Were my family normal?

Social Ratings
#1

When you grow up in a family you’re inevitably conditioned to believe that whatever happens within that family is normal behaviour, and it only once you grow up, widen your social circle, and encounter other family units that you compare your own against and realise that maybe what was once normal to you, is in fact deeply, deeply strange.

Please use this thread to check if your own family practices were commonplace or aberrant, in the following poll format (and obviously, please keep it lighthearted):

Whenever we were about to leave the house to go on holiday, whether it was just an overnight trip to stay with my grandma or a longer trip, my mum would insist that the very last thing she did before leaving the house was squirting bleach down the toilets, so now, decades later, I still associate the smell of a bleached loo with the anticipation of going away somewhere:

  • My family did that!
  • That sounds very unusual

0 voters

1 Like
#2

To this day i am still some what terrified of bleach due to my mum telling me horror stories of what would happen should i mess with her nice clean toilet.

1 Like
#3

If we were going away on holiday, my dad would put the television under the floorboards before we left

  • Yes of course
  • How strange

0 voters

#4

I always needed a piss within five minutes of my Mum putting bleach into the toilet.

1 Like
#5

My family were the most boringly ‘normal’ family I can think of so it’s going to be a struggle to come up with any good anecdotes

#6

My dad would wash the cars every weekend, making sure I lent a hand.

  • Yes of course
  • How strange

0 voters

#7

My uncle was a scientologist and despite deep concern about this within the family, my dad still thought it’d be a good idea to take me and my sister down to stay with him for a weekend in his weird creepy commune

  • Strange
  • Normal

0 voters

#8

I was the youngest of 6 kids and no one, parents included, knew how to drive.

  • You lived in London so that’s fine
  • Weird

0 voters

#9

Every weekend we’d have what we called our ‘Saturday Night Party’ which was less of a party and more we’d each get a chocolate bar of our choice with lemonade for the kids, wine for mum and four cans of tennants for dad. Whilst we watched Dallas or Dynasty.

  • Yes every family had parties as wild as these
  • You saddos

0 voters

#10

When I had my 18th at my parents house (with a cohort of extreme nerds who hadn’t progressed past drinking WKDs and did not drink to excess), my dad covered the flatscreen TV in bubble wrap to prevent any damage.

  • Normal
  • Odd

0 voters

#11

sounds great

#12

that’s really nice

3 Likes
#14

Ooh similary

Saturday night fry ups were quite routine in my house, usually whilst watching Blind Date

  • Delicious
  • A fry up in the evening, pal?

0 voters

#15

Stepdad and mum used to buy the own brand / value version of everything and I felt my packed lunches were very inferior to everybody else

  • Same
  • Nope

0 voters

#16

As if I EVER had friends anywhere near my house.

2 Likes
#17

my dad makes me a fry up for dinner whenever I’m home, feels like the right thing to do

#18

The TV does this. She is fucking obsessed with bleaching stuff tbf. She is not, however, obsessed with putting the lid back on the bleach when finished depsite having two small children in the house…

3 Likes
#19

Whenever we went to my nan’s and we all had to go out somewhere, my nan would make us stand and wave at the house with her as we left for a good 5 mins or so. This was to deter any lurking burglars that might have thought about robbing the house but now they think we’re waving to someone who is home!

  • My family did that!
  • My family didn’t do that but really it’s quite clever

0 voters

#20

Dear @Scunner 's dad - dinner?

3 Likes
#22

he might actually be your type