Anonymous
Post 04/30/2025 19:49     Subject: Re:Gross Things Your Parents Did
Anonymous wrote:My parents did not wash their hands enough. Like they often prepared food or ate food with their hands without washing their hands first, and I only started doing this as an adult when I realized it was unsanitary. They did wash their hands after the bathroom, but otherwise were pretty loose with it.

We also wore shoes in the house and now that seems disgusting to me.

My dad would pick his teeth with a toothpick or sometimes with his fingernails after certain meals. But that I knew was gross -- my mom would give him a hard time about it and ask him to leave the table. Ironically, I have more sympathy for my dad about this now because I have similar teeth and have discovered in middle age that I am very prone to getting things stuck between my teeth during meals. But I excuse myself and take care of it in private, and also carry flossers in my purse for this purpose.

That's it though. I actually don't think this is is terrible. My parents both grew up quite poor, in huge families with minimal parenting. I grew up middle class and it's not surprising there were some manners deficits given their backgrounds. I actually think they did really well considering they really had to work at it. Moving up classes is challenging and requires a lot of attention to detail and and discipline. I didn't appreciate how much my parents had to do to transcend their backgrounds until I was much older.


My parents both grew up quite poor, too, but their parents made it clear that money/wealth had no bearing on manners. My grandmother lived in a house in Ireland with no running water but had impeccable manners. I've met billionaires who are incredibly gauche. I don't think there's a 1:1...
Anonymous
Post 04/30/2025 18:25     Subject: Gross Things Your Parents Did
Anonymous wrote:My mom would always lick her finger and use it to clean our faces.

I have never once done that to my kids.


This was my first thought when I saw the thread title. So gross!
Anonymous
Post 04/30/2025 18:15     Subject: Gross Things Your Parents Did
Smoking. And not washing hands as often as we do now. It's kind of a miracle we never had food poisoning/salmonella/ecoli in our house. Like, I don't think she disinfected the counter/faucet after opening raw chicken or touching the faucet with her raw chicken hands. Stuff like that.
Anonymous
Post 04/30/2025 18:14     Subject: Re:Gross Things Your Parents Did
My parents did not wash their hands enough. Like they often prepared food or ate food with their hands without washing their hands first, and I only started doing this as an adult when I realized it was unsanitary. They did wash their hands after the bathroom, but otherwise were pretty loose with it.

We also wore shoes in the house and now that seems disgusting to me.

My dad would pick his teeth with a toothpick or sometimes with his fingernails after certain meals. But that I knew was gross -- my mom would give him a hard time about it and ask him to leave the table. Ironically, I have more sympathy for my dad about this now because I have similar teeth and have discovered in middle age that I am very prone to getting things stuck between my teeth during meals. But I excuse myself and take care of it in private, and also carry flossers in my purse for this purpose.

That's it though. I actually don't think this is is terrible. My parents both grew up quite poor, in huge families with minimal parenting. I grew up middle class and it's not surprising there were some manners deficits given their backgrounds. I actually think they did really well considering they really had to work at it. Moving up classes is challenging and requires a lot of attention to detail and and discipline. I didn't appreciate how much my parents had to do to transcend their backgrounds until I was much older.
Anonymous
Post 04/30/2025 18:02     Subject: Gross Things Your Parents Did
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:My mom would burp often as she got older, most the time with an open mouth. Now DH is doing it and it's not attractive.


My mother thought farting was funny. And did not hesitate to do it, even at the dinner table. NOT cute.


I'm a woman and don't do it around company or at a dinner table, but farting is as natural as talking. You're the weird one.

Read what she wrote. Everybody knows it's natural, but not everyone does it at the dinner table.
You're weird to take what she wrote the way you did.
Anonymous
Post 04/30/2025 17:54     Subject: Gross Things Your Parents Did
Let the dog lick plates and cutting board if we had steak
Not wash hands after handling raw meat
Never throw away sponges
Bar soap in the kitchen

…and yet, they are in their 90s and still alive, so who knows?
Anonymous
Post 04/30/2025 17:52     Subject: Gross Things Your Parents Did
Drove us home from parties after too many drinks.
Anonymous
Post 04/30/2025 17:50     Subject: Gross Things Your Parents Did
Nothing gross or unhealthy about not showering every day.
Anonymous
Post 04/30/2025 17:43     Subject: Gross Things Your Parents Did
Anonymous wrote:Dad would pour Hawaiian Punch into his beer. This is a man who was raised in Germany with German parents, for Pete's sake!


I lived in Germany and they frequently mixed beer and champagne and it was very good.
Anonymous
Post 04/30/2025 17:26     Subject: Gross Things Your Parents Did
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:not my parents but my kids talk about us.
-My husband occasionally uses my bath water.
-He licks his plate with his finger.
-He uses grocery bags as dental floss.
-We make travel arrangements and to get the cheapest flight, sometimes have to roll into town at 4 am and then work that day.


How does one do this?


you use the plastic handle and put it between your teeth. He says it gets the stuff his dental floss doesn't.
I suspect he's got some unmedicated OCD.
I'm not a germaphobe. But the sound it makes is awful.


I am the furthest thing from a germaphobe but that is absolutely disgusting. The plastic bag handle that has been who knows where. Has he never heard of a waterpik?


I’m done arguing with him about it.
Anonymous
Post 04/30/2025 17:26     Subject: Gross Things Your Parents Did
My dad didn’t have deodorant and used a chewed stick to brush his teeth until he went to the Army. He grew up rural and they didn’t have things like that. He had one pair of shoes for winter, so ran cattle barefoot all summer.

He loved apples, and still has teeth because he ate them daily and they clean your teeth pretty well naturally.

I have been helping slaughter and process animals since I was around 5. It’s just what you do on a farm.
Anonymous
Post 04/30/2025 17:21     Subject: Gross Things Your Parents Did
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:not my parents but my kids talk about us.
-My husband occasionally uses my bath water.
-He licks his plate with his finger.
-He uses grocery bags as dental floss.
-We make travel arrangements and to get the cheapest flight, sometimes have to roll into town at 4 am and then work that day.


How does one do this?


you use the plastic handle and put it between your teeth. He says it gets the stuff his dental floss doesn't.
I suspect he's got some unmedicated OCD.
I'm not a germaphobe. But the sound it makes is awful.


I am the furthest thing from a germaphobe but that is absolutely disgusting. The plastic bag handle that has been who knows where. Has he never heard of a waterpik?
Anonymous
Post 04/30/2025 17:18     Subject: Gross Things Your Parents Did
Anonymous wrote:I grew up pretty WT. We actually lived in a 50ft trailer home on the outskirts of a small town. My stepdad was often drinking or drunk. On those nights, he and my mom were either fighting or f**king. On the nights they weren’t fighting the whole trailer home would rock and creak and you could hear skin slapping sometimes, etc. I’ve never told anyone about this. Lol.


This sounds like the beginning of a movie. 8 Mile, or something similar.
Anonymous
Post 04/30/2025 17:17     Subject: Gross Things Your Parents Did
Anonymous wrote:My mother never did anything gross. She was always proper. My father chewed with his mouth open.

We are way grosser today than in recent generations. There were so many rules that governed behavior and most things were taboo.


Were your parents born in the Downton Abbey days? I don't think as a society we're more gross than recent generations. Some people choose to not care about grossing people out.
Anonymous
Post 04/30/2025 17:08     Subject: Gross Things Your Parents Did
My mother still offers me her used bath water. We used to bathe in series- Mom, me, brother. Whatever. We weren’t any sicker back when we were less hygienic. And yes I wash my hands after using the toilet.