People Describe Things They Thought Were Normal Growing Up, But Later Found Out Were Weird

Mick Jacobs
Updated January 25, 2019 137.4K votes 16.6K voters 331.0K views
Voting Rules
Vote up the strangest behaviors that make you say "huh."

Everyone grows up differently, which means each person learns a ton of weird behaviors that aren't normal outside of their family. Since most parents already developed quirks of their own, it makes sense that their kids normalize weird behavior as they grow up. As awkward family photos also reveal, plenty of children grow up around strange behavior that their families normalized; sometimes it's for the better, but usually it's for the worse. After all, some of the more outrageous behaviors people thought were normal growing up veer into some questionable practices that should have stopped years ago.

As for where it comes from, much of this normalized strange behavior merely stems from dad humor, the birthplace of all your deep-seated insecurities. Others simply come from cultural misunderstandings or misconceptions, which are unfortunately left to the children to figure out for themselves. Plenty of Redditors experienced their own normalized idiosyncrasies, showing that tons of people grew up just like you. Well, sort of; nobody but you eats pasta like that.

  • 1
    4,180 VOTES

    That's A Wrap

    From Redditor /u/startin2stack:

    Wearing saran-wrap around my arms/legs to avoid creams/lotions from rubbing off when I went to school.

    4,180 votes
  • 2
    4,967 VOTES

    Santa Clogged Things - Just Not The Chimney

    From Redditor /u/KingBooScaresYou:

    I'd always go downstairs on Christmas morning after opening all my presents in my parents bedroom, and there would be an unflushed sh*t in the toilet, and every year my mum would be outraged that Santa didn't flush it. Even used fake snow on boots to make it look like he walked in and sat down...

    4,967 votes
  • 3
    4,394 VOTES

    Here Comes Peter Cottontail (Hanging Dead From Dad's Hands)

    From Redditor /u/Charliegirl03:

    My dad tried to 'kill' the Easter bunny every year. He would literally run out into the yard with his gun and take a few shots. Then he would come back inside grumbling about how he would get him next year.

    We thought it was both terrifying and hilarious. I didn't realize how weird it was until I told people about that tradition later in life.

    4,394 votes
  • 4
    2,878 VOTES

    Raising Junkies

    From Redditor /u/beemsam:

    My family used to always say the phrase "wacked on the junk" when I was little. I always thought it just meant acting crazy or silly until one day I was 16 with my mind wandering, and I realized "oh sh*t, that means [you're] on drugs." I confronted my parents about it later and they said, "have you ever seen a toddler say wacked on the junk before? It's hilarious."

    2,878 votes
  • 5
    4,014 VOTES

    Dad's Drive-Thru Vernacular

    From Redditor /u/tsievers:

    My dad never says thank you at the drive thru, it's far too easy and predictable. Instead, he likes to make up words. It essentially amounts to him being handed his bag of food, they say "Have a nice day!", and he replies "ferderber" as he drives away. Straight faced and no looking back. His other go to word is "razzle".

    I didn't realize this was weird until I was around 16.

    4,014 votes
  • 6
    4,624 VOTES

    Addressing The Dress-Up Parties

    From Redditor /u/hulagirl4737:

    We have costume parties for EVERYTHING.

    We recently all dressed up like cowboys because my mom was making [chili].

    4,624 votes