I don’t remember having anything like that in my family. My younger sister and brothers might have, but I was not one to push the limits, so my parents really didn’t have to do much to keep me in line. At least, not until I went to college in the mid-sixties…but that’s another story altogether.
At 18 I pierced my own ears, secretly, after everyone was in bed, and didn’t ask first. There was no rule in place because such a thing had never even occurred to my parents. They would have said no, though, probably no matter how old I was.
In bringing up my own kids, it was more behavioral than arbitrary:
• (once they were in school) You can stay up as late as you want, just so long as you can get up in time for school.
• You can’t say that word until you understand what it means and also what effect it has when people hear you say it.
• You can have a raise in allowance when you write down how much you want and why you think you should get it.
This pertained mainly to privileges. Some other things were more restrictive, some less so.