January 14, 2022 | Sammy Tran

These Parents Are Beyond Messed Up


Even the best moms and dads are bound to mess up now and then—but these people are the worst of the worst. These truly deranged stories of bad unbelievably parenting have got us feeling grateful for our own parents, warts and all.


1. Up For Adoption…Maybe

When my mom was mad at me, she would put me in the car and drive a few miles and park in front of a building that said “County of Los Angeles.” She told me it was where you surrender children and she was putting me up for adoption. She made me sit in the car and beg her to stay at home. That’s not even the most twisted part. Sometimes, I would cry and beg for over an hour before she finally said ok and drove us home.

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2. An Eye For An Eye

When I was 12, my brother, who is six years younger than me, and I were playing knights in the garden and throwing spears at a blanket with a cross on it. This was a recipe for disaster...At one moment, I threw my spear, not knowing he stood behind the blanket. The spear went straight into his eye socket. He survived—but the rest of the day was a blur.

I remember blood everywhere, my parents yelling at me, then standing at the corner, waiting for the ambulance to come while crying for what seemed a million years. Everyone was ignoring me. Then, we went to the hospital, and it only got worse. The guilt was the worst. So much guilt. I was only 12, and the nurses were giving me the evil eye. However, the hardest part was still to come.

My brother went blind in one eye, but otherwise, was perfectly fine. After about a year he had to go to a doc for a prosthetic eye. My mum said that I had to come with them. I remember VERY vividly sitting in the waiting room, hearing him cry, "It hurts it hurts.” It seemed like an eternity—but when my mother emerged, she looked at me and said, "Now you know what you've done."

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3. The Wanderer

When I was younger, my brother, who was a young teen at the time, would wander off in public places like shopping malls. He probably wanted to go look at video games, but there was no way my father would go with him or let him go alone on his own. One day, we were in an uncrowded shopping mall in a very safe suburb. My brother wandered off.

My dad called mall security to find him, which they did in about 10 minutes or less. My dad was furious. He drove us home, made us wait in the car. Then, he came back about a minute or so later with a dog collar and a leash in his hand. He drove us back to the mall and told my brother he had to walk around the mall wearing the dog collar and leash, which he did for about 20 minutes.

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4. Like Taking Candy From A Baby

This happened about an hour ago. I was grocery shopping and decided to pick up a few bars of chocolates, which is when I heard the ear-piercing scream of what can only be an entitled kid. He looked like he was somewhere between five and six years of age. He began to violently pull on his mother's arm, pointing at my chocolate bars and yelling at her to buy him some.

Then the mom says to me, “Did you have to pick that up in front of him?” Me: Ummm...What??? Mom: Can't you see it’s upsetting my child? Me: Well, that's a you problem. Mom: (In between trying to get her demon spawn to act like a human being) You need to put them back. My son only started demanding chocolates when he saw you take them. Just put them back. Now! You can get some later. You shouldn't make kids jealous!

I just smiled at her and approached the chocolate shelves. But instead of putting them back, I actually took a few more. It earned me a glare from her and earned her another round of tantrums from the kid. Petty? Yes. Satisfying? Heck yes!

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5. Sheltered From The Wicked World

My mother tried to imprison me within her presence in order to shelter me from the "wicked" world out there. She put it in my head again and again and again and again that everything would go bad, that everyone would reject me, that I'd always get hurt…physically and emotionally. No matter what I did, she would say that she was the only safe space. She also used me as her emotional punching bag in the same breath. The consequences were chilling.

I ended up nearly completely unable to leave my room for a couple of years, then struggled a few more with the ability to continuously leave and lost the academic success that every single teacher believed I would have. Now I'm back in school and struggling to attend regularly and on time, and my last chance for the next few years to get the degree-level I need to get into the careers that might fit me is in danger.

My parents also constantly let me down with promises they made. I understand that they really wanted to give me all the presents and everything else they'd promised, and that they just weren't able to afford these things, but...well...I got fed up with their promising of stuff at a way too young age. I got mad whenever my parents just couldn't stop swearing on their graves that they'd get me certain birthday or Christmas presents by the time I was around 10 years of age. This kind of behavior also extended way beyond just gifts.

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6. Her Lie Kept Me Wondering

When I was around 15, I "ran away" from my mom and stepdad's house after an argument. I called my dad, he came and picked me up, and my mom figured out pretty quickly where I was. She came to his house, physically dragged me out, tossed me in her car, and started driving me back. I kept screaming at her and telling her I wanted to live with my dad. As she was driving, she looked straight ahead, knuckles white on the string wheel—then she yelled something I'll never forget: "He's not even your real dad. He's not your father!"

It was devastating. I started crying uncontrollably, asking my mom what she meant. How could he not be my dad? She backtracked and told me she just wanted me to stop screaming, but the damage was already done. I found out later that one of the rumored reasons my mom and dad divorced was that she was cheating on him. I spent 15 years wondering if my dad was my real dad, and if not, who was?

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7. Sorry, Mom, But Reality Doesn’t Bite

I'm a trans man. Every year for school pictures, well before I was out, I was forced into clothes that I wouldn't so much as look at during the rest of the year. Usually, because they would be itchy, tight, overly feminine, or otherwise made me feel self-conscious. I'm not a masculine man, and I'm sure if my mom had ever actually asked what I wanted to wear, instead of just routinely asking what the other girls wore, we probably could have found something semi-nice I could have put on.

When I was about 13 or so, I had an argument with my parents about how I never looked like myself in any of my pictures, much less happy. I said something about how it just felt like they would rather just have false memories of me. One of my parents, I can’t remember which one, said, "I like the false memories better." I've been out for eight years, and that line pops into my head every time one of them asks me if I'm feeling better.

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8. I Didn’t Know They Knew

I was about 11 years old, give or take a year. I was home alone one day, hanging out down in our finished basement, where I spent a lot of my free time. Upstairs, I heard the front door open. I was about to call out to say hi—then I heard something that made me stop. It was my father's voice, followed by the unfamiliar voice of a woman.

I don't remember any specifics, but I definitely do remember feeling uneasy about the situation. So, I just stayed quiet downstairs until they both left about half an hour later. When my father returned home another hour or two later, he was unaccompanied, and I went up to greet him. As far as I could tell, he never had any suspicions about me being home the first time he came by.

Sometime later, I got into a massive fight with my father. During this argument, he sent me a long rambling series of text messages in which he detailed the many ways he felt my older brother was responsible for my parent's divorce. I showed my mom some of the texts and asked what she thought were some of the most significant factors that led to it.

She told me that for a few years leading up to their split, they had tried an open relationship with the guidance of their marriage counselor. They had apparently agreed to seven rules regarding this experiment, and my mom says that within the first month or so, my father had broken half of the rules he had agreed to.

One of the rules he broke was that they would not at any time bring their other romantic partners into our home. My mom said he broke that rule while I was home. I had all but forgotten about that strange woman's voice over the years, but as soon as my mom told me that story, it brought back the memory of that day. Her telling me this definitely haunts me.

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9. Safety Last

I am at the park with my daughter and girlfriend, helping my daughter play on the slide. Meanwhile, this crazy kid is running around. Now, I am trying to make it a personal habit to always carry my piece with me wherever I go. I fully conceal it as much as possible, but I’m guessing when I reached up to put my baby girl on the slide, the movement must have revealed it.

The next thing I know, I feel a tug at my shirt where my piece is, so I quickly turn around. It’s the crazy kid. The conversation goes as follows: Me: What's up little buddy? Kid: Let me see your shooter. We are playing cowboys and he doesn't have one (points to friend) Me: No, no, sorry pal. No one can have this but me. It’s dangerous.

Kid: (looks angry, pretends to shoot me, and runs off). Over? I hoped so…but no. Soon I hear an “ahem.” Good lord, it’s his mother. Me: What? Mom: Why can't my kid play with your toy? Me: What toy? Mom: The toy on your hip. Me: Um no sorry, this is real and dangerous. Mom: So just unload it and let him play with it.

Me: How about NO. Mom: (baffled look) Well, I never. What's the harm of him playing with it if it’s unloaded? Me: I'm sure you haven't. Loaded or not, I'm not letting a child play with this you halfwit. Don't you have someone else's business to mind? What an annoying encounter that put a damper on my already sour day. Some people…

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10. Always In The Wrong

Once, I was told to go through my clothes and throw away anything I wouldn't wear or didn't fit. I threw out a hand-me-down bikini I was never going to wear and it didn't fit. I got slapped across the face hard for that. Any minor thing I did wrong, I got slapped across the face hard. If I talked back, she'd grab me by the throat and hold me against the nearest wall or door while screaming in my face.

When I was 14 years old, I enjoyed drawing cartoons and could draw Garfield very well. I still can. My mother asked me to doodle a load of Garfield faces on a piece of A3 paper so she could hang it up on the wall. This was very unusual, so I really should have seen what was coming. But, I was just happy my mother was finally showing some interest in my hobbies.

I spent a solid week filling that A3 sheet with doodles. When I gave it to my mother, she crumpled it up in front of me and lit it on the fire. I haven't drawn like that since. I played violin and viola in an orchestra during my teen years. My parents rarely came to any concerts. My dad was physically disabled and couldn't climb stairs and a lot of the venues only had stair entrances.

My mother had no excuse. She used to volunteer at the orchestra as well since we had a sweet shop. My final concert before I had to leave the youth orchestra, I had a solo. She said she'd be there, bought a ticket, and all the soloists’ parents had a reserved spot at the front of the audience. The place was packed. One spot was empty. My mother's seat.

My viola teacher said my mother must be very proud of me. I didn't have the heart to tell her she never even bothered to show up. These aren't even the worst things she's done. Needless to say, I'm not in contact any more. I will go to her funeral to make sure she's gone and dance on her grave.

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11. Ahead Of The Curve

When I was 15 years old, my mother told me a secret that destroyed me—and my family. She told me she was leaving my dad a day before she told him. Then, to make it worse, she told him I knew. She also told me that she was cheating on my stepfather months before she left him. What a place to be in. I’m working through so much misplaced guilt. My father also told me when he was sleeping with a married woman whose children were my friends.

I really hope I won’t overshare if I’m ever blessed enough to become a mother. Boundaries are important. And therapy. So much therapy.

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12. Facing Their Finances

I remember a time when my family had to tighten our budget because my parents had spent the majority of their savings moving us into a new house. I think this was also around the time of the early 00s recession. My mom got extremely stressed during this time, and, on a few occasions, dragged us all into the living room to rant at us about we didn't have the means to be wasting money on things like eating out at restaurants, video games, and various other extravagances.

At the time, I was horrified and felt extremely guilty…as though I was a major contributor to this problem, and would go to bed crying in fear that we were in dire straits. I was only maybe 10 years old when this was happening. I wouldn't expect parents to completely hide their financial situation from their kids, but the way she went on you'd think we were maxing out credit cards in her name.

I had no ability to spend any of my parents' money without their permission and did not receive or ask for an allowance. My brother was 13 and maybe a bit worse about asking for video games and stuff, but what else do you expect from a kid? Just tell him no. I'll forever be upset at her for how she handled this.

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13. Holier Than Thou

My mother-in-law is prejudiced, obsessively Christian (read: in a cult) and, to be honest, an utter witch. She threatened to ruin my wedding, tried to have everything changed, and after we canceled our wedding, she tried telling people my fiancée (now wife) and I broke up. It’s been a year, and although we’ve tried to handle her, she’s getting worse.

My wife and I eventually got married by going down to the courthouse to get it done as quickly as possible. We didn’t mention it to my mother-in-law, but agreed that we’d have a ceremony at some point down the line. Things are going well, we keep it from her that we got married (kept our rings off around her) and it seems like we’re somewhat at peace.

She’s still preaching about how us being together is wrong, and she still attends church. We keep the peace so we have access to my wife’s minor brothers, who are nine and 12. One day, the mother-in-law is over at our house to watch our son for us. We get home, and we made a fatal error. We’ve forgotten to take our rings off, and she sees.

She freaks out, but eventually calms down. We plan to get together at her house to talk about it, since she is hurt. Understandably, but we were worried about her reaction in the first place. So we go to her house. We had to bring our son with us since we couldn’t find a babysitter, but that was fine since my wife’s brothers got along well with him.

We sit down with my father-in-law first, and we make small talk. The mother-in-law’s gone out to grocery shop, she’d be back soon. We were hoping she’d hurry up. At some point, my father-in-law tells us that she’s late. That’s fine, we say, we can reorganize this meeting for another time. We go to grab our son and leave...but we can’t find him. Or my wife’s brothers.

We panic; we get frantic. My father-in-law just sits there. We call the authorities, tell them we can’t find the boys, and they come over and help us try to find them. They search the neighborhood, and after asking my father-in-law again and again why he isn’t doing anything, he tells them the truth at last. He confesses that my mother-in-law has the boys.

It took the officers the rest of the night to find them, and both in-laws ended up being detained. To make a long story short, my father-in-law was released, mother-in-law was not, and she has a court date coming up soon. A CPS case was opened, and my wife’s brothers were temporarily placed with my wife’s aunt, who isn't bonkers.

We’re not allowed to go into specifics, but due to some serious things found in my mother-in-law’s phone and in her house, it doesn’t look like she’s going to get away with it. I’ve been doing my best to comfort my wife since then, and all three of us (us and our son) have gotten into therapy. We’re doing well, and I’m happy to report that I don’t think we’ll have to deal with that woman again.

