Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
An unusual rule at my house is "No pity if you get hurt doing something you weren't supposed to be doing"
For instance, today I caught my daughter and son playing kickball in the street. I called out to them and they both froze, then began to run back to the house. My dd tripped and scraped her hands coming off the curb. I washed it off, sprayed it with Bactine, but no mommy kisses and hugs or comfort. Same thing when they run in the house and trip/fall. I will patch them up, but no sympathy.
Sometimes, it's hard. But I'm trying to teach them about personal responsibility here... choose your actions, choose your consequences. Maybe if they learn this at age 6 & 9, I won't have to choose when to "cut them off" as adults... they'll just choose the right path, which in my eyes is one where they become responsible adults capable of doing for themselves - not moochers complaining about their mother's unreasonable rules at ages when they should WANT to be living on their own.
An unusual rule at my house is "No pity if you get hurt doing something you weren't supposed to be doing"
That's not that bad. My mom was the same way. I once cut the tip of my finger trying to slice a cucumber. I ran to my mom screaming, she calmly cleaned and dressed the wound - which didn't hurt but the blood was so gross - and sent me to my room. No pity at all and on top of that I was punished for using a knife without supervision. I think the result of that was it made me more rational in an emergency because I'm not looking for sympathy. I have a girlfriend who gets hysterical about every little thing and her mother will fly faster than a speeding bullet to calm her down.
I think these days that many rules that would have been considered normal or sensible in the past are now considered strict or restrictive. The thing I find interesting is that kids still come to our place and they accept the rules and so even though they may be ratbags at home, they try to follow the rules here. (Yes I know kids are always better behaved at someone elses house).
TV off when a visitor arrives.
No TV after school until 5pm. Use the hard disk recorder if you want to watch after school TV.
If a child comes into a room and wants to interrupt an adult they can say mum or dad only once then wait. No ice cream or soft drink except for special occasions. So visiting kids get offered fruit - remember that.
Visiting kids have to call us Mr and Mrs...
We also have a family uniform - its just a fun thing but each year we buy matching T shirts in a colour or style and from time to time we will wear them together.
And we smack our kids. (ooh that will up set the PC brigade)
oh and they have a bed time and well during term time, they go to bed at bed time. Homework not finished - well do it in the morning.
We say grace before the evening meal.
You get called for dinner once. If you arrive after the meal has been served, you miss out. Tough luck. Go hungry. It happens about once a year per child maybe not even that.
No TV or computers in bed rooms. Amazes me howmany kids have TV's and or computers in bed rooms.
So I guess we are pretty unusual.
I have seen kids as young as 3 sloshing around Coca Cola. And I think, oranges are in season.
I don't know if it's unusual, but we have a shoes-free home. I don't dictate that people MUST remove shoes, but we do sort of subtly encourage it. Not only does it keep a home much cleaner, we feel it invites more informality. We're not stuffy, formal people.
All the kid visitors did it, even if it wasn't a rule at their homes. The did it as a show of respect for the way we wanted to treat OUR home. I liked that . Most of the adult visitors removed shoes, too. But not all.
Other than the shoe thing, ours was/is a pretty loosey-goosey household.
I'm Canadian & darn I hate this rule! But thats just life in Canada.
Are you Canadian? That used to be very common in Canada, but probably not so much anymore. I keep my shoes by the front door, and put them on for only two reasons. 1) going outdoors or 2) crushing cans.
In fact, in Montreal, people going to the doctor would leave their shoes out in the corridor or vestibule before entering the waiting room. In winter, people would never wear their outdoor boots or shoes into any building, even a department store or a post office. Since it's usually winter, they just got used to taking them off, and did so in summer, too.
I'm Canadian by birth & by "growing up there" but I moved away & yes I so hate that! Once when I was in college & paying thru my nose for private lessons, $30/hr & the private tutor expected us to take our shoes off...I'm paying you more than you make at your 9-5 & its tax free & I should still take my shoes off?
The only thing even slightly unusual in my household growing up was that long social phone conversations were not allowed. This was just slightly before cell phones became commonplace, my parents ran a family business, so the house line was also a business line, and they were not about to spring for another line for kid calls. So we were only allowed 15-minute conversations, and only after 7 p.m., since business calls were being taken up until that time.
Probably has a lot to do with why I'm one of the least phone-using people ever and don't even own a cell and never have.
When I was growing up, (70's) kids were only allowed to call friends if it had to do with homework. There were strict rules about everything, but, on topic, we were taught that the phone is a "tool, not a toy".
In response to what several of you have said about "no shoes in the house" I would like to direct you to what the Flylady has to say on this subject. I won't post her website, but you can certainly find it by searching that name. She has been helping me a lot lately, in overcoming CHAOS and dealing with OCD.
In our house the main rule is: When you leave a room, TURN OFF THE LIGHT.
It gets annoying when someone uses the restroom and walks out... leaving the light on. I am okay with picking the towels up off the floor, I go in there to get the laundry together, but TURN OFF THE LIGHT IF YOU ARE NOT IN THERE. It wastes electric and when it's bed time, I hate having to go throughout the place and turn off every freaking light.
Also: My husband is a huge forgetter of locking the door. I know it sounds weird-- but we used to live in a "rough" neighborhood, and ever since an unfamiliar person tried to break in my home, I'm always locking the door. Paranoid? Maybe. But it is a rule and I am always double checking it.
Now I'm off to turn off another light. Boo.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I think the result of that was it made me more rational in an emergency because I'm not looking for sympathy. I have a girlfriend who gets hysterical about every little thing and her mother will fly faster than a speeding bullet to calm her down.
. And I think, oranges are in season
.
. Most of the adult visitors removed shoes, too. But not all. 
