Whether it's as a friend, a teacher, or—gasp—even as their victim, we've all been witness to some pretty bad cases of helicopter parenting. That said, these stories from Redditors about the most overbearing moms and dad they've ever dealt with are absolutely next level. Keep the therapist on speed dial for these tales about the worst helicopter parents ever.
1. Doomed On The First Date
I was on my first-ever date with my first girlfriend. My mother knew we were going to dinner and a movie and that I would be home at around 11 or 12. I guess I had neglected to charge my phone that day because the battery ran out before dinner. We got back to her place, and I went in to kiss her goodnight. It was my first kiss. Then everything went so wrong, so fast.
Her dad was waiting by the door for us to wrap up because as soon as we finished, he peeked through the door frame and held a cordless phone out to me. He said, "It's the authorities. They want to talk to you". I thought he was making some jab at me being with his daughter, so I awkwardly chuckled and said, “Yeah, OK”. He said, "No, really, your mother is looking for you".
Apparently, she tried to file a missing person report, and the authorities somehow tracked down my girlfriend’s home number to check there first. It was so embarrassing, and I was extremely furious with her when I got back. I was 19 years old when this happened.
2. It’s Natural
Well, my Mormon parents tried many times to barge into my room to catch me having fun with myself but I was way too quick, though, they only caught me once when I was 13 and didn't know it was bad in the first place. At one point they got so paranoid that they removed the lock from my door and my mom would purposely sit near my room so she could listen in and try to detect suspicious sounds.
The time they did catch me I received a fairly severe beating from my father, was told I would burn in the underworld for eternity, and threatened to be put in foster care if I was ever caught again. So many close calls too.
3. Lost At Sea
I was in California for a wedding, and my mom and I decided to go to the beach for a while. I went for a walk down the shore and was gone 20 minutes longer than I said I would be. I came back to my mom crying to this surfer that she had lost her son. The guy was thinking that this little kid was missing and was about to look for me when I showed up. He was in for a big surprise.
I was 23. She didn't even think to call me. She just jumped to the conclusion that I was abducted or no longer alive.
4. Sounds Exhausting
My parents were pretty intense about parenting. As I got older, they got more and more overbearing. They wouldn't let me move out to go to university at 18, so I ended up living at home. They wouldn't let me date, would start arguments, and occasionally get physical with me if they discovered I had spoken to a boy.
They also limited my time on the internet and confiscated my phone even after I was an adult and paying for it myself. Last year, I left home and they called the authorities, reporting me missing and wasting a lot of everyone’s time. Then I turned up at my boyfriend’s house four hours away. They constantly hounded me with calls and texts. But what they did next was too messed up for me to forgive.
I went to see them two months later and they locked me in my old bedroom. My boyfriend had to call the authorities so I could leave without them hurting me. I went back in February to collect clothes and some belongings and had to go there with guards basically. Glad I did, because they'd decided to have a huge family gathering.
I saw them once since then in June when they came to see me, I didn't let them know where I lived and met them for half an hour in the park.
5. Nice Job, Mom!
My brother had a job interview one day that was about two hours away and would take most of the day. My mom received a call from the bank stating that there was some strange activity on his debit card. She freaked out, thinking he was being abducted or something. He wasn’t answering his phone since he was in an hours-long interview. Then she went off the deep end.
My mom tried to call the company he was interviewing with but had no luck tracking down the person he was meeting with. So, she looked up this guy's home phone number and called it. She talked to his wife, who ended up calling him on his cell. He got the call and was baffled about what was going on. He and my brother could not believe what was happening.
My brother was angry and beyond embarrassed. My dad was there the whole time, telling my mom to calm down and not to call, but she could not be easily persuaded. To this day, she still insists she did the right thing. My brother didn’t get the job.
6. Your Help Is Unhelpful
My college roommate was born deaf, his mom never allowed him to learn sign language because she would "always be there to protect him" and "he needs to live a normal life, not a deaf life" (her words, not mine). He was pretty good at lip reading, and could vocalize remarkably well given how profound his hearing loss was. But when he left for school, she went off the deep end.
His mom pulled me aside and very seriously asked me to inform her any time he talked to a girl, she said he has "problems" with girls trying to take advantage of him. She also insisted he say good night to her every night, which meant he had to be on instant messenger (deaf, so he couldn't call without using a specialized typing phone) with her for at least an hour every night or else she'd call our room phone in a panic looking for him.
7. Time To Call It Quits
A kid I lived in the same dorm with freshman year of college had crazy helicopter parents. I never met them, but they came and visited every weekend that they could, which was saying a lot considering we were in school in Connecticut and he was from New Jersey. They also threatened to stop paying for the chunk of tuition he didn't have covered by financial aid if he didn't call them in between all of his classes, when he got up in the morning, and before he went to bed so he could update them on his day.
He transferred to a school closer to home because those calls cut so heavily into his homework time that he started flunking classes.
8. Teach Him Yourself Then
I worked as an instructor at a karate school and there was one parent no one wanted to deal with. Her son was in our youth class. The school had a little waiting area where parents could watch their kids (mainly used for the children’s class) and she would just sit in that room, staring at her son. One class we were doing very light contact drills (no more than a poke).
She came out on to the floor and started yelling at me for putting her son in danger. I asked her to please leave the floor. I changed the drill to no contact; she ran onto the floor yelling at me for singling her kid out. I stopped the class and told her to speak with the head instructor. She left to talk to him and I look over at the kid and he was crying.
I quickly moved to a fun drill and he started to smile. When the class ended a few other parents came up to me and said that mom is nuts and she kept trying to come to school with the kid. This mom had signed her kid up for karate but did not want him to be in a contact sport.
9. Listen Up, We’re Done!
I had a helicopter mom. She was weird in that although she wanted to know all of my business and asked me endless questions about my life throughout my life, she never listened to or digested any of the information I told her. My mother watched a lot of Oprah when she was a stay-at-home mom. That show made my home life a nightmare. There were a lot of stories about children being abducted, talking to strangers, or trafficked. My mother then accused me of doing these things when I got home from school.
She had a million questions for me to satisfy her interrogation. Initially, I thought she was honestly concerned for me. It wasn't until I got older that this seemed weird because she didn't actually discover whether I was doing any of these things or not. She just asked me many questions and then moved on to whatever was next on TV.
Through these and other interrogations about useless/irrelevant worries of hers, I learned to lie very well. When I had real problems that I should have been able to tell her about, I found it easier just to lie. It got even worse as I got older. I once lied to her about being at a bar when I was 23. I said I was there with friends watching a football game when I was on a date and didn't check my phone while on the date.
At 11 PM, I checked my phone and responded to her texts, saying I would be home after the game at around midnight. She didn't like that response and told me to come home immediately, which I ignored. On the drive home from the bar at around 11:45 PM, I saw her car drive past me. My mother drove to the bar with the intention of bursting in, grabbing her 23-year-old son, and taking him home.
When she realized I wasn't there, she came home and started yelling at me for not coming back sooner. This led to an argument where I once again realized she wasn't listening to me. She was just mad I hadn't listened to her. Although she never followed me to school or college, she picked out my classes and decided my career field. Her behavior resulted in my no longer having a mother-son relationship with her.
10. At Her Beck And Call
My mother-in-law was both a helicopter parent and a narcissist, which made for a really awesome combination. To this day, she still calls my wife at least three times a day every day. If my wife doesn't call her enough, my mother-in-law will call her and yell at her about it. Years ago, before every cell plan became an unlimited voice, I had to get a landline for the house since we kept going over our minutes from my wife talking to her mom on the phone.
It drove me absolutely crazy. When we were dating, her mom would call her when we were on dates and tell her what a tramp she was and what an ungrateful person she was. She also called the middle school where my 35-year-old brother-in-law was subbing to tell the principal to stop picking on her precious little snowflake.
11. Unhealthy Attachment
A friend of mine wanted to move out from his controlling mom’s house at age 23. He should have known—he couldn't escape. His mom kept complaining about the places he was looking to rent. Eventually, she decides that it's better if she buys an apartment and lets him rent it from her, just to make sure that everything is in order. However, she couldn't quite afford it, so she involves her ex-husband.
My friend said explicitly that he wanted nothing to do with that setup. I don't know all the details, but that's how he ended up anyway. She has a key to his place, and yes, she uses it to check on the place every time he's out of the apartment and she even leaves small presents for him to just let him know that she was there.
12. School Daze
My mom worked at every school I attended until I went to college. In preschool-K, she was a teacher, then started teaching at a different school, which I transferred to. When I reached middle school, she was promoted to Assistant Head of the middle school. Every time I got detention, I had to serve it with her as the disciplinary figure until I complained it was unfair, which they agreed with. But that just made things worse.
So, they promoted her to Head of the middle school, with complete power over my life. Finally, after surviving, I made it to high school, where they started an experimental schedule and curriculum designed by my mother. I would spend 6 AM to 6 PM at school with my mother as she designed my—and all of my peers’—future curriculum and punishments.
And that didn’t even include the obligation of being a teacher/administrator’s child at the school. The social obligations were unending. If there was an annoying kid and the entire teacher body was worried because he didn’t have friends, his mom would complain until my mom forced me to have play dates with him all year.
13. Like Night And Day
My parents parented my brother and me VERY differently. My mom taught me to be independent at a very young age. When I was 7, she would have me go into the grocery store by myself to pick up a few items while she waited in the car with my brother so I could learn how to shop and pay for things on my own. She would also drop me off at places I went to after school or for summer classes, and I had to find out where I was going.
I had to figure out how to navigate the building, find a place to get lunch, etc., and she would pick me up later in the day. I still remember her telling me, "You have to learn to do things on your own now, even if it's scary". I got my first job at 14, working in an office, and was able to buy things for myself in high school. I was rarely ever home and didn't see my parents much. In hindsight, all of it was messed up.
