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Motherhood Life Balance

20 Family Behaviors You Grew Up THINKING Were Normal But AREN’T!

ByVictoria Cornell November 27, 2023November 27, 2023
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People love to share stories of their childhood, and often times you realize how similar and different your childhood was from others. We all know that we grew up in different households, and what is normal in your household may not be normal in others.

Recently a question was posed that read, “What kind of behavior did you think was normal because of your family, then grew up to find out it’s definitely not?” 

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Huge Holiday Parties

Huge Holiday Parties: large group of men and woman huddled together with a little girl and celebrating an older woman’s birthday.
Image Credit: Depositphotos halfpoint.

One Redditor said, “I’ve got a positive one. My mum always threw the best Halloween parties. We had to eat donuts off strings without kicking our lips, throw eggs at each other and attempt to catch them in a net and feed each other blindfolded. Apparently, these aren’t normal activities for Halloween parties. Especially the one year we played them on the street with random trick-or-treaters who came past.”

Another Redditor added, “We did this at kid’s parties growing up here in Australia in the ’90s. It’s not limited to Halloween.”

Parents Being Miserable

Parents Being Miserable: parents and child looking away from each other unhappily.
Image credit: Depositphotos phoyographee.eu.

A user replied, “A complete and utter lack of any and all affection and romance between my parents. Turns out, my mom was cheating on my dad for over a decade.”

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Quiet Hours

Quiet Hours: Woman with glasses and one finger over her mouth signaling “quiet.”
Image Credits: Depositphotos Krakenimages.com.

One comment said, “We weren’t allowed to laugh loudly or after 7 pm. My parents said if we were laughing, it meant we were getting into trouble.

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Couldn’t Touch Things

Couldn’t Touch Things: kids looking sad with parents upset in the background.
Image credit: Depositphotos Wavebreakmedia.

One Redditor commented, “We also weren’t ever really taught things, just expected to know them and then kind of shunned by my parents even we failed to perform. ”

Sharing Weird Things

Sharing Weird Things: an uneven piece of pizza split by two sets of male hands.
Image credit: Depositphotos EdZbarzhyvetsky.

A user replied, “This is gross. We had a large family. Instead of handing out napkins, we used a single dishcloth and passed it around the dinner table. We weren’t poor. Just uncivilized.”

A second user added, “Haha yeah, we did this too and weren’t poor either. The communal tea towel!”

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Refusing to be Wrong

Refusing to Be Wrong: Man looking stubborn with his fingers in his ears.
Image credit: Depositphotos olly18.

One comment was, “Having tantrums because someone showed that you were wrong Feels weird now seeing my 50+ uncle throwing stuff all over the place because I straight up told him I’m not lazy I have to rest a lot because of a serious heart condition that I’m diagnosed with.”

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No Privacy

No Privacy: woman hiding her face with her hands in a pink shirt.
Image credits: Depositphotos Halfbottle.

One Redditor said, “No privacy. Wasn’t allowed to lock any door, even the bathroom….”

A second Redditor added, “U know what we also had a weird thing with bathroom manners now that you mention it. It was less as “we weren’t allowed” something, and more like it was normal for someone to just come into the bathroom to grab a hairbrush or something even if someone was in there using the WC or taking a shower.”

Sex Life Questions

Sex Life Questions: Teen with red hair looking embarrassed.
Image credit: Depositphotos timtimphoto.

A user replied, “Parents interrogating you about your sex life. Everyone made jokes in movies and school about overprotective dads. I didn’t realize being woken up at 5 AM to be screamed at wasn’t normal. Or being told I’m a shame on the family for a tiny hickey wasn’t normal. Or assuming every piece of my actions was related to sex. I grew up in an Evangelical cult.”

Constantly Making Fun of Eachother

Constantly Making Fun Of Eachother: woman looking down and upset facing away from hands pointing at her.
Image credit: Depositphotos Slphotography.

One user commented, “Being so negative and constantly making fun of people, apparently most people don’t do that.”

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Adult Honesty

Adult Honesty: Man standing and crossing his fingers with shadow showing long nose.
Image credit: Depositphotos Slphotography.

