"My parents were horrible parents in general, but the most bizarre rule that my siblings and I put up with was that we weren't allowed to sneeze multiple times in a row. One sneeze? Fine. Another sneeze after some arbitrary number of minutes later?
No problem. Two sneezes in a row? Get yelled at for being unhygienic (even if you covered your nose/mouth properly) and for having no manners. God forbid if you sneezed thrice or more in a row...I have seasonal allergies, and one time, my dad was in a particularly bad mood and caught me in a sneezing fit and grounded me for a week." -Reddit user Asphodelic
"If I farted, it was 2 hours outside, even in the freezing winter. One day I collapsed in the cold and was taken away from my mum after I was hospitalized 3 hours after collapsing; then lived with my grandparents for the rest of my childhood and was legally not allowed to see my mum until I was 18.
Guess it counted as child abuse." -Reddit user MrMcPsychoReal
"I wasn't allowed to swim in public swimming pools because I would catch AIDS.
When my PE class would go to the pool one week a year, I had to walk laps around the pool because I couldn't participate." -Reddit user Atillion
"Had to get home before the sunset.
Even though I went to school an hour and a half away and would get home at the same time each day, but always found myself in trouble during winter." -Reddit user greenpineapple
"I wasn't allowed to leave my room.
I could go to the bathroom or kitchen, but I better have a reason to be there." -Reddit user microagent99
"Nobody in my house was allowed to get the mail except my dad. It didn't matter what time he got home. Leave the mail in the mailbox.
He would also personally open all the mail, no matter the recipient. He would always know if anyone touched it. Edit: We aren't in piles of debt, I am not Harry Potter, I think he just likes control." -Reddit user xxxtommyXxXxX
"If you didn't instantly say what you wanted to eat, my father would cook onions and garlic.
He didn't like people wasting his time." -Reddit user MaybeThisUsernameWor
"No one in the house was allowed to shave or have a razor at all. I could go to a barber or shave at a friend's house but had my PC taken away when I tried at home.
I still don't understand my mother's logic behind this one." -Reddit user Revolv667
"My mom and I didn't get along, and she did this count to 3 thing. I used to get in trouble for stuff I didn't do, so I got sent to my room a lot.
I would then refuse to go there, so she came up with this rule where she would add an extra hour every time I talked back after she got to 3. I ended up spending 8 hours in my room once because my sister lied about me doing something." -Reddit user (deleted)
"We had to drink a glass of lemon juice right before bed. Pure, freshly squeezed lemon juice. A whole glass. The timer went on for ten minutes.
If it went off and you weren't finished, spanking. Set a timer and repeat until the lemon juice is gone. I did ok, maybe one spanking, but my sister has a terrible gag reflex, so she really got it bad. As you can imagine, being five and going to bed like that makes for some nasty heartburn/nausea." -Reddit user (deleted)
"The dumbest rule I can think of is when they told me & my sister that we get up too much at night to go to the bathroom, so we weren't allowed to leave our rooms till the morning. The thing is, all my life, I have gotten up 2-4 times to pee during sleep time.
No idea why, it's just how I am. I don't have a small bladder. I solved the problem by peeing out my window." -Reddit user slackdastard
"My dad is all about cleanliness, despite not really washing his hands. He likes the walls, floor, and bathroom to be impeccable. Since I can remember, I haven't been allowed to touch any of the walls in our house.
He actually gets upset with me and will lecture me on it if he catches my finger grazing a wall. I haven't been comfortable touches walls ever because of this." -Reddit user PM_ME_DANK_PIZZA
"I had to be nice to my brother.
I once got grounded for not sharing part of my cookie with him. But my brother was actually our family dog..." -Reddit user iknownothing42
"Zero right to any personal property. Sure, I had stuff that was mostly mine, but they made sure I knew that they could take literally anything away from me at any moment.
Clothes, shoes, tech, doors, diaries - no boundaries as long as I lived under their roof. And they would take it just to prove a point." -Reddit user bossyhosen
"I basically couldn't have any girlfriends in high school because I'm a girl, and if I'm friends with another girl, that means I'm dating them, and that's gay, and my mom didn't want me to be gay unless she was dead so she wouldn't have to see it." -Reddit user ChloeTheCat753