Rules when growing up

[John1955]

When you were growing up, were some of the rules strange? My mother made a rule that we weren't allowed to walk across the living room floor in our socks. This was because the floors were smooth oak and she waxed them so much that we liked to skate through the living room when wearing socks. This irritated her when we'd go crashing into things and make marks on 'her' floor. The marks were hardly visible and we thought her rule was petty. 

To be fair to her, she had grown up in abject poverty and never thought she'd ever have a nice home, ours was brand new in 1958 ($12,000) with solid oak floors, marble window panes, etc. She wasn't materialistic, but it thrilled her. The fact that we boys got spray paint on the marble window panes while painting models didn't make her happy either. She used turpentine I think to clean them off. She also demanded we never use Testors model cement near the kitchen table again (after she was unable to get the stuff off the surface without extreme effort). 

Did you have a lot of rules when growing up? 
 

[cobraman]

Be home by dark, don't hit your sisters and stay off the garage roof. Also clean 2 aquariums a day every day. We had 13. Guns do not leave the house. All this while a young teen. It was mid 60's.

[Old Nasty]

Don't start fires in your bedroom.

[Snake45]

I grew up with more stupid rules than I care to remember, or to share here. That's probably why I so value personal liberty and freedom today, and question almost everything I'm told. I try very hard to have as much control over my own life as I can.

When I had my own kids, I tried to have as few rules as possible. 

[Ace-Garageguy]

  On 10/20/2021 at 12:41 AM, Snake45 said:

I grew up with more stupid rules than I care to remember, or to share here. That's probably why I so value personal liberty and freedom today, and question almost everything I'm told. I try very hard to have as much control over my own life as I can...

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You must be my long lost twin brother...   

[Tom Geiger]

Hey, my father was an army officer!

[JollySipper]

  On 10/20/2021 at 1:40 AM, Tom Geiger said:

Hey, my father was an army officer!

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Mine THOUGHT he was............. Dumbest rule I have to say was 'shirt tail in and belt on' at all times, even just around the house....

[HomerS]

I've told both of my sons that there are rules and in some cases, laws, in place because of stuff I did at their age!

I'm certainly not Ward Clever...not even close!  I've taught them that you are judged by the company you keep.  My oldest has seen one friend die of drugs, a couple that have been a 'guest of the state' for various offensives and others that are still living at home with their parents as they can't afford an apartment as they are in their mid 20's.  

[slusher]

My parents was from south east Kentucky and was poor until they married and never owned a home until 15 years later. I understood my dads rules the most. 
Dad was about taking care of things that stays with me today. Do not write on the fogged up car windows it’s dirty and  I will have to clean it.  Remember the little metal car ash trays in the back. Well on long drives I open and shut them. He would say, that only has so many times before it breaks. That also applied to the television ? and everything. Mother I remember told me no if I wanted some a lot.  Keep that frown on your face it might stay that way.  Don’t bite your finger nails they are poison. 
My dad as I got older I understood his was about  taking care of things as I started changing oil in the cars with him washing  them with him. Mother liked the scary tactic.

I seldom ever told my kids no..

[TonyK]

My mom would get mad when I'd have the bedroom door shut while building models because of the glue fumes. Could have it shut any other time but not then and this was in the 60's when model glue had nasty fumes.

[MrMiles]

we lived in a small town and there was 1 small shopping plaza with like 4 stores in it. Just randomly placed in the middle of town. They were connected to the fire house.

 

Anyway, when we rode our bikes, that was as far as we were allowing to go. We didn't have to go on any large roads to get to it and almost nobody drove on it. 

Other than that, a neighborhood friend had a mini bike with a lawnmower engine. We would drive around the block with it with no helmet. we would do stunts on our bikes like stand all the way up on our seats with one foot on the handlebars. 

Stuff i did makes me cringe now because it was dangerous 

Edited October 20, 2021 by MrMiles

[imarriedawitch]

  On 10/20/2021 at 1:40 AM, Tom Geiger said:

Hey, my father was an army officer!

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Mine was a jail guard.

[Kool Kat]

Only rule we had was "no fighting" well we did anyhow, and when we got caught mom made us fight till we couldn't, then she whipped our a........

