Serious Family House Rules and Values/ growing up

[Zeostar]

Did anybody have any rules in place growing up? It doesn't have to be rules, it could just be general principles you were expected to follow. Even something as small as "be on time for dinner". (it might be a poor example).

I made this topic since I'm slightly fascinated by it. They didn't exist in our family, not even a dinner table. My dad passed away suddenly one afternoon, and my mother unexpectedly had to raise an entire family on her own. I guess in the grief and the struggle to make ends meet, suddenly stuff like being concerned about "screen time" felt very unimportant.

On another interesting note, the first time I visited a friends house was in 9th grade. I was paranoid about unexpectedly breaking a rule. (even though I was pretty low maintenance and just came over for video games).

 

[Corrin]

My parents were more lenient than most, we had rules, but they weren't as extreme as others. My parents never laid a finger on my brother or I, we were grounded if we did something bad.

My father and grandparents instilled strict manners and etiquette into my brother and I though, and we were taught to clean our plates (as in, eat all the food that's there) as to not insult the person who cooked.

 

[Aslan]

My parents were a lot more strict when I was a child. They are first generation immigrants from China and looking back, they wanted the best life possible for both me and my sister. Education was always the highest priority in our family. You put your education first no exceptions. I was taught how to read and write fluently by my parents before I started school and by the 2nd grade I was being sent to tutoring on the weekend to prepare for scholarship and high school examinations into the academically competitive schools we had. My whole weekend was tutoring. It was basically another 6 or 7 hours of school on Saturday and an additional test and marking on Sunday that went for about 4 hours. I wasn't allowed screen time as a kid but I think it had the opposite intended effect as I would always find ways to spend extra time on the computer! I was never allowed to do anything not school related online on the weekdays until I went to high school and on the weekends I could play for 2 hours, no exceptions.

I remember feeling a lot of pressure when I was a child to live up to my parent's expectations and the one part of their lessons that have remained with me is the importance of a consistent work ethic. I was not responsible as all as a child but in HS a lot of what I learnt from when I was a child influenced how diligent I was about studying. My parents definitely instilled in me the importance of working hard and always emphasised that nothing in life comes easily. Don't get me wrong though my parents were not stereotypically strict - they were supportive of what I wanted to pursue as a job and though they would get disappointed/make me study more if I didn't do well - they never grounded me or punished me for doing badly, just tried to help me do the best I could. Later on they also became more lenient about letting me do what I wanted as I was responsible enough to keep up my own work. My parents never really vocally express how proud they are but they're happy with how far I've come in regard to school and I'm glad. :)

 

[Hisuitake]

My mother and father raised my sister and I to have manners, be respectful and polite to our elders the most and other peers our age. My father was strict on my sister and I a bit as well, so yeah I did get spanked as a little kid when naughty. Now my sister and myself are nice, kind, respectful and polite women with manners. However if need be we both stand up for ourselves too. I also hold doors open for people too still.