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Things You Were Taught As A Kid

6K views 43 replies 17 participants last post by  jormantha 
#1 ·
I've just hung the washing on the outside line (it's a beautiful sunny afternoon here at 27C).

When I stepped back from the line it occurred to me that I continue to hang clothes in specific places just as my mother taught me.

"Ladies underwear must be hung on the innermost lines so that no one can see them".

Yup, the bras and knickers are all on the inside lines.

Blouses must be turned inside out so that they don't get faded by the sun".

Yup, all the tops are inside out.

"Always use three pegs on towels so that they aren't blown away by the wind".

Yup, towels all have three pegs.

And so on.

How bizarre is it that I continue to do this - my clothes line is in a part of the garden that can't be seen by anyone. Are my bras and knickers really going to offend anyone who may stumble across them?

Okay maybe the Australian sun may fade garments if they're left out too long but today's gentle breeze isn't going to have my towels soaring across the yard.

I know there are many other things I instinctively do - because I was taught that that was the right way to do it when I was young.

Do you continue to do things in a certain way because that's how you were taught as a kid?
 
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#2 ·
I can't state specific things I do like my Mom, but I know I do quite a bit because of how she did things. Does that make sense? I guess I follow my Mom's way of doing things, but yet cannot state specifics.
 
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#3 ·
When I was a teenager and short tops were vogue my grandmother used to constantly tug the bottom of my top to 'cover' my 'midriff' because 'that's how you get chills'.

I'm still doing that to my (adult) children. If I see a glimpse of 'midriff' I have to fight the urge to tug at it. Sometimes it's too strong to restrain myself and I'll tug away. :eek:

I know it's an old wives tale but it's been so ingrained in my psyche I can't help myself lol.

I know many people peg their 'unmentionables' in the middle of the clothes line. :D
 
#8 ·
One of my late Dad's sayings to get us to eat vegetables ..

"If you eat up your vegetables you'll grow hair on your chest".

Errr Dad .. not the best way to get your four daughters to eat their vegetables.

PS On his deathbed one of the last things he said to me was "I always wished I'd had a son but I got four girls instead". Well that explains it. ROFL!

Freya the only apron I own is the one we had to sew and embroider in high school. It's hideous. Actually I can't make or drink a cup of tea without spilling it on me. Maybe I should be wearing a pinny. ;)
 
#11 ·
One of my late Dad's sayings to get us to eat vegetables ..

"If you eat up your vegetables you'll grow hair on your chest".

Errr Dad .. not the best way to get your four daughters to eat their vegetables.

PS On his deathbed one of the last things he said to me was "I always wished I'd had a son but I got four girls instead". Well that explains it. ROFL!
Dalai, my father used to say that about drinking coffee to his six daughters. As near as I can tell, none of us have hairy chests.:D
 
#9 ·
Although a couple hours of sunshine once a week prob'ly won't seriously fade our clothes, I still turn things insideout during washing, because just the friction in the washer causes dulling of the colors. Check your black t-shirts . . . they're blacker on the inside, aren't they?

There's a great story about a newbie cook who was taught to cut off a corner of the beef roast before roasting it. After doing this with several roasts, she couldn't figure out what benefit this might provide, so she asked her mother. Mother didn't know either, but said they could always ask Granny. When they got to Granny, Granny's response was that she always had to cut off a corner of the roast because otherwise it wouldn't fit in her roasting pan. :rolleyes:
 
#12 ·
Now if you want to talk about things our Mom did that we determined we would never do... when washing our hair, my Mom would wring out the water like a mop. It felt like she was pulling all of our hair out by the roots. My two sisters and I couldn't help but scream every time.

So... I would lay my kids on the counter, put a towel under their neck, use the sprayer and gently wash and condition their hair, blotting dry with a towel. I did the same when my grandkids would stay over. They all remember it as a pleasant childhood experience.

