There is no such thing as being a ‘perfect’ parent—it’s human to make mistakes. However, some decisions and parenting methods have a far more negative impact than others. And if those mistakes occur frequently enough and pile up, you might hear folks whispering about what a bad parent someone is. Unfortunately, in some cases, that reputation is entirely justified. And these people’s kids are left to deal with the emotional fallout for years and even decades to come.

Redditor u/VastPurpleSky asked people to take a look back at their childhoods and share the things that they now realize were examples of truly bad parenting. Read on for their open and honest stories. 

Bored Panda got in touch with the author of the thread, u/VastPurpleSky, and they shared their thoughts on parenting red and green flags. Read on for our full interview with the OP.

#1

They didn't allow me to go out with my friends at all. I was basically grounded by default. My weekend schedule was jam-packed with various lessons. As a result, I took longer to develop social skills.

Image credits: horny_loki

When it comes to parenting, there’s no one-size-fits-all approach. A lot depends on each individual family, the local culture and customs, and everyone’s relationships with everyone else at home.

So the advice that might help one family become closer might accidentally spark more tension in another. It’s essential to be very careful before making blanket statements about how (not) to raise kids—there are subtle nuances once all the basics (shelter, food, education, emotional support, etc.) are taken care of.

But broadly speaking, according to researchers, there are four main parenting styles, and one of them stands out from the crowd as the best approach.

#2

Made us feel like they were doing us a favor by raising us. For a long time I felt like I was always indebted to my parents and nothing I could do would ever be enough.

Image credits: tsagdiyev

#3

Three words:


"Boys dont cry."




I dedicate this comment to my school counselor and my PE coach who both helped me get off the road to becoming a psychopath by telling me very much so that boys can and do indeed cry.

Image credits: GetOutOfTheWhey

The four parenting styles are authoritative (the one you should aim for), permissive, authoritarian, and uninvolved (aka neglectful). The latter three are the ones that can potentially cause the most issues for kids growing up. For example, authoritarian parents have a “my way or the highway” approach, don’t consider their children’s feelings, and expect them to follow their rules to the letter, without question.

However, this focus on obedience and punishment can lead their kids to develop self-esteem issues or even develop anger problems, Verywell Family notes.

Meanwhile, uninvolved parents expect their kids to raise themselves which can also lead to self-esteem issues further down the line. They tend to ignore their children, how they’re doing at school, and who they’re friends with. They simply don’t spend quality time with their kids or at home. As a result, there are often few rules that need to be followed, and the munchkins don’t get the guidance and attention that they need and want.

#4

my dad trauma dumped all these really dark and twisted details of what he went through on me as if I was his therapist

Image credits: iwilltakeurlife

#5

my dad would always buy my brother and i whatever we wanted if he hit or yelled at us. realizing now that i’m older it was just so we didn’t tell our mom

Image credits: Inevitable_Leek_1622

#6

My parents moved house basically every other year. For them it was a new job, new opportunities … for me it meant regularly losing all my friends, new school, etc. I never built up a circle of friends and have problems to do so until this day.


When I had a kid, I made sure she can go to the same school from kindergarden to the final exams (which start next week, BTW), so she doesn’t have to go through this.


Now she’s very keen on finally getting to know a different environment when she’ll start uni in autumn. Probably she’s around here, complaining that her parents stayed at the same boring place all her life… ;-)

Image credits: saschaleib

Permissive parents, on the other hand, might set some rules but will rarely enforce them. They believe that it’s best to interfere as little as possible in their kids’ development, so they’re very lenient and don’t set healthy boundaries for (in)appropriate behavior. In short, these parents are more like friends than caregivers. And their children may have a lot of issues learning at school, following rules, and listening to authority figures.

Authoritative parents, however, focus on the best aspects of the other styles. They strive to create a balance between rules and support. These parents set and enforce boundaries but also consider what their children think and how they feel about certain situations. What’s more, they explain why it’s necessary to have certain rules: there’s an emphasis on constant, clear communication.

As a result, kids raised in authoritative (rather than authoritarian) households are more likely to grow into responsible, happy, successful adults, who feel fine expressing their opinions and thinking for themselves.