A Redditor answered, “Total adult honesty with children instead of a filtered “for kids” version of what’s going on.”

A second Redditor replied, “Yeah, I was way too aware of my family’s finances from a very young age. I wish I weren’t, to be honest, quite a burden and always felt guilty asking for things / spending money.”

Family Songs

Family Songs: Family sitting and singing with a guitar.
Image credit: Depositphotos lacheev.

A most liked comment read, “Grandmother would lead all of us in song at every get-together, like a band. I was 16 before a friend told me it was weird. Families don’t do this. It wasn’t religious, but it sure looked cultish. Lss; my therapist loves to hear about the weird shit my grandmother does/says.”

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Scary Family Members

Scary Family Members: man standing in shadow with his finger to his mouth.
Image credit: Depositphotos Rangizzz.

One user wrote, “Living in constant fear of my father – I figured everyone’s father was scary. I later found that most fathers, not all, but most, were nice people.”

Family Bell

Family Bell: close-up of a man’s finger dinging a bell.
Image credit: Depositphotos candyclub.

A Redditor added, “My family has a bell that is rung when they need to summon us all to dinner. I didn’t realize it was that unusual until my friends learned about it. Tbh, it’s a pretty good system.”

Talking Really Loudly

Talking Really Loud: Two women wearing red with their hands up by their mouths yelling.
Image credit: Depositphotos Krakenimages.com.

One comment was, “How we are so loud when talking…I’m always yelled at by others for it… Like I have no inside voice….”

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Kissing on the Lips

Kissing On The Lips: two girls standing together and one trying to kiss the other while the other leans away.
Image credit: Depositphotos Sucher.

A Redditor said, “Kissing on the lips. Growing up, my dad and mom would kiss us on the lips. It wasn’t until I got a little older that my friends started pointing out how weird it was. (To expand, there was never anything inappropriate going on, it was just a peck on the lips).”

Drinking and Driving

Drinking and Driving: Man drinking and driving.
Image credit: Depositphotos HayDmitriy

A user said, “Drinking and driving, and underage drinking. My dad used to drive around with a mickey of scotch or beers for sipping all.the.time. and by the time I was 13, he was giving me both beer and booze along with him. It wasn’t until I was an adult and realized my husband wouldn’t even have a drink with dinner and then drive home that it dawned on me.”

Bodily Functions

Bodily Functions: man sitting on toilet close-up of feet and lower legs with pants down.
Image credit: Depositphotos Vaicheslav.

One Redditor replied, “Being embarrassed about the normal bodily functions of a female, such as periods, having boobs, and sex. My mother was a prude on another level.”

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Casual Racism

Casual Racism: black and white hands reaching for each other.
Image credit: Depositphotos gemenacom.

A Redditor added, “Casual racism. It wasn’t uncommon for Dad to start a dinner conversation with, “I’m not a racist, but…”

A second Redditor commented, “Same, but my parents don’t claim that they’re not racist. They just say it straight up.”

Multiple Remote Control Names

Multiple Remote Control Names: man sitting on a couch with six remotes lined up next to him while he holds a remote.
Image credit: Depositphotos YAYImages.

One comment said, “Calling a remote control a ‘dinger.’ I thought that was its real name for so many years, lol.”

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Family Competition 

Family Competition: father and son sitting and playing chess.
Image credit: Depositphotos HayDmitriy.

A Redditor replied, “Our (infrequent) family time was doing competitive assembling jigsaw puzzle board races. Each person got their own puzzle board, and the winner was the first to assemble it. I did not realize until later that other families would like to watch a movie together as family time for the holidays.”

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Redditors came up with some interesting family behavior that they thought was normal but ended up not being as normal as they thought. What family behavior did your family have? Was there anything in your home that maybe wasn’t as normal as you thought? 

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Victoria Cornell
Website | + posts

As a full-time working mom of three, I know what it’s like to feel like life is out of balance and out of control.

While I don’t have it all figured out, I am committed to sharing helpful tips and tricks with other mommas who are ready to break free from negativity, ditch mom guilt, & finally, live life on their own terms.

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