What did you grow up doing that you thought everybody did?

[AmyJ of Ca]

My Dad used to make us bananas cut up in a bowl with sour cream and sugar on them. Haven't had it in years...it was pretty good but he also used to make us sardine sandwiches...not so good

 

[binny]

ohhh I thought of another one.

In the summer for a treat my mom would serve us Waffles with Ice Cream and fresh fruit for dinner

Still one of my favourites.

DH says "you cant eat ice cream for dinner"

Of course you can! My mom served it it MUST be ok!

 

[dianeschlicht]

Salt on melon.
Salt on grapefruit.
Cinnamon in potatoes.
Fresh onion sandwiches. YUM!!!

 

[AnaheimGirl]

I thought everybody took their underwear off before putting on their pajamas at night, until I went on a sleepover and I was the only one of about 10 girls who was commando under my jammies!

I also thought no one had to do chores around the house. My mom grew up during WWII with a single mom and she had to do most of the housework and cooking. She felt she never really had a childhood and wanted her kids' childhoods to be different, so she rarely had us help out.

We ate cereal with no sugar on it. I remember being baffled the first time I saw a friend's family sprinkling sugar on top of their (already sweetened) cereal. We still don't do it in our house -- waaaayy too sweet for me!

We made "grilled" cheese sandwiches with no grilling. Mom would just toast two pieces of bread, lay a piece of cheese on one of them, put in under the broiler until it melted, and voila -- grilled cheese sandwich. I never realized most people made them with butter in a pan until I was in college and made them with friends. Now I that I know what I was missing, I make them in the pan!

Oh, and our pediatrician still recommends jello water to keep sick kids hydrated.

 

[sha_lyn]

Salt on melon.
Salt on grapefruit.

LOL at all the post about salt.
Yep my grandmother would put salt on anything that stayed still long enough
Salt and pepper on tomatoes, cucumbers, cantaloupe
salt on citrus fruits, watermelon, apples etc

 

[UrsulasMyHero]

We had a habit in my house: changing into your PJ's as soon as you got home because it was more comfortable.
One time I had someone drop by at around 6pm and they said, "Why are you in your PJ's already? Are you sick?" LOL

Same here, I get out of my clothes the minute the door is shut. Hate being dressed at home, though mostly I just wear a sarong. It's much more comfortable than having actual garmentry on.

Cheese toast for us was white bread, with butter, then garlic and parmesan from the sprinkle can, with maybe some cheddar on top, then broiled!

 

[CookieGVB]

I used to pull apart Oreo cookies, eat the cream inside, and put the cookies in milk. Mushed them bad boys up, and ate 'em with a spoon. Mmmmm!

French toast, waffles and pancakes - always with butter & sugar - not syrup.

My mother used to make tuna salad and spaghetti for dinner on Fridays. Tasted great mixed together (once I convinced my mother to stop mixing the tuna salad with lettuce...ew...limp lettuce)

Always put our fries on our McDonald's (or Burger King) hamburger (but never on a home-made burger).

Potato chips on tuna salad sandwiches.

Cream cheese & jelly sandwiches.

 

[mickeymousemom]

I haven't read all the replies yet, but here's mine...

I grew up putting salt on cantaloupe, watermelon, and sometimes apples..I thought everyone did this.

I also put peanut butter on my French toast and pancakes(along with the syrup). I also assumed alot of people did this.


I grew up an only child and always got LOTS of Christmas presents. I could never understand why some of my friends got less than I did.

I never had to do any chores. My mom worked full time and made my bed, cleaned up my bedroom, etc. Our house was immaculate. I am SO not like that now. My kids have chores, but growing up I thought everyone's moms did it all!

Okay..adding more here....I also thought everyone ate REAL mashed potatoes.

AND...just saw the sugar on the tomatoes thing down below...my grandpa did that ALL the time, and I wanted to be like him so I did it too. I loved it and still do it occasionally.

I'veseen alot of people mention the ketchup and mustard on hot dogs thing. I know the "right" thing is to put either mustard on it, or do it up Chicago style, but around here everyone DOES put ketchup and mustard on their hotdogs!

When I was little my mom and grandma used to(when I was sick) rub Vick's all over my chest and neck and then wrap a big white sock around my neck and fasten it with a safety pin. I thought it was a normal thing. To this day, the smell of Vick's Mentholatum is the epitome of comfort to me!

Okay..final add in, I think...

I STILL leave leftover pizza out. i put it in the oven. Oddly enough, if its in the middle of summer and really hot, I put it in the fridge. Oh well.

