Civilizing details that you missed during childhood- share here

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Didn’t know how to clean a toilet

Also didn’t know about pillow covers or mattress pads

Unfamiliar with fresh fruit, such as kiwi

Had never known people who grew food so that blew my mind

Would not have known a good versus bad wine to save my life

So much more.

I assume it’s from neglectful parenting or perhaps lower SES or parent mental issues.

Yes this. If at least one parent didn’t narrate life or teach life skills when they were happening, you wouldn’t know these things.

That or your butler did everything.

[Anonymous]

No one in my family ever used a fork and knife to eat (fork in the left hand, knife in the right). We just ate with forks in our dominant hand, and eating Euro-style is very unnatural and fancy to me.

I didn’t know we’re supposed to send a thank you note after receiving a gift.

I thought meat should always be very, very well done.

[Anonymous]

Bikini line hair removal. Very embarrassing to find that everyone else knows to remove this.

[Anonymous]

Not knowing to leave a tip for hotel maids. As a kid we did a lot of camping on our vacations and rarely stayed in hotels.

[Anonymous]

I’m surprised people didn’t know to wash hands after using the bathroom. I thought they taught this in preschool/elementary school.

[Anonymous]

I didn't know there was a difference between an engagement ring and a wedding ring.
Thank you notes were non-existent in my household.
White shoes all year round - Labor Day and Memorial Day were not fashion bookmarks.

[Anonymous]

I grew up being the only person in my family using a washcloth, which I called "my emergency washcloth" and was carefully laid on the side of the tub for if/when I got soap or shampoo in my eyes. Otherwise they weren't ever used. I still don't use them.

The no soap at the sink thing is weird. I always start prepping a meal by washing my hands with soap.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not knowing to leave a tip for hotel maids. As a kid we did a lot of camping on our vacations and rarely stayed in hotels.

I stayed in hotels here and there, and we never left tips for maids.

[Anonymous]

I grew up in a household where nobody flossed. Ever. Like, it was my job to dust the house, and I literally dusted off dust from the same box of dental floss for over 15 years.

Our dog got groomed once a year. We never bathed her at home. We didn't really brush her. I was shocked as an adult to find out people get their dogs bathed every 2-6 weeks! And groomed several times a year.

[Anonymous]

I have a good one. We got a dog when I was 14 or 15. It mostly stayed in our yard but twice a year or so my mom would take it for a walk at a park on a leash. If the dog did #2, she wouldn’t bring bags with her and disgusted by the idea of picking it up. Instead she would just start running away as fast as she could.

I was horrified the first time she did this with me. The second time, I brought a plastic grocery bag but she made me run because she said it was disgusting to pick up dog poop.

I have my own dog now and have many bags on me at all times just in case. I don’t even leave dog poop in the yard for more than a minute or two.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I grew up in a household where nobody flossed. Ever. Like, it was my job to dust the house, and I literally dusted off dust from the same box of dental floss for over 15 years.

Our dog got groomed once a year. We never bathed her at home. We didn't really brush her. I was shocked as an adult to find out people get their dogs bathed every 2-6 weeks! And groomed several times a year.

Only poodles and doodles need regular grooming, because they don't shed but instead their fur grows. Other breeds don't. Ideally, some breeds should be bathed infrequently, or never, for skin health.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I grew up in a household where nobody flossed. Ever. Like, it was my job to dust the house, and I literally dusted off dust from the same box of dental floss for over 15 years.

Our dog got groomed once a year. We never bathed her at home. We didn't really brush her. I was shocked as an adult to find out people get their dogs bathed every 2-6 weeks! And groomed several times a year.

Only poodles and doodles need regular grooming, because they don't shed but instead their fur grows. Other breeds don't. Ideally, some breeds should be bathed infrequently, or never, for skin health.

You're wrong. There are lots of other breeds that also don't shed, and we had one of those. I assure you, she needed grooming and bathing more than the once a year she got.

[Anonymous]

My mom is an extremely picky eater and would tell us things were gross and not to try them. I can think of only a handful of things my mom would eat and thus feed us. We also had no table manners and were taught if we were invited somewhere to ask what they were serving and to decline if it was “gross”. It took a lot of time to build my palate.

[Anonymous]

The name on the birthday cake is saved and eaten by the birthday girl/boy.

Ask before you eat someone else’s leftovers - Some households are all for one, one for all and anyone can eat anyone else’s food

Another birthday cake one was everyone cringes when cutting the face on photo cakes in my childhood home. You don’t just go to chopping at the face first. That should also be saved for birthday girl/ boy thinking of it.

[Anonymous]

You know how at a private school or fancy college or alumni event there will be a table where it’s understood and implied that each family will take one thing and that there’s enough for all of the sets of parents expected in attendance, but no one has to be so crass as to spell it out or keep track?

Mine didn’t understand that and repeatedly took all the things and would then send them to all of our relatives. Imagine a table of 30 mugs, and one family takes everything and in their mind it’s like “perfect, one for all of the cousins!”. I think the staff or volunteers must have been too stunned to correct them.

I didn’t know the first time, I found out after the second time, and by the third time my siblings had to run interference. Dead just thinking of it.