[Snake45]

  On 10/20/2021 at 2:30 AM, JollySipper said:

Mine THOUGHT he was............. Dumbest rule I have to say was 'shirt tail in and belt on' at all times, even just around the house....

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Mine was an Air Force officer. I didn't have this rule, but probably only because he never thought of it. 

[webestang]

The one I remember the most was pick up your toys and keep your room straight (EVERYTHING HAS IT'S PLACE).

And don't yell back, if I call your name for any reason while you are out playing, just come home. Some of the neighbor kids would have an entire conversation yelling. 

 

[iamsuperdan]

I was lucky. We never really had any oddball or strict rules when growing up. Just the usual stuff, clean up after yourself, be home at a certain time, no tv until homework is done. 

The only real oddball rule my dad had was that I was not allowed to mow the lawn. Not sure why, but he was adamant that I never do that. At first, I was all put out because I wanted to help. But it didn't take long to realize that this was a lot of work that would get in the way of fun. And I tell you, as soon as he was old enough to use the lawn mower and weed whacker, my boy took over lawn duty from me!

[JollySipper]

Mowing the lawn was my job. I was pushing a mower by the time I could reach the handle.... In my teen years we had over an acre lawn. It took about 5 hours to push with a Murray 22" mower. Then came all the trimming.....

The year I moved out, he bought a riding mower........

[espo]

Mowing the lawn was a pain when I first was was given that chore. The year before I started High School I was sent to live with my father and step-mother. The area  where they were living was then considered "the country" west of Chicago. They had about half an acre on a hillside over looking a stream with several terraces with grass and steep steps going down to the back yard. Dad had a really beat up  old Toro that was supposed to be self propelled but the drive wheel had worn out the tire so I provided the power and had to drag this mower up and down those steep steps. At the time it seemed like a real drag for me. The upside is that I learned how to mow and edge to make our yard one of the better looking yards at the time. I also was able to pick up a couple of summer side jobs in the area that put a little spending money in my pocket. Later in life owning my own homes I have always received compliments on how the yard looked and I have taken pride in that. Lesson learned I guess.  

[iamsuperdan]

The funny thing is, he actually got me a job mowing lawns. Well, one lawn anyway. One of his co-workers had an acreage near us. I would spend a day a week out there mowing. He had about 5 acres. I'd head out in the morning, open the barn, grab the riding mower, put on the headphones, and just start going.

[SfanGoch]

Not sticking M-80s in exhaust pipes was a strict rule. Some people just don't have a sense of humor. Also, not laughing at mom when she stood on a chair (she was 4'10" tall ) to smack the cra_p out of us. It was almost impossible to hide a smirk. It didn't hurt; but, it was like Granny Clampett smacking Jethro around. Giggling would only piss her off even more.

[Oldcarfan27]

No running in the house with scissors!

If you cross your eyes like that, they're going to stick!

If you jump off the roof and break your leg, don't come running to me!

It's all fun and games until someone loses an eye!

Come over here and pull my finger.

That wasn't me, that was the cat.

[slusher]

  On 10/21/2021 at 3:23 PM, JollySipper said:

Mowing the lawn was my job. I was pushing a mower by the time I could reach the handle.... In my teen years we had over an acre lawn. It took about 5 hours to push with a Murray 22" mower. Then came all the trimming.....

The year I moved out, he bought a riding mower........

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those old Murry push mowers was heavy and didn’t push easy at least the old one we had didn’t it was from around 68..

[JollySipper]

  On 10/23/2021 at 12:59 AM, slusher said:

those old Murry push mowers was heavy and didn’t push easy at least the old one we had didn’t it was from around 68..

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Carl, they say that hard work builds character, and I'm quite the character........ so there you go.

[slusher]

  On 10/23/2021 at 1:39 AM, JollySipper said:

Carl, they say that hard work builds character, and I'm quite the character........ so there you go.

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I think I had character before I started mowing our yard here in Tennessee in 100 degree heat. I think I left half my behind on that big hill..??

[Venom]

“You’re going to sit there until you eat everything you put on your plate”

                             “Mom, my stomach hurts, I’m going to puke if I take one more bite!”

                                                                   “We’ll, you need to stretch you’re stomach out, that’s the problem.”