#7

Letting the TV be a babysitter.

Image credits: ShroomerOfCatan

#8

All the weight comments. I was always a chunky kid and definitely needed/need to lose the weight, but I’ve never been able to shake the idea that I don't deserve to be loved, because of those comments. I can always look down and see 50 extra reasons to hate myself

Image credits: sephoraobsessed

#9

Learning at an early age to bottle up emotions and not to show any. No one can hurt you if you don’t feel. Growing up, I was constantly needled about my emotions. I was only child, and at any point I wasn’t acting as they thought I should they’d basically bully and make fun of me until I either broke and cried, to which I’d be disciplined, or just go numb. Now as a adult I’m my mid thirties, I’m emotionally stunted and have a difficult time connecting with anyone emotionally.

Image credits: agentorange360

According to the author, they started up the thread because they were curious about "how others perceive their parents after they've grown up." They also had a more practical reason for asking the question, too.

"I was trying to farm and get to a certain minimum amount of karma, so that I can post on a subreddit. So I wanted to ask something that is relevant to everyone and start a conversation," u/VastPurpleSky told Bored Panda.

According to the OP, the biggest red parenting flag is the neglect of the children's welfare. The redditor shared their thoughts on parenting extremes in Asia, too. According to them, authoritarian parents "expect their child to be the top student in school so that they have better prospects in the future" and also compare their children to other kids.

"I guess it's okay to get the best out of the child, some kids can handle it but for those that can't, the parents have to take a step back and look out for the child's mental well-being. It's a huge red flag when the children feel overwhelmed and the parents are completely oblivious or worse ignore it," the OP said.

#10

Never ever said to me “. I love you”. Seriously, how f****d is that?

Image credits: United_Crew_4554

#11

My family still believes beating a kid is a great form of discipline instead of just sitting down with and talking to your child. Who would’ve thought that Beating your child when they’re young, and barely getting to know them when they’re a teenager, would lead to them almost never reaching out to you when they’ve grown up and moved out? Mind blowing right??


Also, I absolutely CANNOT stress enough how important it is to show up to your child’s extracurricular activities. I played tennis all 4 years of high school and did marching band as well and I can count on 1 hand how many times they even bothered to show up. Your job is never going to remember you worked there, but your child will *always* remember you *weren’t* there.

Image credits: Windebieste_Ultima

#12

Why can't you be like.......?

Image credits: JlTlS

However, some parents choose to be largely uninvolved in how their kids grow up. "In Singapore, there's a high cost of living and bringing up a child costs a lot, hence both parents have to work to support the family," u/VastPurpleSky explained.

"Neglect would cause the child to go astray when they become a teenager, so they might join a gang, purposely get low grades, or create trouble in school to gain the attention of their parents. Personally, I feel that neglect is worse than authoritarian parenting as there's no display of love and lack of attention where the child needs it most."

Meanwhile, redditor u/VastPurpleSky shared their thoughts on what they think are some signs of a great parent. "To me, it's the intention for the child that counts, and the awareness of the child's limitations, not pushing them to meet the expectations of the parents or society. And, of course, love and support from the parents instill confidence in the child," they told Bored Panda.

"Sometimes, kids can be lazy and unwilling to push themselves to become their best version and tend to give up easily, hence the parents are there to help them realize their true potential. [They] push them further to help their children become their best selves."

#13

Buy ramen instead of nutritious food so that they could afford more cigarettes.


Mercilessly mock our insecurities and then say they were "just joking" and that we needed to "toughen up" when we got upset.


Refuse to apply for Medicaid or foodstamps because they weren't "trashy" and let me and my sister go sick/hungry for their pride. (This one makes me extra angry because as an adult now I know they qualified and also my maternal grandparents were well off and could have helped but my mother would rather starve than accept their scrutiny)

Image credits: Odd-Astronaut-92

#14

Laughing at me for various s**t even though they were joking. Music, hobbies, girlfriends, my body. I understand they were joking but it took a lot to get my confidence back and they also wonder why I don't tell them anything about my life.

Image credits: beansff

#15

Giving my brother a present on my birthday.

