Ridiculous things your parents criticize you about

[siamesecat2965]

...    I also had to fudge on clothing size; she was very generous and would sometimes buy me clothes for work, if she liked something, and I did too. But i could never tell her what size it was, say a 14 rather than a 10 or 12, as that wouldn't do at all, due to her ideas about weight etc.

Actually, you probably really weren't fudging on size.  A long time ago, if you wore a size 10, you wore a size 10.  It didn't matter what store you bought it at, it was a size 10. 

About 15 years ago I began noticing a very obvious and distinct difference in sizes (as labeled).  Moderately priced clothes might be a size 10.  But in extremely inexpensive clothes a size 10 might be tight, so one would need a 12.  But if you went the other direction and bought anything from Le Expensive Exclusive Boutique, you might find that a size 6 fits exactly like your size 10s. 

So all you could do was guess "about what size", right?   

True, but what I meant was she would question "what size did you buy?" and rather than say I bought x size, say 14, instead of the 10/12 she THOUGHT I should be wearing, I'd fib and say oh i bought a 12.

[Liliane]

She turned to me and, very accusingly, asked me why I'd spent so much money and how could I POSSIBLY rationalize spending that much and really why was I even allowed to have money anyway if I couldn't be responsible with it?

I wish I'd thought to turn around, go back to the store and return the tablet, but I was just too shocked and upset. *sigh* And I do use it, so it was worth it, but...first she encouraged me to buy it, then tore into me for buying it? I don't get it.

Wow, Liliane, this is really. . . . bizarre.  btw I would never consider turning around returning it.  It IS your money.  If you want to roll up $200 and set it on fire, that's your business.

That was my thought, it was incredibly bizarre! I'm pretty sure it just came from a place of motherly worry ("what will you do in an emergency if you spend all your money?") but just came out wrong...

[veronaz]

From my mother: Coloring your hair is lying to the world.

Using that logic, so is wearing false eyelashes, any type of hair piece, Spanx, and having capped teeth.

[gramma dishes]

From my mother: Coloring your hair is lying to the world.

Using that logic, so is wearing false eyelashes, any type of hair piece, Spanx, and having capped teeth.

Padded bra?

[rain]

this isn't mine, but from the grandfather (he is in his 60's) of one of my son's friends

he was complaining that HIS mom (80's) still told him how he should have his hair cut   

[gramma dishes]

...    I also had to fudge on clothing size; she was very generous and would sometimes buy me clothes for work, if she liked something, and I did too. But i could never tell her what size it was, say a 14 rather than a 10 or 12, as that wouldn't do at all, due to her ideas about weight etc.

Actually, you probably really weren't fudging on size.  A long time ago, if you wore a size 10, you wore a size 10.  It didn't matter what store you bought it at, it was a size 10. 

About 15 years ago I began noticing a very obvious and distinct difference in sizes (as labeled).  Moderately priced clothes might be a size 10.  But in extremely inexpensive clothes a size 10 might be tight, so one would need a 12.  But if you went the other direction and bought anything from Le Expensive Exclusive Boutique, you might find that a size 6 fits exactly like your size 10s. 

So all you could do was guess "about what size", right?   

True, but what I meant was she would question "what size did you buy?" and rather than say I bought x size, say 14, instead of the 10/12 she THOUGHT I should be wearing, I'd fib and say oh i bought a 12.

Exactly!  But you bought an outfit that was LABELED size 14 in the store in which you found it.  Had you bought a similar dress in a ritzier place, it would have been labeled a 10 or a 12.  So you weren't lying!  Not at all.  You just didn't notice which particular labeling system applied to the particular dress you bought, that's all.   It would have been a 12 somewhere!   

[veronaz]

Padded bra?

Yep!  (but, umm, I don't need one....trust me  )

[Lorelei_Evil]

Do your hair!

Stop coloring your hair!

You're too old to have long hair!

(Stuff it, Ma.). I didn't inherit her hair.

From my mother: Coloring your hair is lying to the world.

Oh yes.  Now that I'm "too old to get married and have a family" coloring my hair is "trolling for sex with somebody else's husband".  I want to know what TV shows she's been watching!

[mbbored]

From my mother: Coloring your hair is lying to the world.

Using that logic, so is wearing false eyelashes, any type of hair piece, Spanx, and having capped teeth.

Padded bra?

Also, in my mother's world: any make-up beyond lipstick. Why lipstick isn't lying to the world, I don't know.

As for the bras, she thinks mine make my chest look "too showy." Not the bras themselves but the shape they give to me. I'm very sorry, mother, but wearing a smaller cup size isn't going to magically make the girls shrink.

[Optimoose Prime]

Do your hair!

Stop coloring your hair!

You're too old to have long hair!

(Stuff it, Ma.). I didn't inherit her hair.

From my mother: Coloring your hair is lying to the world.

Oh yes.  Now that I'm "too old to get married and have a family" coloring my hair is "trolling for sex with somebody else's husband".  I want to know what TV shows she's been watching!

Apparently soap operas.

[Venus193]

My mother criticized the hell out of me but the biggest shock was the bra size.   She once got on my case to lose weight so my breasts would shrink.

This from a woman who wore the horrible rubber padded bras in the 50s and early 60s.

[Lorelei_Evil]

Do your hair!

Stop coloring your hair!

You're too old to have long hair!

(Stuff it, Ma.). I didn't inherit her hair.

From my mother: Coloring your hair is lying to the world.

Oh yes.  Now that I'm "too old to get married and have a family" coloring my hair is "trolling for sex with somebody else's husband".  I want to know what TV shows she's been watching!

Apparently soap operas.

You may be on to something there.

[Thipu1]

MIL also used to advise me on clothes.  To be precise, she thinks my color combinations are too 'Modern'.   

Somewhere along the line, she took a seminar about dressing according to 'natural seasons'.  Because I am a 'Winter Person', my strong colors should be navy blue or dark green.  I should wear lots of white and my accent colors should be light green and baby blue.  On no account should I ever wear anything smacking of red, yellow or orange. Forget about purple.   

She hasn't pulled this up in a while but it was a real bone of contention for several years. 

It was especially annoying since my own mother refused to let me wear any colors other than blue and white until I was seven.  Even black or brown shoes were verboten.   

[Cami]

MIL also used to advise me on clothes.  To be precise, she thinks my color combinations are too 'Modern'.   

Somewhere along the line, she took a seminar about dressing according to 'natural seasons'.  Because I am a 'Winter Person', my strong colors should be navy blue or dark green.  I should wear lots of white and my accent colors should be light green and baby blue.  On no account should I ever wear anything smacking of red, yellow or orange. Forget about purple.   

She hasn't pulled this up in a while but it was a real bone of contention for several years. 

It was especially annoying since my own mother refused to let me wear any colors other than blue and white until I was seven.  Even black or brown shoes were verboten.

That's actually totally wrong for a Winter. Winters should wear bright, strong colors...like red, purple, yellow and orange. As an example, see the post here about Winters: http://personalitycafe.com/general-chat/37461-what-your-color-season-spring-summer-autumn-winter-fun.html

[PastryGoddess]

I remember the whole seasonal thing, but I think I may have been a smidge too young to really pay attention to it.  I remember being in middle and high school  and hearing about dressing and wearing makeup for your "season" but by the time I really started to pay attention in college, I didn't hear much about it anymore