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14. Never Good Enough

I always loved to sing but I was shy. I was also bullied and made fun of quite a bit. In high school, I finally joined choir and it helped me come into my own. I won first place awards at State Solo and Ensemble competition, student of the year in choir, and even the Director’s Award, which was the highest honor given. My mom came to none of my performances. Not until Senior Night when I was the only performer singing a solo.

I did the cliché song “Memory” from the musical Cats. I got a standing ovation! People who would typically refuse to speak to me approached me to tell me that they never would've dreamed I had that big, powerful, voice in me. I was just about floating with happiness and pride when I walked up to my mom. Her reaction was devastating.

When I asked her what she thought, her face twisted like she'd bit a lemon and she wiped out all my good feelings with the words, "Well, it probably isn't a good song for you. You sound like you were ATTEMPTING to sing opera and it's not supposed to sound like that."

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15. Ripped To Shreds

My mother has anger issues. She and my dad divorced when I was young, and I split time between houses. Mom just hated Dad, and the woman can carry a grudge. She hated the fact that I also loved him and enjoyed spending time with him. She would constantly try to get me to say that I loved her more, didn’t love him, etc.

That’s awful enough, but there’s one event that really stands out: I was seven or eight and had said something to set her off, probably about weekend plans Dad and I had. She got upset, yelled at me, got more upset when I didn’t repent, and so on. Then, looking straight at me, she grabbed a cardboard egg carton from the recycling pile and methodically ripped it apart.

As she stood there, ripping the egg carton to shreds, she furiously said, “I wish I was allowed to do this to you.”

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16. Dishing It Out

My husband and I have been together for 15 years. We both work full-time and share the chores at home; I cook, he does dishes. My mother-in-law adores her son and in her eyes, no one is good enough for him. We have never lived in the same city as her. The first time she visited our home, I cooked my best dinner, four courses, nice drinks, the whole fireworks to impress her.

After dessert and coffee, my husband started taking the dishes to the sink and started washing, while still making small conversation with my mother-in-law and myself. I was exhausted after a day of work and cooking. The moment my husband's hands touched the water, her face changed. Her mouth twisted and she started mumbling and breathing weird.

She apologized and walked out. I thought she went for a smoke, so I just went to lie down in my bed. I was just touching my bed when I heard my husband consoling his mom, as she was crying. She didn't know I went to my bed and I could hear them. She started sobbing about all the sacrifices she made to give him a good life, that she never thought she would see him washing dishes.

She said that she had raised him better than this, and that I broke her heart for making him do house chores. My husband is the best man ever, he has an incredible sense of humor, and he found the whole situation hilarious. He started laughing very loudly and asking her to stop the drama. He told her that they had just had one of the best home-cooked dinners of their lives, that I had worked very hard to have a nice dinner, and that crying over some dishes was infantile.

He went as far as tickling his mom to stop her crying. That first visit has set the tone of the relationship with her now. She hates me, dislikes my daughters, and over time spends less and less time with her son. Last I heard, she wants my husband to travel (we live in a different country now) to her place, so she can put her affairs in order.

She claims she will pass soon and wants to leave in peace. My husband kindly told her that she should spend her wealth, and that she doesn't need him to write a will.

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17. Could Be Pretty

My parents always told me I could be a pretty girl if I lost weight. My oldest memory from when I was between six and eight is of me sitting on the floor drawing something. My parents are talking with their friends and suddenly my mom asks me what I want to be when I grow up. I wanted to be a stylist since I loved creating dresses, but I've forgotten the word, so I said I wanted to be a supermodel hoping it would help me remember the right word. Their reaction was unforgettably brutal.

Just after I said that, everyone started laughing their butts off and my mom told me I would need to lose at least half my weight if I wanted to be pretty, because nobody wants a fat girl as a model. After that, it just got worse. I was 13 and depressed because I was being bullied at school, became antisocial, didn't want to do anything besides locking myself in my room, and stopped eating so I could be skinny.

I felt unwanted, so it was pretty easy to manipulate me—and the consequences were seriously disturbing. They called me an internet hooker after a creep groomed me and convinced me to send intimate pictures of me to him. My parents said it was my fault, and about two years later, I asked them to put me in therapy because I felt depressed.

They yelled at me, calling me an ungrateful brat and a liar because, and I quote, "You have a good life! You have clothes, food, a house, a phone and both of your parents! You don't have any reason to be depressed! You just saw teenagers claiming to be depressed and are doing the same thing because this is a trend now. Stop being stupid," and many more things. Now I'm scared to even have kids and risk treating them the same way.

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18. It’s My Right And You’re Wrong

After my husband passed, my mom said to me, “You have no right to grieve his passing. You were only married for three years when YOUR husband passed. I was married 30 years when MY husband did. You have NO right!!”  She yelled this in my face as she jabbed me in the chest with her finger, leaving a bruise, nonetheless. As a result, I didn’t grieve the loss of my first husband for years, and it ruined a couple of my relationships along the way.

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19. Just Too Busy

In third grade, we were given a homework assignment that involved interviewing a parent in order to write a paper. I couldn’t interview my mom because she taught at that school, so I had to use my dad. I went to interview him that night, but he was ticked off and watching television, so it simply didn’t happen. The next night, he was still too busy watching television. This went on for a week.

When it came time to turn in the paper, I didn’t have one. My teacher asked why, and I said my dad was too busy watching television. Well, this news got to him and he was really angry. I was spanked and grounded for two weeks. I still think about how much pain I felt emotionally because of what happened. I have a son now, and I’ve made a promise that if my children ever need help, I’ll help them.

I play video games and watch TV, but if my kids need me, I will help them. I think sometimes people get caught up in routines and don’t notice life happening. I don’t want to miss my children growing up.

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20. The Joys Of Motherhood

My boyfriend's cousin has four children. Each of her kids is the personification of the word bratty. The cousin refuses to discipline them and constantly makes excuses for their behavior. She's also very judgemental of our decision to not have children. She has often made some snide comments towards me, implying that I'm a selfish jerk who is depriving my boyfriend of the "joys of raising children."

For these reasons and for her generally entitled behavior, my boyfriend had cut ties with her. However, when he and I visited his parental home three days ago for his parents’ anniversary celebration, we ran into her again. My boyfriend's dad had urged him to use this occasion to mend bridges with the cousin. So we both tried to make nice and engaged in small talk with her. I’ve never regretted an action more.

During our conversation, my boyfriend mentioned that we were leaving for Melbourne for vacation in a few days. At this, the cousin's eyes lit up. "Oh that sounds like so much fun," she said, "My husband and I haven't gone anywhere since our honeymoon." She whined some more about how hard it is for them with four kids, if only they could afford such luxuries, etc.

I could tell where this was going almost immediately. My boyfriend probably felt sorry for her and, being the kind and generous soul that he is, he offered to buy them a weekend in a resort in Mt. Abu, a hill station in the Indian state of Rajasthan. Cousin (face scrunched up): "That's nice, but why can't you just take us to Melbourne with you?"

BF (getting a bit annoyed, but still patient): Well, we want to spend some time alone together. Plus we'll be meeting some close friends there. Besides, Mt. Abu is a beautiful place. Your kids will love it. Cousin (in the annoying “Karen” tone): I still don't see why you can't take us to Australia. You're being so selfish, going on this great trip and sticking your family with a cheap weekend getaway.

BF's Mom: He's making a very generous offer. Either take it or leave it. Cousin (wearing the expression that morons wear when they think they've had a bright idea): Oh I know! Why don't my husband and I go to Mt. Abu and you can take our kids to Melbourne? Me: What??? Cousin: It's a great idea. The kids can have fun in Melbourne with you two and my hubby and I can enjoy a peaceful weekend. This way, the kids can actually spend some time with their uncle. You never make time for them!

BF: I'm offering for the last time. It's either the weekend in Mt. Abu or nothing at all. And why the heck would we ruin our vacation taking care of your kids? Cousin: How can you say that? My kids are so well-behaved. You'll have so much fun spending time with them. Besides, my husband and I could really use some quiet time together. You two don't have any responsibilities. You have no idea how hard it is to raise four kids. You can afford this trip. I don't see why you won't share with family......

BF: One more word and you're losing my Mt. Abu offer. On hearing this, the cousin finally shut up. We all had dinner together and she was mercifully quiet. If only her kids had followed her example. You'd think this would be the end of it, but NO! We had seriously underestimated her dedication to her Karenness. This morning, the cousin showed up at my apartment with the kids in tow.

I was shocked to see her, of course, and asked if something was wrong. She smiled and said, "I'm just here to drop the kids off. You're leaving tonight right?" After taking a second to recover, I asked, "Did you fall and hit your head on something? We told you we weren't taking your kids with us. What part of that did you not understand?"

She then tried to convince me that my boyfriend had called her later on and had agreed to take her kids. I knew this was a lie and called it as such. The cousin became enraged and asked if I was going to break her kids' hearts. I called my boyfriend, and after telling him what was going on I turned on the speaker. My boyfriend proceeded to chew her out brutally, telling her he would no longer pay for their weekend getaway and that this is exactly the kind of behavior that had made him cut ties with her.

She tried to get a word in but he wouldn't let her. The cousin took her kids and stormed off. My boyfriend and I are having a laugh over this and are still wondering what made her think that this plan would ever work.

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21. Alone From The Get-Go

My parents used to drink. A lot. When I was around 11 or 12 years old and when I started noticing how bad it was, I would have days where I never saw my parents. I would be home alone with my younger brother who was six years younger than me for a good half of the week. I would make him dinner, put him to bed, wash my own laundry, and get myself to school.

All of this was because my parents were at the bar so much. There were days where I'd walk up to the bar to see if they were there or just up and abandoned us. I've been to the bar twice in the ten years my kid has been living, and that was only after he was secured with my in-laws. I've never missed my child's birthday because I'd rather be drinking. I spend every day with my kid, so he doesn't feel the abandonment that I did growing up.

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22. The Big Sleep

I‘m the child in this story. My dad chose to wait until I was fully grown up to tell me that my mom had secretly given me an excessive amount of sleeping pills on a pretty frequent basis when I was a little child. As if that wasn’t disturbing enough, there was also the chilling reason why she did it. It was so she could leave me alone at home for hours at a time and maintain her secret, adulterous relationship with her lover while my dad was off working in another country.

Hearing about this secret cleared up many questions that I had long wondered about with regards to my childhood. I’m doing well today, and my mom’s actions haven’t affected me in any real long-term way; except for the fact that I don’t remember much about my childhood. On the bright side, at least I didn’t suffer physically or feel any direct pain as a result of what she did.

Being that irresponsible and careless towards her child, she could easily have done something much worse to me if she’d had a reason to. I should mention, though, that I have been dealing with depression and anxiety since I was only a few years old. But I’m not sure whether or not this is directly related to what my mom did.

To be honest, I have gotten pretty good at dealing with depression since I have been living with it all my life. So, in a sense, I have actually gotten some small amount of good out of the whole ordeal. Other than this one problem, my life is really good on the whole. So I really can’t complain. I also want to clear up that, despite all that happened, I’m on okay terms with my mom today.

I believe that she was simply young and dumb when this went down and that she has since learned from her mistakes. I forgave her for what she did to me. At the same time, I do not forgive her for what she did to my dad. She did a terrible thing to him. My dad is the greatest person that I’ve ever known and he deserves to be happy.

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23. Ready Or Not, Here I Come Out

My dad was an ex-high ranking officer and was always violent towards my sister, mother, and me. When I was 15, he made the scariest comment towards me that has stuck with me until this day. My parents were constantly making assumptions that I was gay, which I am.  At the time, I wasn’t ready to come out, mainly because my dad would use words such as “fruits” and  “fairies” a lot.

One day, he said to me, “If you ever come out as gay, I will put your head through that window and book you a bed in the hospital.” Considering his mistreatment towards my mother all my life, I didn’t question it. I came out a year after he made that comment. My dad ignored me for around six months after that. But then something surprising happened.

A few years later, I left to travel and found a note from him in my backpack once I landed. It was an apology letter.

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24. Getting The Vapors

I’m a cocktail waitress, and I’m also seven months pregnant. Now, obviously, I don’t drink while pregnant or drink on the job ever. A woman, the Karen, comes in with what I’m assuming was her husband and son and daughter and asks to be seated for lunch. We’re not really a restaurant, but we do have a small appetizer menu with sandwiches and wings and stuff.

I give them menus and Karen says, “But, wait, do you work here?” “Yep.” “But you’re pregnant, you can’t work here if you’re pregnant.” “I work here, I don’t drink here,” I say with a laugh, trying to keep the mood light. The woman looks me over and says, “Have you taken any prenatal courses? Do you really think that’s responsible to have your unborn baby in here?” This is where I made an error.

I get defensive about anyone asserting I’m a bad mother, obviously. So I said, “Well, you’ve brought your kids in here.” “Yes, and what kind of example do you think you’re setting for them?” I’m still collecting my thoughts at this point when they grunt and wave me away. I figure I can kiss my tip goodbye but hopefully that’ll be the end of the discussion.

I see them flagging down the bartender after a few minutes and figure they’re ready, so I go over. Karen asks to speak to a manager. Now, they haven’t even gotten drinks yet, so nothing about my abilities could really be wrong yet. I just ask if there’s anything I can help them with, and her husband (Mr. Karen) says really sternly, “No, just a manager, didn’t you hear my wife?”