For the most part, they were pretty hands-off with me as a teen, except I wasn't allowed to date or hang out alone with boys. That was their only rule, but I was more focused on school and my after-school jobs, so it wasn't a big deal. On the other hand, my brother was never let out of my parents' sight. They scrutinized his school work, and he didn't get to do fun after-school stuff when he was young like me.
He was glued to my parents and was spoiled constantly. My parents made all his decisions for him—what he would wear, who his friends would be, where he went to school, and what classes he would take. For his junior prom, they arranged a date for him. He was expected to live at home, help with the family business, and work a job my dad arranged for him.
We turned out so differently. I moved out at 18. My parents refused to help me with college, so I paid for it all myself, working two jobs. I've never once asked nor received any help from them and have traveled all over the country, built a great resume, and had extensive life experience. However, my parents absolutely ruined my brother. At 25, he still lived at home.
My parents fully paid his tuition at a four-year university and let him live at home rent-free, and he refused even to finish his last credits to graduate. He worked a minimum wage job for four hours a day and had no ambitions other than riding dirt bikes. We barely talked because I found him incredibly boring. He never left our small town and would rarely leave the house.
He only had one girlfriend who was incredibly controlling and made him her manservant. He was terrible with money and would spend whatever he had immediately. He ended up being very immature, yet my dad refused to let him leave, threatening to disinherit him if he did.
14. Mental Gymnastics
A woman had her daughter in my son's gymnastics class to try it out to see if it was the right fit for her daughter. Well, at one point her daughter was not following instructions and wouldn't stand in a straight line, so the instructor told her something like, "No, just stand at attention like we talked about in this line and you'll get your turn--"
Then the girl just bursts into tears and ran off the mat and straight to her mom. The instructor kind of shrugged to the mom and the mom glared absolute DAGGERS at the instructor and said, "Well, you told her 'NO.'" She made it sound like saying no was them thing as saying he was going to come to the girl's house and set all her dolls on fire.
15. There’s Only One Loser Here
When I was in middle school, a group of friends and I would regularly go to laser tag on Fridays after school. One time, we gear up and notice a smaller kid, maybe 6 or 7 and his mom come in too. Nothing particularly unusual. However, the mom does not grab a vest or a laser. For those who aren't familiar with laser tag, those are necessary items to play.
We all scatter in the room once the game starts. It was two levels of mazes dimly light with UV lights and lots of neon paint. Techno music was thumpin’, lasers were firin’, the game played out normally for the first few minutes. Battles generally centered around the two ramps leading to the second floor, as the upper level offers tons of places to snipe and avoid counterattack.
I had secured a base on the top when I looked down and finally saw the little kid. I couldn't believe my eyes. The mother and child duo were on the opposing team, and she was following her kid through the maze. She was also attempting to block incoming fire. If you succeeded in hitting her kid she would yell, "How dare you tag my son"! each time.
At first, we thought it was odd, but soon it devolved into us hunting and sniping the pair the whole match. Her exclamations were comedy gold. They promptly left afterward and the mom made some passing comment about us being cretins. However, despite all of that, the kid himself thought the whole experience was awesome.
16. Out Of Control
A kid I graduated with had a total helicopter mom. She was at school almost every day of his junior and senior years. She filled out all of his college and scholarship applications for him, including telling him what to write on the essays. She chose his school and everything. The fallout was hard to watch. The kid ended up having a complete mental breakdown post-college.
He sunk into a deep depression and had to be put into in-patient therapy for a while. His mother treated him like he didn't even exist. She just completely controlled his every move.
17. Time To Break The Mold
My mother never let me out of her sight growing up. I wasn't able to go out without a parent being with me. Every bit of schoolwork was heavily scrutinized. My meals, weight, and appearance were also carefully curated. I couldn’t remember when I was allowed out with another relative. I think they were trying to mold me into a picture-perfect housewife.
The summer before I was going off to college, my mom made a list of things, like when I had to be in bed, how much I could use my cell phone, etc. I'd finally had enough. I just laughed in her face. She actually struggled to believe that nobody at the school would help her keep tabs on me. At that moment, I decided to join the Armed Forces, get away from financial dependence, and cut them off.
18. Karma’s A...
When I was 14, my dad took me to France on vacation. We didn't have a ton of money, but he had gotten a really great deal on the airfare and so we decided to go just the two of us. That is until my dad started dating his lady a few weeks before we left. So, he ended up inviting her. She in turn brought her 14-year-old very cute daughter, Sarah.
I thought I'd hit the jackpot—I was so, so wrong. First off, it was a long flight and we were missing two weeks of school so the two of us kids had a ton of schoolwork. We of course had both independently planned to get it all done on the flights so we wouldn't have any to do during the trip. Well, to be clear, I planned to do my work, apparently Sarah planned to have her mom do her work.
I kid you not, her mother spent the entire 10-hour flight doing her daughter’s homework. I don't mean helping, I mean actually sitting there doing the work while Sarah listened to her headphones and messed around. I believe it was at this point that my dad realized he had made a series of serious compounding errors here.
First, getting involved with this woman, second inviting her along on our one and only international vacation ever, and third allowing her to bring her irredeemably spoiled daughter along. Sarah refused to carry her own luggage. She had a lot of it too. We ended up sharing the load between the three of us while she had only her carry-on.
If we stopped to see a sight and Sarah wasn't interested, she would just wander off and we'd have to go looking for her. Her mom would mostly just follow her around warning her about various dangers. To which Sarah would respond with some vulgarity that her mother would ignore. Basically, there was nothing she wouldn't complain about, not a thank you to be had.
On our fourth day we decided to eat dinner on a floating restaurant on the Seine. As with most establishments in Paris, this one had a small dog that ran around. Sarah, in her infinite wisdom, decided to feed this dog from the table. She was feeding it basically everything she could, bread, cooked fish in cream sauce, etc.
At one point I say, "Sarah, you shouldn't feed the dog that stuff, it’s not good for it". Her mom then yelled at me, telling me to mind my own business. My dad looked at me and I knew he was trying to telepathically apologize for the situation. At this moment though, karma took over. We began hearing this hacking noise from under the table
It was followed by the clear and unmistakable sound of a small dog puking. It puked all over Sarah's feet. She started screaming and crying, of course. She was wearing sandals; the puke was inside her shoes. We couldn't help ourselves, my dad and I started laughing so hard we could barely breathe while the mother frantically tried to calm her daughter.
When she couldn’t calm her daughter, the mom switched tactics to screaming at restaurant staff about how they shouldn’t let a sick dog around customers. The restaurant staff kind of stood there in shock. The mom of course couldn't believe we were laughing and was indignant towards our behavior. She yelled at my dad who responded, "That was the best thing to happen this whole trip".
My Dad put them on a plane the next morning and sent them home. We spent the next ten days just the two of us traveling down the Loire valley, over to Belgium and Germany. We had a wonderful time and it's one of my best memories of growing up with my dad.
19. I Do Not Have The Answers You’re Looking For
I have been working at a university residence for a year now and the worst case that I had to deal with was explaining to a parent that we don't know exactly where her daughter was. We don't track the coming and goings of the residents because they are all adults and we respect their privacy, but that apparently was not a reasonable answer.
I then had to try and answer questions about what safety protocol we have in place if her daughter fell, and couldn't reach her phone, and was locked out of her room, and was required to leave the building for a fire alarm. Seriously? Every response that I gave her she added another factor to the story. I should have asked her how often her daughter was struck with immobility.
20. I Felt Like A Caged Animal
When I was 17 years old, I couldn’t go out unless it was with my parents. There were very few exceptions involving school and someone watching me. I was 6 feet tall and totally normal. My dad was one of those people who read truly idiotic and false articles about safety and believed every situation I was involved in would result in a gruesome end. It got worse and worse over the years. My freedom was at a bare minimum.
I lost all of my friends because I wasn't allowed to hang out with them because it wasn't "safe". I wasn’t a substance user. My friends were nerds who just wanted to play Yugioh and video games. I had a strict bedtime of 9:00 PM—if I was lucky, 9:10 PM—and couldn’t fall asleep for hours. I would just lay there. My dad would get extremely mad if I got a B and disappointed with an A-. I wasn’t allowed to have any extracurricular activities.
As soon as I left school, I was required to go home and would try to squeeze in some very light gaming on my PC, then do homework. I wasn’t allowed to get a part-time job in the event I might get tempted by minimum wage and decide it was good enough and quit school. I wasn’t permitted to have a pet because I was deemed "irresponsible" and would not take care of it. I was treated like a caged-up hamster.
21. Under Hover
My boyfriend's parents were the worst about hovering. I was 21, and he was 23. His parents were both fully aware I was on birth control and that I never wanted children. However, that didn’t stop them from constantly trying to chaperone us. If we were watching a show in the living room and his dad was home, he would be either in the same room as us or one room away.
He's asked us not to recline too much on the sofa or in chairs and not to watch such "depressing" TV shows such as Stranger Things and Mr. Robot. We weren’t allowed to hang out in my boyfriend’s bedroom or the basement. If we went out, his parents needed to know where he was going, when he would be back, and who he was with.
I totally get checking in, but they would call all his friends if he didn’t text them right away. Once, we were at a movie, so he shut his phone off. There were 18 missed calls in the two hours we were out. They treated a grown man like a child. I hated them.
22. Twin Trouble
I used to nanny for twin 10-year-old boys who had the most infuriating helicopter parents I have ever dealt with. To begin, when I first started, the mother insisted that she perform the daily tasks with me for an entire two weeks before she let me go on my own. I was 23 at the time and perfectly capable of handling the two on my own.