Image credits: TheDood715

According to the OP, it would be wonderful if parents "are able to gauge their children's ability properly and help them fulfill their aspirations without putting their thoughts and expectations too heavily into them and allow them to grow within their capabilities, and at the same time instill and cultivate good moral values in them."

What's also crucial is that parents have good intentions and show their kids that they love and support them. "Spending time with them and showing up and encouraging them during their time of need is really important!"

However, the redditor pointed out that, at the end of the day, it's hard to say what makes a great parent. "I've heard of people thanking their tiger mom only after they have grown up, and looking back, they can understand why their parents did what they did."

#16

Completely shut down any kind of relationship conversation. It was a blanket "no". Not up for debate. Ok, I grew up in a pretty conservative part of the world but that's not an excuse to treat having a boyfriend as sacrilegious. ( In my all girl's K - 12 school, a student could get expelled for talking to a boy over the school wall. )

Image credits: dee615

#17

Nothing I did was good enough. Like, if she asked me to fold laundry and I'd do it, and then she'd redo it because I guess I folded the towels wrong. I'd clean my room, she'd come in and redo everything I'd done. And she wouldn't teach me how she wanted things done, she'd just send me away and tell me she'd do it herself. Taught me that I shouldn't even bother trying to help because she's just going to redo whatever I did anyway, because I guess I was just a failure.

Image credits: deagh

#18

Read my diary

Image credits: itsdestinfool

#19

responding with "do this because I said so". seems harmless, right? it can teach stubborn kids respect and obedience. My mom would often use it. I wasn't allowed to question things or point out mistakes. Now as an adult, I developed an inferior mindset. I'm often extremely obedient when interacting with people. I find it hard to find my own voice

Image credits: bland-soup

#20

My parents weren’t bad parents but I would say they were kind of benignly neglectful. I was clothed and fed and loved but not guided in any way at all. Everything was up to me. If I did homework, if I brushed my teeth or bathed. if I went to school, applying for college. Luckily I’m pretty naturally a rule follower and self driven or who knows how I would have turned out.

Image credits: 00Lisa00

#21

Making promises and not following through on them.

Image credits: anon

#22

Let me eat as much as I want, to the point that I weighed 131kg at my peak. Losing all s**t is hard man. But I'm down to 94kg now and let me tell you, there is no possibility that my future kid(s) will ever be obese.

Image credits: Ukrainian_Tractor07

#23

Put a lock on my bedroom door

Image credits: McNamee93SAFC

#24

The tooth fairy gave me $20 per tooth, so I rushed to get a few out.

Image credits: BBoySlim

#25

Lots of yelling and bulling, spanking, then go to church like a good little Christian family wtf ?‍♀️ very confusing upbringing that’s all I’m saying

Image credits: Individual-Spirit-75

#26

I've always known



I asked my mom if she was proud of me. She said I hadn't done anything for her to be proud of.


I was 12.

Image credits: Katdroyd

#27

They werent bad parents at all, but:


Stop saying "just ignore them and theyll get tired of you" when your child is getting bullied


It doesnt work. Your child will just be a punching bag. I did however break somones foot in 5th grade and never got bothered again.

Image credits: Mario-OrganHarvester

#28

They isolated and neglected me.

Image credits: anon

#29

They still think spanking is one of the best forms of punishment

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#30

Not trusting me that I'll be able to take care of myself. My mom was so overprotective that I wasn't allowed to stay in my groupmate's house for sleepover. This was for my thesis and I was in college. We were 4 in the group. I was chatting with them through Skype throughout the entire night. haha!

#31

Growing up my father micromanaged everything to a point that he would decide how much time the window in my room will remain open, I wasn't allowed to open or close the window as I wish. This goes for everything, I had to take his permission for every little thing, I had no free will home was basically a military camp. I felt so suffocated in that house.

#32

All they ever cared about is sending my sister and I to university and never thought about the consequences (They both had degrees themselves).They never really encouraged us to pursue other hobbies or non-uni options. It back-fired big time my sister is in a crappy grad job and me realizes university was a waste of time. I also discovered new interests which I would probably never had discovered if I was still living with my parents.