The place is too small for a manager, it’s just servers and bartenders and two co-owners. The one who’s working is in the back on a phone call and will be MAD if I go and bother her. I realize they’re probably still uncomfortable with my being pregnant so say, “Maybe Ella (The only other server) can help?” But Karen just gets up to physically look for the manager.

I admit defeat and go back to drag her off her call. The owner tried not to let on how mad she is about being disrupted and goes over with a big smile to ask if there’s anything she can help them with. Karen informs her, as though it’s urgent breaking news, “Your server is pregnant.” The owner says she’s aware and asks if they’d prefer a different server.

Karen: No no no, she can’t be a drink girl if she’s pregnant. Owner: I assure you, none of our employees drink on the clock. Especially not our pregnant ones. If you’d prefer I can have Ella serve you...Mr. Karen: I don’t want my kids seeing this! Owner: Maybe I’m missing something. Seeing what, exactly? Mr. Karen (talking really slowly and condescendingly): A. pregnant. woman. around. all. these. drinks.

Me: I don’t know what you’re insinuating, but I would never drink during pregnancy. Then the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard comes out. Karen: Look honey, didn’t you take a health class in junior high? With a drink right under you half the time, vapor is absorbed into your blood through the air and then that blood goes to the fetus and poisons it.

The owner and I exchange a look and realize we won’t get anywhere with her. Owner: So, we can have Ella serve you, or I’m afraid there’s not much else we can do. Mr. Karen: We’re not leaving until she’s placed on maternity leave. Or better yet, fired! Owner: We can’t help you. Mr. Karen: I’ll call the authorities! You’re an accomplice to child endangerment!

Owner: There is no child endangerment to speak of sir, please leave. Karen (getting crocodile teary): YOU MAY NOT THINK A FETUS IS A CHILD BUT I WAS TAUGHT TO BELIEVE LIFE BEGINS AT CONCEPTION AND I WILL STAND UP FOR ALL LIVING THINGS BIG AND SMALL BECAUSE THAT IS WHAT MY LORD AND SAVIOR WANTS ME TO DO! The entire time she’s delivering this tearful speech she’s looking around expecting others to, I don’t know, join in with her? Applaud?

Owner: You’re disturbing my customers and if you don’t leave you’re trespassing and I’ll have to escalate this, which I really don’t want to do. Karen: JESUS IS LOVE AND JESUS SAID THIS IS NOT OKAY. JUST BECAUSE YOU THINK IT’S OKAY TO HARM A CHILD IF IT’S SMALL ENOUGH—This is an Irish pub and the owners are devout Catholics, but she wasn’t having any of this. Owner: HEY. I don’t need anyone to tell me what Jesus said. I need you to please leave.

Mr. Karen: I’m calling the authorities. Owner: You do that. We just stop trying to service their table. As we all wait for the officers to arrive, Karen keeps trying to give her sermon, but there was a game on that people had come to watch and eventually everyone yelled at her until she piped down. Enter Officer 1 and Officer 2.

Officer 1: We received a call. Is there a Mr. Karen in here somewhere? Mr. Karen: Right here officers! Officer 1: You said you were witnessing child endangerment—are the parties involved still in the bar? They point me out. I pretend not to notice because I’m worried the officers will take them outside and I won’t be able to watch any more fireworks.

Officer 2: So what exactly was going on? Karen: That woman was drinking! She’s pregnant, you can plainly see she’s very pregnant. Before I can go over and tell them she’s lying about my drinking, the officers look at each other and look back at the Karen family. Officer 2: That’s not against the law. Karen: WHAT?!?!!!!!??! Mr. Karen: Look here—

Officer 1: It’s definitely not recommended, but it isn’t against the law. Now, do you know the woman, is she a friend of yours? Family? Karen: She works here. In a bar. And she’s pregnant! Mr. Karen: I want to see this place’s license revoked. Officer 2: So, listen, she isn’t doing anything wrong. What I can do is talk to her, but we can’t take any action beyond that. Is there anything else you observed that you’d like to report?

So the second officer comes over to me and takes me to a quiet spot while the first is getting their personal information and taking the rest of the statement. Karen is crying again and I assume bemoaning being the last bastion of good Christian morality in this bar. Officer 2  introduces himself and congratulates me on the pregnancy and says I probably overheard why they were called.

He starts to offer me some public resources for new mothers, parenting classes, etc. I didn’t want to interrupt him, so was waiting for the right moment to interject with my plea of innocence. That’s when other patrons come over, thinking I’m in trouble and start defending me. We have plenty of regulars who know me and they would not let this stand.

Some even complained to the officers that the owner had asked the Karen party to leave and they’d continued to make a scene. So both the officers go talk to the owner, who said she was just about to call them herself on account of the trespassing, but sirens outside are bad for business and she was hoping the Karens would eventually leave on their own.

The officers tell the Karen party they need to leave. Mr. Karen: This is a public place. I have every right to be here if I want! Officer 1: No sir, this is a private business, and the business owners have asked you to leave. It sounds like more than once, but at least once since we’ve been here. Karen: THIS IS A DISGRACE. THIS IS AN AFFRONT TO...TO...TO SCRIPTURE AND CHILD SAFETY AND—

Officer 2:  I understand you’re upset. Let’s talk about it outside. (He places a hand on Mr. Karen and gives him a firm look.) This next part was said as Mr. Karen walks out backward so he can keep yelling at us, but bumping into things every step of the way. Mr. Karen: I’ll be contacting the authorities about your license. Bump I happen to be close personal friends with the mayor! Crash And you two, I want badge numbers. Don’t think we’re done here because we haven’t even bang started!

So the officers took them out and as it was told to me by a regular who left around the same time, walked the Karens to their car, which was improperly parked in a handicap space. For which they were ticketed. They did make a complaint to the liquor authority, claiming, among many things, that we served minors. We were investigated but obviously came up fine.

Speak to the Manager factsShutterstock

25. Walking On Eggshells

I was committed to a psych ward for about a week after I tried to harm myself. During a meeting with myself, my mom, a therapist, and a psychiatrist, one of them subtly suggested that my mom's verbal tone was a contributing factor. They said that she should “think about toning it down." My mom said that she “shouldn't have to walk on eggshells to avoid hurting my feelings."

I never looked at her the same after that.

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26. I Didn’t Scare Them As Much As They Scared Me

When I was about 11 or 12, I ran away from home. It was only for a few hours or so. When I finally was found, my parents were livid, and rightfully so. I know this was said out of frustration, and my parents have been awesome my whole life, but my mom told me something ruined me: “Next time you go missing, we won’t even bury your body when they find it.” I can still hear those words, clear as day.

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27. Really Not Into Romance

My parents would tease me about love and romance. My parents were good parents, but this really sticks out as something that I WILL have a talk with them about if I ever do have a kid. What I mean by this is, every time we watched a movie, even a kids movie, with a kissing scene, my mom would look at me and my sister and loudly go, “Ewww! Gross! Cover your eyes!” I get that it was teasing.

I’m not talking scenes with intercourse, I’m talking about the kissing scenes at the end of Disney animated movies. As dumb as it sounds, the effects were heartbreaking. I seriously internalized that as a kid and grew up thinking romantic love was something gross and something to be ashamed of. I’m 29 and to this day I don’t talk to my mom in-depth about my relationships, although we’re very close in many other ways. It lasts.

Another example is that I remember when I was in first grade, I had a homework assignment where we had to write down all the “T” words we knew. There was a kid in my class named Tommy, so while doing my homework, I asked my mom how to spell “Tommy.” She really started to make fun of me. She started asking if I was writing a love letter to my secret crush, going, “Eewww!” When my entire thought process—at 5 years old—was, “Hey, his name starts with a T.”

I was so deeply embarrassed by that that I never mentioned another boy’s name around my mom for years, and I think I avoided Tommy at school after that. It was just so unnecessary. I know it seems like a small thing, but I can literally trace the impact that that initial shame had on my life as a whole. So any parents out there, please learn from this.

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28. Eating Disorders

When I was only eight, my mother told me that nobody likes a fat girl. I wasn't even really overweight, but her comments made me spiral in the worst way possible. Before long, I'd developed a dangerous eating disorder. But it didn't end there. It's been more than 30 years and I still grapple with the consequences of my disorder. The whole eating thing is still a struggle.

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29. What A Girl Wants

I’m pregnant. Last night, my husband was talking to his mom and mentioned the baby because he was so excited about an ultrasound picture I showed him. In the picture, the baby is clearly flipping the bird, which is also funny. He tells her about this and her comment is along the lines of, "She’s gonna be a trouble maker like you already."

Now, we don’t know the sex yet, but she’s insisting I'm having a girl. It's a squish with limbs, but she’s set on a girl. Whatever. So he gets into talking about how when the baby’s older he wants them to learn cars, because that's what he does and how my gramps raised my mom. So it’s tradition. Guys. My mother-in-law lost her darn mind.

"I’M not having MY granddaughter be a little butch! She will wear pink and bows and dresses! None of that greasy mechanic stuff. She’s gonna be GIRLY!" Uh no. HECK no. That’s where I stepped in and said, "Ok. First, it’s my kid, and my mom didn’t raise me girly so I'm not forcing that on my kid if it's a girl. Second, my grandfather raised my mom to know how to take care of her car so she didn’t need anyone else to do it. That's what your son is gonna do for our kid, girl or boy.”

She apparently wasn’t hearing any of this because she goes, "Listen here, miss preggo, my grandbaby..." before my husband cut her off. Here's where you are going to love him. He says to her, "Ma. Shut the heck up for a minute. Is it your kid?" My mother-in-law says, "No but..." "No. That's right. It's not. It's our kid. Now shut up. Were going to raise our kid how we want to. Not how you want to." I love him.

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30. This Is Who I Am

My mom and I had a massive argument about LGBT people. I said it's natural and not a thing that should be debated, she said it's not natural and it goes against God's will. I asked her what she would do if I was gay, and she said she'd kick me out and I'd be a stranger to her. In truth, I'm bi. It broke my soul that my own mother could and would do that.

I'm only ever coming out when I eventually move out, which is probably not going to be for a long time. I have no tertiary education, a low-paying job, no marketable skills...But when I do move out, I'm going to send her a picture of me kissing a girl while flipping off the camera.

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31. A Wild Ride

When I was 16, I worked at the amusement park in my city. It wasn't a big one, but it wasn't small either. Most of our rides were aimed towards elementary school-aged children, though we had a few for the older kids as well. Anyways, I was a rides operator, and that day, I was assigned to a ride designed for older kids. We had to measure the kids, and they couldn't go on if they were under the height requirements no matter what, even if they had a parent with them.

It was a ride that only had a bar that went across your stomach, so someone too small could easily fall off. Entitled Mother and her entitled brat are in line, and I can already tell the kid is gonna be too short to ride without even having to measure him. He's pretty far back, so I know it's gonna be one or two runs before he makes it on.

So after I'm done loading, I tell the mom that her kid is too short for the ride and that they should go try the smaller version of it on the other side of the park. She looks at me with the dirtiest stare ever and just says: “We're gonna wait here.” Now, I have to run my ride because I need to meet certain times, so I don't argue. Time goes by and she's finally at the start of the line.

I measure her kid, and of course he's like 6 inches shorter than the height requirements. Me: I'm sorry ma'am, but your child is too short to ride this ride. I would recommend going over to the smaller version near the entrance of the park, though. He: No, it's fine, I'm with him. I'll hold him. She tries to shove me out of the way, but I'm standing my ground.

Me: I'm really sorry ma'am, but we don't allow people under the height limit to ride this ride. The safeties we have on it just won't hold someone too small, and your kid could fall off. She then asks to speak to my manager. I get asked that quite a lot by entitled parents, so I give them a call and tell her to wait on the side while I load my ride.

She gets very offended, saying that she shouldn't have to wait longer for her kid to ride this ride because I couldn't do my job, and at this point I just kind of ignore her and move on. Ride runs, my team lead gets there and talks with her. He tells her that he's really sorry but that I'm right, her child can't ride this ride. Now at this point, the brat is throwing a tantrum.

I mean, he's rolling on the concrete like a piece of bacon in a frying pan. I'm trying my hardest not to laugh at this point. Anyways, my lead apologizes, offers her a "skip the line" ticket for the ride he's allowed to go on at the entrance, and leaves. The mom is trying to calm down the kid and starts talking to him. He gets up, all smiling and happy, and stands next to the gates, watching me.

Now I'm not thinking too much of this at this point, so I start loading my ride again, which has a significantly less busy line and I have a couple of empty seats on it. As I'm doing my security checks and getting ready to run it, the mom taps me on the shoulder and thanks me for my help, which I found extremely odd. I turn around to tell her that it's really no problem, and she starts apologizing and telling me that she shouldn't have acted the way she did and blah blah blah.

I'm completely stunned, not really sure how to react, but I tell her it's no problem and to enjoy the rest of her day. I look back at my ride, and realize the brat isn't standing next to the fence anymore. I'm starting to get weird vibes. I look around for him and he's not anywhere to be seen. I look at the mom again, who has her phone out with her camera pointing at the ride, and that's when I knew.

I take my keys out of the ride and start walking towards it. It's kind of a "swing" type of thing so I couldn't see the back from where I was standing, but I knew darn well the brat had snuck on. The mom starts panicking, asking me what I'm doing and why I'm not running the ride. I completely ignore her and walk to the back of the ride, and lo and behold, the kid is sitting there.