The boys had every aspect of the day laid out for them; from the moment they wake up until they went to bed. She would send me their schedule daily, which was complete with timestamps showing when each activity should be finished and then would also call me to go over it later that day before I picked them up from school.
She was always at the house when we arrived home to go over the schedule AGAIN with me. But want to know the worst part? She would instruct me how to make their fruit smoothie every single day, including how much fruit to add and how to wash the blender just the way she wanted. The boys were allowed a 10-minute break while they ate their snack from school, then immediately start homework.
The boys had no sort of free time at all, where they could go play outside when it was a nice day, or interact with the neighbors. The mother would email the teachers daily to ask about homework assignments, to make sure the boys wouldn't miss anything, even though the boys were religious about getting their homework done.
They also lacked a lot of socialization skills, which I would wager was from lack of free time and friends. The most frustrating part was how she also micromanaged me. I couldn't handle that this woman would have to helicopter ME, even though she had hired me to help her with her children. The mother and father were both very nice people, but they drove me up the wall.
23. Call Me Never
My mom is the definition of a helicopter parent, or at least was. Up until I was the age of 23, she would call and email any friends of mine whose info she had if I didn't return her call at once. She would constantly convince herself something terrible happened to me and would ask anyone I knew if they had heard from me recently.
One particular time when I was 21, I didn't pay attention to my phone for about 2 hours. I then looked at it—and my blood ran cold. I found a series of escalating text messages and phone calls threatening to come over if I didn't call her back immediately, because obviously I was lying in a ditch somewhere. I tried setting up a rule where I would call her once a day.
She agreed, and then about two days later at around 7 pm, it was back to threatening drastic action as I had not yet called her and obviously something terrible happened to me. No matter how much I called her in a week she would still freak out, so eventually, I just stopped calling her so that she would understand that I didn't want to talk to her if she was going to keep treating me like a 7-year-old.
24. She Does It Out Of Love
A mom would come into my store every week with her daughter and blow a ton of money on her. Her daughter was always so sweet but very shy. Her mom would go on and on telling us about her daughter's angelic voice and how she was going to be a superstar someday. The very day her daughter turned 16, she came in the store with her and asked for an application.
Then she filled it out for her at my counter while telling me how amazing her daughter is, how she would be a hard worker, etc. All this while her daughter stood awkwardly to the side. Her mom always spent a ton of money and the girl was always nice so I said why not and hired her for the holiday season. I gave her 10 hours a week, never worked her alone, and just gave her stock to do.
Her mom would come in every shift for at least 30 minutes, take her to lunch on break, and would still spend big bucks every week on her. I slowly weened her off of visiting and the girl eventually started to blossom a little. I didn't keep her on after holiday because I didn't have the hours, but she was a good kid with a well-meaning but very overprotective mom.
25. Hard To B-lieve!
I love my parents, but they could have been less helicopter-y. Until the age of 16, I wasn't allowed to go outside in my front yard alone. When I was 14, I was finally allowed in the backyard alone. I couldn’t go for a bike ride with my friends around the neighborhood. If they wanted to do that, they had to ride in a circle around my tiny backyard with me. It was not fun.
I wasn’t permitted to have any boyfriends or any friends that were boys until I was 30. When I brought home my first boyfriend at 16, they flipped out. The TV in my room was v-chipped. While everyone was watching Naruto and Dragonball Z, I was watching Veggie Tales. I wasn't allowed to watch Rugrats because I would "turn into Angelica". The reason I couldn't watch Arthur was even worse. My father thought his little sister was a bad influence.
I wasn’t allowed to drive any of the cars, so I didn't get my license until halfway through my first year of college. I was then terrified of driving. I wasn't allowed to hold a job, so when I tried to apply for jobs, I got turned down for not having any prior work experience. My parents had access to all my grades, emails, and phone calls.
They even tried to call one of my professors in college because I had a B in the class and demanded to know why. I laughed when my professor told me she politely hung up on them. At 21 years old, I still wasn’t allowed to go over to a friend's house for the night unless I could confirm that there would be no boys sleeping in opposite rooms. I missed out on a lot of stuff.
Public Domain Pictures
26. She Took Debit Measures
My significant other wasn't "allowed" to get a debit card until he moved out when he was in his early 20s. He tried once, and his mother intercepted the mail and destroyed it. He attempted to confront her about it—partially because it was extremely unlawful to do that—but she had already hidden the evidence.
27. Daddy Issues
My dad was a helicopter parent. I wasn't allowed to go to friends’ houses, have friends over, ride the school bus, or talk on the phone because he thought I would do dope and get pregnant the minute I was out of sight, even when I was 11 years old. He didn't work during the day and would park his car outside the middle school/high school to "make sure I wasn't galavanting" and I didn't leave the school.
He also called a few of my teachers weekly to make sure I was going to my band/gym/drama lessons because he thought those would be prime times for me to skip class. Because of his actions, the other kids at school teased me quite a bit, so I barely had any friends. When I stayed at his house, I would come home from school and play video games all day.
Even when I stayed with my mom—who was a very normal parent, if not a little disappointed—I wasn't a social butterfly. I only had one friend who I regularly hung out with. We mostly played video games and wrote vampire fan fiction. I wasn't part of the crowd that a parent would have to worry about, yet he constantly accused me of sleeping around or partying whenever he could. Eventually, it just...broke me.
I have terrible trust issues, was diagnosed with anxiety disorder, and finally moved to the other side of the world to build a life after college. I'm not close at all with my family. I still talk to my mother and brother, but just out of social obligation. My brother was allowed to do whatever he wanted growing up and became socially well adjusted. My father resents me and doesn't understand why I no longer talk to him.
28. Children Of The Banned
My mom had her moments. I was banned from talking to certain people. It didn't stop me, but I was "banned" as far as she was concerned. In high school, I worked two jobs to get out of the house, so I didn't have to socialize just with people she approved of. Certain relatives were blocked on my phone for the same reason. If I didn't get straight A’s, I was basically confined to my room to do "homework".
Ultimately, I went to a college within the state but still some 400 miles away. That's when I finally put my foot down. I had to call every day for a while, but sooner or later, I made excuses on why I couldn't talk, and it slowly dwindled down to about once a week. She tried to make me come home every two weeks, but my dad helped me out by explaining how impractical and expensive that would be.
She eventually improved as I got older, although she was still very strict about the girls I would date, and she disapproved of. She once told me a girl I was seeing was too good for me and encouraged me to break up with her. By the time I got into my early 20s, I just started making traveling plans and then telling her after the fact. In my mid-20s, I just didn't say anything at all anymore. I finally became a functional adult. It just took a lot longer than it should have.
29. Keep Your Enemies Close
The mother of an athlete on my team made up a fake Facebook account to befriend her daughter's teammate/arch-rival (in the mom’s mind) as a young handsome boy admirer. She, posing as the boy, began sending the girl gifts and chatting with her nightly. For weeks the girl was stoked on her "internet boyfriend". If that sounds messed up, just wait...
Right before a major competition, the "boy" sent her a gift basket with candies and whatnot. Her parents, thankfully at this time, caught on to her "relationship" and intercepted the package, thinking that she was being groomed for some kind of future relationship with an old man. When they opened the package to examine its contents, they noticed a strange odor.
I couldn't tell you what it was, but long story short, the mom tried to poison the girl. The account and the package were traced back to the mom.
30. Helicopter Of The Lord
We didn't have a TV because it was, as our parents said, it was an invention of the devil which he made in order to talk to mankind. Not that they were luddites, my father was actually quite technically adept, but they thought it was an easy way to warn us children away from the "worldly" influence of television.
Now, that worldly influence of course included all kinds of sin like premarital relations—represented by music videos—and witchcraft—represented by fairy tales and magic. You see, the actual tools of Satan were not the television sets, but rather the people who did things such as play rock music or write Harry Potter novels.
31. Stepford Son
These are friends of my parents, or I think it's just the sister of my dad's college friend and her husband. Their son's probably in fourth or fifth grade, and every time we've visited their place or they've visited ours, it's scary to see how they micromanage the kid. He has a to-the-minute schedule of how to utilize his playtime.
It's so weird. Whenever they visit, they bring along a bag with a few sets of toys. I've heard them say stuff like, "It's time to start putting your Legos away. You have five minutes before it's time to watch your DVD. You have thirty minutes for the DVD. Then you can decide whether you want to play with toy cars or read your book".
I remember a time where I swung by their place to drop something off, and I stayed for tea. They told their son to show me all of the stuff he's been building with Legos, so he took me to the playroom. I couldn't believe my eyes. He showed me these really great-looking houses and skyscrapers; some were from kits and others were all his own creativity. More than that though, he arranged all of these structures to look like an actual living town.
I was impressed, and I listened to him describe how he laid it all out. He just gave random names to different areas, "This is Chicago where all the buildings are. This is California and these are all the shops". Just as he was describing the last section, "This is New York where everyone lives," his dad walks into the room and says, "No that's wrong, they don't have houses like that in New York. That can be Queens".
Closely monitored playtime and undermining a child's creativity...they aren't mean parents but it's so weird. Even the way the kid talks makes it sound like he's reciting lines for a T.V. advert. Whenever they visit, there's always this, "Our son has something to say! Go ahead, greet everyone and thank them for inviting us into their house".
32. Her Parenting Plan Backfired
One day, I was sleeping over at a friend’s house. I told my mom I would be home at 10 AM. I woke up at 2 PM to a phone without any battery left and seven voicemails, each progressively more worrisome and intense than the last. I called her up, and an officer answered. She had called the authorities. The officer told me to give him the address of where I was.
He came to my friend’s house, put me in the backseat, and went to talk to my friend and his mom. The officer came back and started driving me home and asked me questions, trying to imply I was a bad kid. Too bad it backfired on them like crazy. I couldn’t have cared less. I was having way too much fun waving at people from the backseat of a cruiser since I wasn't cuffed.