#33

Not having "the talk."


Refusing to let me have a girlfriend in junior high, saying I could date when I turned sixteen.


When I turned sixteen refused to let me take the car because they were afraid I had a date, said they didn't want me getting a girl pregnant, and I couldn't date until I was 18.


When I'm an adult, start asking about when I'm going to start dating and give them grandkids.


Gee, I don't really know. You absolutely mucked up my developmental years when I should have been learning all this stuff, now as I try to stumble through this as an adult, I just come off as weird and creepy.


Thanks a lot.

#34

My parents did a phenomenal job with me and my siblings but there are two things I wish they had done differently -


1. it wasn’t good for my work ethic to be told how smart I was all the time, because it definitely made me feel like I didn’t have to try very hard in school or at extracurriculars or at work.


2. Rather than let my brother and I resolve our own problems, my mother would always just make snap judgements about who was right or wrong, which could not be appealed, and I believe that ultimately created a lot of distance between us for a long time. It felt like we grew up as adversaries, always trying to use her mom-power against each other. It made me bitter because as the older brother I rarely got the benefit of the doubt and I resented how easily he could get me in trouble if he wanted to.

#35

My mom has 4 daughters, I'm the youngest one. We didn't have lots of money, but we had what we needed.



Unfortunately, as the 4th kid this is often the limit of parental support you'll get. I get that 4 kids are a TON of work and I'll forever be proud of my mom for the way she raised us all, but honestly, I was a pretty bright kid with a lot of interest in music, art, computers and such, when I wasn't reading I was drawing, ALL THE TIME. I wrote stories, I drew comics, I read several books per week as a kid, the whole shebang. I sometimes wish my mother would've picked up on that more, maybe some guitar lessons or better drawing utensils, maybe just some not-so-obviously-feigned interest in my hobbies. (She did what she could but she's a terrible liar). She loved that I was reading so much of course, but without anyone to engage with it just became a way of escaping reality instead of leaving my comfort zone and doing something new.


Anyway, it became next to impossible for me to share anything I've worked on with anybody because I felt like I annoyed people, and over the years I kinda stopped working on personal projects bc I felt stupid about it.


So yeah, TL;DR: wish my mom would've cultivated my interests a bit more. Its hard to find a hobby as a grown up lol

#36

Uf, that's gonna be a long one, just need to get this off my chest.

My mother had diffulties giving birth and she 100% knew that I had spwnt hours suffocating inside of her. This cused brain damage, but my parents didn't even check if there's something wrong with me.

When I went to the proper doctor she literally cried: "Why didn't they bring you to the specialist as a child?". They just thought it's ok because I walked talked, started reading very early, made it to school, made to uni. My mom hates that I take meds to improve my problems. She says that I can do without drugs even though she knows what happens when I don't take them.

Also they always treated me as an adult both physically and mentally. They were keen tourists and never bothered that I can't walk as much as they can or that I might be bored /thirsty /hungry. As for mentally, they didn't get that child's mind wirk not like one of an adult. When I was playing and imagining things they asked me not to be stupid. "You know magic isn't real". Yeah, I know, but I'm playing, I am five, it a game!

I was always my mother's girlfriend, confidant to whom she revealed her intimate secrets.

Later when my parents had divorced my mom took her boyfriend to our apartment and they had wild sex, you know, as in bad porn with yelling your lungs out, moaning and other stuff. It lasted for hours at night. I had no place to go and it was in the time of my finals. She never saw it as a problem "because we're friends and you're a big girl, act like an adult, there's nothing wrong with having sex".

After I had graduated from uni I went to be an au pair. I was in shock that people really ask their kids stuff like "How was your day?", that they care for what their kids feel, read bedtime stories even if the kids are already "big" (they were seven and nine), that they just care.

#37

My parents were great with me, but of course no one is perfect so here's mine: Constantly blaming on us (me and my brothers) that the house was dirty and untidy to the point we were convinced we were a disaster. It was interesting when I moved out and realized my dorm first and my apartment later were always pretty neat while the family house was still a mess. The funny thing is that they will still blame it on us when we go back to spend a holiday with them or so. Gotta love them.