He almost pees himself when he sees me walking towards him. He didn't have the bar properly locked AT ALL and would've flown right out as soon as I started the ride. Now I'm mad, and I mean mad. I mean, I could've gone behind bars for manslaughter right then and there. I just look at him and very sternly tell him to get off my ride.

He tells me he can't and he needs help, which is fair. I don't even know how he managed to get on in the first place, but I grab him and put him down, and he starts sprinting towards his mom, crying. As he's running, he trips and falls down on his face. When he gets up, his nose is all bloody and his knees are skinned, which is when I knew I was completely and utterly screwed.

The mom starts screaming like a banshee at the sight. As I'm running towards the kid to make sure he's okay and to help him up, she runs towards me, slaps me hard across the face, and starts yelling for security. I'm absolutely and completely stunned at this point. Some security guards must've heard her screaming at the top of her lungs because they come running.

The exchange goes something like this. Guard: What's going on here? Mom: This girl lunged at my son! She threw him off the ride into the pavement! Me: Excuse me??? Brat: It's true!! She punched me too. Guard: Do you want us to call the authorities? Mom: Yes! You need to arrest her!! She's mentally unstable. I'm just dumbfounded at this point.

My lead gets to the ride and asks what the heck is going on, and I tell him everything that happened in between sobs. There's one thing the mom forgot to take into account, though. There were like 15 people on the ride who saw everything. So they tell the officers and the security guards and my lead and everyone else what happened.

The mom quickly realized her error, as she just started running with her kid in tow as soon as she saw people asking the other guests questions. They caught her pretty quickly, and I pressed assault charges against her. Needless to say, I handed in my resignation that same day.

Amusement Park Accidents factsPxHere

32. Entirely An Embarrassment

I had bouts of anxiety and panic attacks during my childhood, and my parents just couldn't seem to grasp what I was going through. I remember having a panic attack during swim lessons. My mom pulled me aside and just said, "Why are you embarrassing me like this?" or something along those lines. But my dad’s reaction was even worse.

He'd just kind of leave me in a room alone until I was able to calm myself down. I'm no psychologist, so I'm not sure if that was the right thing to do…maybe it was, maybe it wasn't. But, as an adult, I've been able to teach myself some mental cues to calm myself down whenever I have a panic attack, which are now far less common and intense than in my childhood.

For everything else on the parenting checkbox, I think they did a decent job. But if I have kids, I think I'd put more of an effort to talk to them should they ever have anxiety issues as well, especially since I would be able to relate to them.

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33. Never Made It To Dinner

My dad would cancel plans because he would get too intoxicated. In my sophomore year of high school, my dad had promised to take me to a Thanksgiving Day dinner at a friend's house. My parents had been divorced since the third grade. My mom had left to go over to her friend's house. I waited two hours after the scheduled pick up time and my dad never showed.

I finally got a call. He was too intoxicated to drive and said we weren't going out. I had a bowl of mac and cheese by myself that Thanksgiving. That was 18 years ago, and it was the final straw. He did this a lot. He's currently undergoing prostate cancer treatment and I still won't call him.

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34. Mocked Over My Medication

I have epilepsy.  When I was 13 years old, my dad was waving my epilepsy medication in my face and said, "Without these, you don’t function like a normal human being.” It has been a few years since, but it still rings in my head sometimes. I swear I remember him saying those words to me, but unfortunately, my dad is trying to gaslight me over it.

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35. Surprise Trip To Disney

My mother had my sibling pack up all her stuff to go to Disneyworld. My sibling was excited, and I was so jealous. When my mom came back by herself, she admitted that she had totally lied about Disneyland. Instead, she'd dropped my sibling off at a psych ward. She was gone for months. I was forever afraid that my mom would offer a similar surprise trip for me if I ever cried or showed emotion after that. I still don't cry in front of people.

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36. Fulfilling A Prophecy

My parents used to tell me, in so many words, that being myself wasn't good enough and that people wouldn't like me unless I completely changed who I was. They genuinely believed that there was something inherently unlikeable about me and that I had to pretend to be someone else to get anywhere in life. That really messed me up for life. It became a self-fulfilling prophecy.

I went from a quirky kid with lots of ambitions to an adult with negative self-esteem and no personality. I'll never recover from it. They did thousands of tiny things to cut me down over the years, things I don't think they even realized they were doing, but nevertheless made me believe more and more strongly that I was just not good.

They told me I wasn't "normal" and that they wouldn't acknowledge my unique needs because I needed to learn how to deal with normal people, and told me that I had a hard time making friends because I didn't have blonde hair. They said people must be "intimidated" by me and that's why they didn't like me and told me I was bragging every time I was proud of anything I did.

They even tried telling me as a teenager I was being selfish and tried to forbid me from even saying the word "I." I still remember hundreds of the things they did and said to me that just made me think, "Wow, I'm doing everything wrong." I will acknowledge that I hold a lot of the responsibility for letting it affect me so much and I haven't properly dealt with its repercussions.

I should have dealt with my issues in a constructive way instead of a destructive way, which made me continually spiral until I lost every shred of dignity. I have believed for a long time that I'm just a "bad person" and there's nothing I can do about it, and even though a part of me knows that I can control my destiny and my actions, a much larger part of myself believes so strongly that I'm a bad person that it's overtaken my entire narrative.

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37. If I Like It, You Like It

My parents forced me to do their hobbies which made me socially awkward and unable to deal with people in my own age group, and forced me to rapidly grow up to adjust to the adults and their conversational patterns. For example, I was forced to do medieval reenactments with my parents, not because I had a choice, but because I was too young to stay at home.

So, instead of going to birthday parties and making friends, I was forced to hang around with adults. But there was a side effect my parents didn’t predict. All the adults would get intoxicated and talk about stuff, and I just happened to be there. So, I would spend my formative years with zero friends, unable to interact with other kids, and failing in school…all because my mom and dad wanted to go off and play make believe and "have fun."

I became painfully aware that me being around and them dragging me off to different places was very much a "you just happen to exist, don't ruin our fun because you’re unhappy" situation.

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38. I Feel Pretty, Oh So Pretty

When I was probably 13 or 14, I had terrible self-esteem. I felt like my two sisters were far prettier than I would ever be, and I just generally felt unattractive. Then I found this gorgeous satin mauve skirt that flowed and rippled like silk waves. I put it on and felt beautiful for the first time in a long time.

I went to show my mom because she always complimented my sisters on how pretty they were, and I thought I would finally get that same attention. She took one glance at me and said, "That skirt will never look good on you. Better give it to your sister.” I did. I perished a little inside every time my sister wore it and got flooded with compliments.

Lost Best Friend FactsShutterstock

39. An Unexpected Visitor

My mother-in-law ruined the birth of my son four days ago. I’m still pretty shocked about what happened and still kind of baby-brained after the birth, so I hope this makes sense. I’ve never got on with my mother-in-law and have probably met her about 10 times since I’ve been with my partner. She has never liked me and it’s obvious.

She doesn’t speak to me, she ignores me, she leaves me out, and if she does speak to me it’s to say something derogatory. She started being a bit nicer when my partner and I found out I was expecting. She was very excited for her first grandchild and we finally had something she would talk to me about. She asked my partner several times if she could be in there when I gave birth.

That was a firm “no” and I didn’t think about it again really...until she stormed into the delivery room four days ago. I was in active labor by then, and she suddenly appeared out of nowhere. I’m an incredibly shy and anxious person and I could not bring myself to ask her to leave myself. I just have no balls. I know this is terrible.

I presumed my partner would ask her to leave. He didn’t. She stayed for hours and I started to feel like I needed to push but I desperately did not want to push with her in the room. Eventually, I just told my partner it was time to ask her to leave, and my mother-in-law looked furious. He did though, and she left. Fast forward to an hour later.

The baby was not coming out no matter how hard I pushed and things had started to get panicky in the delivery room. I ended up on my hands and knees in the least dignified position…and then the worst happened. My mother-in-law came back into the room. I was mortified. My partner had to get her to leave again. The pushing wasn’t working and we ended up in the theatre.

It ended up being a forceps delivery, which was extremely scarring and I’ve had more stitches than I even feel comfortable with saying. In the theatre, people kept coming in and saying that she was STILL trying to get in. When we came out, more people came and said she was trying to get in to see the baby. I was horrified. My partner didn’t think it was as bad as I was making out.

I allowed visits the next day and my mom came first (I made sure of that) and my mother-in-law came slightly later because I told her the wrong visiting times. I know that’s childish, but I felt like after what happened it was the last thing I could do to get my own boundaries back. My mother-in-law wasn’t happy she wasn’t the first to meet the baby.

Four days on, and my mother-in-law asks every day to come and see the baby, but I’m absolutely furious at what she did. I’m also trying to establish breastfeeding and I’m anxious and vulnerable and I don’t want her around. She keeps telling my partner I’m mean and horrible keeping her away from the baby. I don’t know what to do.

I’ve spoken to my partner about it but I haven’t pushed it about how upset I am about it all because I’m trying to enjoy time with my baby. I feel really let down by him for not sticking up for me more and keeping her out properly. I also feel confused about medical staff not keeping her away when I said I didn’t want her in there.

One of the midwives said to me after the birth that the reason the labor went so badly was probably a lot to do with how stressful I was finding it having her in the room when I didn’t want her there, and honestly, I feel like that’s true.

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40. Bottling It Up

My daughter had a friend over for a sleepover last weekend. They're both 13-year-old girls, and it was all fairly standard stuff. Watch bad movies, stay up too late, eat too much junk food, you know the drill. Both kids seemed to have a nice time, and the visiting kid was nice enough for someone else's teenage child, and I really didn't think too much more about it.

Until... the friend's mother called me Sunday night, absolutely outraged over what I had done while her child was in my care. Was it allowing them to stay up too late? Was it the junk food? Was it the choice of film I allowed them to watch? No, it was far worse than that. Imagine the mother's horror when she discovered I had allowed her child to...wait for it...drink tap water.

Turns out, only bottled water is acceptable for her family. Now, I know some places, there are issues drinking tap water. We live in an area with excellent tap water quality, so I was kind of baffled by what the issue was. I told her, "Um, our tap water is fine, and your kid didn't say anything at the time," but oh no, that wasn't good enough.

You see, tap water has toxins in it, it's not safe and her family only drinks bottled water, and she is "frankly shocked and disturbed that her child was associating with the child of such an awful, awful parent."

She finished by saying that I could "rest assured she would be calling CPS first thing Monday to have my child removed from such a harmful environment." I was just kind of stunned and didn't really say anything, and she hung up on me. I'd love to know where she thinks bottled water companies get their water from, and second, we're in Australia, and CPS isn't a thing here. So yeah. They're out there.

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41. A Bad Sense Of Humor

I am half white and half Asian. My dad is Dutch, my mom is Singaporean (Chinese). We’ve been living in the US for almost 20 years now, and we moved when I was five. So, I met my boyfriend’s mom a few weeks back, and it went okay I guess. A few days ago, however, I found out she’s Facebook stalked me and found a picture of me with my dad at a black-tie event.

I was holding his arm. The Asian features really came through with me, so I don’t really “look” like my dad. We meet again, and halfway through the conversation she casually goes, “So where’s your sugar daddy?” The conversation stops. I’m just like, “I don’t have one?” She pulls up my Facebook profile and shows me the picture with me and my father.

I just laugh it off and explain that’s my dad. She then asks me whether I was adopted. I again laugh it off. She lets it go for a while, but she brings it up again! “Well, I hope your dad did a DNA test when you were born.” At this point, I’m just like, what is up with this woman? Maybe I just had a really sheltered upbringing, but I’ve never met anyone who was this brand of weird.

I tell her very plainly that I don’t appreciate her insinuating that my mother cheated on my father, and then I left. That night, I get messages from my boyfriend saying, “I took a joke too seriously” and “She was just making fun of the fact you don’t really look that much like him.” Yeah bud, I don’t think she was joking. I don’t think she was joking at all.

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42. What I Want, You Want

My parents used to project their own wants on me. I spent my whole life thinking I was expected to only do what my mom wants me to do. This didn't stop at reasonable goals of success like getting a good education, a good job, and so on. This took over my relationships and friendships. She tried controlling who I hung out with in elementary school.

She even talked badly about my closest friends just because they weren't Christian. I spent a great deal of my teenage years fighting for her to accept my best friend as my best friend. Then, college came around and my mom started to control my relationships. I dated a great guy for three years and she absolutely hated him because of his race and religion.

She constantly talked badly about him, told me I was dating a loser, and convinced me to break up with him after calling him a demon. My mom is a radical Christian and Caribbean woman. It's her way or the highway. I spent a great deal of my life simply just making a name for myself and realizing that I can have my own wants and needs outside of my mom's.

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43. Was It Worth It?

For years of my life, my parents kept me in a school close to their job, while we were living in the East Bay. To avoid traffic, they'd get up early. So, from the fourth grade up until the eighth grade, I was dropped off super early, and then picked up two or three hours after school. I would wander the nearby shopping center. Once a teacher caught me and I had to lie.

Then, my mom decided to move randomly two hours away. Again, they kept their jobs in the Bay, so we were having to drive two hours each way, plus wait till they were out of work. This time, I had my brother with me, and we would literally wander around the city before we would end up at the park next to his school. When my brother and I randomly decided to move away, my mother really couldn't say much to us.

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44. She Didn’t Quite Give It The Old College Try

My grandparents raised me until I was seven so that my mom could party and have “the college experience." We were dirt poor and sometimes would live in a roach-infested apartment, and sometimes, we would get evicted and live in the car. Mostly she’d just drop me off at the library all day and pick me up an hour or so after the library closed.

