Growing up, you family creates your sense of normal and your view of the world. Here are nineteen families where that "normal" is pretty off the wall. Some of these quirks are funny. Some are sad. Some are touching. They are all weird!
Hot Dog
“Not my family, but my teacher’s.
When my teacher was growing up he had a pet dog. His family had it for a few years, but lately it had taken on the habit of eating its own poop. They decided to take their dog to the vet & ask if there was anything they could do to stop their dog from eating his own s–t. Their veterinarian told them that all they needed to do was put tobasco sauce on the dog s–t (their dog stayed in their basement so it pooped kind if anywhere down there). The tobasco sauce trick worked & his family’s dog stopped eating its own s–t. Years later, my teacher went off to college. When he first walked into the dining hall, he saw several people putting tabasco on their food. He ran out of the dining hall because he was so grossed out & confused”
The Matching Outfits Seem Comparatively Benign
“A few things:
Refrigerating stuff was optional-leftovers, meat, condiments, whatever. It was usually left out on the counter until it was gone.
Wiping your own ass as a child. My parents wiped my and my sister’s butts until 1st grade.
Being allowed to watch whatever. I remember watching Predator and the Jason movies when I was like 5. They’d take me to the video rental and let me rent whatever.
Everyone in my family had waterbeds growing up. I thought that’s just what beds were until I slept over at a friends and was like what is this firm block you sleep on?!
Referring to Hispanic people as Tobascos. Again a hard lesson I had to learn, that that was not the appropriate nomenclature.
And finally wearing matching clothes. Whenever we’d go to a theme park or to a sports event or anything, we’d all wear matching outfits. Oh and my sister and I would have to wear these little backpacks with a plastic stick coming out of it with a reflector on top, so my parents could “keep an eye on us in a crowd.” Damn I forgot about that one until this thread”
This Is Ridiculous
*Source *
“My dad would prank me by picking the bathroom door, pulling open the shower curtain, and pee’ing on me; whilst I’m taking a goddamn shower. This was usually in response to me dumping cold water on him whenever he showers.
While taking a dump, the door will fly open, and I’ll see a camera flash. god d–n it…
Every time, I’ll hear trailing laughter as he ran away from each prank scene.
Obviously I was pissed every time”
Ice Cream
“Growing up we never went to Dairy Queen. We would instead buy a case of ice cream bars at the grocery store and sit in the car eating them. Family of 5, 24 pack. You got however many you could eat before they were all melted or gone.
Fast forward to one of my older sister’s first dates with her now-husband. He suggested they go out for ice cream. She was driving so they went to a grocery store. At this point he’s thinking “ok, we’re going to get it and head back to the apartment”. They check out and head to the car. Trying to impress her, he opens the door for her and lets her in, then walks around the car. By the time he sits down, she’s on bar number 3.
He told us this story recently for the first time. We had never really thought it was odd growing up, but our respective spouses reacted the same way he did that day”
I Don’t Understand How This Happened
*Source *
“My mom made salad dressing out of Miracle Whip and sugar. For years I thought I just didn’t like salad dressing and would just eat the lettuce plain. When I finally had normal salad somewhere else then came home and told her that what she made was disgusting and not salad dressing she honest to god had no idea there was a difference between hers and the stuff you buy at the store. After tasting the difference she started buying salad dressing like a normal person”
Guess Who’s Coming To Dinner? No one!
“My parents never had friends for dinner. In the rare event they did, it was a stressful affair with lots of yelling and house cleaning and more yelling until the guests arrived. Then things were uncomfortable and formal until they left again.
I didn’t know adults went to each other’s houses. I thought only kids did that until I was 18 or so and realized other people’s parents have friends”
They’re Creepy and They’re Quirky
“Collecting antiques and being generally creepy and morbid. For a few years in middle school we used to take day trips in the summer up to a famous murder house that did tours. It worked out being a spooky teen because it often impressed my spooky teen friends, but it never really dawned on me that most people didn’t grow up visiting fun graveyards and going to ghost houses as a family and posing with famous gravestones”
Be Jealous
“My parents now have been married for 34, and are madly still in the “honeymoon” stage. As I got older I realized how many couples are just partners and while they probably love each other, they don’t go crazy over each other anymore. My parents still don’t like spending more than a week apart, and still think each other are the best person ever. And if you’re wondering, yes it did give me unrealistic expectations for relationships”
Wow
“My parents had 2 kids before they were old enough to buy alcohol, and I often accompanied my mom to her college and grad school classes. This was in the late 80s/early 90s, so doing research and typing papers was even more difficult with kids in tow. I got my master’s degree in 2013 as a single parent to a cat and I still don’t know how my mom did it. (Not unusual per se, but that’s when I realized how truly amazing she was/is)”
This One Is Just Kind Of Sad
“Like my entire childhood. My parents are junkies, I thought that the cops coming over all the time was normal. I also thought that dragging my passed out father off of the neighbor’s lawn and shit was normal. Along with violence and the like.
Like we once had a guy come and threaten dad with a sawn off shotgun and me and my brother were like ‘cool story’. Just another day in the Millers household. It wasn’t until I actually made friends in high school that I found out it wasn’t normal.