#38

Differentiated between son and daughter

Image credits: fishwithbrain

#39

I'm not grown just yet, but ik this is bad, and if not bad, absolutely f*****g stressful. My mom would do all these nice things for us, like take us on expensive trips and get our favorite foods, and right after she would find something small to yell at us for and then bring up the fact that she spent money on us, if any one of us responded in a way she didn't like, she would make us give her the money she spent on us back.

#40

Pitted my brothers and me against each other for approval. My older brother gotr praise for good grades and musical talent, younger brother for being great athlete, youngest brother for being the baby of the family, sister was daddy's little girl. I was the loser with no talent (not true, I was just too shy to show myself for fear of being laughed at...which I was often).


My dad terrorized me (fear of heights) and laughed while my mom literally stood by and took pictures of me crying.

#41

My mom raised me to believe that what other people think of me is more important than than what I think of myself. Every action had to be accompanied by a thought of how it would affect the family (i.e. her). So of course I became depressed because I don't want people seeing me doing something "wrong". Even this response has been rewritten a couple times because I can't stop myself.


She's recently complained about how I never talk to them and I'm pretty sure this is gonna be unloaded this weekend.

#42

had money but never let us kids have regular medical check ups/ never got us braces no matter how bad our teeth are and said its our responsibility to do those things when we’re older :// They did horrible things but this realization often made me tear up. For context, I have a lifetime illness that needs checking up every 3 months

#43

Comparing my sister and I, making us compete for their approval. "X, why can't you be independent like Y?", "Y, look at your sister's grades. You should learn from her".


It is so engraved in our brains that we compete naturally and subconsciously now, even as adults. No need to say that our relationship isn't the best.

#44

I feel a little awkward writing this because I'm currently living with my family and getting on better with my parents than I sometimes have. That said:


- Not teaching me how to escape from situations in terms of logistics and transport. Independence was always about how to get from a to b by myself (or from one carer to another), not how to leave b and get to a by myself.


Because I have communication and emotional issues, that made me feel trapped and created a lot of unnecessary conflict when I couldn't escape the scene, which in turn made my parents and other people think I was less mature than I actually was.


I don't mean that they didn't teach me how to leave a place socially, but rather that they didn't teach me the practical part of it. I'd be taught how to get on a plane to go on holiday, not how to leave the house and get a plane home, and so on.


And this was a problem if I wanted to *stay* somewhere as well, sometimes, because they'd want me to leave at the same time unless I was really mature enough to go where I pleased in that situation, or someone didn't mind looking after me.


- Being too "normal" as parents. Despite supporting me financially now to go to a specialist school and buying me equipment and stuff for my hobby, and despite being a little eccentric themselves, they both had very regular jobs and I think they kind of expected me to be a more regular person in that way.


In hindsight, perhaps there would have been serious downsides, but I envy the kinds of parents who would, well, you know, some kid who's into music and they book them a set at a bar, or some kid who starts a business and they give them some legal framework for it.


In hindsight, maybe this is too much to expect from them, and honestly, I've taken the tremendous support they *have* given me for granted, but it's frustrating to know that I could have been luckier in that way.


- Worrying that certain things would be a nuiscance


I sometimes feel like my parents treat the house a bit like a museum. Although they do sometimes allow me to film there with a crew, I feel like I can't change it as much as I'd like or else I'd get into trouble.


In my teens, I was no longer allowed to invite large numbers for birthday parties because they were afraid the place would get trashed or something.


- Getting me to meet other adults


This shouldn't be considered bad parenting; I would always feel excluded when they were invited without me, whether I liked the adults or not, and I was quite lonely compared to other kids.


But it meant that I invested a lot of time and energy into certain people who didn't see me as equals, and also meant that I had a lot of traumatic experiences with people whose lives weren't as long as the average young person's would be.



- Taking me to the wrong schools


My first school was adequate as schools go, but it was a private school and it made me very sheltered from the reality of the world for most people. My second school was too rough for me, I got teased and it was not really suitable in that way.


It wasn't their fault, but I also think a lack of understanding of my condition was a problem for me growing up.


