11.
It seems far more common for parents to be very overtly cautious/controlling of their kids activities. Not that my parents let us have free reign but they trusted my brothers and I to walk around the neighborhood (usually in big groups). Bedtimes weren’t really enforced after like age 10, and never on weekends. Ironically later I was pretty often the “safe” friend to the more cautious parents, because I turned out REAL boring. I was probably a bit of a special case because I’ve always had a touch of anxiety, but I think having my parent’s trust kind of removed the rebellion of it.
12.
3 out of 4 members of my immediate family have the same condition where we grow benign tumours in our brain and spine, so conversations about brain surgery and muscle wastage and loss of function are common. I knew it wasn’t normal but we kinda keep forgetting how most healthy people react to “Urgh I’m losing the ability to move my toes, it’s annoying”.
– vewltage
13.
Oh definitely casually telling my friends sexual conversations that my mom and I had.
Turns out my mom was over sharing my whole life and I never knew it was weird.
14.
Sleep after the meal during holiday get-togethers. Just the men, the women exchanged gifts.We would all go into the living room and watch football and kinda doze. No big deal.
Did this once at my girlfriend’s family Christmas and evidently I embarrassed her or maybe offended someone. Either way I was the only one asleep while everyone else was energetic and conversing lively with family. I was woken up by girlfriend with an angry tone asking why I was asleep during the party. I was comfortable, relaxed, and we just had a lot of food. Made sense to me.
– Morolan
15.
My dad forces us to say I love you. I say I love you quite forcefully now and I don’t mean to. When people say they love me, and they aren’t my family, I stutter and kinda go blank. I think, “SHIT WHAT DO I SAY? HOW DO I SAY IT WITHOUT IT BEING FORCED?
16.
My parents were hardcore penny pinchers when I was growing up, even though they both had decent jobs. Our water usage (among other things) was controlled and timed which led to me washing dishes in a certain way that minimized the number of times I opened the faucet.
Over the years, my parents’ tedious money saving methods began to fade but a few things didn’t, our dish washing method being one of them. One night, a friend of mine invited me over and I stayed for dinner. I offered to help with the dishes. It only took a few dishes before my friend was like, “What ARE you DOING!? Why ARE you washing in dirty water?? He then proceeded to turn the faucet wide open.
I felt soooo damn wasteful at that moment. It felt like I was watching dollars bills go down the drain. I was expecting his parents to go off any minute for being so wasteful but nothing happened. They probably thought I was weird for reusing the dirty water. This method of washing dishes was normal for them yet felt so taboo to me. I was 13yo at the time.
17.
Turns out that sarcasm is considered really offensive by a lot of people. For my father it was basically the default mode of conversation, and I was 23 years old when someone finally explained to me that, no, this is not how it works for most humans.
18.
I mean there’s a lot of fucked up shit on my end but here’s something pretty specific. Having dinners as late as 9 p.m and just sitting there not talking the entire time we ate. This has went on since I was around 9 or 10. Shit absolutely fucked me up when I started seeing my boyfriend and his happy family eating at 6 and being really excited and eager to talk about their days.
It makes me think I’m just living with roommates rather than parents.
19.
My mom made up words. I didn’t know this until I was an adult, out in the world saying fake words and having no idea.
Wankyjawed- means when you been laying or sitting down and your pants need to be adjusted.
Goo goo baby- small baby that still makes cooing sounds and probably still wears a diaper.
Just the memorable one, there are so many.
20.
Apparently it’s not normal for your parents to openly and graphically discuss their sex life with you. And it’s definitely not normal for your parents to have multiple partners younger than you.