I’m always the person at parties with the crazy stories”
Don’t Drink The Kool-Aid
“I wasn’t allowed to drink Kool-Aid at other people’s houses because of Jonestown. This was in the 90’s though so I had no idea what the hell she was talking about”
Daddy Meat
“My brothers and I were picky eaters. We refused to eat meatloaf, did not want it, no way, no how.
One day my parents presented us with ‘Daddy meat’ and yes we were amazed.
Called meatloaf daddy meat a lot longer than I should have.
And after the word ‘daddy’ became weird because Internet”
Bookah
“My mom’s an extremely creative person, and when I was little she use to call certain things by different names she made up. For example, instead of calling my butt a butt, she called it my bookah (boo-kA). There were many more exciting terms she made up, but that one in particular stands out. It might have something to do with the fact that I almost got into a fist fight when a kid told me that my ‘bookah was called a butt and I didn’t know anything’. Who knew a kid in kindergarten could be such a pain in the bookah. Anyways, my mother still continues the tradition of renaming things and it’s quite entertaining!”
Everyday is Christmas Day
*Source *
“When we were kids, ‘Santa’ brought us a few presents on Christmas morning, and then 10 or so that were labeled ‘Monday,’ ‘Tuesday,’ ‘Wednesday’ etc. Every morning for the following week off from school we had one more present to open. It was literally like Christmas for a whole week, and I assumed everyone did that. My mom later explained she put so much work into picking out the perfect presents she hated seeing it all over within like 20 minutes on Christmas morning”
A Darker Party of Five
“For background, my mother sheltered the hell out of me, didn’t allow public school, and never really let me around other people. When I was 5-ish, my older brother and his friends took over the raising a kid stuff that my mother was failing at. I was in and out of foster care, but always returned to my mother, who would then resume being batshit crazy, and my brother would have to take over again, Being raised by a group of teens and young 20-somethings, I didn’t realize that:
Most ‘families’ don’t consist of 30-40 people that just happen to crash in the same house every night. To me, the people that were always at my house were my family, blood relation didn’t mean much.
Not everyone has dedicated times to do homework (even though I’m now aware that a) my brother was determined that I would excel, and b) that was a guaranteed safe time to do drugs, since I was off somewhere doing homework.)
Not everyone got the sex/drug/alcohol talk way before it was age appropriate. Likewise that most kids didn’t grow up learning how to use drugs safely because they were using them with their parental figures.
I had a weird childhood”
Do They Make Thanksgiving Themed Beer?
“My grandparents own a bar in our small town and every Thanksgiving we deck the bar up with decorations and food and bring in couches and other furnitures and invite family from hours away and we celebrate it there… Everyone thought it was weird I never had Thanksgiving dinner at Gramma’s house”
Burning Lies
“My mother was quite religious, so when she thought my sister and I were lying she’d pull out this tiny bottle of holy water and threaten to pour some on our tongues. She told us that if we were lying, the holy water would melt our mouths. FOR YEARS my sister and I never lied, until one day when we were about eleven a girl in our class was talking about how she lied to her parents about dropping a vase on the floor and how she blamed it on the dog or something instead. I looked at her in horror and asked ‘but didn’t your mum burn off your tongue?’ She proceeded to give me a look that would suggest I had grown an extra nostril or something. I’m still not that great a liar”
Second Hand
“Smoking inside. We were a solid middle class family that was clean in every other aspect but both my parents where chain smokers and we lived in a state that was pretty cold most of the year. The only other people that I have ever seen that smoke inside their house are bachelors, really trashy people with drug problems, and cigarette ladies”
The Bathrobe Shocker
“Growing up my dad worked a lot and would come home after 7 almost every day, right at dinner. When he came home, we were expected to be quiet and not bother him. At 6:50 we would rush to put away our shoes and toys and look presentable (shirts tucked in, hair combed, etc.
We would then have a really quiet, somewhat fancy dinner. We always used china and ate on a white table cloth. The only person talking would be whoever my dad was addressing. It was like an inquisition, almost (How was your spelling test, Ben? Did you go to the super market with the roast sale? How many hours of practice will you be doing to improve your pitch?). After dinner dad stripped down to a burgundy bathrobe every night and would watch CNN. We usually played in our rooms but if you were ever out there and talked he would shout and rant and throw the remote at you, even though he talked constantly to the TV. He literally acts like he has his own talk show, “Oh Joe, you know better than that. Remember the other day we were talking about —-“
The first time I went to someone’s house at dinner I was shocked. It was loud and they all talked at once to everyone and drank from plastic restaurant cups and they had tacos for dinner. But I just thought THEY were weird.
What finally made me realize how weird my family was when as a teen, one night a friend dropped by after dinner to bring me something for school. She strolled in super cheerful and was complimenting my mom on “your lovely home” when she entered the living room and saw Dad’s nightly routine. He was sitting in his chair wearing that ratty robe, his legs all spread (Did I mention he also wasn’t wearing underwear?) and ranting at CNN. He stopped his rant to let her know that we didn’t talk in the living room after dinner.
She dropped my stuff off and asked why we weren’t allowed in the living room and it kind of all clicked. We were the weirdos. To this day, if you go to my parents house after 7….dad is in that robe. Only difference is he watches Fox now”