- Gender issues


This is the one exception. I'm getting on worse with them on this one.

#45

They'd do all household chores. They'd never tell me to do any particular chore. They'd always complete each chore before I was ever aware it existed. If I ever noticed them doing some chore and expressed interest in joining, they'd always say, "no, I've got it, don't worry".


Then after the fact they'd just generically scold/shame me for being selfish and rude because I never helping out in the house and have zero life skills or consideration for others' tireless work.


And they'd actually make me believe it's true because I was indeed never helping out in the house. But it was only due to the stupid unecessary social dynamic of their own creation. They actually expected that I magically guess/assume what they want the house to look like, race them to do the chore before they do, and successfully fight them when they insist politely on doing it. No wonder when I was a kid I thought chores were so hard. As soon as I left home for college I just naturally did all chores effortlessly with no problem.

#46

Saying „don’t talk back, be better than him”, like literally if someone was talking s**t to me they would always tell me to ignore it, because it’s not worth it. After some time I realize that there are very few situation when you should ignore this, and in most cases you should stand up for yourself and not allow something like this

#47

- Never gave me any encouragement to do anything. Anything I wanted to do was met with negativity and criticism. Looking back, I think they were trying some reverse psychology b******t, but I’ve never worked that way and now I just don’t try to do anything, really.


- My Dad was the youngest of three brothers which obviously made him think that little brothers are naturally superior and always told him that he didn’t have to listen to me or do what I said. Which baby brother took as wholesale permission to do whatever he wanted - go to my room and start wrecking s**t, take any of my stuff he wanted, etc and if I told him to stop it’s always “I don’t have to listen to you! I don’t have to listen to you! Ha ha!” Unsurprisingly he also ended up getting into trouble at school a lot. We had a really bad relationship until I moved out for University.


- Used to punish me for telling the truth, which just led to me lying and hiding things and never really telling them anything at all to be honest.

#48

They stayed together “for me”, my mum made me her therapist at the ripe age of 10, my mum talked to me about our bad economy, my mum wouldn’t teach me how to talk care of myself at all until i was 16, my dad laughed and made fun of me when i failed at stuff, my dad used to jokingly almost drown me and put me in situations where i was afraid, my dad would call me a pig for eating a lot, my mum always felt the need to point out my acne even when i didn’t ask, they fought in front of me and used me to their advantages in the arguments, they only ever congratulated me when it came to grades and sports. When i was younger i never realised how bad all this was because it was all I knew, it wasn’t until I was 16 i realised how f****d up it all was

#49

Low-key blackmail me. My mom stared to realise that whenever she would want me to do something, I was much more likely to do it when she offered something in return. So like if she wanted me to go to the barber, I would get a packet of chips or some chocolate as a reward of sorts.


But as time went by this started to escalate as I became more of a problem child (not doing my homework or studying, skipping school) and she turned from giving me stuff to make me do work to taking stuff from me to get me to do stuff. I used to love my PC and used to love to game because I didn't really have much of a social life in real life so I would rely on it to remain sane. My mom having realised how important it was to me would tell me stuff like 'The next time you don't go to school/ don't do your homework/ do x or y chore, you don't get to play on your computer for a day.'


While this might work for a lot of people (I'm aware that grounding your kids is relatively normal) this essentially was a learning experience for me. I realised that I could use their means against them and ensure that I get my way. I started to ask myself, 'What do my parents care about?' and the only thing they cared more than my education or social life was my wellbeing and health.

Knowing this, everytime my mom give me an ultimatum I would tell her, if she pulls the wire on the WiFi or hide my PC somewhere, I would starve myself for the rest of the day.


At first, my parents thought I wouldn't be able to handle it but they very quickly realised I didn't give a c**p if I didn't eat for a day or two and were essentially forced to accept that they can't really punish me by taking stuff because I would just ruin my own health to spite them.


This behaviour escalated to the point I would just use my own body against them to get the things I wanted or do whatever I wanted with no restraints. So to parents who might be doing this, please make sure your kids don't end up like I did.


(Apologise for bad English I'm not a native speaker)

#50

So I just want to preface this by saying that I had a good childhood, my parents loved me, and I believe they really did try their best.