Being a newcomer who was semi-transient, I got browbeaten pretty badly at school. One evening, it was cold, and I had been alone for about two hours outside the library waiting for her. I had just had another hard day at school, getting tormented by the kids, then yelled at by the teachers for not playing with the other kids.

It just got to me and was more than I could handle at eight years old. So, I climbed into the backseat of the car and started to tell my mom that the kids at school were being mean to me. Her insane reaction was so demented. She whipped around to face me in a fit of anger and rage that came from nowhere. She said, “I can’t fight your battles for you!” So I shut up and never came to her about my problems again.

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45. At The Top Of Their Lungs

My mom and dad would scream at me at the top of their lungs. It just felt so horrible. It makes you wonder if you’re really that awful of a child to them if you manage to push them to that point. There was also a lot of gaslighting. It’s probably a part of the reason why I developed bipolar disorder. My thoughts and emotions have been so heavily impacted to the point where I gaslight myself, which only makes things worse.

There was also name-calling. It’s a rare occurrence for me and they’re not the worst insults, but I’ve been called horrible things at least once and I still remember it. This was so many years ago while I was being reprimanded for something. I don’t care how mad I get at my future kids, I’m never calling them names. They also used to publicly embarrass me. If my kid is acting out in public, I’m not going to yell at them or threaten them in front of everybody.

That’s just embarrassing. Especially for an 18-year-old. The other thing they would do was undue blaming. I’ve been blamed for a few situations that I didn’t feel I should have to own up to, but my parents are persistent if they want me to believe I’m at fault. It really doesn’t solve anything at the end of the day. It just leaves me feeling like absolute garbage.

Finally, they would repeatedly shame me. This was HORRIBLE. I did some stuff that upset my mom which I do regret now, but I was in a bad space mentally, and she would sporadically bring it up during unrelated disputes/reprimands. She would not let me live it down and I felt like she secretly saw disappointment when she looked at me. It’s humiliating.

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46. The Easy Way Out

I got yelled at for being diagnosed with depression and choosing to go onto antidepressants at the advice of my doctor. I was told that I was taking the easy way out and being lazy. I will never do this to my own children. It really affected my relationship with my mum, especially when three years later, she was supportive of my sister going onto them.

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47. Mommy’s Little Monster

I was playing on a Minecraft server with five friends at the time this happened. This new kid joined our game and our Skype call. He kept breaking our builds and demanding we give him stuff. We originally decided to ban him, but we wanted to have some fun, so we kept just taking him out. The Skype call was basically six guys laughing and a little kid screaming, calling us hackers.

We were talking on Skype when his mother called. "LET MY SON PLAY ON THE SERVER, YOU UNGRATEFUL JERKS.” "No," we all said at the same time. "MY HUSBAND IS A LAWYER AND HE WILL SUE YOU AND I WILL CALL THE AUTHORITIES FOR HARASSMENT!" "Shut up, lady!" "DON'T YOU TALK TO ME LIKE THAT! MY SON DESERVES ALL YOUR ITEMS MORE THAN ALL OF YOU COMBINED!"

“Screw off, woman!" "YOU ARE NOT ALLOWED TO SWEAR! ONLY ADULTS ARE ALLOWED TO USE THAT KIND OF LANGUAGE!" One of us makes a Christian Minecraft server meme and she gets really angry. "HOW DARE YOU INSULT MY RELIGION!  ALRIGHT. WHERE DO YOU LIVE?" We start making up addresses. "THAT'S IT! I'M LEAVING!" "About time." She left and blocked us. We still joke about that incident.

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48. Disciplining My Diagnosis

I had a checkup with my doctor and expressed my surprise at how I was doing well now that I was back in school. The doctor asked me several questions, then handed me a stack of tests. I was officially diagnosed with ADD. It was no wonder I always had trouble in school. I called my parents with the news, and my mom said, "Oh yeah, we knew."

I asked her why hadn't I gotten any medication, and they told me that they didn't want me to be drugged. So I asked them why I was always in trouble over my grades. Apparently, they thought they could discipline my learning disability out of me.

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49. Picture This!

When I was about six years old, my parents almost got a divorce. We were living in Europe, and my dad said that he would move to the United States. I asked him if he would take a picture of me with him so that I would have one of the two of us. He told me he wouldn't because he wanted a fresh start. That one really hurt at the time, and I still remember it as if it were yesterday. But that wasn't the worst part.

Years later, when they finally did divorce, he told me, "I don't want you. I want the house.” Not the best dad.

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50. Time To Give It Up

My dad would reluctantly agree to let me have a pet. Then, once it became any tiny problem, he came up with a gutting solution. He would make me give it up. After the third time he did that, I swore I would never ask again. I would not get a pet until I was old enough to have my own home in a place where no one or landlord could make me give it up.

I didn’t adopt my dog until I was in my early 20. Our motto in our household is think hard and be sure you are ready to bring an animal home. Once an animal passes our front door, the pet is home for life, good or bad.

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51. Simply A Spiritual Awakening

In middle school, when I first began struggling with mental illness—paranoia, delusions, massively debilitating panic attacks, hallucinations, and depression—my mother convinced me that it was a “spiritual awakening.” She was a die-hard hippie whose boyfriend was a “paranormal photographer,” and she legitimately made me believe that I was special and psychic, when I was actually SICK.

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52. Low Grades

"I gave birth to you, gave you food and shelter, and this is how you repay me? You're worthless and will never amount to anything in life." That’s what my awful mother said when we got into an argument over my low grades in middle and high school because of a possible unchecked learning disability that she doesn't believe in.

To this day, she thinks I got low grades because I was lazy.

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53. It’s Hard To Find Good Help

My mother-in-law always complains when she isn't asked to babysit when me and my husband look for someone to babysit the kids. To me, this was an ongoing issue and at times, years ago, we did ask her, but she always had other plans. Well, this morning I woke up to a swollen and bruised knuckle on my right hand. It hurt a lot, and I could barely do anything with my hand because it hurt so much.

My husband decided to take me to get it checked out, but being so late to call around to ask someone, we asked my neighbor (a close friend of mine), to watch the kids. However, she wasn't home, and I checked with my mom and she couldn't do it. So my husband asked if he could ask his mom, and I told him to have a back-up plan if she said no.

Turns out she said yes. My husband didn't mention me but just told her we had an emergency and needed her to look after the kids. I'm surprised she actually agreed to help out. We thanked her when she arrived. Me and my husband were gone for two hours, and when we got home we found my friend in the living room with the kids. Then she told us the story that made my blood run cold.

She said my mother-in-law showed up at her door the moment she got home, half an hour after we left, and asked our friend to watch over the kids because she had been unexpectedly called into work. The thing is, my mother-in-law has no job. I think she just got bored and expected to leave when she wanted to. She didn't even bother to tell us she was leaving either, which is what I find even more annoying.

Not long after, though, did she call my husband…to tell him to pay her for watching the kids. My husband let her know she wasn't getting paid and staying half an hour and expecting other people to watch the kids was unacceptable. This caused her to freak. She told him we were both being selfish and should be thankful for her being there when we needed someone, and that she didn't do anything wrong.

My husband told her if she saw no fault in her actions then she no longer could see the kids, or us, and until she realizes her mistake, don't contact him. She tried to fight him, cried on the phone and said she needed him. What she didn't expect, though, was to be hung up on and ignored whenever she tried to call back. From this point on, no more contact with my mother-in-law.

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54. My Dad’s Words

I've never been good enough for my dad. Over and over, I've heard the same rant: "Why can't you be as successful as them?" "You are supposed to set the example." "You are so lazy they work 10 times harder than you." Well, I'll tell you why. Maybe it's because I had to start working at 15 because my dad couldn't afford to put three kids through school.

Maybe it's because his ex-wife drank all the money away or gave it to her kid. Maybe if I had the time to study instead of wasting my nights manufacturing faked IDs, I'd have better grades. Maybe then, I'd be able to make something of myself and not spend my entire adult life in retail or food.

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55. Money Isn’t Everything—But It Helps

I'm 39, successful, and am quite well off. My siblings, sadly, are not. My brother, who is 42, has three children. My sister, 35, also has three, with another one on the way. My youngest sister, who is 28, is married and pregnant, but she had nothing to do with the events of this story. We were all raised to believe that money doesn't matter and all you need is a happy marriage and lots of kids to live a happy life.

Being poor and having lots of kids was somehow glorified. Maybe because that's the way our parents lived and wanted to convince themselves that they didn’t screw up. Fortunately for me, I didn't buy into that nonsense. I always knew I never wanted children. I focused on my career and on achieving success. Today I have my own house, wonderful pets, and a loving boyfriend.

My family, however, seems to think that there's something wrong with my lifestyle. My parents have often commented that my 5-bedroom house is empty without any kids running around. My siblings often tell me I'm selfish for not having kids and actually enjoying my life. However, their disdain for my "selfish" lifestyle doesn't stop them from begging for money.

My brother and sister have called me and asked me to help pay their bills. Now, if it's something serious like clothes or school supplies for their kids, I'm willing to pitch in. But I always refuse when I'm asked to pay for trips to amusement parks, etc. I also paid for my parents to stay in a high-end assisted living facility. They're my parents, I felt that I owed them this much.

Still, I couldn't help but feel insulted when they sang praises for my siblings for breeding and following in their footsteps and how they wish I had done the same. As if, among all their kids, I'm the biggest disappointment. For this reason, I've distanced myself from them. I only call or visit to check up on them and don't let them be a part of my life.

The other day, I got a call from my sister asking if she, her husband, my brother, and his wife could come over. I said OK. At this meeting, they made a stunning request. They asked me to leave my fortune to their kids, in equal portions. And if I did, they would stop asking me for financial help. They said this as if they were doing me a favor.

"You don't have kids, so who are you gonna leave it to?" asked my brother. I told them I was going to leave my money to charities and that I don't owe them anything. When they went on the "you're selfish" route, I told them to get lost. The next morning, I got a call from my dad telling me they were disappointed in me. I simply hung up.

The one family member who has stood by me is my youngest sister. She actually has her stuff together and I could not be more proud of her. After the altercation with my siblings, my parents tried a different strategy. They tried to sweet talk me and suddenly their tune had changed from "You're so selfish" to "Aww! We didn't mean it. Let's talk."

So, after they kept pestering me to have a word with them in person, I invited them over. Now my parents know darn well that chocolate is bad for dogs, but my mom has tried to give them some on many occasions. When I tell her off she always comes back with "but maybe they like it" and "I was just being nice.” This time when they came over, I left them in the living room and went to the kitchen to get some refreshments.

While I was there, one of my dogs came over to greet them. I could see them from the kitchen. My mom petted him for a while, then reached into her purse and pulled out a bar of chocolate. She broke off a piece and was about to give it to him when I stormed over and knocked it out of her hands. My parents looked shocked. I was enraged.

Even after being told repeatedly that chocolate is bad for dogs, they just didn't get it. When I asked my mom what the heck she was doing, my dad actually started yelling at me and told me I was being rude. I told them either they were complete idiots or they were intentionally trying to hurt my dog because of the recent conversation with my siblings.

I told them I was sick of their lies and that they were on very thin ice with me. When they tried to argue back, I grabbed my dad by the arm and walked him out the door. My mom followed.

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56. Deprived Of The Good Food

My parents used to deprive me of good food. My dad is an insanely fussy eater, something I didn't realize until I left home. Anytime I was asked if I wanted to try a new food, he'd say "You won't like it." Genuinely believing I wouldn't, because I was also "fussy" due to learned behavior, I didn't try it. I didn't even try pizza until I was 11 years old.

My mother always catered to his fussy eating, and every meal was always bland with no seasoning other than salt and a pinch of pepper, and we basically had the same meals every week. For example, we would have pie and chips, gammon and eggs, sausage and mash, spaghetti Bolognese, roast beef, Yorkshire pudding and mash, over and over and over again.

I now try to push my dad to try more foods, but he won't eat any kind of poultry or fish, and any foreign food other than Chinese is a no-go.

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57. Only A Few More Years

My parents taught me that I would be on my own soon, and that nobody would take care of me except me. They wanted me to be prepared for the world. So, they would remind me every day that my time with them was ticking down and that I would be out in the cold. When I would anger my dad, he would look at me, then his watch, then me, and say something so disturbing it’s unforgettable. He’d tell me, "Four more years," meaning until I turned eighteen.

Everything was framed that way. When I wanted something expensive, they would explain how I would have to be careful with money once I was alone. When I had a girlfriend, they warned me not to get her pregnant because they would NOT help raise my child. That sort of thing. So, for as long as I can remember, I felt unwelcome and unwanted.

I felt like something that had happened to them, that they were trying to get through, and yet they kept having more kids, on purpose. I felt, and still feel, like an outcast from the family. I never ask for help or money. I deal with my own problems. If I can't afford something, I go without it. And now, they don't understand why I never call.

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58. The Messenger

My mom would come into my room at 3 am sometimes and tell me I had a demon in me. She told me that God audibly told her to warn me that Jesus was coming back soon and I was going to be left behind to suffer through the seven-year apocalypse. She would also tell me she could read my thoughts and that she could move things with her mind, like the movie Carrie.

Thanks to that, my childhood indoctrination took most of my life to let go of.

