Everyone grows up assuming that their home life is normal. Whether your parents hosted family karaoke nights every Wednesday or dragged you along on sunrise hikes every Saturday, you probably didn’t know anything different until you were exposed to other experiences. And sometimes, becoming an adult makes people realize just how bizarre their family truly is…
Redditors have been recalling unique habits and traditions that their families instilled in them that they eventually realized weren’t exactly normal, so we’ve gathered their most interesting replies below. Enjoy reading all about these families, and be sure to upvote the behaviors that you find particularly strange!
Touching pointer fingers to say hello, think ET style. Realised it was my dad’s autism once I got older, his way of ‘hugs’.
heretosnoope , David Rojas Villalobos/Pexels Report
Say ‘I love you’ at the end of each phone call or goodbye. It could be a quick call that lasts only 30 seconds because one of us misplaced something, but if we didn’t say ‘I love you’ then it felt off. My mom imbedded into me real young, and I imbedded it into my dad. If something ever happened to one of us then at least we know our last words would be ‘I love you.’.
BambiMariposite_Lion , Polina Tankilevitch/Pexels Report
When we went on road trips and crossed a border, say from Nebraska to Kansas, someone in the front seat would put their hand in the front of the dashboard and say “First one in Kansas,” and someone in the back seat would put their hand in the back window and say,”Last one in Nebraska.”.
emwcee , Kei Scampa/Pexels Report
Grew up with an autistic brother who makes a lot of humming noises to express emotion and the whole family eventually ended up doing it too (to a lesser extent). didn’t realize it until someone pointed out we never shut up even though we’re not actually saying anything.
takurina , Anastasia Shuraeva/Pexels Report
My mother was a stay at home mom with 3 kids, 3 years and 8 years between them. Every night after supper, she had us all working like little soldiers: Dad stood at the sink in his button down shirt from work, rolled up at the sleeves, after his sweaty commute home in his unairconditioned yellow Ford Fiesta. He washed the pots and pans and fancy dishes by hand. I loaded the dishwasher, my sister dried and put the dishes away, and my brother took out the garbage. Mom put the leftovers away and wiped the table/countertops/stovetop. When my sister got married, and when I eventually did too, we were always questioning how did mom do that? We somehow ended up alone in our respective kitchens. Probably can’t blame anyone but ourselves.
Soft_Effect_6263 , Kaboompics.com/Pexels Report
Not hugging or show affection in general. I remember being around 18 and graduating when one of my friends’ mom gave me a big hug. So weird - I never hugged my own parents? But also so nice… 💕.
ClaudicatioIntermitt , Hannah Stevens/Pexels Report
Yell at each other multiple times per week. I had my first serious girlfriend and her family got along all the time and a problem was a logical discussion not a yelling contest. I was like wow.
Sephia14 , Kindel Media/Pexels Report
Sloppy Joe’s are one of my all-time favorite comfort meals. We serve them open faced and eat them with a fork and knife, which makes sense to me because they’re messy! But I only found out when I was like 35 that pretty much everyone else actually eats them like a sandwich! I tried it once, and half of my meat ended up on my plate and shirt, and I was like why would anyone eat them this way?!?!
Scary-Alternative-11 , Yash Maramangallam/Pexels Report
Tie the hairbrush to the bathroom faucet. My mom had 5 daughters and was tired of not being able to fix her hair in the morning because the brush had wandered off under the couch or a bush or something.
BroadLocksmith4932 , Greta Hoffman/Pexels Report
When we were really young we thought everyone had the Birthday Fairy, but as we got older we realized we were the only ones! But, she still came until we were 12, and as we aged out we became part of the Fairy team fur the younger siblings. Still love this tradition. Our parents started it because our dad was a traveling salesmen that was always gone, so this way our birthdays were still special on the day. ❤️❤️🎂 And FYI, it was like Santa or the Easter Bunny, but just for us!
drevalcow , lil artsy/Pexels Report
My whole family has always quoted movie lines at every possible opportunity—not just particularly memorable or relevant ones, but often the most random bits that nobody else seems to remember even though they made a lasting impression on us for some reason. We just really love movies and watch our favorites enough times to memorize most of the dialogue, and basically every single lyric of any song. (Turned out we’re all autistic.).