After that, my mom was even more strict. She never let me go to parties unless they were school related. When I got to university two years later, I went balls out with partying every day and night for nine months until I dropped out. Her intentions were good but then I became anything but self-reliant.
33. That’s A Whole Mess
I had a friend in high school who had a pretty disturbing version of helicopter parents. She had the normal "no job, no cell phone, no after school activities, come right home, no car, no driver's license" thing going on. But get this. Her mom was a psychiatrist and her dad was a doctor. Her dad was her doctor. He diagnosed her with depression and then her mom was her psychiatrist.
Her mom diagnosed her with severe depression and had her (temporarily) committed to an institution. When she got out two weeks later and I asked about it, she broke down crying and said she couldn't remember anything because they'd kept her so drugged up on her mother’s orders. She ran away to California when she was 17.
34. When Did She Work?
I worked with a woman who had her child in a daycare that featured a streaming webcam of the facility. She watched it all day and was on the phone with the staff every 30 minutes or so complaining or telling them how to do their job. It went on endlessly. If she was on her phone, it was most certainly with the daycare.
35. Guilty Until Proven Innocent
In high school my mom got a call from a friend’s mom saying she should look at my Facebook because something indicated that I was pregnant. My mom ran into my room fuming mad, screaming and demanding all of my passwords. She spent the next several hours dissecting my emails, texts, Facebook wall, and messages.
When I found out the reason for all this, I wanted to scream. Turns out that other parent thought my status that said, "14 months in :)" referring to my relationship anniversary was about a pregnancy. From then on, my mom commanded full access to all of my stuff, reading everything until I moved out to college.
36. Oh, Baby!
I dated a girl with the WORST helicopter mom ever. This woman was like a caricature of a Jewish mother. When I first started dating this girl, she was so beaten down psychologically by her mom that I actually gently asked if her mother was physically harming her because that's how scared and broken she seemed. To start, her mother couldn't cope with the fact her beautiful, feminine daughter was a raging lesbian.
She hated me for being a woman, as well as not being Jewish, rich, or going to or graduating from an Ivy League school. One of the creepiest things ever was her room. Her mother had not let her redecorate her bedroom since it was a nursery. My girlfriend was 19 and 20 the years we dated. If you saw her bedroom, you would have assumed a 7-year-old child lived there.
It was decorated in loads of pink—which she hated—and frilly wallpaper, carpet, and bedding. The bed was also a day bed, which mildly looked like a crib. The room was also small, like a baby's room, which was even weirder since they lived in an enormous house. There was another, larger room that she could have had. And that's not even the creepiest part about her “nursery".
It wasn’t the house they lived in when she was a baby. My girlfriend and her family moved there when she was about ten, and, at ten, she begged for a more mature room.
The mom also refused to let my girlfriend spend the night at my house. She once said she would call the authorities and tell them I had abducted her if she stayed and threatened to take away her necessary medication and therapy if she spent the night with me. She would try to control things my girlfriend read and watched. Her mom once went with her when she got a Brazilian wax to “mind where the wax went".
My girlfriend barely had any life skills because she wasn't allowed to do things for herself. She didn't know how to write a check or use cutlery properly. She was embarrassed about it and wanted to be independent. She also spoke to me as though I was her babysitter, which creeped me out.
37. My Mom Was A Peeping Tom
In my freshman year of high school, I stayed the night at a friend's house about three miles down the road from mine, on the same busy street. She lived on the corner of the street with an alley separating her backyard from the backyard of the house directly behind her. We were hanging out in front of her neighbor’s house across the street at about 9 PM.
Her neighbors were cute boys we went to school with. Suddenly, my friend hit me on the arm and said, "What are those ladies doing? Are they looking into my house"?! I looked over and—and my heart dropped. It was my mom and her friend. Not even noticing that we were standing on the corner, they continued to stand on their tippy toes and jump up and down by pulling themselves up on the fence to try to peak over and into her house.
I pretended I didn't know who it was, hoping my mom would notice us and just disappear into the dark alley, never to be seen again, before my friend could recognize that it was indeed my own mother. After about 20 seconds of this painful sight, my friend said, "Wait, isn't that your mom"?! All I could think to do was yell out, "MOM”?
They awkwardly looked over at us, let go of the fence, and did the slow old lady walk/run into the alley. It was honestly so hard to watch. I had to admit to my friend and the cute boys that my mom was a psycho. To this day, I still cringe thinking about it, and sadly, that's not the only story I have like this.
38. Locked Up
My parents were pretty crazy about parenting to begin with. As I got older, they became crazier. They wouldn't let me move out to go to university at 18, so I ended up living at home. They wouldn't let me date, would have crazy arguments, and occasionally get physical with me if they discovered I had spoken to a boy. They limited my time on the internet and confiscated my phone even after I was an adult and paid for it myself.
I left home and went to stay at my boyfriend’s house, four hours away. They called the authorities and reported me missing. They constantly hounded me with calls and texts. I went to see them two months later, and they locked me into my old bedroom. My boyfriend had to call the authorities again so I could leave without them hurting me.
39. Under Pressure
I work at a university and see all manner of helicopter parenting. The worst I ever saw was a family from China who had decided that their daughter was going to do an MBA and a Law degree. They had her schedule down: dropped her off, knew when she'd eat, would have her study at the Library from X to Y hours, then be picked up to eat and study.
Wash. Rinse. Repeat. She started to falter mid-session. I was teaching the class and she was going to probably average a C- or a D+ in the course. It was a required course and she needed it to be fully accepted into her chosen major. Her father came to my office and through his daughter demanded to know why she was doing so poorly.
I explained as best I could, but he was not pleased and left. Suddenly, either mother or father would come to class. This is strictly against policy, so they'd have to wait outside. I would tell them and all I would get was a dismissive wave of the hand. Well, she came to my office when she should have been in another class and basically told me that her parents had been like this all her life.
Her poor command of English was because they had home-schooled her under some crazy loophole, and she had a tough time with English. By the end of the semester, both parents (whom I gather owned a business) were waiting for me. She hadn't been to class and they explained that she had gone missing. They wanted to know if I knew where she was. I emailed her, but never heard back. Always wondered where she went.
40. Musicians Are Usually Better With Timing
Me and my bandmates had just returned from a competition around 11:30 or 12:00. Now on the itinerary it says the time that's up on the paper is not exact. This one freshman is putting up his uniform and his clarinet when some lady walks through the door. She then starts screaming about how he is late and if he doesn't come right now, she'll make him drop out of band.
The kid looks scared and embarrassed and walks out of the room. It's nothing but silence. That woman makes me want to follow her around with my sousaphone making random noises whenever she speaks.
41. She’s Cranky When She’s Tired
My college roommate was medically diagnosed with "insomnia" and had helicopter parents who kept talking to the head of housing. I tried everything to make it so I could actually sleep in the room but she kept claiming her medical condition made it so she had to read in bed for 4 hours every single night so her Ambien would "kick in".
I finally had to have my own parents call in to the head of housing who, once I explained the situation, couldn't believe my roommate was being so selfish and helped me move. It sucked but once my grades were falling due to a lack of sleep I kind of had to call in the big guns.
42. I Want To Know About The Dog
Once I was on a pub trivia team with a mid-20s guy we had just met that evening at the bar. He was odd right from the start, super awkward. He talked a lot about his life, how he still lived at home, how he just got his dream car which was a Mini Cooper. He stepped away from the table a few times to answer calls from his mom.
At one point I noticed an older woman outside, just on the other side of the window, peering in and watching our group. Turns out it was the guy's mom, waiting to pick him up. Trivia ended, we went outside to part ways and say goodbye. The guy's mom pulled up in the dream car Mini Cooper. There was a dog in the front passenger seat. The guy climbed in the back seat and they drove away.
43. Step-Off Stepdad!
My parents weren’t always strict and controlling. They were pretty easygoing until I started public school in 7th grade. That's when things started to go wrong. It began with the pretty common “no boyfriends/no texting boys/and wanting to meet friends before I went over to their house”. Soon after, I couldn't hang out with anyone they didn't approve of. I had to stop talking to my BEST FRIEND abruptly.
It was all because we were really loud in gym class, and my gym teacher told my parents at conferences that we were trouble when we were together. Once I made a Facebook page, they had to approve of everyone I added as a friend, and they had my password so they could oversee my conversations. Not only could I not text or message anyone after 10 PM, but they also couldn't message ME!
If they did, I got yelled at. I had and still have a problem making friends. They got way worse when I had my first crush in 9th grade. He had given me his iPod to take home, and I forgot to bring it back for a week or so. My stepdad read the Facebook messages from him, reminding me to bring his iPod to school. He yelled at me because I had something of this boy’s.
Then, my stepdad knew about this boy’s existence, and it was bad news for the both of us. At the Sadie Hawkins dance, my crush and I took a photo together. He made it his profile picture, and when my stepdad saw it, he told me that if he didn’t change it that I would be grounded because he was playing us off as a couple. Then, when school was over, one of my friends was at my house and said we should go to the car show.
My stepdad agreed to take us, and when we got there, my crush was there. My stepdad went completely silent and got an evil look on his face. After he drove my friends home, I got screamed at and grounded for the summer. It didn't end there. Tenth grade started a few months after that, and my crush and I were still into each other. I was going to be 16 in two months, which meant we would officially be able to date.
Somewhere in that time frame, there was a retreat that we had to go to at our church for confirmation. My crush was in my confirmation group and would be at the said retreat, which my stepfather knew. The night before the retreat, I was ready for bed, wearing a tank top and shorts. My stepdad asked what I planned on bringing for pajamas to the retreat. I looked at my current ensemble and said, “Probably just this”. He exploded.