When my tall, lanky grandson was 14, he said, "Nanny, will you wash my hair?" I said, "If you can still fit on the counter." He said, "Oh, I'll fit alright." It wasn't easy for him, he had to fold his body almost in half, but he did it.
 
#17 ·
And apparently have no qualms envisioning them with hairy chests! lol!

My dad had four daughters . . . I'm the eldest. He never wanted sons because he had a slew of brothers who had a slew of sons, and Dad's philosophy was that he wasn't responsible for carrying on the family name anyhow! He was the youngest of seven sons. :D
 
#22 ·
My dad is fond of saying "do as I say, not as I do."
My sister and I were very impressionable growing up (more so than most), from the group of friends we hung around. She and I are only 10 months apart, so we were with the same age friends in childhood. We'd do something that our friends suggested (nothing dangerous though!). My mom would find out and would always say, "if your friends jumped off a cliff, would you do it too?"
 
#23 ·
My mom used to tell us when we went around pouting and frowning, "You better smile so your face doesn't freeze like that."
 
#24 ·
my mother was always paying out on our father for bringing all the meat that he couldn't sell home from the butcher shop's that he owned.
she would say,look at this roast,chops,steak theres no fat on it??bet you couldn't sell this.etc.
it was only a few weeks ago that radar gave the local butcher one of mum's famous serves.:wink:
 
#25 ·
I am a middle child of three kids, all girls. Although me and my sisters are very close in age. My oldest sister will be 53 next week, I am 51 (turning 52 in September), and my younger sister will be 50 in February. There are no boys. In my Dad's family, there are 3 brothers. My Dad is an identical twin, and his twin had one girl. My Dad's oldest brother had one son and one daughter. The one son has two son's but one of them is gay, so I don't think any biological kids there. It all lays on the other son, who isn't married or anything yet. And I know he is not gay.

In my household, my husband and I have two daughters. My husband is definitely the last male in his father's namesake. So unless one of our daughters hyphenates, it is the end of the line for his last name.

Now, back to things when I was a kid. All three of us (my sisters and I) had very long hair when we were young (my Dad hated short hair on girls). I remember my Mom brushing the "rats" out of our hair and crying because it hurt. If we tried to get away, after three attempts, we got a smack in the head with that brush! Ouch! When I turned 14, I chopped my hair short because I couldn't stand it long anymore! We are talking shoulder length though, not real short. Although I never smacked my daughters in the head with the hair brush, my oldest had real long hair as a child, and my younger daughter has naturally curly hair, so it was always a mess! We laugh about it now how I used to try to brush her curly hair. I didn't know how to do anything other than brush it to make it manageable!
 
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#26 ·
Also, I remember my Mom doing the foam rollers (those pink ones) in our hair for special occasions, and also pin curls (with the bobby-pins) and rag curls. I remember how long it used to take her to do just one of our heads with all the long hair! As a kid, that was like an eternity. Now I would kill to have someone play with my hair all the time!!! That's why I like going to the Salon to get my hair done. My hairdresser gives the best scalp massages! Mmmmmmmmm
 
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#27 ·
@ Renee -

There is definitely a trick to brushing through long hair! My hair's always been at least back length (child and teen years) or waist-length or longer (as an adult). I've had it permed, not permed, body wave, etc. etc. and definitely had to learn ways to brush through it no matter what, so that it wouldn't hurt and would still look neat and primped. I still remember my mom taking the brush through mine, getting irritated with trying to get through it! I loved my hair long since childhood though, so I always begged her not to cut it!

I lucked out on all of that when I had a boy. :D
 
#30 ·
This isn't something I was "taught" as a kid, more something I heard as a kid. I don't remember how old I was, probably around 10, we were watching Perry Mason on TV. My dad was figuring out the puzzle and said "I smell a rat". I was so freaked for the longest time thinking that there were rats in the house that he could smell!!
 
#31 ·
Yeah, I remember Tennessee Ernies TV show years ago. He was full of them. I think it was Andy Griffith that said " more nervous than a long tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs". Some of the best lines I have ever heard come from the country folks. :)
 
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