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

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?” 

Huge Holiday Parties

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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 

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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