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59. Mind Your Business

My dad was a drinker. He had a lot of childhood trauma and a quick temper. He cheated on my mom for many years until she finally filed for divorce. Once divorced, he immediately began publicly dating the woman whom he had cheated with most recently. Despite being happy, he would always ask my brother and me about my mom's dating life.

After confiding in my mom that it made me feel bad when he asked that, she told me to simply say that it wasn’t any of his business. This made sense to my little eight-year-old mind because it wasn’t his business. Well, one night, on the way home from a visit,  he asked about my mom's new boyfriend. My brother didn’t say anything.

After a few silent moments, I said, “Dad, that’s not your business.” He immediately got angry and yelled, “You’re a little pill,  just like your mom and your sister.” I remember exactly where we were, what road we were on, that it was dark, where I was sitting, my jacket—everything. It’s something I’ll never forget and was a very pivotal moment in my life.

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60. Duty Done

So after my father passed, my mother moved to Florida hoping that her real mom would take care of her. She refused, and my mother refused to work, so she called up different family members begging for money. Everyone got fed up with it and told her to pound sand. Then she called up my nanna. Mother: I need money. Give me some.

Nanna: We have no money to give you. Get a job. Mother: Fine! Give me my inheritance! Nanna: What? Mother: The money I'll get from your life insurance and the sale of the house. Give it to me! Nanna: There is no life insurance and we are still living in the house. Mother: YES THERE IS! GIVE ME MY MONEY! My Nanna had enough and gave the phone to my pappa and explained the whole situation.

Pappa: We raised your children. That's your inheritance. hangs up phone Sadly, this wouldn't be the last time she called begging for money.

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61. Changing Their Ways

My parents had me talk to a psychiatrist for pseudo-conversion therapy. They’re super Christian, and the sad thing is that they genuinely thought they were helping me, but instead it just drove me into a very negative headspace for years until I finally came out after college. They’ve changed their views of it and are extremely supportive now, but it’s still something that hurts deep in my heart.

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62. Bend Over Backwards

This happened about 3-4 years after I moved out of my parents’ house and had been living independently. Then one day, I get this string of texts from my mom. Mom: "Hey, how have you been doing? What are you up to two weeks from now?" Me: "I've been doing alright, I've started lifting weights and exercising more. I don't think I'm doing anything too exciting next week. Why you ask?"

Mom: "perfect! Me and <boyfriend> are going on a trip and need you to house sit and watch the dogs for us." Me: "Sorry, but I can't just leave for a week." Mom: "Please, the dogs miss you and I'd really hate to put them in the kennel." Me: "Sorry but I have a job, I can't just go missing for a week." Mom: "Why can't you drive to work from my house?"

Me: "Because it's a 2.5hr commute each way." Mom: "You have vacation days, right? Just use them." Me: "No." Mom: "please. I'd feel really bad about putting <dog's name> in the kennel. You know how much she hates it." Me: "You obviously don't feel that bad about doing it." Then I hear nothing from her until the day before they have their trip.

Mom: "Hey, we're leaving for our trip today and I was wondering when you were going to be here? I want to show you some things before we leave." Me: "What part of our last conversation gave you any idea that I agreed to this?" Mom: "That's very rude of you and no way to speak to your mother. Now, can we expect you here by 5?" And at that point, I just put my phone on silent and stopped talking to her.

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63. It’s Everyone’s Problem Now

They made their problems into problems for the whole family. They pulled us into everything. That's not fair to a kid. I was straight out asked to fix things between them sometimes. No kid should be even the remotest bit responsible for their parent's relationship or fixing things that are wrong between them. That's so messed up.

We all have problems. We're all just human. No one expects perfection. But, if you have a problem with your wife or husband, don't bring the kid into it. Don't make it the kid’s problem. Don't make the pain of the household, which they're going to feel anyway, somehow the kid's fault. It was just totally wrong.

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64. Can Never Say No

My parents refused to address issues between my sister and myself. They hate conflict, so it was easier for them to guilt me into doing whatever my sister wanted and then praise me for being "good" than to ever put her in line. Being praised for always giving up what you want can really mess you up.

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65. Breaking Everything

If the tiniest thing broke at home—I remember once I broke a clothespin—it was the end of all things. Dad would fly off the handle about it. Or worse, if something broke around him, or he broke it, it was still my fault. I remember, once, my brother spilled an entire carton of OJ and it was my fault for "putting it back in the fridge wrong."

If a door handle broke, it was because I touched it three turns ago and I was "too rough" with it. And so on. Even after I moved out, things were my fault at the house. They never gave me a dime after my 18th birthday, but if they didn't have enough money to pay bills, it was because they had me. I remember, one time, their house flooded, and this was my fault because two weeks prior, I was at their house, and I washed my hands and "must've" damaged the faucet.

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66. Putting On Makeup

My mother is very traditional, very much so the type of Southern woman who wakes up even on a Saturday to put on a full face of makeup and curl her hair. Since the time I hit puberty, so let’s say 12 or 13, I had her telling me that I needed to put makeup on every day. “You just look better with makeup on,” and “You’re too plain to go without makeup,” or my personal favorite of “Some girls are beautiful without makeup, you’re just not one of those girls.”

As a young and impressionable teen, it really wrecked my confidence to go and be seen by my family or, God forbid, in public without makeup on. To this day she still says that to me, but I’m happy to say that now, as a 21-year-old, I can go out in public and feel confident completely bare-faced. A mother should never tell their child that they aren’t beautiful without makeup on.

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67. Some Windfall

My husband and I went over to our in-laws’ house about a week ago and of course, like always, I got stuck being with my mother-in-law while my husband and his dad grilled outside. We were on the subject of luxury handbags and my mother-in-law talked about wanting a $7,000 bag. She has this amazing trait where she does nothing all day and has done nothing with her life, yet acts like she’s the queen and expects her husband to spoil her.

While she’s talking about this super expensive bag, she says, “I’m just waiting for someone to pass in my family for me to be able to afford it.”......I’m not joking. She said that word for word, and of course me being tired of her nonsense, I asked her, “What do you mean by that?” Cue her stumbling over her words, saying things like “Oh...you know...inheritance...” as she turns bright red.

I about fell out of my seat just hearing her selfishness. She continues to back pedal, and I just sip at my drink with my eyebrows raised. I said “Ohh, ok,” and acted super unimpressed while I was screaming on the inside, debating if I was really hearing what I heard.

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68. A Formula For Disaster

After my son was born, due to some medical problems, I had supply issues. It didn’t get better, and what little supply I had left dried up. He’s exclusively formula fed now. However, my mother-in-law is very pro-breastfeeding and won’t accept that I can’t do it. “I’ve breastfed five children until they were two. This is the most basic thing a mother should do. Why can’t you?”

This is her favorite thing to say. My husband put her on a time out because of it, and eventually she apologized. I think it’s because we refused to let her see our son until she did. But I digress. She comes by a few times a week now. She won’t bring up the breastfeeding issue anymore, but still grumbles when I bring out the formula.

In order to help keep track of the feedings, one of the things we do is keep a feeding timetable on the fridge. She sees it, and made him a bottle and started feeding him before he was meant for another feed. She only managed this once while my husband and I were preoccupied. Our baby didn’t like it, we didn’t like it, the only person that did was her.

My husband asks her why she did it. “The baby was crying,” she says, and she doesn’t see anything wrong with wanting to feed her grandbaby. Then comes the piece de resistance. “Blame your wife, if she was breastfeeding I wouldn’t have been able to.” Uh, bye bye. She’s been calling, but you’re going to need more than one insincere apology to get back into this house.

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69. No Good Reason

My parents would never give them a reason for anything. My parents always told me, "Because I said so," or, "I don't owe you an explanation." Yes, actually, as a matter of fact, it is indeed your job to tell me why certain things are bad to do or say…Not just, because you're in charge. Telling your kid to not play in the road "because I said so" vs. "because you could get hurt,” the one given a reason is leagues less likely to actually do it.

If you ask me, "because I said so" is a lazy response that you tell your kids when you don't actually have a good reason for what you’re telling them.

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70. Far From The Perfect Father

My father always had a lot of rage, and screamed at us for no reason. It really broke my mental state. My sister fights back sometimes now, so that helps out knowing that he can be overpowered. He also mentally abused us. I don't recall much of it, but it's the only memory I have of him from when I was very young, so I would like to not be like that.

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71. It’s The Little Things

So today, my husband and I were feeling bored and adventurous and decided to make a pilgrimage to a posh "Coffee Bar" in our city. We've been meaning to go for months but never got around to it. We pull in the lot and it's packed. 10:45 am on a Sunday, so we expected it. As I'm getting out of the car, the mombie next to me is struggling to get three kids out of their seats while her husband (?) stood by the front of the car watching, not helping.

I hop out and excuse myself and walk into the café with my own husband. Huge line. Two more people come in after us, then mombie and her horde. She immediately starts complaining about the line. She talks loudly to her husband at first, but when he's clearly ignoring her, she decides to just complain to thin air. "Why is this line always so long? God, why don't they have more staff? Why does every person have to come at the same time? UGH!"

She eventually asked the couple in front of her if she can go ahead because her kids are really, really hungry. These saints begrudgingly say sure, so now this delightful family is directly behind my husband and me. She then says to me, "Excuse me miss? May we have the spot before you in line? My children have been waiting a long time and are very hungry."

With the nicest voice I could find, I said, "I'm sorry ma'am, we've been waiting a while too and are also hungry. The line is moving faster now at least!" I gave her a smile even though she was glaring at me. I turn back around only to hear her mutter, "Wow what a witch. Can you believe some people? How rude." It took all my effort to not react.

My husband is a conflict avoider, I am not. But I respect his wishes enough to not cause a scene in public when I'm with him. Eventually, she starts telling her husband how they're always out of the Mediterranean Spinach Breakfast sandwich she wants and she better get it this time or she's gonna so mad. This is when I concoct a seriously evil plan.

I check my watch; it's 10:55. A minute or two later, it's our turn. Husband orders his Soy Chai and I sloooowly order my vanilla nitro cold brew...with cream....no, not cream, sorry, with soy. And an extra pump of vanilla. Barista rings us up as I check my watch. It's 10:58. I ask to add a Mediterranean Spinach Breakfast Sandwich to the order.

She says sure, no problem. Gives us the total. I'm digging in my purse for my wallet, darn, just can't seem to find it. More digging. Oh! There it is, finally. Hand her the card, wait for the receipt, and slowly sign. Pack purse back up, say thank you, and walk away. Husband says, "You're hungry? We ate breakfast an hour ago." Me: "No, I'm not hungry. Just had to do this."

Him: "Do what?" I nod towards mombie. Husband looks over. She orders her coffee and some juice things for the kids, doesn't even ask if her husband wants anything. Then it happened. "And one Mediterranean Spinach Breakfast Sandwich." Barista: "Oh I'm sorry ma'am, we stopped serving breakfast at 11. We have all our lunch options today though."

Mombie looks at her watch and yells "WHAT? ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!? IT'S 11:02!" Barista: "I'm sorry ma'am, company policy is to stop breakfast at 11. Is there anything else I can get you?" Mombie: "GET ME YOUR MANAGER! THIS IS RIDICULOUS. YOU JUST SOLD ONE A MOMENT AGO! THIS IS ABSURD!" The manager came over, explained the situation, apologized, but refused to give that witch a sandwich, bless her heart.

Mombie retracts her entire order and stomps out, red-faced and yelling all the way to her car. My husband was trying to hold back his laughter. Our order came up. We grabbed it and went back to the car. I'm unwrapping the sandwich and take a bite exactly as I'm trying to scoot around her trying to strap her kids in again. I say, "Oh excuse me ma'am, just gonna sneak by ya real quick!"

She’s glaring at me, the worst stare I've ever gotten. I get in the car and unwind the windows ever so slightly. It's hot today, right? I slowly unwrap the rest of the sandwich and take a few more bites, passing it to husband and back while she's screaming and struggling with her kids, getting no help from Daddy. As soon as she pulled away, we burst into laughter. Today was a good day.

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72. All Wigged Out

When I was 16, I had a nice wig that I would wear to cover my dyed pink hair when I was at school. One day my dad came in, put it on, and started doing a whole mocking performance of me, checking my outfit in the mirror. He was fluffing his hair, turning to check different angles, bending the way I would to make sure my skirts didn't ride up, all of it.

I could hear his girlfriend laughing from where she was watching it all from their room. I started crying and crying until he finally stopped. He got annoyed at my being upset and said, "I was just teasing you." He threw my wig on my bed and stormed out. I sometimes think of that when I look in a full-length mirror, bend to fix something on my outfits, or just randomly.

WORST Parents factsShutterstock

73. By Any Other Name

My mother-in-law got off the phone a little while ago with my fiancé. She was trying to convince him to name our daughter Elizabeth after her mother…which I hate and so does he. He gently let her down because he says the more firm you are with her, the more combative she becomes. I've only met them a handful of times as they live in Arizona we are in NYC.

So she called me. She said: "You know, it would mean so much to me if you were to name my grandchild Elizabeth." But I had had it. I said: "Didn't your son just tell you no? Isn't that what he said? (She tried to interrupt, I cut her off) Did you think if you called me with your sickly sweet voice that I would somehow cave, because I can assure you all you’re doing is making me angry and tap dancing on my last nerve."

She said: "Well, I feel I should have some sort of say in my grandchild's naming." Side-note: This woman has pressured her other daughters-in-law into naming their children names she has picked out. Wrong witch, wrong time, wrong day. I said: "Your feelings are irrelevant, you are not the parent.” She said: "I'm the grandmother.”