Perplexed_Ponderer , freestocks.org/Pexels Report
I was home schooled and very sheltered. I also grew up working on a farm. I had my daily “chores” (mucking horse stables, feeding the animals, taking care of my own critters, cleaning the house, doing dishes, etc) that had to be done before I could do anything for myself or on the rare occasion, get to go to a friend’s house. I thought everyone had chores they had to do before they could do anything. I was even more annoyed when I found out that they all got to hang out at each other’s houses all the time. I rarely even got to go to a friend’s place at all. Let alone all the time. I still don’t think that was fair to this day. Lol.
Ok-Vehicle-9126 , cottonbro studio/Pexels Report
We are very blunt with each other. Like if my brother is eating chips to loud, my sister will tell him to stop chewing like a cow, it annoys her. And he’ll say something like sorry I hurt your princess ears, should I i draw your bath and make your bed when I’m done. No yelling just dry, somewhat mean humor. But it turns out other families tip toe around feelings. I like our way better. No one goes into a rage about the time someone ate someone else’s sandwich five years back at Thanksgiving in my family’s house.
Special_Fox_6239 , Kaboompics.com/Pexels Report
I was extremely confused when the charcuterie trend took off because I legitimately didn’t realize there were so many people not already eating exactly that. In Italian American families we refer to that board/plate as “antipasto” and it’s ubiquitous at every gathering.
RedSolez , Luna Lovegood/Pexels Report
I didn’t know the appetizers on restaurant menus were like a before-dinner little treat shared with the whole table. (Honestly I do still think it’s weird to eat before you eat?). I also didn’t realize what a proper “meal” was. Growing up in poverty. Sometimes we’d have like slices of bread for dinner or chips and salsa. And we never went to restaurants. So when I was an adult and got invited out to eat, I’d order the appetizers because I was dirt poor and they were the cheapest things on the menu. And people would say “wow thank you!” and I’d be like “for what lol” and just eat the entire plate of mozzarella sticks myself. It wasn’t until I was in late 20’s when a roommate asked what I was making for dinner to eat after the handful of crackers I was eating, she was shocked to learn that was my dinner, and had to explain what meals were. I’m still embarrassed. I’m in my 30’s now (so this was only a few years ago) and I still feel weird about food around other people. Going out to eat with friends is embarrassing and stressful and I’m constantly anxious I’m doing something wrong. Always watching what everyone else is doing and copying them so I don’t out my poverty ignorance.
WhatsUpSweetCakes , Alberta Studios/Pexels Report
My mom washed the groceries before putting them in the cupboard… not just the produce, but boxes of cereal and canned goods and everything else. I’m not sure I thought it was something everyone did, but I didn’t realize how odd it was until I was I was older. I didn’t see anything like it until Covid hit and people thought it was living on surfaces.
Cleopatra435 , Miriam Alonso/Pexels Report
I thought every kid only saw their mom half the week. My mom works 3x12s Sun-Tuesday so I hardly saw her those days. It wasn’t until I started having a later bedtime that I got to see her when she got off on those days. I remember talking to a friend and she was talking about doing something with her mom that night and I went “wow, you get to see your mom on a Monday?”.
AKamDuckie , Artem Podrez/Pexels Report
Thank whoever cooked the meal you just ate (mostly Mom or Dad as we grew up) and tell them you enjoyed it. Then the cook would say he or she was glad you liked it. When my youngest sister got married, her new husband thought it was hilarious that all our little children would say “ ‘Joyed it!” as they got up from the table. He teased us by saying “ ‘Joyed it” and “Gladja!” It had never occurred to our family that it was unusual, but it WAS funny!
underclover , Any Lane/Pexes Report
Sit on the floor. Big family, small house. Lots of visitors.. US littles sat on the floor most of the time.
GiggleFester , Kaboompics.com/Pexels Report
Put peanut butter on pancakes. Fry cold leftover mashed potatoes patties for breakfast. Call the refrigerator an ‘icebox’.
cofeeholik75 , Kaboompics.com/Pexels Report
I realized fairly early on that I was the odd one out for washing my hands like a medical professional (my mom is a nurse) and that washing my hands and forearms is usually not necessary but I felt really called out maybe five years ago when a FWB who is a doctor gave me a really weird look and then asked me “why the fk are you washing your hands like you’re getting ready for surgery?” after we got done having sy times. Made me realize I could probably tone it down. 😂.
JustJake1985 , Anna Shvets/Pexels Report
My mother for some reason refused to put little trash bins in the 2 bathrooms that we had. You’d have to carry your used Qtips or cotton b***s to the garbage can in the kitchen.