By then, I was used to him being a complete jerk about everything, so I had to try hard not to laugh at how ridiculous he was being. I looked at a spot on the wall above him because if I looked at his face, I'd lose my composure. He accused me of rolling my eyes at him and told me I was no longer allowed to go to this CHURCH retreat—that was required—to confirm me as a Catholic.
My mom finally stepped in and said I was going. The week before my 16th birthday, my crush and three of our friends went to see In Time. My mom knew who was going to be there, and my stepdad didn’t ask. After the movie, my friend Jake asked for a ride home, and I said yes. My stepdad came to pick us up and acted like a complete jerk to Jake for no reason.
After we dropped him off, he asked in an angry tone, "Since when were there boys at this gathering"? He then found out my crush was also there and flipped his noodle, calling the outing "a double date plus one" because there were two other guys and a girl. My punishment for this offense was that I would be grounded. On my birthday.
I hated my life for about six more months until I told my mom that I was no longer taking orders from my stepdad and that she needed to start being my mom again. Miraculously, this worked in my favor. My Facebook account became only accessible to me. I could text whoever I wanted whenever I wanted, I could date my crush, and I didn't have someone looking over my should 24/7.
44. Church Was Not My Savior
I was raised Evangelical Southern Baptist and was in church 5–6 days a week, twice on Sundays. Other than school, the church was my only social life. I went against my parent's wishes and decided to go to college and become a theater major. I lost my virginity a few weeks after I left home. I went to church the very first Sunday at a "sister church" but never went back again.
I had people from the BSU (Baptist Student Union) all up in my face for a while, but eventually, they gave up. To say I was woefully unprepared for the outside world was an understatement. I had no idea how to live independently, and a year later—when my parents demanded I come home or they were cutting off my financial aid—I got a job and worked out my tuition support with the college myself.
I rented a crummy little place in my college town with some roommates and learned how to live on a budget. The net result of this was a strained relationship with my parents that took years and years to resolve. I visited home exactly once after I graduated college and before my mother's passing twelve years later. My dad and I finally had a good relationship, but it took a while to forge.
While it's natural to want to protect children, shielding them from every little thing is a huge mistake, even when done in the guise of religious upbringing. Teaching your kid to fear everyone and everything will only net a kid incapable of thinking for themselves. I was lucky to have good, supportive friends who looked out for me in those early college years. I made many mistakes that could have ended badly out of naivete or ignorance.
45. This Interview Did An About Face
I used to have a computer business and was doing interviews for an on-site tech. One applicant was a recent college graduate. He had a decent resume, so I called to chat and maybe offer a face-to-face interview. However, I didn't get to speak to him. I got his mom instead. That was the first red flag.
The clincher was his mom insisted that she sit in on the actual interview with him. I did not call him in for one, but part of me wanted to, for curiosity's sake. I was too worried I would get hounded by psycho mom if he didn't get the job, so that was that.
46. Checkpoint
When I was in elementary school, my mom was so worried that I would be abducted when I was walking home that she gave me a walkie-talkie. She made me tune it to some obscure channel, in case a child abductor was listening in on our conversation. She also wanted to know where I was on my walk home, so she would know where I was abducted.
She made me tell her every time I get to a street corner, but she was still worried that a child abductor would listen in and know what street corner I was at, so instead she had me say "checkpoint" when I got to one of the street corners. She had each street corner memorized, so she knew where I was when I said "checkpoint" the first time, the second time, etc.
I was never abducted. Plus, every other kid always asked, "Why do you have a walkie-talkie"? I had to answer so many times, my response was almost scripted. They all thought it was hilarious. I thought it was a nightmare. My mother is still convinced that she didn't monitor me as much as most other parents would have.
Public Domain Pictures
47. Like Mother Like Daughter
The mother of my daughter’s new roommate proceeded to inform my daughter of which dresser and which closet she would get, what color the room would be decorated in, and that my daughter would bring a fridge and a shelf. Caught off guard, we left. Later, daughter got texts from the roommate’s phone inviting her over to see a concert in a park.
My daughter said sure. But she got there and found out the mother had taken her daughter's cell phone and set all that up. Then she demanded me and my husband stay, even though we kept telling her we had plans. We caved and stayed and the mother's moods kept changing. She would be happy and flighty one minute and then angry or not speaking the next.
During our time there, she told us of addiction problems and rehab in her family and with her kids. We had already been told she only had one child by her husband, who was her second husband, and her other kids were from her first husband. But then while there, she started talking about having met her husband over 30 years ago. It was insane—and it was going to get so much worse.
My daughter tried to ask the girl if she had an idea how she wanted to arrange the room. But, in the mother’s overbearingness, she just wouldn't really speak. The only thing she said was, "I am not into that, I do not care how anything is arranged, do whatever you want". On move in day, they had brought so much stuff for that girl, it would not even fit in the room.
And the mom then proceeded to physically grab my daughter and shove her in to the corner screaming and cussing at her and threatening her. Then the roommate got in to the picture doing the same. They physically shoved my daughter in to the corner. Then the mom tried to shove the brand-new fridge and damaged it, stating it was in her way and her daughter wanted that spot.
The campus authorities came over and removed the mother and had both girls step out of the room. But the roommate ended up being as nasty as the mom. She bee-lined to the social event after assaulting my daughter and put up this fake cry and told everyone that my daughter would not allow her to move in.
49. Ten Minutes Is A Long Time
I work in an orthodontic office and we see a lot of helicopter moms on a daily basis. I guess what parents don't realize is that most kids are pretty chill about what's going to happen with braces or getting x-rays but the moms throw such a fit about how their kid has anxiety that it actually gives them anxiety about it.
Once mom leaves the room the kids are completely fine! As soon as she steps back in the room let’s start the waterworks. It makes me think of the saddest display I ever saw. It was with a boy who was 16 or so and home-schooled. They live about ten minutes from the office. After each visit when I scheduled the next appointment, she would always make a point to ask him if he had to pee before they left.
I'm pretty sure he's old enough to decide if he has to use the bathroom or if he can't hold it the ten-minute drive home without her asking him. Plus, that has to be embarrassing for a boy his age to be asked that in front of a room of women and people his own age. Now that he's driving himself it's been wonderful to see him come out of his shell.
49. Technology Is Our Friend
One of the kids in my elementary school had really tough, authoritarian parents with pointless rules governing every aspect of his life. The worst was that he was never allowed to use a computer, because apparently it would make him lazy and he'd spend his time playing video games instead of studying his math and science.
Every boy in my class picked up English online, mostly by playing RuneScape and such. He never did, and English classes weren't much help. I don't know what became of him later, but when he left our school, he was computer illiterate and didn't speak any English. So many opportunities closed in life, because he was born into a family of weirdos.
50. Her Mom Was Such A Drag
My girlfriend's mom was an awful helicopter parent, and she finally had enough. My girlfriend was 19 and paid all her own bills, yet she was constantly being manipulated and controlled by her mother. She told her mom she was going to be at my place for a few days. She knew how her mother would react. So, she thought to pack everything in my car ahead of time and had me parked outside her house.
After an hour or so of waiting, I saw my girlfriend running from her mom while her mom was chasing her and attempting to drag her back into the house in my rearview mirror. My girlfriend said her mom told her she would grab her by her hair and take her back in against her will.
51. Watching My Every Move
My mom would not let me go out with friends when boys were with us because she believed they would have their way with me as soon as they got a chance. My parents would regularly read my emails, text messages, and Facebook. They also wanted to know everything I ate when I was not with them to make sure I wouldn't become fat, even though I was slightly underweight.
52. I Didn’t Plan On This
I had given my final presentation for my architecture studio after many weeks of minimal sleep. I was so tired that I went home and immediately fell asleep for seven hours. I woke up at 11 PM to the authorities banging on the bedroom window of my apartment, with 24 missed calls, 18 voicemails, and 11 texts. Since I didn't tell my dad how my presentation went, he assumed I was no longer alive.
53. Heavy Metal Madness
I went to a concert in a very safe, affluent area. I had VIP tickets, so I got there extremely early, at about 6 PM, for an 8 PM show. It lasted until about 1 AM. My parents were texting me THE ENTIRE TIME. They offered to buy me mace and told me to “hold my keys in my hand the entire time [because] you know how metal heads are”. They told me to call them when I got there, during intermission, and when I was about to drive home.
I was 20! Meanwhile, they let my brother go to Africa TWICE—at a way younger age—16 and 18—and didn't give him any trouble about that at all. My dad was the guardian of my bank account and questioned every little purchase I made. I had a little more than $8,000 saved, and he would constantly be on me about my money. My brother worked about 10 hours a week and could barely pay his insurance.
54. Super Spooky Skeleton
There is an older mom who shops at the bookstore where I work. She comes in with her son, a sweet boy who may be about 10. He's not allowed to let go of her hand in the store, he's not allowed to look at ANYTHING that she doesn't hold open and read with him, and he's not allowed to go to the bathroom on his own.
When he does go, she takes him to the women's restroom and talks to him through the stall door the entire time. Last year, I put a skeleton on the ceiling at the entry to the building. Super spooky Halloween stuff. When she saw it, her reaction made me want to both laugh and cry. She came in, saw the skeleton, and proceeded to COVER HER KID'S EYES as they walked hand-in-hand through the store.
She kept up a running monologue anytime they neared the front: "Don't look up sweetie. Whatever you do, don't look up. You don't want to see what's up there. It's SO scary. You'll get nightmares and you'll never be okay after that. I just don't want you to look up. Okay? Don't look up". I don't know the kid's situation, but her attention seems...excessive.
