, I wouldn’t turn it on, just push it to draw the stripes.

Image credits: surfkaboom

#30

We had a whole room, living room, that we couldn’t enter unless we had company.

Image credits: constructiongirl54

#31

Not allowed to do homework on the weekends. Was forced to have family tv time instead where we watched days of our lives, of all things. I would secretly do it after everyone went to bed.

Image credits: miggles92

#32

No chores.

I’m dead serious.

My mom was so overprotective she wouldn’t let me do any kind of chores. She never let me near appliances or showed me how to do the most basic of housework.

The only thing she told me to do was clean my room, but never showed me how to clean it. So my room was always messy.

Now I’m 25 and had to beg my dad to show me how to use the dishwasher, clothes washer/dryer and oven. I can wash things and make frozen things in the oven. That’s all I can do.

I’m still scared of the stove.

And now I can’t get my mom to show me anything because she’s been dead for 11 years.

Image credits: iamliterallyinsane

#33

When hanging clothes on the line, the pegs needed to be colour coordinated with the clothes.

#34

Still have to follow this now because I still live at home, even though I’m 21 (rent is insane!!)

I can’t lock my bedroom door or any bathroom doors during the day when I’m in my room or on the toilet. My dad will get pissed off and try to knock the doors down.

It’s flat up abusive imo.

#35

Hyper-Christian parents were very worried about Satanism in the 90s and early 2000s, so no Pokémon, or anything with magic (all my friends played Runescape D&D). Also, no Halloween or anything with monsters.

As a parent now Pokémon is my favorite show to watch with my kid and Halloween is probably my favorite holiday.

Somehow, I haven’t tried to summon the Devil or performed any Satanic rituals.

#36

Don’t ask grandpa about his grandpa. After he passed we did ancestry and there is literally no record beyond my great grandfather. Like wtf happened? No one would ever talk about it.

#37

No cursing until you have a driver’s license.

#38

Me and siblings and cousins were slapped (by parents) if we answered our grandparents back in their native language, which we understood but was the only one they spoke. We had to only use English for speaking.

#39

Not me, but my dad who grew up on a farm in Kansas, with his six other siblings. His grandmother believed in the idea of children should be seen and not heard. If Dad and his siblings were in the house while she was there, they had to quietly sit on the couch in the living room, so they usually would find a field or something and peace out to play out there.

#40

Wife couldn't eat the frosting on cup cakes. They were forced to scrape them off.

#41

During summers in Texas in the 80’s, on most days my brother and I were told to not be in the house from 9:00 AM until lunch, and immediately after lunch (usually 12:30) until dinner (usually 6:00).

If we were thirsty, we were told to drink from the garden hose.

If we wanted to roam around the very large neighborhood we could, but we were told which streets were in the boundaries (essentially the major roads that were the entrances to the neighborhood). If we wanted to go to a friend’s house in the neighborhood we had to call them if we were inside the friend’s house.

That lasted from the time I was 8 until the time I was 13. My brother and I were far enough apart in age that we didn’t really roam the neighborhood together. I am amazed I was never kidnapped.

#42

When I was about 14, I asked my mother (who I was made to live with when I was around 11) to put on a shirt and stop walking around without clothes. My punishment was to immediately remove my shirt and bra when I got home from school and walk around topless. If I covered myself, another week was added. It was her husband's idea, but she totally…didn't give a f**k and made me comply.

Not so much "weird" as it is full on SA. Sorry to ruin the vibe.

Image credits: -wailingjennings

#43

During the summers when my brother and I were home alone we were only allowed to watch Andy Griffith, Leave it to Beaver, or Barney. We had to write essays everyday detailing what happened in the episodes to prove we watched it. This continued until I was SIXTEEN.

#44

We weren’t allow to whistle, because my grandma and mom believe it would conjure snakes, because they saw it in a movie from their home country when they were young. Also no shadow puppets either because they would come alive, once again because of a movie they saw.

#45

I could dye my hair any color, cut it however I wanted, but I wasn’t allowed to use hairspray because my dad didn’t like how it felt on his girlfriend’s hair in high school.

?.