I said: "Yes, the parent of one of the parents, know your role. You can visit, dote on, spend time with our child as we as her parents deem acceptable, but please do not think your job is to raise our daughter, because it is not. So no, you do not get a say in what we name her. It is strictly between me and her dad." I continued: "Is there anything else you want to say?”

She’s silent. I took that as a no, and just said goodnight and then I hung up. I know I might have been harsh, but with all I'm going through I just don't have the patience. My husband is now on the phone with her, telling her she should not have upset me considering my condition. He's beyond angry too, but honestly I'm fine. I said what I meant and I truly meant what I said.

Mother-In-Law FactsShutterstock

74. What’s Cooking?

I woke up early one Easter morning ready for the Easter Bunny to have dropped off gifts. Unfortunately, there was nothing. I saw my dad in the kitchen, where he was making stew. To make a long story short, he said he caught the Easter Bunny and was cooking him. I cried. My mom was mad. In hindsight, it was hilarious, but it certainly ruined the fun of Easter as a six-year-old, and I will never forget the thought of the poor Easter Bunny getting cooked.

Kid's Home Life FactsWikimedia Commons, Lesekreis

75. Nice Versus Vice

My mom is usually the world’s nicest woman. However, when she has been drinking, she becomes just the opposite. One night she came home totally smashed, and I called her out on it, even though I was half-asleep because it was late. She got mad and said something like, "Poor you, you have no friends, no future, you are struggling with everything. What will become of you?"

Supernatural childhoodUnsplash

76. Crash And Burn

I work IT for a small company, and I support about 25 people in total. Anything tech-related is owned by the company, and I am involved in it. I like my job. Most of the folks working here are good people, even though some of them are very difficult to train on computers. This entitled parent is a middle-aged woman who, as far as I can tell, gets paid more than I do to do about 45 minutes of work a day that she stretches into a full 8-hour shift.

She can't really even do that 45 minutes of work correctly most of the time and I've had to come and retrain her on the software we use several times a month. She also refuses to listen when I am helping her with tech issues and has something new to complain to me about every week. I'm told she only got the job because her dad and the owner of the company are old drinking buddies.

Well, as annoying as she is, I was able to mostly ignore her until this incident last week. I am in my office working on something when she comes in with a laptop, some cables, and an iPad. She sets them down on my desk and just looks at me without saying a word. Me: "Uh...what’s all this?" Her: "My son's laptop and my iPad are having trouble. Can you fix them?"

Me: "Sorry, I don't work on personal devices. If it isn't owned by the company I won't work on it. You'll have to go to a shop or something." Her: "Oh come on! You fix this kinda stuff all the time. I bet it takes you 5-10 minutes tops to get them running. Then you can get back to whatever else you wanna fix." Me: “Sorry, not happening."

Her (turning several shades of purple and red at this point): "What the heck is wrong with you?! You sit around all day doing nothing, and when you finally come out of your office, it’s to fix things that you obviously screwed up because you're incompetent! Just fix the things so I can take them home and use them again. I don't know why the boss even keeps you around, you are so useless!"

Me: "Yeah I'm gonna have to ask you to leave my office so I can get back to work." I go back to working on things and she grabs her stuff and storms out, slamming my door behind her. I get a call about 20 minutes later from the owner asking why she was demanding I be fired. She had told him that I had laughed in her face and refused to help her.

She even said I threatened to never help her with IT problems at work again because I was mad. She called me out on being lazy. I explained what actually happened and offered to send him a copy of the camera footage of the entire incident since there is a camera overlooking my entire office. The owner requested the footage so I sent it to him.

I get in the next day and I realize the entitled woman isn't there. I ask around and apparently, the owner called her into his office and spoke with her about the incident. She tried to double down on her lies when he showed her the footage, including audio. It sealed her fate and caught her in the lie...He then offered to let her take some time off to cool her head before coming back to work, but that he'd expect her to make an apology to me for her behavior.

This enraged her. Everyone could hear her even through closed doors, screaming about how awful a person I was. She then stormed out of his office, grabbed her things, and shouted “I QUIT" before leaving. So, she's gone for good. She is so unwilling to own up to her own poor behavior and apologize to me that she threw away a cushy job making way more money than she is likely to make anywhere else around here.

What an idiot. On the plus side, without her here constantly complaining, I am getting a bit more work done each day.

Worst Parents FactsShutterstock

77. Never Sleep In

My parents never let me sleep in. My dad would wake me up every morning at nine while screaming, “Wake up, wake up, the day is half over!” Even if I was 18 and up until past midnight working, he would do it. Even now, in my 30s and with a PhD, I’ve shown him the studies about how bad that is for children and teens. He still thinks he was doing me a huge favor. I have some pretty severe sleep issues that I believe came from that.

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78. The Ingrate

There were two things my mother has said to me that stick out. The first happened when I was a kid.  She would constantly reply, "That's stupid," to every interest I had my entire childhood. The other happened much later after I had turned my life and new home upside down to move her in with me. She was no longer capable of cleaning or taking care of her apartment.

So, I cleaned her disgusting apartment for her. Not only that, but I got her the assistance she needed for her medical issues, drove all over the city multiple times to get her medication and needed items. I didn’t even get a thank you. Instead, she said, "You have never done anything to help me. Ever." Just more mistreatment.

Legendary Comebacks factsShutterstock

79. The Enduring Effects Of My Childhood

My mother continually called me a “heifer” and sent me to a school that wasn’t very ethnically diverse. She would tell me that I acted desperate with guys and “laid up with them” because I was desperate for love because I didn’t have a father. She would continually scream at me and tell me that I was embarrassing her by getting bad grades because she was a teacher.

When I made the mistake of going to her with a problem, she told me, “Wow, YOU endured,” and then gave me a long lecture about “enduring.” She would constantly tell me that I was “running the streets just like my father” when hanging out with my friends like a typical, healthy teenager.  Whenever I asked her why we couldn’t have a clean, peaceful house instead of a dirty, cluttered apartment like my friends, she screamed at me even though she had an education, career, and made plenty of money.

She told me that it was because they were white and had husbands, two incomes, and generational wealth. Her statement led me to believe that I not only needed a husband to survive to be happy but a white one which led me to end up in a string of poor failed relationships. I ignored setting real goals for myself aside from being married.

Cruel Betrayals factsShutterstock

80. Waiting By The Window

When I was younger, I would call my Dad and he would tell me “I’m coming over to get you.” Hearing that, I would sit by the window and just wait for him, but he would never come. My mom used to say that it was heartbreaking to see. I’ve seen him maybe 12 times in my entire life, I’m 40 now and it still hurts when I think about it.

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81. The Ugly Duckling

My mom pointed at a guy on TV that was the “ugly” character of a show we were watching and told me, “In life, there are people like him,” and pointed at me. She then looked at my brother. She waited for the super handsome telenovela guy to show up and then said, “And him,” and pointed at my brother. I was only 11. I grew up to be an extremely insecure teenager and adult.

For some reason, I’ve been called ugly by uncles, cousins, and my brother. Yet, somehow strangers always have the exact opposite opinion of me. It was extremely confusing growing up.

WORST Parents factsPexels

82. Idle Threats With Grave Consequences

I still have some pretty vivid memories of my little sister and me threatening to report my parents to child protection services in the late 90s. My dad never said anything, but my mom sure did. I remember her telling us how my sisters and I would all be split up and sent to separate foster homes, where they would probably be even worse towards us than my parents ever were.

She told us we ought to be grateful to have them as parents. I don't even remember any of the things my sister and I were threatening them over. They may have been trivial, but my mom's reaction was worse.

Helicopter Parents factsShutterstock

83. No Laughing Matter

I have seen a lot of crazy people in the course of my life, but my potential mother-in-law is the absolute worst person I have ever met. I have been with my boyfriend for eight months now, and we’re both in our 30s. For the first few months, everything was amazing. He is the sweetest and most caring man I have ever been with, bar none.

He likes to surprise me with fun dates and flowers for no apparent reason.  The biggest surprise of all, though, was when I met his mother. I met his parents for the first time a few months ago. The first thing his mother said to me when I walked in the door was “are you Jewish?” I am not and I am not particularly religious, but I was raised Catholic.

Once I told her this, it was the beginning of the madness. She immediately stopped talking to me and acted as if I didn’t exist. I was extremely nervous about meeting my boyfriend’s parents, so this broke my heart. I was determined to make a good impression, so I kept trying to connect with her. This was a huge mistake and I should have just let it go.

Once we were all seated for dinner, she finally decided to try and make conversation. I have naturally red hair and she asked me if my parents have the same color. I told her that I have the same hair as my mother. She then had the audacity to ask me, “Does the carpet match the drapes?” I had no idea how to respond and just sat there, stunned.

Seeing my reaction, she said, “Don’t worry I will just ask my son about it later.” I looked over at my boyfriend who seemed equally as shocked, but he didn’t say anything. She then started to go on about my hair being “too curly.” She told me that I really need to learn how to run a brush through my hair and think about my appearance more when I am out with her son.

Then when I didn’t eat much at dinner, she gave me her version of a compliment. I was told it was good that I am watching what I eat because it would be a shame if I got any bigger. This was just my first meeting with this woman. As soon as I got into my car, I burst into tears until I got home. My boyfriend was texting me and apologizing for his mother’s behavior, but the damage was done.

I told him I needed time to think. He went into apology overload after this and started sending flowers to my office every day and leaving me messages begging me to talk to him. I finally agreed and we went out to dinner. He told me he spoke with his mother about her inappropriate comments and he swore it would never happen again.

With this reassurance, I decided to give it another chance. Fast forward two weeks to when he invited me to come to a family birthday party. This time I would also be meeting his sisters and grandparents. His grandparents and sisters are awesome people. They asked me normal questions about my job, family, and friends. His mother seemed to be avoiding me throughout the evening and honestly, I was okay with that.

I went to grab something from my purse and noticed that it was not where I left it. I looked everywhere but I could not find it. I went and asked my boyfriend and he began to help me look. He then got a strange look on his face and he quickly went upstairs. I could then hear a lot of yelling begin upstairs. He came back down holding my purse after a few minutes and told me that we were leaving.

Once we got in the car, I asked him what was going on. Apparently, his mother had taken my purse so that she could see my driver’s license. She intended to try and run a background check on me. He told me she had told him this earlier but honestly had thought she was joking. I thought that it was best if I avoided any of his family functions for the time being.

This worked out great for a while and he went to any of his family parties alone. He would ask me each time before leaving if I was sure that I didn’t want to go, but I always declined. Last week, his family had their family reunion and he asked me to please come with him. I was very reluctant but considering there would be so many people present, I didn’t think she would pull anything.

When we got there, everything was going great. I met his extended family and got to catch up with his sisters. His mother did seem to be giving me glares all night, but I brushed it off. Soon she came over and joined a table I was seated at with his sisters and some cousins. The conversation was pleasant as we were talking about his sisters’ children.

His sister has a daughter who is 12 and is the same age as my niece. I then showed his sister a picture of my niece on my phone. His mother took a look at the screen and began to laugh. She told me she hopes that if her son and I ever have children that they don’t look like my niece. My niece is beautiful by the way, and she is only 12 years old.

What kind of monster attacks a 12-year-old child’s appearance? This was my breaking point and I went off like a volcano. I started to scream at her and told her she is the evilest person I have ever had to misfortune to meet. I told her if I ever did have children with her son, she can be certain she will never meet them, I’d make sure of that.

I am not 100% certain of exactly everything that I said, but from what his younger sister later said, “It was epic.” His mom began to play the victim and wailed that I had just misunderstood her joke. My boyfriend came rushing over at this point and she threw herself into his arms, telling him I am a horrible woman and he needed to throw me out right now.

He told her that wasn’t going to happen and to stop making a fool of herself. She seemed to accept this for a moment and sat back down. She just kept sobbing that I just didn’t understand how to take a joke. Then something in her snapped as she noticed something that my boyfriend was holding in his hand. She began to have another meltdown.

I didn’t understand what was happening at this point and just stood there watching a grown woman pitch a fit like a toddler. None of what she was saying made any sense to me as it was mostly just incoherent screaming, but I did pick up on many derogatory comments directed my way. My boyfriend then told me we were leaving and to grab my things.

As I started to get ready, she made a lunge for my boyfriend’s hand and grabbed the small box he was holding. She looked me in the eyes and said, “You will never have this ring you little witch.” She ran outside and threw the box down a storm drain. Turns out that my boyfriend was intending on proposing to me. He had just obtained his grandmother’s ring while we were at the reunion.

His grandmother is completely heartbroken because now her ring is down a storm drain instead of continuing on in the family as she had always wanted. I don’t know where to go from here. I am devastated, confused, and exhausted.

Worst Parents FactsShutterstock

84. I Ham What I Ham

I put on weight when I was 13 years old and really didn’t notice it. My mom made me aware by grabbing my butt and hips. She yelled in front of my dad and a boy that I told her I liked, that this boy would never want me because I had too much “ham.” I’m an adult now, and it still makes me cry when I think back to that. When I see pictures of me from back then, I think I was beautiful!

People Got Fired FactsShutterstock

85. Her Comments Stunk

My mom would always say I smelled musty or terrible. No matter how long I bathed or how much deodorant I put on, even though I used cologne, she would say this. When I was around 19 and left home, the truth finally came out: She told me that she was lying about it and just wanted to condition me into always smelling good.