55. Talk About Vicarious Living
During her undergrad, my roommate’s mother made her Skype her from her dorm room starting at 6 PM until...the next morning. Her mom would literally force her to keep Skype open all night so that she could watch her do her homework, study, and go to sleep at a reasonable hour. The mother of course had chosen the college, and what her daughter would major in.
My friend is about to turn 22 now, and her mom is constantly pushing her to get married. When she and her ex-boyfriend went to visit the parents, her mom called the courthouse to see if it would be open for the two to get married. They were not even engaged, and had no intention of getting married to each other. Ever.
She constantly threatens to cut her daughter's funds if she doesn't do everything she asks; I actually heard her threaten to cut her off because she didn't want to sing karaoke at the restaurant we were in.
56. Never Leave Your Phone On Silent
A few days into the official start of classes, there's a knock on my door, and the campus security guard is on the other side. At first, I was worried because my roommate enjoyed his recreational aids. But then she asks for my name and I'm thinking, "Oh great, what did I do"? There are people on the floor sticking their heads out of the door and my anxiety is going up.
The security lady then says the most humiliating words I ever had directed to me in public: "Your mother called us because she thought you were kidnapped. You should call her back as soon as you can". For the rest of the year, my floormates would remind me to call my mother.
57. Bright Enough For Golf
I was giving a campus tour to a prospective freshman student and his parents, the mom continued talking all through the tour about how her son was going to play on our golf team and how he'd been recruited by our coaches. He was going to be taking only six credits, she said. I said, "Oh no, ma'am, a student has to take a full-time course load (at least 12 hours) to play on an athletic team".
She promptly told me I was wrong, "You're mistaken. He can't handle a full 12 credits in one semester," and adopting the LOUDEST whisper I have ever heard continued, "He's not really the brightest crayon in the box". Then winked at me.
58. Mom Should Retire From Motherhood
My cousin has been controlled by my aunt for 90% of her life. She's dictated everything in her life down to how she dresses, eats, sleeps, and her major in college. She's required to call home immediately at 6pm sharp, regardless of what she's doing, just to check-in. If she's late calling home, even if it’s just a few minutes, she gets a free guilt trip around the world.
Her mom gets her class schedule and sets a study schedule for her, which was basically from one hour after school to when she had to go to bed (also designated by mom). If she had a study group, girls only. No guys are allowed in her life at all. No dating, friendships, nothing. My aunt would often drop in unannounced for a surprise inspection to see if she was doing everything as she was told.
My cousin hates her mom controlling everything yet won’t do anything overtly to question or oppose her. She chose to go to Puerto Rico to finish up her doctorate in Pediatrics. Her mom still flew in at random times to check on her to make sure she didn't have a boyfriend! (No daughter of mine is getting pregnant at 30 and ruining her career!).
She broke down crying when it was just me and her talking one night. She told me that she hates being treated like a puppet, and her mom is trying her hardest to live vicariously through her. Her mom and dad divorced when she was eight and it basically started from there. My aunt is a pariah in our family now and we only invite my cousin to family reunions.
59. Daddy’s Little Girl Lost
My friend was raised by a father who did everything for her well into adulthood. I had met her in her early to mid-20s, a few years after she had dropped out of college. She came from a good family, good neighborhood, etc. but went to college with no idea how to do anything for herself. Her parents had essentially gotten her through high school and into college for her.
She was in her 20s, had no job, and not even a bank account. If she needed anything, she called her dad. I couldn't believe how dumb some of the stuff was. Like if she wanted a Cup O’ Noodles, rather than walking across the street to get one, she'd call her dad at work. He'd leave work, drive the hour to her, pick one up at the place across the street, come in, heat up the water, and make it for her.
He took care of everything, every bill, every task, every dentist and doctor's appointment, etc.
She had no education, no goals, and no ambition. She wouldn't even help around the house—no cooking or cleaning. If no one did those things for her, the place would quickly look like squatters or hoarders lived there. Her dad, boyfriend, or roommates cleaned up after her.
She always had a boyfriend—usually rich—and she'd always live with them and off them.
That worked great throughout her twenties when she was young, attractive, and charming. There was no shortage of men, and she was still young enough to be "daddy's little girl" who could do no wrong. However, in her early 30s, her dad began having health and business problems and couldn't financially support her and dote on her as much. That's when the REAL trouble started.
She had to rely more and more on boyfriends. Unfortunately, she learned that while some guys might dote on a hot 22-year-old, they're less inclined to do that for an only somewhat attractive but utterly useless 30-something-year-old. She even tried the "getting knocked up" idea, getting pregnant by a man she barely knew. She started fantasizing about being a kept wife, just raising the kid, while the husband took care of money, housing, etc.
It worked for a bit, and they lived at his swanky place for a while. However, as someone incapable of taking care of herself, she couldn't take care of a kid. The guy left her before they ever got married and sued for custody of the child. She was then back to being alone and tried to find another man to take care of her. Only now, she had the baggage of a kid and a custody battle hanging over her head. She just kept spiraling.
Finding a new boyfriend to care for her didn't work as well as it used to. Somehow she ended up a mistress to some wealthy, married 70-year-old. He paid her rent, gave her free reign with his credit cards, etc. She got a little too obvious about it all with $7,000 a month in charges and flaunting her relationship with him around at fancy stores and restaurants, the wife found out, and he eventually cut her off.
After that, she briefly tried taking care of herself, but no one would hire her. She was in her 30s, with no education, no skills, and no work experience. This really hurt her ego because she considered herself a rich and upper-class person. She always ate at the best places, wore the fanciest clothes, and lived in nice neighborhoods. But here she was with no money, no bank account, and no one to take care of her.
She eventually got a job as a waitress, but that only lasted about a week. She ultimately ended up relying on unlawful forms of financial support and teamed up with someone who was cooking up crank. They started a pretty decent-sized manufacturing and distribution operation and got busted by the authorities. Her dad sold his house and basically bankrupted himself to pay for top-notch lawyers.
60. The Runaway
I was the child of Jehovah's Witnesses. They tried to control every aspect of my life. I ran away from home when I was 16 because I couldn't take it anymore. At that point, I was physically ill with ulcers from all the stress. Later, I drank way too much and slept with many more people than was healthy for me emotionally. I lost all focus for a while and became severely depressed. It took me more than a decade to finally recover.
61. Cut Loose
My mom had good intentions, but she was always way too involved with my social life. One summer, I moved back home after the school year but went to spend the night on campus with a girl I was seeing. My mom found her on Facebook and messaged her asking her where I was. I was mortified. I had been talking to this girl for MAYBE a month.
At that point, I just cut my mom out of my social life altogether. I didn’t tell her who my friends were or anything. 20 years old is too old to have a parent THAT involved in your social life.
62. The Riding Was On The Wall
A kid I hung around with when we were 11 or so had a helicopter mom. She wouldn't let him ride his bike to the other side of the neighborhood, which was less than 1/4 mile from our houses. Whenever we would hang out with him, we had to stay on the street in front of his house, and his mom would always watch us through one of the front windows.
63. Helicoptering Was Not The Answer
My mom had to know where I was at all times. When I went to school three hours away, if I didn't text her back within five minutes, I'd get texts saying, "ANSWER ME", among other things. I moved back home at 20 and still had a curfew of 9:30 PM because she didn't want me hanging out with "bad people". That, along with growing up under her thumb and never getting to do much unless she was right there with me, really strained our relationship. I even went “no contact” with her for a few months. She calmed down a lot for the most part, but our relationship isn't what would typically be expected in a normal child/parent one.
64. The Way Out Of Your Child’s Heart
I was 19, had moved out for college, and was seeing a man. My mom looked up his number through our phone records (they paid for my phone) and called and threatened him. Later that semester I went home to see a dying relative, and they decided my seeing my partner was immoral, snapped my phone in half, and took my car keys (my car, they did not pay for it).
My boyfriend came to bring me back to school for finals, and they advanced on him with a flashlight and fired shots into the air. All charges were dismissed because they are well respected in their community. They were not invited to our wedding, or our first child's birth. We are happy and expecting our second child.
65. Who Has The Time?
My whole family hovers, but my father's by far the worst. During my second week of college my dad came up to see how I was, he came over early wearing dark tattered work clothes and sat in the dorm common room trying to look as suspicious and threatening as possible and timed the response for someone to report him.
I never knew this happened until a week later when I went to talk to security about something and they recognized my last name. When I turned 19 and was a sophomore, my grandparents gave me their old car so I could drive home to visit occasionally. My dad insisted on not only following me on my first three-hour drive to the school, but again when I went back home.
Once I accidentally dialed my dad while in class. When he couldn't reach me back right away, he called literally every friend and family member he could to find out where I was. After about 10 calls my mom calls me (I'm just getting out of class) and tells me to call my dad back immediately because he's on the phone filing a report that I'm missing.
My parents also constantly (even today when I have a job) try to get me jobs. Oh, and for my first job interview ever my dad insisted on coming in with me because he thought I'd blow it. My parents, dad especially, couldn't comprehend why they weren't allowed to sit in on my private thesis defense in grad school.
66. How To Get Traveler’s Anxiety
This one involved a mother and her 14-year-old daughter at an airport when the daughter was flying alone. I was going through security right behind them, and I could overhear the mom telling her, "Okay, now call me as soon as you get to the gate, and whenever you land. Make sure you go to the right gate", and on and on.
As they got to the TSA guy who checks your boarding pass and ID, the mom tried to come with her through security, even though she wasn't traveling. She clearly knew about the rule, but she tried to talk her way into the concourse anyways. She then backed off, and her daughter went through security. As soon as the daughter got through security, she took out her phone and started talking.
I turned around, and her mother was talking to her on the phone (it's a small airport, so you can clearly see past the security checkpoint from either side).