One of the things they did that I think is bad parenting is they constantly tried to make sure things were "equal" between me and my siblings. For example, for awhile they experimented with paying us extra allowance for good grades. I was always good in school, so I almost always ended up with all A's, so I got a lot of money. My sibling was (and still is) a lazy f**k so they would hardly get any except for PE. Despite that, my parents found ways to "even things out" so they would still have some spending money. It created an incentive for my sibling to continue being a lazy f**k, and disincentivized me working hard. I still did because I wanted to go to college, but it definitely created animosity.


I think parents should treat their kids equitably, but children are not equal and should not be treated like they are equal. Each is an individual with their own strengths and weaknesses, and what works for some may not work for others.

#51

Ignoring my autism diagnosis and acting as if I'll be fine in life if they treat me as they did my siblings. Turns out, a huge part of learning to navigate the world when you have autism involves learning coping strategies (that sometimes might not work for most people) and thus I was pushed into situations that caused meltdowns but without any coping strategies that actually worked I just became an anxious and depressed mess.

#52

Had children.

#53

Starting at 4 I went to the daycare at 8:00 and was one of the last ones there. The summer between 2nd and 3rd grade mom couldn’t afford daycare for both of us so I became a 7 year old latch key kid.

#54

I’m still a teen living with my parents but their are definitely a lot of things they do wrong that I don’t need to be grown to realize. One thing that comes to mind is my mother always just wants peace and to look at the good side which isn’t always bad but, with her that means if someone does something bad she will find the smallest good to make them seem okay. A few days ago I was talking to my mom about a friends mom who bought us some fast food and my mother knowing I don’t like this friends mom says “see she’s not all bad” now this friends mom is extremely emotionally abusive I can not stress the amount of pain she puts her child in and my mother knows this and is saying she isn’t all bad because she bough some $20 fast food. She also just doesn’t listen to me I remember I told her a therapist I had at the time was saying a lot of s****y things and that I didn’t trust him and don’t feel comfortable telling him things, she told me we’re going to keep seeing him “just in case I wanna kill myself” as If I didn’t just tell her I didn’t trust him and wasn’t comfortable talking to him. It was weeks before I convinced her to let me leave him

#55

First - Being inconsistent. One day mom would overly obsess about my homework, or how clean my room was, or what I was going to "do with my life", etc., the next day it was all forgotten as if it never happened.


Second - If I mentioned wanting to do anything, I was given a long list of why it could and would go wrong to the point where I felt beaten down and didn't want to do it anymore, then I was accused of never sticking to anything.


Third - Telling me I wasn't trying, or not trying hard enough, when in reality I was trying as best I could. It simply made me realize that there was no point in my efforts, so why bother at all.

#56

Well it's not a new realisation, but;




My dad (although he's an amazing person and my absolute most consistent support system and role model) was barely every around when I was growing up. He didn't notice until I actually confronted my parents a few years ago. It meant I had to take care of myself way earlier in life than most kids ought to.




My mom was an alcoholic when I was growing up. She won't admit it, but my two older siblings both agree. In her "defense" she was doing it to cope with the fact that my stepfather was beating her (and partially myself). Despite understanding her perspective after a *lot* of conversations about it, I'd say she was not being a good parent. She also tried to convince me that a lot of my worst traumas growing up were just bad dreams. Took a lot of therapy for me to stop being constantly angry over this.




On the other hand, though, I taught myself to view the whole situation as a lesson on what *not* to do if I ever become a parent, rather than just hating my parents for it.

#57

That evrrything had to be just perfect. Add a kid who was a rule follower, undiagnosed ADHD and my perfectionist stream is a mile wide.


And now as an adult my mum doesn’t actually understand perfectionism. I’ve literally got ‘if you were a perfectionist you’d at least have a clean house’


Thanks mum.

#58

My parents were great for the most part, there's only one thing that I would consider bad. And that's saying "You need to try your best in school" now this doesn't sound bad right? I would agree, but anytime I did bad on a test I would get this long lecture about how I need to "try my best and Do my work" Which really made it feel like that my best was never enough, I'm pretty much over it now, but boy the easiest way to get on my nerves now is to suggest that I'm not doing my best.