 

[mickeymousemom]

I had never heard of Taylor Ham until I saw a show about it on the Food Network last week. They said it was a regional thing in NJ. It looks like something I would like, but I don't have any plans to go to NJ and probably never will.

You beat me to it. I also saw that show and was going to post! When I saw the previews before the commercial I thought they were going to talk about bologna, but it ended being the Taylor ham!

 

[imageid]

We put sugar on tomato slices! DH gets totally grossed out!
My mom puts shredded carrots in meatloaf

 

[liamsaunt]

I remember drinking the warm "jello water" too.

Let's see...Dsis and I used to butter our fig newtons.

DH still loves mooshed up graham crackers with milk on them. I think it is weird, but he likes it, so...
Odd foods I liked as a child that I would not eat now: sardines right out of the tin--I would eat the whole can. Pan-fried scrapple. That was before I knew what was in it!!

 

[sha_lyn]

never had to do any chores. My mom worked full time and made my bed, cleaned up my bedroom, etc. Our house was immaculate. I am SO not like that now. My kids have chores, but growing up I thought everyone's moms did it all!

My mom didn't work full time (but did usually have some type of part time job, or was in night school to get her GED) and I never had chores. Growning up (say up until 4th grade of so)I thought only "latch key kids" rode the bus and was shocked when friends said their moms were at home when they got off the bus. I couldn't understand why their moms didn't pick them up like mine did.

 

[FionaLovesShrek]

Fellow Ketchup on Taco friends UNITE!!!! he he. I do this too-my husband thinks I'm strange. Hey! I like it-leave me alone. I like salsa, too but I grew up with ketchup.
Another thing I grew up with-my family always took a one week vacation together at the beach or the mountains. When I get talking friends now, it seems like there are many that did not grow up doing this.
I was very lucky!

I grew up eating ketchup on tacos too! Anybody else grow up in California? Now that I'm grown, I still like it, but my family thinks it's gross, so I don't do it much.

 

[FionaLovesShrek]

I forgot to add we also ate white rice with butter and sugar in it, yum! DH thinks that is awful and won't even try it I've made a believer out of DD
I also believed that sick kids always got aspirin crushed up and mixed with sugar and a little milk. Gotta love our moms!

 

[AnaheimGirl]

I grew up eating ketchup on tacos too! Anybody else grow up in California? Now that I'm grown, I still like it, but my family thinks it's gross, so I don't do it much.

I grew up in California, but never heard of anyone putting ketchup on tacos. Were you in Northern or Southern Cal? I think we were too close to Mexico to not use salsa on a taco.

Hmm, that reminds me of another one... we used salsa as salad dressing sometimes, and I found that's considered quite strange here in Colorado.

 

[Mickey Fanatic]

The one thing that popped into my mind immediately was...we mixed our Heinz baked beans in our mashed potatoes. I did this at work one night and everyone thought that I was cracked. Seems normal to me!

 

[mbw12]

Growing up I thought everyone rented a summer house at the Jersey shore, I thought every family ate dinner at 5:00 PM, I thought all kids had a specific bedtime
I thought everyone ate grilled cheese and tomato soup when it snowed.
I thought everyone ate peanut butter and pickle sandwiches, I had no idea that kids had chores to do, I thought all parents had a once a week date night, I thought everyone knew how to swim.

I am sure I will come up with more...those are just the few quickest that came to my head!!!!

 

[shoes99]

On meatless Fridays at our house we would eat:
creamed tunafish on toast (made with mushroom soup & tuna)
fish sticks and macaroni & cheese
cabbage & dumplings
creamed potato soup by Campbells frozen (in a can)
homemade hungarian pancakes (palacsinta) with prune butter (now called crepes)
and I almost forgot,
Friday night at 10PM we would have thin crust pizza from a local bar that my father would bring home after his second job.

 

[HoneyPooh]

Taylor Ham? We never called it anything but Taylor Porkroll Yummmyyyy!!!!!!!!

 

[Strawberry Lemonade]

I grew up putting butter on everything: saltines, spaghetti (there is no better meal than buttered spaghetti - no sauce), potatoes, vegetables, rice (but with salt, not sugar).

Which reminds me that we salted a lot, too. Especially corn, potatoes, and eggs. I love salt on raw cucumber slices. There are a few places (my in-laws come to mind) where I ALWAYS have to ask for the salt since they don't think to set it out with the meal.

My mother leaves her butter out - she doesn't refrigerate it when she's not using it. We never got sick from that. DH thought I was trying to poison him by leaving it out. I hate "hard" butter.