In reality, it gives me anxiety about hygiene 24/7, but when someone says I smell good, it means a lot more to me personally.

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86. The Nastiest Place On Earth

My husband and I got married last summer. We were limited to 10 people and planned to have a big reception this year. Our area is tentatively opening up, but almost all of our guests would be coming from out of state, including my husband’s entire family, so we decided to just cancel the celebration. As a “consolation,” we decided to go to one of our favorite places, Disney World, for our honeymoon.

I have a ton of food allergies and Disney is one of the only places I can safely eat at, meaning I won’t have to cook the whole time! We booked our package through Disney for later this summer, hoping we’ll be vaccinated by then. My husband was excited that we finally had a plan, so he mentioned it to his dad while they were talking on the phone yesterday.

No big deal. I’d told my mom and one of my aunts I’d talked to yesterday. We should be able to share—we’re excited! Well, I found out how wrong I was. My mother-in-law calls this morning and tells my husband to put us on speakerphone. She has the most exciting news for us. They’re joining us on our Disney trip! It’s going to be so fun.

Finally a family vacation! My mother-in-law is pumped! My father-in-law booked everything last night. She wanted to just surprise us this summer by showing up, but couldn’t hold it in anymore. Plus, she wanted me to make us all matching shirts. WHAT. This was supposed to be our honeymoon. The only “normal” part of the wedding experience we didn’t get to have, and the in-laws decided to crash it.

Thankfully she “couldn’t contain her excitement” so we had a heads up. My husband, without my prompting, called Disney and got the dates switched and told me not to share with anybody just in case, with the exception of my mom closer to because she’ll babysit our dogs. I’ve had some creeping doubts about my husband’s willingness to stand up to his mom in the past, but I am SO beyond happy with how he responded.

He’s not planning on telling his parents we switched the dates we’re going. His comment was, “They’re getting what they deserve.”

1970s FactsNeedpix

87. He Broke My Prop And My Heart

I was trying to repair a costume that I needed for a freelance job. I was working to bring in some money to help with expenses. I was, and am still, severely visually impaired, and I had to teach myself all I knew about dress and prop making. My father broke the prop and yelled at me, saying, "Why are you still wasting your life with this rubbish. You're useless and just costing me money." It still feels like a cold spot in my chest.

Bachelor Parties Gone Wrong FactsUnsplash

88. Diary Of A Six-Year-Old

When I was six, I kept a journal. Recently, my mother found that journal and read one of the entries.  It said that I was so mad at her, I wanted to kick her. She then sent me a long text saying that she would keep her distance from me, pray for me, and that she wished me the best. I had to explain to her quite a few times that I was SIX.

A week later, she called me and told me that she was a bad mom and couldn’t sleep or eat and didn’t know how many times she had to apologize to me. Again, I was SIX.

Supernatural Experiences FactsShutterstock

27. Happy Birthday To Me

When I was first married, money wasn’t that easy to come by, as I had a form of leukemia that took up most of our money. Due to this, we couldn’t just spend money like we wanted to. God bless my husband for being such a sweetheart. We were only in our early 20s and he still pushed through this for us. December 23rd is my mother’s birthday.

She is an awful person, by the way. For example, she tried to get me pregnant at 14 because she wanted more money from the state, but that’s an entirely different story. As this was 20 years ago, we didn’t really have the same type of cell phones we have today, so I didn’t know until I got home from cancer treatment that my mom had called me multiple times.

Three minutes later (I counted) she shows up at the door. She asks for her money. Both of us are confused, of course. Apparently, she wants her birthday money, which I’ve never given before to her. In fact, she wanted 608 dollars. That exact amount. When I told her no, we can’t afford that, she lost it. Screaming at me, calling me an entitled witch.

She gave birth to me so I should do what she says. And then I say I’m an adult and I don’t have to listen. After all, I was angry and tired and I just threw up a few minutes ago. This set her off. She grabbed a kitchen utensil and ran at me, while my husband is trying to hold her back. She got me right between two ribs, but didn’t pierce any organs, thank God.

I don’t know what happened in my husband’s mind at this point, but he snapped. He broke her arm backward in a rage while screaming something I don’t even think was a human language. He called the authorities and she was detained while I was taken to the hospital. She got sentenced to seven years, while I moved out and moved to Louisiana.

Worst Ways They’ve Been Dumped FactsShutterstock

90. Daughter-In-Law-Disguise

I wish my son never met her. We lived on the other side of the country from them so we didn't have many visits but managed one or two a year. When we visited, the house was clean, the kids were cared for, and our daughter-in-law was fun to be around. However, once we left, life went back to "normal" for my son and grandkids.

She would say she was going to the store and would not come home for a few days. She did not clean, or cook. My son traveled for business and when he was gone she had many visitors in the house. He would come home to a trashed house, trashed car, trashed everything. She would put the kids to bed, then leave to party.

She kept the two oldest kids home from school when he traveled since she was too busy sleeping from partying all night to take them to school. As he was making plans to leave her and take the kids, our worst nightmare happened. She fatally injured the youngest child and is now awaiting trial. We had no idea how bad it was until it was too late.

Worst in-lawsPexels

91. Bad Suggestions

My twin brother passed in a car wreck and my family suggested that I should date his girlfriend because...grief, I guess? REAL FREAKIN' AWKWARD, MOM.

Worst Airplane Experience FactsShutterstock

92. Mother Lover

I never told my wife that her mother once tried to sleep with me. It was early in our marriage when we were living with her to save money for our own place. Her marriage of 28 years had ended badly, and she was emotionally fragile. She was very tipsy and was absolutely horrified at what she had done when she sobered up.

I promised not to ever tell my wife and I never did, even when she and I were fighting near the end of our marriage. Some things are too cruel to do, even when you're trying to hurt each other.

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93. A Look Of Absolute Horror

My mom was a Karen in both name and behavior. My dad had a massive heart attack. His brain was oxygen-deprived, and we weren't sure if he was going to make it. We also weren’t sure how intact his mind would be. He was intubated, sedated, the whole works for days. My toddler nephew visited the hospital. He was dad's special buddy.

My dad somehow roused from his critically ill state to wave his fingers and say a few words to my adorable nephew. A miracle! My mom tried to get my dad to talk to her, and then she did something absolutely appalling...she slapped him—pretty hard—on the chest because he wouldn't say anything to her. She was jealous of a two-year-old. I mean, she hit a man in intensive care.

The look on the nurse's face was absolute horror.

Surgeons Mistakes FactsShutterstock

94. Karen Versus Carl Jr.

My mom is a Karen. She thinks the world is supposed to cater to her and that everyone else is wrong. Once, we went to Carl's Jr. and she ordered four burgers for the four of us. What she did next made me so angry—she pulled one burger out of the bag while the guy was getting our drinks and hid it. She complained that he forgot a burger, pulling out the remaining three in the bag one by one and counting them in front of him.

He keep swearing up and down that he put them all in the bag, but she threatened him, saying, "If you don't get me another burger, I will call your manager." I was stunned speechless, but it happened so fast. She got a free burger and laughed as we drove off. I just stared at her and she opened it up to eat it on the drive home. She ate her actual burger like the fifth one never existed.

I can't even explain how she is when she's in the hospital. She treats it like a luxury stay in a hotel.

Speak to the Manager FactsShutterstock

95. Minors Must Be Accompanied

I was halfway through a counseling session with a couple with a four-month-old baby. I asked about the baby, and the mom said, “She’s in bed at home.” I said, “Ah, grandparents babysitting?” The dad went, “No, she is at home alone. Nothing can happen to her. We bought a special mattress. One where she can’t suffocate.”

At this point, my jaw was on the floor, and I was just staring at them for a couple of seconds. Then I asked how long it took them to get here. They told me about 15 minutes, so I said, “Alright, the session’s over. I want you guys to go home immediately and call me when you arrive. Please hurry. And never ever leave your baby alone!”

Therapists revealUnsplash

96. What’s In A Name?

I was the youngest and only child in my family to attend college. While in college, I was kicked out at the age of 20. My dad got furious over his burned dinner, and then later, instead of knocking on my door to open my window, he barged in and opened it himself. I protested and he overreacted and said, "his house his rules."

I told him that you don't just do stuff like that because I could have been undressed or any number of things. It had nothing to do with the rules of the house; it was more about walking in on something awkward. He didn't take it well and kicked me out for talking back. Didn't talk to them for seven years after that. Eventually, though, they came back into my life.

My oldest brother only had girls, and I ended up having three boys. For each one of them, I was asked by both if I'd name one of them after my dad. I would inform them no and they would get increasingly agitated. Eventually, I just decided to be truthful and hit them back with a brutal response: "If you wanted me to name any children after you, you should have actually raised me better."

I haven't talked to them for three months now and it doesn't look like I will be for the foreseeable future after another incident. They used my credit card for $7,000 after kicking me out. I've spent my entire life fending off their manipulative antics. The nail in the coffin? My mother told me she had a life-altering disease that she did not actually have.

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97. One Gifted Lady

My fiancé’s mother is a single mother, and she is waayyy overly attached to my fiancé. She seems to think she is entitled to be a part of every aspect of my fiancé’s life and that she must always come first in all situations. For example, she was livid when we got engaged because we didn’t visit her first after the proposal. She pitched a fit that we had stopped by my parents’ first to show them the ring.

When we did arrive at her house, she was so angry that she ended up throwing a cake at us in her driveway. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. She has made my life a nightmare since we got together, but it became much worse when I got pregnant. She has made numerous attempts to convince my fiancé to leave me because she doesn’t believe I am pregnant with his baby.

Her “proof” is that I was too fat, so I must be lying about the due date. This is just one of the many things she has done to hurt and embarrass me. We have limited our contact with her as a result, but she always seems to find a way to weasel back in. So, last week I gave birth to a beautiful baby girl. Both our families were not able to come to the hospital and will likely not be able to visit in person for a while.

My parents told me they planned to decorate the front of my house to welcome the baby home, and my mom said she had ordered a bunch of things off Etsy for the occasion. When I arrived home, I was surprised to see that there were no decorations. I didn’t think much of it and just assumed my family had run out of time. It wasn’t like them to forget, but I assumed there was a good explanation. Then I got a heart-stopping phone call.

My mom called me after I was settled and asked me how I liked the decorations and presents. I asked her what she was talking about and told her that there was nothing outside when I got home. My mom proceeded to text me several pictures of my house fully decorated in pink baby gear. I also noticed several wrapped presents on my porch in the picture.

They were also missing along with a large banner, balloon arrangements, and several other decorations. My mother told me one of the presents contained a little sweater knitted by my grandma that I wore as a baby. I had been looking forward to receiving this and passing it on to my daughter. I was extremely confused as we live in a rural area so porch pirates are not very common.

I asked my fiancé to check our security camera. He pulled up the footage and we were both shocked at what we saw. We saw his mother taking everything down and putting it all in her car. The footage was very clear and you can easily see her license plate in the video. My fiancé was livid and immediately called his mother. She tried to deny it at first but soon admitted what she had done.

She claimed she was angry that she was not given the opportunity to decorate our house herself. She said my family had insulted her by excluding her, and she began to cry about how horrible we are to her. My fiancé was not having it. He said she had one hour to bring everything back to our place or he would be calling the authorities.

She then laughed and said that she had already thrown everything into a donation bin and told us good luck finding it. My fiancé has already driven around to several donation bins in the area to check but hasn’t found anything yet. We now agree that she will have no contact with our child in the future. I am beyond done with her and I just hope this is all over.

Mother-In-Law FactsShutterstock

98. Monster-In-Law

A family member of mine recently found out she had gotten Zika, and she was six months pregnant. After trying to get pregnant for years with no luck, she had given up hope of ever having a baby, but by some miracle she was able to conceive. When she told her mother-in-law the news about the Zika, that horrible woman said to her, "I should have known this would happen when I first met you and saw the way you were dressed."

Yes, this broad really did imply that because she wore short-shorts and tank tops, she wasn't a worthy mother. The poor girl was devastated and blamed herself for getting Zika even though no one knew it was in the area at that time. Still, she decided that she would carry the baby to term. He was born two weeks ago. No microcephaly. No health issues of any kind. Also, and this is the real kicker, he tested negative for exposure to Zika.

Lost Respect FactsUnsplash

99. Front Float

I was a lifeguard at a lake. There was a mom with a baby and a toddler, and the mom had a friend with her. She was sitting in the shallow water with her newborn, talking to her friend and facing away from the water toward the beach. I had an eye on her toddler because it was driving me nuts that she wasn’t paying attention to him.

He dropped his ball and the small waves started taking it out. Of course, he reached for it and fell over. He slowly started floating and struggling, face down, getting father and farther away. I jumped down, ran in and grabbed him, and probably terrified him as I patted his back over my knee while he vomited out water.

The poor kid kept trying to look at me. His mom noticed nothing until I was carrying him back over to her. She casually thanked me and I tried to warn her of the possibility of dry drowning. Her response made me so mad I wanted to scream. She snapped at me, yelling that she was a nurse and that her son would be fine. I saved her son’s life, and she repaid me by yelling in my face.

Saved someone's lifePexels

100. The Mother Of All Pettiness

I had my graduation from engineering on the same day as my mother's birthday. I, of course, had nothing to do with choosing the date. But you couldn’t convince my mom of that. My mother said I "ruined her birthday"—and then she got a cruel revenge. She scheduled her birthday party to be on my actual birthday. Her birthday is in March, mine is in August.

Toxic familyPexels

Sources: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14,


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