Soft_Effect_6263 , SHVETS production/Pexels Report
My parents were from the South (US) even though their families moved to California where they met. Every dinner there was a plate of extras. It would have green onions or sliced onions, sliced tomatoes, olives, celery sticks, radishes, basically anything edible on hand that wasn’t cooked. This was normal to me After I got married, we had 2 of my husband’s friends and their wives over for dinner. They were confused about the plate in the middle of the table, had never seen such a thing. Many, many years later I saw an episode of Andrew Zimmerman where he was in some Scandanavian country at a family’s home and they did that. I wonder if that’s where it came from.
pittsburgpam , Angele J/Pexels Report
Having a sock basket. I don’t know why but we put all of the clean socks into a basket for everyone to choose from. I didn’t think anything of it until I stayed at other people’s homes and they just kept their socks in the sock drawer lmao. I need to ask my mom why the h**l we did that.
tinyyawns , Tuan Phat Ho Huynh/Pexels Report
My father was a driver instructor, imagine my surprise, when i realized that not every car has 2 set of pedals in each side.
redsire9997 , Mike Bird/Pexels Report
Having cameras in my room. Didn’t think much of it until I was a teen. I started to think it was weird since I sometimes change in there… but they have it there in case someone breaks in. I only realized it was not exactly normal when people online thought it was so weird. They really only check it if I’m taking too long in my room. They also have camera’s around the house so it’s not just my room.
HistorianPotential93 , David Yu/Pexels Report
Spent my whole life until I started college drinking milk for dinner. Unless it was a special occasion where we were eating out, then we could have whatever we wanted. It took me a couple months to realize this but I was sitting at a dining hall eating dinner and realized that I could literally drink anything. And also grew up thinking it was against the law to drink soda before noon. Had some friends have a sleepover and my mom looked at them weird and told them they don’t be needing to drink a Pepsi at breakfast.
alcreis , cottonbro studio/Pexels Report
We were ’lip kissers’. Kiss goodnight, on the lips. Kiss someone thank you for gifts. I thought all families did that but I guess it was just ours. It wasn’t gross or weird or anything. And thank god not a single one of us kids were ever molested or anything like that either. Maybe it was a European thing as my maternal family was originally from Italy? When I told my husband he was horrified. It just wasn’t weird for us.
BidRevolutionary945 Report
Shout around the house for someone. Like if I needed to speak to someone who was upstairs, I just shout their name from the bottom of the stairs and they come to the top of the stairs, or answer from where they are if they’re busy. Doesn’t help that we live in a 3 storey house, so sometimes one of us would be be on the bottom floor and need to speak to someone on the top floor, so they’d stand at the bottom of the bottom set of stairs and shout up to the person N the top floor, who’d stand on the landing and answer. Never tho ght this was weird until a friend came over when we were teenagers and they were so confused that this was how we did things. I know a few families like this, so as a kid I never realised that many people would walk up/down the stairs to talk to the person thsy needed to speak to 🤷😂.
Melj84 , Anna Tarazevich/Pexels Report
Pat you on the back during a hug. The more love, the harder the patting. Not like painful or anything, just faster and more forcefull. Just wack wack wack.
BitchWidget , RDNE Stock project/Pexels Report
No one in our family eats ramen noodles normally. We pack and eat them like chips. I didn’t notice it was “weird” until my first roommate accused me of culinary crimes. 😆.
deepseawolves , Gu Ko/Pexels Report
St Nick’s holiday Turns out, not every family celebrates it. Sure there are others but it surprised some people when I talked about having a fluffy red stocking hung on the wall one night, then coming downstairs on St Nick’s morning to find the stocking full of oranges, chocolates and a reminder from St Nick to keep being good for Santa later on.
SkysEevee Report
Flare nostrils as nonverbal communication but mostly just as a joke… Not aggressively or anything it’s more akin to “the not it” nose game. If we’re at dinner or something and somebody’s just looks at you and start flaring nostrils the last person who figures out we’re all doing that and being weird loses the game. In retrospect this is probably something funny my parents did when we were babies…
ivthreadp110 , Andrea Piacquadio/Pexels Report
Nothing important, but my family has a version of “jungle bell rock” that we sing during Christmas. I didn’t know it wasn’t the original lyrics until grade 5 in music class where we had to split into groups and sing a Christmas Carol in front of the class. Someone in my group suggested this song and asked if we all knew the lyrics and we all said yes. When it was our turn, we all started out singing the same thing….then suddenly I was singing something different than the others. I was so confused 😅 Went home and told my dad and he’s like “oh, yeah, your sister came up with those lyrics when she was younger cuz she didn’t know the correct ones” 🤦♀️.