#46

No footsteps sounds (no slipper sounds, no stepping on creaky floors, and so on), I am almost 40 and people still ask me why I walk so quietly and freak them out.

#47

Wasn’t allowed to walk on the carpet after it was vacuumed for at least 2 hours. Specifically in the living room.

#48

My father refused to buy a weed eater or an edger. He made me edge the yard with Barber scissors. This wasn’t a punishment. It was just Saturdays.

#49

My parents were hoarders. We were not allowed to “mess with their stuff” (ie clean) in any capacity. It was a nightmare to live in. My dad died when I was younger but after my mom died, we had the house and it’s contents condemmed, razed, and sold the land. To this day, mess makes me anxious.

#50

The most bizarre house rule that I’ve encountered was at my friend’s place, where they had a strict policy of ‘no talking’ during dinner, not because of any traditional reason, but because their elderly grandmother believed that a mischievous spirit living in the dining room would learn secrets and cause chaos.

#51

We were not allowed to cut through the flowerbed out front to get to the sidewalk.

The rule is perfectly fine, it was just that my mom convinced her young children that a family of dead people would grab your ankles and pull you into the ground for eternity if you set foot in the garden.

It absolutely terrified me until I was old enough to know better.

#52

My dad built our home with his bare hands. We grew up kinda "house poor" based on how much my parents sacrificed to get 5 beautiful acres and build a home. So… my dad demanded we make things last, which included…

Walking or rather, waddling…down the carpeted hallway edges instead of the middle, like a normal person.

Because if we walked normally, the carpet nap in the middle would get worn out and look like "white trash."

#53

We weren’t allowed to touch, bump, lean on any walls, interior and exterior.

#54

Don’t ever spill a drink or my father would fly into an insane rage.

#55

My dad had severe OCD. He converted our garage to a studio apartment that we were never allowed to enter. He had his own dishes and if we were ever caught using them they became family dishes. Even washing them wasn’t enough they were ruined. He boiled it hell out of everything he put on the BBQ. Chicken, ribs, hamburgers, etc. All boiled first. Lots of cleaning quirks, but I’ll leave it there for now. I could go on for days. I thought alot of these things were just normal stuff until I stayed the night at my first friend house. He went to the cupboard to get me a cup for a drink. I was like “you can just use any cup you want” his mom asked me why I asked. So I told her what my house was like. I remember the look she gave me and from then on she always invited me over for sleepovers. We weren’t abused at all, but she thought our home life was insane.

#56

If we didn’t hang up the phone properly or left off the hook we were told the phone police would come arrest us…. We were checking for dial tones religiously to make sure we weren’t going to jail lmao.

#57

No making funny faces because your face will get stuck like that.

No cutting hair at night because the witches will steal it.

No drinking coffee because it will stunt your growth.

No vacuuming at night because it will suck up the spirits.

#58

Before we could play ping pong – which was in the detached garage – we had to clean any oil or grease spots on the floor with kerosene and a rag.

Also, and this continued into my middle 20s, we had a code for calling the landline because my stepfather refused to get caller ID way after the time it was included free on most phone services. Ring three times, and hang up. Ring twice, and hang up. Then our mom or stepdad would pick up third time we called.

#59

No naps

Not in the car, the house, if you were sick, ect

My dad couldn’t nap (terrible sleeper) so we couldn’t either

12 hour road trip? No sleeping in the car, and no whining either

Flu? Doesn’t matter

I think the only exception was when one of my migraine medications I was trying made me vomit for hours before I’d fall asleep with my head pressed onto the edge of the bathtub and he’d leave me alone

Basically, if he was awake- you had to be awake

F****n love naps as an adult.

#60

We could only eat one piece of popcorn at a time. I guess they were worried about us choking.

#61

It was my dad’s weird rule. We were not allowed to sit on any furniture in the house if we were wearing clothing that had been worn outside.

We had to come in and change clothes immediately.

No one was a germaphobe, he could never explain it but that was his thing. It finally stopped when I was about 12 I think.

#62

No sitting on couches.

Only one cup of water per meal.

Only one fun activity per weekend, Sunday was family day.

No using the phone, "you can talk to your friends at school."