#59

My father was somewhat abusive for a long time, and so was my mother. I thought it was normal. I thought the yelling and the hitting was just what parenting normally was.

#60

Kinda everything: constant screaming, being toxic af, drinking, not letting me to do anything, fueling my anxiety and making me scared of outside and people (and then being mad at me for not going outside lmao), not making sure I have at least normal education, not buying me encyclopedias I wanted, not caring about my actual talents but forcing me to play piano, s******g on anything I'm interested in, dragging me to clinic everytime I sneeze but closing eyes on my mental health, not caring how I look etc etc etc...

#61

My dad "motivating" me through guilt trips.

#62

I had nearly 0 restrictions growing up. Didn't ever have a curfew or told I couldn't go somewhere even if far away.

They left me to watch the trailer by myself that we camped in the summers sometimes and I'd party hard doing drugs and drinking under 18.

I'm doing things a lot differently as I don't want my kids involved with those things. Sure I had lots of fun but also lost many friends and saw lot's of messed up things along the way and would have wanted more time to be a kid and actually have some discipline.

My parents were/are super nice and that is/was their problem lol.

#63

I am 13 but had to mature at 5.Favorites, underplaying your kids,don’t accept your kids opinions,Yell at them for something out of there control and force you to do something that you want them to do

#64

hmm, there was [this doozy](https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/a85w78/whats_the_most_strangely_unique_punishment_you/ec8cujt/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf&context=3), my mom liked to use a cutting board on me as a fairly common punishment, plus there was a handful of times i can recall my dad trying to start a fistfight with me (yelling at me to "put em up"). oh and all the times my belongings were under threat of being taken out to the driveway and destroyed in a number of different ways purely because i didn't look away from the TV fast enough or whatever.

#65

Terrorized me for getting in trouble at school. Hey, uhhhh... maybe public school isn't the greatest environment for someone with Asperger's. And no, I don't have ADD or ADHD and I certainly don't need medication for my misdiagnosis. Thanks for the tardive dyskinesia though!

#66

Saying things are bad without saying why

#67

abusing your child verbally and physically and gaslighting them into thinking it never happened. also leaving them to take care of their toddler sibling at at 8 for a while is pretty high up there. also just kicking your teen/pre-teen out whenever you feel like it because you "have the power to do that"

#68

I wasn’t aware of it as a child; I am the oldest of three boys five and six years apart (my younger brother is five years younger than me, and the youngest is six years younger than him). Only the middle brother was planned, and in retrospect, it showed. He was the most favored and the youngest was next most favored because he was the baby. So I got all the emotional neglect and trust issues.

#69

Saying that I couldn't do anything or handle anything

#70

Overall I had good parents, but they're human so they made mistakes.


I would say communication was the biggest issue. They didn't communicate well with each other, and they didn't communicate well with my brother and me. I often didn't feel safe to talk about issues, a lot of times I got the reply: "You're making a big fuss over nothing" or something like that. I didn't feel like I was taken seriously.

#71

Smacking. I don’t think I realised how much it affected me because I don’t go around hitting people but I’m definitely affected by it. What was scariest was that they would do it calmly.


Like, they both agreed at some stage that a smack is an acceptable form of punishment. My sister & I would be disobedient (within normal childhood limits) and we would be taken to our rooms, over the knee, and smacked.


It was traumatic. I can understand & empathise with a parent that gives a child a smack because they are at their wits end super stressed because they usually feel immense guilt afterwards. But my parents love to tout the ‘children don’t come with manuals’ diatribe to excuse their inability to research anything.

#72

Carrying their burdens, which lead to me neglecting myself and not having a sense of identity.

#73

Withholding food

#74

At one point I was pretty much my mums therapist, I stopped talking to her and told her to get real help after she admitted while driving that she wants to wrap us around a big tree. To this day I don't think she has gotten help.

#75

Beating us children up


Telling us beeing gay is wrong and that gay people should be killed


Telling us foreigner like Chinese, turkish people, black people in general are all evil and should be killed


.....