67. Clothes Are Tricky
My aunt didn't let her children leave her sight, watch tv, make friends, and didn't feed them anything but plain rice and chicken for years. And that's not even the disturbing part: There was a mandatory hour of "cuddle time" with mom every night and they barely knew how to be human beings. The youngest is eight and isn’t allowed to dress herself since her mother did it every day for all three kids.
She homeschooled them too and the only time they leave the house was to go to the doctor or dentist.
68. Bring Your Parents To Work Day
I managed, scheduled, and hired for a fast-food place in a good neighborhood. This kid comes in for an interview in a button-up shirt and tie. I am liking him; I want to know if he has other extra-curriculars so I can make sure neither of us are wasting our time. I hire him on the spot. He comes in on his first day and it looks like Mom dropped him off.
She sits down without ordering and watches him walk to the back to do training. I go back to the front to work and she is still there. I go check the lobby about 30 minutes later. Still there. I get off, a couple hours later I get a call from my coworker asking about the new kid. I figure it was about his timecard or something.
No. Woman is still there, manager wanted to know if the kid is special or something. When I get to work the next day and answer the phone, the woman wants her son’s schedule. I say I can't give it out, he needs to ask for it or come to the store. She argues with me for a couple of minutes, but I absolutely refuse to give out his schedule.
He comes in about an hour later to get his hours, I had to pencil him in so I have the entire schedule book for the week out. She tried to take it from me. I snatched it and tossed it on the counter and tell that she is not allowed to look at our schedules because she's not an employee and that it is protected communications.
She huffs while I give the kid his schedule. Don't see her for a while, great. About two months later she calls the store to tell me to cut his hours because he's too busy now. I called him into the office while I wrote schedules for the next week and asked HIM if he wanted his hours cut. He had no idea why I would ask to cut his hours.
69. The Lost Boy
When I went away to college, my parents would call me every day. I went away to a fraternity weekend retreat during my freshman year, where we pledges weren't supposed to bring our phones. I told my parents that I was going away for three days and not to call me. On the day we were coming back, the guy driving us got a call.
He then handed me his phone and told me to call my parents. My stomach hit the floor. When my parents couldn't reach me for three days, they came to my college. They went around my dorm and half the campus asking everyone if they had seen their lost little boy. I was 18 at the time. On top of that, since I was on their family cell phone plan, they looked up all the numbers I had recently called and texted them.
They called everyone, told them I was "lost", and asked if they knew where I was. This included girls I had crushes on but barely knew, random classmates, and mild acquaintances. When I got back to my worried parents waiting for me at my dorm, I found my cell phone with a bunch of messages from people asking if I was okay and letting me know my parents were looking for me. For the next day, every 1 in 5 people I walked passed would ask me if I talked to my parents because they were looking for me.
70. The Jury Was Out
When I was 21, my dad followed me into jury duty because he didn't believe I could do it myself. I insisted that he shouldn’t come, but he did anyways. He was stopped by security guards outside the area, and he threw a massive fuss about not being able to accompany me. Most of the courtroom was confused and weirded out. Luckily, they didn't need me throughout the trial, so I was dismissed.
71. Done With Daddy
I didn't go to any school dances or sporting events. No prom, nothing. I was not allowed to go to the mall by myself when I was 19 years old; my dad would follow me around. He would walk about five feet behind me. When I was 20, I said I was going to get a cell phone and got into a big argument with my parents because they didn't want me to have one.
I had been working since I was 15 and was going to pay for it myself. I couldn't lock the door to my bedroom or bathroom, even in my early 20s. Moving out was the best thing ever. When I was 31, he would still show up at my work and tell my coworker to say to me that my "daddy" was there to see me. I wanted to throw up. I think the last time I called him "daddy" was when I was seven or eight. NOBODY calls him "daddy".
72. Up To His Ears In Trouble
My buddy had the worst helicopter mom. We were going to college three hours away from his hometown and ended up at a random after-bar party with people we had met just that night. His mom showed up—no idea how she found us—walked in, grabbed him by the ear, and dragged him out to her car. She then proceeded to drive him back to our hometown.
The next day, she made him get a ride back to college with his former high school sweetheart that he had recently broken up with. She did all that because she disapproved of the breakup. He then got married to a woman who was, in my opinion, also rather controlling. Oedipus is real!
73. First Born Fury
I was the oldest and the one who mostly heard, "no, don't do that, you will get hurrrrrt". The highlight was when I was in college and studying abroad. I told them that I wasn’t going to have internet access or phone access for the first week I was there. They emailed the professor who went with the group multiple times in the first week to ensure I was alive because I wasn't responding to their emails. I loved them, but I was in Bavaria—I was pretty sure I would survive.
74. The Big Wide World
My parents joined a cult before I was born, which prohibited watching TV or any sort of interaction with the outside world. My childhood was not too fun. The cult was a very, very obscure offshoot of Christianity. Probably mostly akin to Southern Baptist in practice but much stricter. There was the speaking in tongues and all of that.
A man named Sam Fife started this organization, which goes by the name of "The Move" or "The Move of God". He believed that the end times were imminent and encouraged his followers to go off into the wilderness and build communes to wait for Jesus' return in five years. 40+ years later, they're still going. The Move prohibits anything that has to do with "The World".
Modern haircuts, TV, pants for women, and even dating were all taboo for me. Young adults are encouraged to "walk out a year in the Lord" with a potential partner in which time they get to know each other. A six-inch rule is enforced meaning the couple must remain six inches from each other at all times until marriage, to prevent lustful demons from entering the couple.
75. Seventeen, Not Seven
I'm 17, and can't visit a friend’s house unless one of my grandparents (who I live with) has met said friend’s parents. They refuse to let me apply for part-time jobs in a town 20 minutes away. I go to school in that town. I'm not allowed to have anyone ride in the car with me. I can't get specific styles of haircuts. I have to ask for money to get clothes that fit me properly.
I'm not allowed to drive past 6 pm and I've been stalked to a friend’s house (caught them driving by) to see if I was going where I said I was.
76. Some Shady Individuals
My next-door neighbor's parents had signs around the house by the door and phones that gave specific instructions on what to do or say to a stranger who called or rang the doorbell if the parents weren't home. One time we were having my birthday party at the local sheriff’s office who had agreed to host us for a tour of the station and to look at the squad cars.
This was clearly printed on the invitations. Same neighbor had to ask his parents’ permission to go to with us, they came over to look around the party and see what kind of characters were there. They also drove their son to the station in their own car even though the station was maybe a half-mile from my house at most.
77. A Questionable Existence
At 13, I started working in my parents' café. My mom had to know where I was at all times. This was pre-cell phone, so I had to give reports of what I'd done any time I was out of her sight, where I'd been, and who I'd seen. This continued until I was in my late 20s and had been living apart for over ten years. She quizzed all the employees about anyone I dated to know if they were worthy of her son and picked them apart behind my back.
I pretty much had to sneak around making secret dates for years. It was absolutely exhuasting. She got regular reports from my friends, coworkers, bosses, and neighbors. Friendly officers would tell her where I'd been observed driving or parking at different times. Friends I shared things with were quizzed about my girlfriends and intimate details like who I was seeing, what we had done, whether I was drinking, doing dope, whether I was doing well at work, etc.
Then, we would have near-daily talk sessions where she would drop random remarks to let me know that she knew everything I was doing 24 hours a day. At the time, I was pretty stoic about it. I finally had to move to a state 2,500 miles away to get some privacy and begin to feel like an adult. Looking back over the years, I realized how crazy this behavior was.
78. Positive Affirmations Only
In Scouts, I had a whiner in my group. When he didn't get his way, he would complain with a high grating voice while rocking back and forth in a fetal position just because we were making popsicle boats instead of coloring like he wanted to do. And no, kid. You can't have the little dog on my keychain. I don't care if you cry, it's my keychain.
No tactic worked with this kid other than ignoring him when he had a meltdown. When his mom came to get him, everything suddenly made so much sense. She would yell at everyone she could see about how her son was an angel who only deserved to be treated like a prince.
79. The Difference Between Helping and Hindering
My old boss and his wife were helicopter parents, not letting their two kids get jobs until they were done university. Problem is that when they finished, they couldn't find any jobs since they had absolutely no work experience, zero references, and zero research experience (they both had science-related degrees) so no one would hire them.
I had to actually explain to my boss that they would have to suck it up and work retail for a bit just so they could have something on their resume. He didn't understand how good grades wouldn't help them in the real world of working. He then went on to calling various labs trying to find jobs for them because he wasn't convinced. Last time I checked in with him, his kids still did not have jobs.
80. It’s Easier This Way
My roommate in college would not do his laundry, ever. Because his mom came to do it for him every couple of weeks. He had tons of clothes and would just start piling them up in the closet as he wore them. Then his mom would come in and basically monopolize the dorm laundry facilities for three hours doing all his laundry. But that's not even the craziest part.
One time I come back and all MY laundry was done too, and put away. She folded my underwear...FOLDED. I was kind of creeped out but then hey, clean laundry!
81. All Work No Play
I had a second cousin the same age as me who had helicopter parents. All they would tell him was, "You need to focus on school/your career. Girls are a distraction that will keep you working at McDonald's the rest of your life so you can buy fancy cars and jewelry". It backfired so painfully. When we turned 30, he had never been on a serious date, and his parents started worrying.
When we turned 40, his parents started panicking. Staying away from females through all his developmental years made it nearly impossible for him to relate to them in a romantic way. He had associates and colleagues who were women, but he treated them like guys. He didn’t really know what to do. He tried to date but found it just made him anxious and decided it was easier not to try. If I could go back in time to when we were twelve, I would smack his mother upside the head.