Wickked1 Report
Never using a butter knife. 🫣 Growing up we always just had spoons and forks. I don’t know if it was because we were poor or Mexican. 🤣 When I started dating my now husband, he was making a sandwich and asked me for a butter knife. I told him I didn’t have any and to use a spoon so he can get a bigger scoop of mayo. He looked so confused. Thank goodness I didn’t scare him away. 😆.
Meditative_Rose78 Report
Love each other unconditionally.
Naive_Strategy4138 , Elina Fairytale/Pexels Report
Snuggling on the couch or bed with my mom or dad, but mostly mom. I became embarrassed by this as a teenager when I realized not all families are physically affectionate.
JellyBeanzi3 Report
We always cut frozen pizzas with scissors. We still do.
No-Captain88 Report
Fish sticks with macaroni and ketchup.
Organic_Marzipan_678 Report
We used to put ketchup on popcorn I genuinely thought that was a normal thing people did at movie nights. First sleepover at a friend’s place… I asked for ketchup and everyone looked at me like I was a criminal 😂.
Familiar-Print7098 Report
We had cinnamon sugar on French toast. I learned in college that 99.9% of people have syrup on their French toast. Psst!- Cinnamon sugar is way better!
SheSellsSeaGlass Report
Not a family thing, but I thought everyone had nightmares 4-7 nights a week, and 2-3x a night bad enough to wake them up. I was 27 when I brought it up to friends and they said most people don’t experience that. That was my normal since I was a child.
nenawinter1 , Ron Lach/Pexels Report
When opening gifts at a birthday or Christmas, we all clap after it’s been opened…like a big clap and cheer lol.
Penny5570 Report
Thought every family had a pe bowl. Which is not solely designated just for pe.
sunshine_tequila , Alexey Demidov/Pexels Report
I won’t speak for myself on this one, but I will relate my daughter’s shock and surprise when she discovered that other families don’t set up traps for the Easter Bunny. This was the brain child of my Eldest & became a tradition that the older two passed on to the younger two.
Diasies_inMyHair Report
When we were kids my mom made us vacuum the dog every Saturday. She was a black lab who didn’t shed that much. I thought everyone vacuumed their dogs.
freezing91 Report
Eating cereal dry (no milk). My sister and I would just pour it out onto our placemats and eat it off there.
Pickleless_Cage Report
Every person in my family ate a different meal at dinner time. My mom is vegetarian, and my dad is not, and I don’t eat beef or pork. So when I was a kid, I’d usually end up eating some combo of what my parents had. Or my mom would make me something totally different. I’d eat while my mom and dad were in the kitchen making their own, different, dinners. Then they’d eat dinner together, but not the same food. Even now as an adult if I’m with them, they each are eating something different for dinner and usually I’m eating some combo. I thought this was so normal. .
Able-Pay333 Report
Obviously not just my family but it’s apparently less common than I thought…having a basic schedule/routine you do every day. According at my in-laws, two speech/OT therapist, and a handful of pediatricians this is abnormal behavior. 🤷🏻♀️.
Next_Firefighter7605 Report
Scream at each other. I grew up with a mentally ill, emotionally a*****e parent. It turns out yelling is not an effective way to work things out.
forested_morning43 Report
Order appetizers and dessert every single time we go out to eat. I’ve met people who have never ordered an appetizer or dessert in their entire lives.
FruitSnackEater , Adrienn/Pexels Report
Moaning while stretching, pretty much all of my family does it. we’re just stretching like everyone else, nothing weird, but the sounds we make tend to catch people off guard my girlfriend found it entertaining when she noticed me doing it, and eventually picked up the habit for herself 😂.
prescient_worm_10191 Report
My next-door neighbor was bewildered by people leaving cookies & milk out for Santa. In her family, the tradition was scotch and cheese!
AlertBiscotti5099 Report
I don’t even wanna talk about this lmao. my parents kept cereal bags in the dishwasher. I don’t remember if it was broken or my mom just didn’t like to use it or what but for as long as i lived there the dishwasher was the cereal place. it never occurred to me how wild that was until a friend stayed the night and in the morning i open our cereal storage and she said why on earth is there cereal in your dishwasher lmao.
wysterialee Report
You have to eat all of your dinner - if you don’t, you can’t have dessert, and have to complete dinner as breakfast in the morning.
Dragons_Fly_Overhead , Daniela Constantini/Pexels Report
Calling a bowel movement a “job.” “I have to go do a job.” Never heard anyone else ever say that. I often wondered if I should punch a time clock and unionize. Does that come with benefits?