Couldn't say 'him' or 'she' when referring to mom or dad.

Way too many weird rules. And they all depended on Mom's moods.

#63

My mom’s boyfriend* from when I was about 5-12 wouldn’t let us have breakfast after around 9-930am. Would have to wait till lunch if we were late. Us boys(3 of us plus every other year his son) were banished to the basement so he could mostly pretend we didn’t exist and have my mom to himself. It was my mom’s house.

*I called him dad as my biological father passed away when I was around 2-3. There was no good bye when my mom ended the relationship and he moved out. I was and am friends with his son and was around him after that on occasion. We never talked about it. He passed from covid a couple years ago.

#64

When my wife ( then girlfriend) and I moved in together she lit a candle that was on our coffee table

I was like “what the heck are you doing?!”

At that moment it dawned on me that some people actually burn candles…. As opposed the having them just for decoration……like my mom.

#65

The only food or drink allowed to leave the kitchen is water. This is still the rule in adulthood.

#66

No boys allowed to stay overnight. Worked out well until my parents discovered I am gay when my mom walked in on me with one of my girlfriends.

#67

My mom would make me pee in a cup for her every so often so she could pass a d**g test.

#68

No morning showers allowed because apparently it cost more to shower in the morning compared to showering at night. As an adult with my own home and children, I could give less than a s**t when they bathe just as long as it happens lol. Also, there is almost zero difference in water usage between morning and night at my house ?.

#69

Wasn't allowed to say "I don't know."

But I wasn't allowed to lie either.

But I also wasn't allowed to say I'd find the answer.

So. Yeah.

#70

When my dad got home from work every day he’d go into his study with a whiskey and we weren’t allowed to talk to him for one hour. I have to admit I kind of wish I had this rule myself but my kids wouldn’t follow it in a million years! I feel like missing an extra hour of them every day would be doing myself the disservice.

#71

To the best of my knowledge, this is still the rule there today.

It does not matter if its 90F, 100F, or even hotter – and extremely humid out. The moment the clock hits 4 or 5 pm during the hottest part of a summer day, the AC MUST BE TURNED OFF, all windows immediately OPENED, and it is time to cook dinner. Not any old dinner mind you, no, we have to add insult to injury. We will pick the hottest July day to make the kind of dinner that requires two HUGE pans of sizzling food that takes a long time to cook and two HUGE pots of boiling stew dumping heat and humidity into the house for at least an hour, usually much longer. The house will easily hit 95F.

The reason is heat-intensive dinners that take a long time to cook cannot be made during cooler months, at night, or while the AC is on because it will ruin the food.

#72

Every weekend I had to mow and edge the front and backyard regardless of if the grass was alive or not. we lived in socal and in summer the lawn would just die for like six months of the year.

Still had to mow it. every Saturday. by September it was basically just dragging a mower over bare dirt.

#73

I had inconsistent rules about what I couldn’t watch on TV or how I could sit based on who was watching me. Dad’s grandparents, I couldn’t watch Rugrats and Hey-Arnold! Even though I watched it a home all the time. For way too long, they forced me to watch, good, albeit, little kid shows like Madeline and Bear in the Big blue house when I was 8 or 9. When I was truly little, I could make pillow forts with couch cushions at my other grandparents, but one related great aunt, I wasn’t allowed to make a fort. Other grandparents I couldn’t watch Pokémon because it was of the devil due to evolution, but I could watch All-That!

#74

Saying the word gay was like saying a bad word. My dad is down low of course.

#75

I wasn’t allowed to give out my phone number or tell other kids where I lived, and I wasn’t allowed to have friends from school over. I was only allowed to hang out with the kids in my neighborhood.

My parents divorced when I was a toddler, my father initiated the divorce and my mother missed the custody hearing because she was out of the country visiting family with me and my little brother. She was supposed to hand us over when she got off the plane home. She instead took another flight to a different state and essentially kidnapped us.

#76

For you americans this might be odd – i had to eat 3 potatoa or similar for one piece of meat.

White bread was dessert at lunches.

#77

No summoning paranormal entities.

Like actually, this had to be said to my siblings and I.

