Every family has their own way of raising kids. That’s why there’s the saying “My house, my rules.” Usually, parents have normal rules, like not letting kids stick their fingers in electrical outlets, making them brush their teeth, and letting their siblings play with their toys. These basic rules are about health, safety, and raising kids to be good people. But some parents go way overboard with extra rules that are just bizarre.

1. The weirdest house rule I ever saw was at my friend’s place. They had this strict “no talking” rule during dinner, not for any religious reason or anything. Their grandma was convinced that an evil spirit lived in the dining room and would overhear secrets and then cause trouble.
2. When I was a kid, we couldn’t sit on the couch at my grandma’s house – only on the floor, and we had to sit on a towel. My grandpa had his own special chair with a towel on it. We couldn’t go near the walls or touch anything. Little kids could only play on a towel too. My mom got this same mindset. We had our own space for playing or watching TV, and we weren’t allowed in the grown-up living room. Even my dad couldn’t sit on the couch until he’d showered. Thankfully, I haven’t kept these rules, because it always made me feel like I wasn’t wanted.
3. My aunt had this rule that you couldn’t actually sleep under the bed comforters. They were just for show, and you had to take them off and fold them up before bed.
4. I had a friend in school whose dad was in the military. When we visited or had sleepovers, he’d make us do chores – like dusting, vacuuming, and washing dishes. But it got weirder! He’d wake us up at 6 a.m. by banging pots and pans and make us run around the neighborhood. He called it ‘morning boot camp.’ Obviously, I only slept over there a couple of times. I felt so bad for my friend.
5. I once stayed at a relative’s house where they had a strict “No Radio Waves After Dark” rule. After sunset, they shut off the Wi-Fi, turned off their phones, and you couldn’t even use the microwave! They thought radio waves messed with your dreams. That first night, I seriously felt like I’d gone back in time to before the internet existed.
6. When I was 14, I was at a friend’s house, and I got my period. I went to the bathroom to change my pad, wrapped it in toilet paper, and threw it away. The next day, my friend told me her mom had gone through the trash and found my wrapped-up pad. She got in trouble for it because her mom thought it was hers! This was 15 years ago, and I’m still so confused and weirded out by it.
7. One time when I was younger, I had a sleepover at my friend’s house. Nobody told me their whole family had breakfast at 7 a.m., so I slept in (and nobody woke me up, by the way). I woke up around 9 a.m. and my friend was gone. I went to the kitchen, and the whole family was sitting at the table, laughing and having this huge breakfast – pancakes, eggs, bacon, toast, juice, fruit, the works. My friend’s mom looked at me and said, ‘Hey, look who’s finally awake! The kitchen is closed, but there’s cereal in the pantry if you want some!’ So, I got some cereal and sat down at the table. The second I did, they all got up and left the kitchen – even my friend. To this day, I have no idea why they did that to me.
8. I went to a classmate’s house once, and the kids weren’t allowed to sit on any of the furniture. She couldn’t even sit on her own bed; all the kids had to sit on the floor. My poor classmate could barely touch anything in her own room without asking “permission.” It was so strange and uncomfortable that I never went back.
9. My childhood friend’s grandparents had this rule where we couldn’t step on the stairs or the doorway. We always had to step over them. I still don’t get why.
10. This happened when I was about six. I had to pee at my friend’s house, and he took me to his parents’ bathroom. The place was packed with junk: boxes, magazines, an inflatable pool, and tons of other stuff. You could barely squeeze in there. He pulled out a drawer from the cabinet by the door and told me to pee in it. I thought he was joking until he went ahead and did it! I couldn’t really argue with that, so I peed in the drawer too. Then he closed it, and we went back to playing Ninja Turtles. I have no idea what happened to that drawer, that house, or that family.
11. I met a girl at my new school, and she invited me for a sleepover. Then she asked me, “Do you smell bad, though? We had a girl over once, and she smelled so bad that my parents want to know if you smell bad.” I never went to her house. Then one day, my mom told me we were moving back to our old neighborhood, so I never went back to that school again.
12. When I was little, my mom had a friend who would watch me for a whole weekend, or sometimes a week during the summer. She had a daughter my age, and this lady was a total clean freak. I liked her because she would take me places, but she had so many rules. You couldn’t wear shoes in her house – okay, that’s not that weird. But she would actually take your shoes to the laundry room sink in the basement and scrub the bottoms! You couldn’t wear pants that were too long because they might drag on the floor and get dirt on them, so I had to roll mine up. Touching the walls was forbidden too, because you might get dirt from your fingers on her white walls. If it was nice outside, you had to eat outside, because crumbs on the floor were unacceptable. She was also an English teacher. Even when I was six, I couldn’t say ‘yeah’ – it had to be ‘yes’ because, according to her, only dumb people say ‘yeah.’ I also couldn’t say I was going to ‘take off’ my shoes. ‘Only rockets take off,’ she’d say. ‘You REMOVE your shoes.’ And when I said, ‘I’m done,’ she’d correct me with, ‘Only turkeys are done. You are FINISHED.’