Off2xtremes Report
Washed combs and brushes every week. I grew up and realized most people don’t do it at all. I seldom do it anymore.
AfterSomewhere Report
Not did, but my parents had the same birthday. Same year and all. They also had matching cars (which they had owned prior to meeting). Mom drove a white Dodge Dart and Dad’s was blue. How could you marry someone with a different birthday? Who drove a different car? Just unnatural! Or so I thought when I learned about other arrangements as a little kid.
japanval Report
Drank till we blackout on the weekends..oh and just a few beers or a light mix on the weekdays🤦♀️🤦♀️🤦♀️ Sobriety is so empowering, yet the times you loook back and judge yourself makes you wanna take a 40 to the face again.. “Just keep swimming..just keep swimming..”.
BobbyLove93 Report
Frank conversations about death and dying. E.g., “When I die, I want you to have X, play this music at my funeral, bury me here, etc.” My MIL just passed away and she was very organized about her estate, trusts, Power of Attorney, etc. But did she tell us who gets what or where to be buried, etc? Nope. Sigh….
Personality_Ecstatic Report
Peach yogurt on toast…it’s really just a fruit spread on toast but the first time I brought it for lunch at school everyone roasted tf out of me.
Patient_Driver8857 Report
Look inside the refrigerator … just to see how you doin'.
hippykid64 Report
If someone likes a lot of butter on their popcorn, I can relate to using a utensil as a workaround…It may be odd, but it’s not crazy.
series-hybrid , Lisa from Pexels/Pexels Report
Does being dropped off at your grandparents house the day after school ended in June and being picked up 2-5 days before school started again count? (it was an 11 hour journey each way).
FarOutLakes Report
As a kid, I was not allowed to answer our home phone. From the time I was born until I got a cell phone at age 17, I probably had fewer than 20 total phone conversations.
ShoobaTheBawss Report
Hug each other as a greeting. Add a kiss on the cheek if it’s been awhile since you’ve seen each or if it’s a special occasion.
kelimac Report
The absolute superiority of toilet paper rolls in the overhang orientation.
take_my_waking_slow Report
We brush our teeth in the kitchen. Our bathroom on the first floor has no medicine cabinet and a pedestal sink. We don’t have anyway to keep germs off of the toothbrushes. We’re too lazy to walk back upstairs and brush our teeth after breakfast.
marg_mail Report
We had a dinner schedule. Every meal repeated weekly. Sunday lunch, pizza Sunday dinner leftovers Monday dinner, hamburger helper chilli mac Tuesday dinner, spaghetti Wednesday dinner, pork chops Thursday dinner, sausage, peppers and onions Friday dinner, fish sticks Saturday lunch, sandwiches Saturday dinner, grill out (summer) or baked potato (winter).
willworkforjokes Report
Corn on the cob with butter and sour cream - delish!
ParkingEmergency2204 Report
We had a dedicated drawer for plastic bags inside another bag. I thought every house had a “bag of bags” system. Turns out it’s just peak desi household behavior.
VanshikaWrites , Anna Shvets/Pexels Report
Not giving freedom, or sending kids on trips stop kids to participate any school activities.
lost_a_dominantlotus Report
The rest of my family, excluding me, never stopped loving my cousin, even after he attempted double homicide of his mother and her boyfriend. While he was in jail/prison, they genuinely sent him letters of support expressing how much they cared about him.
Dear_Ad_3762 Report
Catalina dressing on pizza! I thought everyone did it!! Even the dominoes pizza’s in south MS would provide packs upon request. Pizza restaurants have bottles on the table. It wasn’t until I moved to Louisiana and requested it that I realized, it’s just a south MS thing.
Born_Jellyfish_13 Report
Answered the family/ house phone politely. My father had a script for us - hello ‘Smith’ family, ‘Jane; speaking may I ask who’s calling please? I hated it and felt weird. Especialy when it was my friends caling me. They would crack up!
Different-Dot4376 Report
Went to church, then got in the car and made fun of/talked s**t about all the other families in attendance.
dreamsinred Report
Not my family, but was told getting obsessed with things to the point of daydreaming different plot points/situations/stuff like that to where I disconnect from reality and just go through the motions without being mentally in the room at all. Just staring of into space, according to other people.
i_love_pjo_and_kotlc Report
Arguing at Sunday dinner about everything then leaving without any animosity. It was just what we do. Going over another house and seeing the dinner conversations or lack there of, was eye opening.
Cpt_Rossi Report
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