#78

At my babysitters house, we had to eat the meal standing in the kitchen. Then only after finishing the food, were we allowed to have a single Tupperware cup of watered down Koolaid (she used to make four pitchers out of a single packet) without sugar to wash it down. I choked down an especially dry stuffed pepper once and then threw it back up because it got stuck in my throat.

F**k you and your cheap a*s Koolaid Twila….

#79

Shut up, fart and hate were bad words.

#80

Have a hot shower if you get sunburnt, to take the sting off it.

Didn’t realise how horrible that advice was till I told my wife in my late twenties.

#81

We weren’t allowed to bring candy into the house. One halloween my step dad lost his s**t over candy wrappers being left around so he made this rule. Halloween was never the same.

#82

My cousins family didn’t let us listen to the offspring song “beheaded” bc it’s about decapitating your parents. We were 8.

My friends family didn’t let anyone use the word “fart” in their house. It had to be “fluff”. No idea what that was about.

#83

My dad kept the TV on during dinner, but I had to sit with my back to it and was yelled at for “rubbernecking” if I tried to look at it.

#84

Us kids were not allowed to eat at the table. We had a different table to eat at.

Once we went outside, we were not allowed back in until dark thirty. We had a roll of tp that was kept in a coffee can. We took the tp with us out in the woods to do our business.

A few bologna sandwiches were handed out the door and 1 plastic cup to share.

#85

We weren’t allowed to sing along with commercials because my mom said it proved we watched too much TV.

We would just lip sync when her back was turned (she wasn’t mean, she def didn’t bust us even though we were super obvious lol).

#86

At my grandmother’s house you had to point the remote control *directly* at the television. If your aim was even slightly off she would squeal like a phaser beam was about to disintegrate a hole in her wall. She would freak out if you aimed it at your head. RADIATION. ☢️☢️☢️.

#87

If we lied, we had to write out 50-100 times on paper, I will not lie.
The discipline was given at random.
So some of us had to do it more than others.

#88

My mom always cooked at home. There were 7 of us and eating out was always too expensive. If we said we didn’t like something without trying it first, my mom would make us eat two helpings of it.

It was ok to say you didn’t like something after you tried it, and she wouldn’t make you eat it. Only if you hadn’t tried it. I thought it was a fair rule.

It sucked, but it made our tastebuds more adventurous.

#89

Couldn’t even say GOSH because it was too close to taking “the lord’s name in vain”.

#90

Oh where do I even begin.
1. No cuss words, not even the word “c**p”, had to be “crud”. Couldn’t say “bs” (the acronym not the actual word b******t) had to say “I don’t think so”. Couldn’t even use it when playing the game BS
2. Girls didn’t fart, they fluffed. Couldn’t say farted.
3. Had to make our beds in the morning or we were grounded for the entire rest of the day.
4. Couldn’t have an “attitude” or grounded for weeks at a time.
5. The most strict etiquette when eating, could not enjoy a meal because you were being constantly criticized.
6. Could not make any messes or leave ANY personal belongings outside of your bedroom or else they would be thrown away without consult.
7. Had to shut lights off when leaving a room even if you were coming back into the room minutes later.

I was grounded a lot. My dad was military so very strict with just about everything, and any toe out of line got you grounded. Now that he’s older he admits he was too hard on me.

#91

No shoes were allowed on a table…ever.

If you bought new shoes, in a box, in a bag..and you put them on a table…my mom would lose her s**t. She claimed that it was bad luck and that someone you knew or loved would die as a result.

#92

Squeeze the toothpaste tube from the bottom or suffer lunatic ravings from my dad. Of course now that I’m programmed that way, my husband squeezes from the middle and it drives me insane!

#93

Was not allowed to watch MTV.

#94

My mom made me wash my hair with shampoo every night, but I wasn’t allowed to use conditioner because the extra time in the shower would make the water bill too high. My hair was like straw and had split ends halfway up the strands before I moved out.

#95

No food could be eaten on just a plate. The plate had to be on a tray (cause what if crumbs fall omg /s). Which seems so weird in a house that is way dirtier than mine is now.

Needless to say, i hate trays, don’t own any, and never will. My stupid rule will be “no trays allowed”. It is what it is.

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