Growing Up With Strict Parents: 17 Relatable Experiences | The Odyssey Online
Start writing a post
Lifestyle

17 Things You Can Only Relate To If You Grew Up With Strict Parents

Sleepovers are not a thing. They're just not.

5832
kid
Janko Ferlic
Do as I say, not as I do.

Your eyes widen in horror as you stare at your phone. Beads of sweat begin to saturate your palm as your fingers tremble in fear. The illuminated screen reads, "Missed Call: Mom."

Growing up with strict parents, you learn that a few things go unsaid. Manners are everything. Never talk back. Do as you're told without question. Most importantly, you develop a system and catch on to these quirks that strict parents have so that you can play their game and do what you want.

1. You only ask things once.

Asking to go to your friends house a second time is futile. In fact, it may make things worse.

2. Seriously, you only ask once.

You don’t get to go out Friday and Saturday, silly child. Choose one.

3. When you do muster up the courage to ask your parents for something, you creep around and wait until they’re in a good mood.

This significantly improves your chances of getting a yes. Pro tip: Doing extra chores helps.

4. Before you get that final yes, you have to go through an interview.

Who are you going with? What time? Where are you going? Who else is going? Who are their parents? Where do they work? How long have they been there?

5. If you ever got “the eye,” you knew you were screwed.

Prepare yourself for a lecture when you get home.

6. You were always the first to leave your group of friends when hanging out.


If you ever want to be able to go out again, you better go home on time.

7. If you say you will be home at a certain time, you better be home at that time.

Calls start coming the minute you’re late.

8. Seeing a missed call from your parents sends fear and horror through your veins.

R.I.P. if you see two or more missed calls.

9. If relatives are coming over to the house, your room better be clean.

Because the one room they will not go in determines the cleanliness of the rest of the house.

10. You are careful about what jokes you share with your parents.

Anything remotely inappropriate results in a 10 second joke turning into a 30 minute lecture.

11. "You’re not an adult until you turn 18! You can do whatever you want then!"

Disclaimer: When you turn 18, it becomes, “My roof, my rules.”

12. If plans change while you’re out, you better text or call.

Don't be that kid that gets caught by their parents driving somewhere they weren't supposed to be.

13. Don’t talk back. Ever.

I don’t care if you were told to hunt down the last unicorn in the world using a pot of gold stolen from the leprechaun at the end of a rainbow. Just do it.

14. When you’re called by your full name, you’re in deep trouble.

Say your prayers.

15. Don’t make them call your name twice.

The second you hear your name being called, drop everything you’re doing and run.

16. Sleepovers are not a thing.

They just aren’t. Why sleep somewhere else when you have a bed at home?

17. Despite all of these things, you know your parents love you.

They might not always show it, but they do.

Report this Content
ross geller
YouTube

As college students, we are all familiar with the horror show that is course registration week. Whether you are an incoming freshman or selecting classes for your last semester, I am certain that you can relate to how traumatic this can be.

1. When course schedules are released and you have a conflict between two required classes.

Bonus points if it is more than two.

Keep Reading...Show less
Featured

Economic Benefits of Higher Wages

Nobody deserves to be living in poverty.

303538
Illistrated image of people crowded with banners to support a cause
StableDiffusion

Raising the minimum wage to a livable wage would not only benefit workers and their families, it would also have positive impacts on the economy and society. Studies have shown that by increasing the minimum wage, poverty and inequality can be reduced by enabling workers to meet their basic needs and reducing income disparities.

I come from a low-income family. A family, like many others in the United States, which has lived paycheck to paycheck. My family and other families in my community have been trying to make ends meet by living on the minimum wage. We are proof that it doesn't work.

Keep Reading...Show less
April Ludgate

Every college student knows and understands the struggle of forcing themselves to continue to care about school. Between the piles of homework, the hours of studying and the painfully long lectures, the desire to dropout is something that is constantly weighing on each and every one of us, but the glimmer of hope at the end of the tunnel helps to keep us motivated. While we are somehow managing to stay enrolled and (semi) alert, that does not mean that our inner-demons aren't telling us otherwise, and who is better to explain inner-demons than the beloved April Ludgate herself? Because of her dark-spirit and lack of filter, April has successfully been able to describe the emotional roller-coaster that is college on at least 13 different occasions and here they are.

Keep Reading...Show less
college
Pinterest

For many undergraduates across the nation, the home stretch has begun. Only one more semester remains in our undergraduate career. Oh, the places we will go! For the majority of college seniors, this is simultaneously the best and worst year out of the past four and here’s why.

1. The classes you are taking are actually difficult.

A schedule full of easy pottery throwing and film courses is merely a myth on the average campus. With all of those prerequisites for the upper-level courses and the never-ending battle you fight each year during registration for limited class seats, senior year brings with it the ability to register for the final courses you need to fulfill your major. Yet, these are not the easy entry level courses. These are the comprehensive, end of major, capstone courses designed to apply the knowledge from all your previous courses, usually in the form of an extensive research paper or engaged learning project. The upside is you actually probably really enjoy these classes but alas there is no room for slackers here.

Keep Reading...Show less
man in black crew neck t-shirt
Photo by Yogendra Singh on Unsplash

1. You're tired of school food and have resorted to surviving off junk food and cereal.

2. Your financial aid/money is running out...and chances are it all went to textbooks and takeout.

Keep Reading...Show less

Subscribe to Our Newsletter

Facebook Comments