“We were not allowed to drink anything until we ate everything on our plates.”

"We couldn’t even touch it. I remember when I was in elementary school and I was at a friend’s house. The mum asked if I wanted to help decorate their tree. I remember being so confused. I was very hesitant but they assured me that it was okay. It was so much fun! When I told my mother, she sternly told me that I better not get any ideas about touching HER Christmas tree. It was always ‘themed’ and precisely decorated. Everything on it had to be perfect."

"We also couldn’t have anything blue as that’s a boy colour as well.Imagine my shock when I see a girl friend playing Super Mario on her brother’s system and she had blue walls. I couldn’t believe she wasn’t in trouble or being threatened with hell for playing a game meant only for boys.After that, I secretly started playing when my family went to sleep. I was worried for years God was going to punish me."

"Even if the mf wanted to spend 30 min in the bathroom when food was already on the table. I hated that shit. The food would get cold and I wanted to hurl my plate into his smug face. Exactly zero of my friends' families did that, and almost all of them were very Catholic families. When their mums said dinner was ready, though, everybody was expected to get their food and eat. If you took too long, that was a YOU problem."

"My mum cut the wicks off any candles I got as a gift, and didn't keep any in the common spaces. She was convinced we'd light a candle, forget about it/knock it over, and start a house fire. I distinctly remember going to a friend's house, and she lit a Bath & Body Works candle she'd gotten for Christmas. I was shocked; my dumb kid brain legit thought it was ‘illegal’ to do that in a residential home."

"They would shout, throw their hands over my eyes, and turn it off if there was a sex scene, forcing me out of the room until it was over. Going to a friend's house and watching a movie with their parents, it was a Pavlovian response to get extremely tense once a curse word was said, waiting for the explosive freak-out. Seeing their parents stay calm and even laugh during an ‘inappropriate’ moment was jarring."

"Each kid had to stand up and give a 2-minute update on school, friends, and ‘one thing we learned that week.’ It felt completely normal — like a mini-TED talk at the dinner table. Fast forward to college, I casually mention this to my roommate and he stares at me like I grew a second head. ‘You had to give a PowerPoint presentation... to your own family?’ It wasn't until I started dating in my 20s and mentioned it to multiple people that I realised most families just... ate dinner. No quarterly review required. That said, I can give an impromptu presentation to a boardroom with zero prep, so thanks mum and dad I guess."

Additional thumbnail credits: The WB, NBC, NBC