Strict? Probably just damaged and mean.
No rules spring to mind, just what I thought was normal until I was about 10.

Mother: World beating guilt merchant with a nice sideline in obsessive compulsion. More than once had me take off my 'filthy' school uniform on the driveway to be placed in a bag for safe transference to the washing machine so's not to contaminate the house. We lived on the road most people used to walk home from school... Washed car and door keys (as they'd been OUTSIDE!) amongst other plainly paranoid things. Obviously this didn't really leave any room for having friends round the house. Once yelled at me for having the radio on when sent to my room for punishment only to find her lonely 9 year old son having an animated conversation with himself. Didn't see the signs and managed to pass on a inconvenient amount of her loopiness.

Father: Prone to violent outbursts and rages and tighter than a gnats arse. While not being at all poor, the washer was only allowed on once a week and then on the economy 7. Same weekly routine with baths until early teens. Showers not allowed unless on aformentioned economy 7. Instigated garden chores that mean't I got covered in grass cuttings setting off mother. Once, on the account of a few bits of grass, mum wound dad up so much he shook my sister by her ankles until the strap on her dungerees broke, depositing her head first on the floor. It was, according to my spent, post-row parents, my fault.

As you can see, it was bit difficult to please them both at the same time and I revelled in my time away from the house, although it took me a few years to work out that the strange sensation I was feeling was relaxation. Now me and sis have both left the 'nest', both parents seem much happier with less to disrupt their routines/co-dependencies. Somehow, they've managed to reconcile the "you're dirty!" / "don't wash!" paradox that I never could.

Strangely, we could watch ITV whenever liked.
(impostercat, Sat 10 Mar 2007, 5:03, Reply)