What were you not allowed to do as a child because it 'wasn't nice'?

No elbows on the table
Play with some of the children in my street ( if only my mum knew!!!)
I was encouraged to be friends with girls whose parents were "professional" - teachers, dentists, managers or even office workers - not in touch with any of them now!
Show off - can remember going to a pantomime in my early teens and was joining in with the "Oh no he didn't etc" when I felt a tap on my arm - mother was sitting a couple of seats down and she had reached over - I was told to "Stop it, you're showing off" and had to sit through the rest of the pantomime saying nothing, with my hands in my lap!

I was not allowed a Crombie coat back in the early 70s when I was 13. I had to wear a green duffle coat instead. I was distraught. Also I wanted loafer shoes. I had Clarks lace ups and I was used during a domestic science lesson as an example of someone wearing 'sensible' shoes!! 47 years later I still remember the humiliation!

Watch Grange Hill, eat in public, sit on anything cold incase I got piles

Not allowed to lick the back of my spoon. ..very rude. Now I do it every morning with my breakfast...just cos I can!

Not allowed to eat in the street, or eat food with fingers if it should be eaten with a knife and fork....not allowed to say Shut up!

Listen to Tom Jones. He was "Rude!" according to my Calvinist-minded dad.

My husband was told as a child to always leave a little food on his plate as a sign that he’d had sufficient, but didn’t want more. He does it even now at the age of 67 and it drives me mad! Just eat it, it just goes in the bin otherwise! How strangely ingrained these childhood rules are.

All the above applied to my upbringing
Even the knickers !
No wonder I’m now a wild, purple wearing 76 yr old I have years to make up for !!!!

Not allowed to interrupt when an adult was speaking
Not allowed to "answer back"
Not allowed to wear jeans
Not allowed to wear shoes in any colour except brown (I loathe brown shoes to this day!)
Not allowed knee socks in any co!our except a dismal beige
Not allowed to play in the street
Not allowed to have a scooter - because it would wear out one shoe before the other, apparently
Not allowed roller skates because the weight of them would pull my shoes to pieces. Huh?
Not allowed to shout and scream when playing outside
Not to go out without my hideous, hand knitted bonnet in winter. It lasted for years and I tried so hard to lose that garment!
Not allowed to grow my hair because it would "pull the curl out".

So many rules and regulations and yet, somehow, we got through the minefield of forbidden things and turned into (fairly) sensible adults.

I wasn't allowed to do a lot of things and thinking about it it's a miracle I didn't end up a nervous wreck----in case I did or said something I shouldn't.
I had to use the word fibs too, MissAdventure, among others.

Not allowed to eat in the street
Not to wear denim

I am sure there were many more, just can't think of them at the moment.

No eating in the street.
No pierced ears.
No washing of laundry on a Sunday.

[gasp] knife in mouth
Talk with your mouth full
Elbows on table
None of those were polite (or are still)
Get down from the table before waiting the required 5 or 10 minutes after finishing a meal to let it go down, and asking nicely.

no ears pierced - mum hated it and said (so sorry, but another era) it was for gipsies.

using cutlery 'wrongly' and putting knife in mouth, or elbows on table

no swearing in our house!

I was not allowed to read Peyton Place - I found a copy hidden under my mum's pillow when I was about 14 and went to make their bed.

It was definitely not nice!

grannyactivist I wasn't allowed to whistle either, apparently 'a whistling woman and a crowing hen is neither fit for God nor men'!
Speak in the local dialect
Have my ears pierced (I didn't want to anyway)
Never put a milk bottle or bread knife on the table
Read all the notices on the bus in a loud voice

Such things were considered 'common'
Reading in a poor light would 'strain your eyes'
Definitely no eating in school uniform in the street but that was a school rule and incurred punishment.

never to drink straight from a milkbottle and always to put milk into a jug when laying the table. No trousers when young, not what nice girls wore in my mums era and that carried on to young teenage

The only one I can remember was not to bite my nails because bitten nails don't look nice.

Oh yes - and no short skirts or turned up jeans.

We would get a right rollicking from our Dad if we made a noise walking about upstairs. And also for not wearing slippers in the house, as "Mummy has to wash and iron those socks". He gave me a belting once but I can't remember what for. It was a given that we spoke nicely, didn't swear, and didn't say "different to".

Not allowed knee length white socks...they were “common”?
Not showing off went along with not being praised or cuddled which has left me well known for putting myself down...and I tell my C and GC how wonderful they are and cuddle them constantly

I wasn't allowed to get my ears pierced either but went ahead anyway when I was about 14 (always a rebel!) My teacher called me a tart and a gypsy - imagine that now!

I was always told it was rude to point

No eating in the street (or smoking when I was older)

No swearing. I wasn't even allowed to say bonkers!

Couldn't call for friends to play on a Sunday

Roughly 'all of the above' really (as Mum had OCD and a personality disorder). She demanded all of the attention so we were never to interrupt.

The worst thing was not being allowed to 'get down' from the dinner table without permission. Oh, the hours spent there, waiting while she held court, listening to the mind-numbingly boring little details of her day, the tales of how she'd got the better of a shop assistant, got a discount, put someone right about their attitude or opinions - it was all about winning (putting others down to gain status - in her twisted mind).

I'd sit there yawning away with my siblings, watching my poor Dad trying to appear interested and paying attention until, at last, we were released from the agony!

We were not allowed to play with the 'wrong' kids from the other (not posh) side of the tracks or ever be anything like her (she was very vain, attention seeking) - in fact, we were to be but quiet little shadows. Of course, when out of sight, we took no notice!

I can only think of 3 things that I was told not to do.
Don't tell Mrs Hobbs ( the Salvation Army lady that looked after us) that we went to Saturday morning and afternoon pictures, or, that we went to the working men's club Saturday night.
Don't play with the boys when my periods started.

As we got older, 13/14? Told not to play with Janis. In fairness to my mum, Janis did have 2 children before she left school ? But I ignored my mum because Janis was so much fun ?

I wasn’t allowed to have pierced ears, and in my mother’s opinion the following things are common and therefore I wasn’t allowed to, wear flip flops, eat while walking in the street, raise my voice to have conversation with someone else on the other side of the house, eat coleslaw (my mother referred to it as ‘white trash’ salad, the list goes on....