82. It’s A No-Knock Life
My parents did not understand the concept of privacy. They would just barge in like RPG heroes and act surprised when we nearly had heart attacks. This got very annoying when I was in the bathroom and they would barge in since we didn’t have a lock on the door. I would lock the door to my bedroom, and they would spend several minutes trying to open it—not a single knock. I had to teach the concept of privacy to myself.
83. Hard Shut Down
One night, my parents caught me playing GTA V when I was supposed to be doing homework. They took my computer and put it in a storage locker ten miles from our house. I finished the second semester of my high school sophomore year with five A's and two B's. Nearly a year later, my monitor and keyboard would sit on my desk, collecting dust.
Meanwhile, the beautiful desktop I had built myself sat freezing every night in a concrete garage, awaiting the day I would reawaken it. They would also use Find My iPhone to track where I was at all times. The WiFi would go down at 10 PM every night, and my phone wouldn’t let me text past 10:30 PM. I know these were first-world problems, but it sucked.
84. They Spoiled My Life
For me, everything was taken care of. My parents wouldn't let me have a go at doing the dishes until I was 16. I kept hearing and seeing that kids got paid allowances for doing chores. So I asked if I could, and they just laughed and said, "Get good grades! That's all we want from you". After that, I grew up a spoiled brat with some high grades. I regret all of it.
I didn't learn basic things about respect, how to look for a job, or how to grow up. At 19, I had to Google "how to grow up and be an adult" because I didn't know where to start. My parents were loving. They just never trusted me to do anything by myself. Even at 18, my mom was still overprotective and tried to helicopter me every chance she got. I had to move away to get away.
85. I Can’t Help You
I work for the Help Desk at a university, and I get disgusted with some of the parents that call in. Most of the time they want me to give them Junior's password so that they can see his homework, grades, classes, etc. We have a separate login type system for parents to handle financial aid-related stuff, but these parents want to have the full password.
Some things that I have heard: “But I am paying for him to be there, so I should have access". “I am his mother, and I need to know what he's up to". “I just want to make sure he is taking the right classes". Unfortunately, I am not allowed to tell these people to cut the umbilical cord, but I can't give them the password either. I've been yelled at a few times.
86. An Unwanted Arrangement
I once received the following email from a woman I had never met: Hi Steven, your parents sent me a package with your information and pictures and a letter saying they wanted to set us up. As flattered as I am, I am in a committed relationship right now. I am also only 21 years old and I'm not looking to get married or have children anytime soon.
She continued: Your parents made clear that having children was your intention. I'm sorry, but this isn't something I am interested in. I wish you good luck in your endeavors.
87. Who Has Time For That?
My parents would make random visits to my school, which was only an hour and a half away from home. When I inevitably wouldn't be there because I had a full schedule of classes, labs, on-campus work-study, extra research, and clubs, they'd wander the campus until they saw any of my friends (small school) and then ambush them with a thousand questions.
They would say they needed to find me because I was in danger. Every administrator at my school just rolled over in the face of their sheer pigheaded stubbornness, too. They knew everything about me. They knew I visited the school's nurse practitioner for an STD test and they knew my grades and my schedules and all my professors' email addresses.
I started seeing a therapist for stress and I found out she was emailing them details of our sessions. It was awful.
88. I Have No Authority Here
I once got a phone call from a parent screaming at me asking why her daughter wasn't allowed to swim in a competition coming up that weekend. She wouldn't let me get a word in to explain that I was not, in fact, her daughter's swim coach. I am not a swim coach at all. Her coach had the same name as me and was even the same age.
But he still lived with his parents so mine was the only phone number in the phone book with my name. She went on for about five minutes explaining that she watches all the kids swimming and her daughter was definitely the strongest in her group. Then it hit me: I knew just what to do. I was so annoyed, I simply agreed and told her that her daughter would "definitely be swimming this weekend".
She congratulated me on making the right decision and hung up. I really wish I could see what happened
89. Time To Unfriend Dad
My first rated R movie was the Facebook horror flick Unfriended. I watched it with my dad. When a girl took off her clothes during a Skype chat, he turned to me and said, "You know we can leave at any time if you are uncomfortable". He said this every time anything remotely racy came up. However, he didn’t say it during the blender scene though.
90. Photo Bomb
I wouldn't say my parents were "helicopter parents" because I had a healthy amount of freedom and individuality growing up. My mom, however, did do some questionable stuff. One of her signature moves was to send me pictures of herself whenever I was out hanging with friends. She had read in an article that if I were doing dope or were up to no good, it would make me feel guilty, and I would come home or something. It didn't work.
91. Strange Bedfellows
I knew someone who was 23 years old and still shared a bed with their mom. Yes, you read that correctly. They lost their retail job when their mom showed up for every single shift and just stood there watching. One time when there was a customer issue, the mom jumped in and started fighting with the customer, so he got fired. The sad part was that he didn’t see the problem.
92. Throw This Mama From The Train
I was seeing a helicopter son. I realized this when he introduced me to his mother. I knew she was overprotective, so I avoided meeting his parents. However, he was keen to introduce me to them, and, with persuasion, he convinced me. I was a huge mistake.
I had stayed overnight at his house, and the next morning after meeting them, he came to me and said his mother had told him I had to go home. The reason was that I was distracting him from his studies. It was a seven-hour train journey and an extra cost to rebook my ticket. We were 20.
93. This Helicopter Parent Was A Hair Razer
I see a lot of helicopter parents at my job. The one I remember had a "can I speak to the manager" haircut and stood behind me the entire time I was cutting her child's hair. Then when I was done, after he told me how much he loved it, she kept asking him if he was really sure he liked it. This went on for about 10 minutes until the kid started crying. I ended up having to do the haircut again—twice—until it was the length the mom wanted.
94. Some People Really Need Hobbies
The kids my mom used to nanny had the worst helicopter parents I've ever witnessed. They had strict schedules for everything they did, including eating, sleeping, and even using the bathroom. My mom had to collect…samples…from the children to show the parents, she also had to make every meal exactly per the instructions they provided.
They didn't have any health problems as far as my mother was aware of. By the time my mom left the job the kids were already pretty messed up, I can only imagine how they are now.
95. 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.
96. Leaving A Memorable Impression
I once walked in on my roommate getting spanked on his bare butt by his parents. Yes folks, you read that right. I walked in on my college-age roommate getting spanked on his bare butt by his parents for not having his stuff packed up on move-out day. Here’s the full story: It was move-out day and my roommate was working on a paper last minute.
I was packing my stuff. His parents walked in and were absolutely enraged that he wasn't packed yet. They immediately started scolding him while I was still in the room, but thankfully I had a final to go to and figured I'd dodge the storm. I said my goodbyes, assuming they'd be gone by the time I got back from my two-hour final and went on my way.
As it happened, my final only took 20 minutes, so I got back much sooner than they'd have expected. I opened the door and saw my roommate bent over his bed with his bare behind showing, just as his mom wound up for a spank. I slammed the door shut as quickly as I possibly could. I went over to a friend's dorm and helped her pack for a while until I felt safe enough to return. I never brought it up to him after that.
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97. How About You Quarterback-Off, Dad
My friend is positive that his kid will be an NFL quarterback—and he goes to chilling lengths to make it happen. This poor kid—who’s 10, by the way—is a decent player, but his father has him spend hours each day practicing. He takes vitamins and has a special diet. He can't have sleepovers or do any normal kid things.
I know for a fact that the kid has told his father that he doesn't want to play anymore, but the dad doesn't care. In his messed up head, he thinks he's doing what's best for his son.
98. Her Anxieties Never Held Water
When I was growing up, I lived with my grandmother, and her rules were both bizarre and utterly brutal. When I was showering, I wasn’t allowed to let the water hit my chest, because she thought it could kill me. Even worse, she didn’t let me walk up or down stairs—I was relegated to a single floor when she was around.
Again, she was convinced that the stairs would kill me, so they were off-limits. It was so frustrating, but eventually, I discovered the heartbreaking reason she was so paranoid. One of her kids had heart problems as a child. Because of multiple surgeries and the generally weak state of his heart, he hadn’t been able to shower or run up and downstairs.
My grandmother was forever marked by his difficult childhood and tragic, untimely end.
99. Right In The Shredder
I'm a small business owner and was interviewing applicants for a sales position when a guy in his mid-20s came in with an older woman. I had a pretty good idea it was his mother but before I could even ask, she started telling me about her son's best qualities. I stopped her, told her she would have to wait in her car, and she started yelling that she had every right to be there.
Her son turned bright pink. I again told her she had to wait outside and had one of my employees escort her out. He seemed like a nice enough kid and went to an excellent college but there was no way I was going to hire an adult who showed up to a job interview with his mother and I told him so. It was also pretty clear that he was extremely shy.
I told him I would continue the interview so he could get some experience but he needs to leave his mother home and learn to speak up for himself. Once he started talking, I became more impressed by him and my business was growing pretty well so I told him I would hold on to his resume and consider him if another position opened up. I thought it went well—but I didn't know what was coming next.
I was in with the next applicant when his mother came storming in, yelling like a lunatic. Her son just stood next to her with a look of defeat as she screamed that she would be suing if her son wasn't hired. I again had to have an employee walk them out then I threw his resume in the garbage.
100. His Lifestyle Didn’t Work For Her
My ex-boyfriend’s mom was a helicopter parent. She would not allow him or his sister to have a job. At one point, his mother called up his job, saying he wasn't allowed to work, and got him fired when she found out. She instead gave them $200 a week to do with whatever they wanted—unless they were buying something their mom didn't like, like ice cream. My ex had to take out cash to buy that and then throw out the receipt so that she wouldn’t know.
She then had him committed to a psych ward at the age of 20 because he refused to pick up her calls. He was a fencer, so when she put in the call to the authorities, she said he was “armed and dangerous". As a middle-class person looking in, it seemed to me more than just general overprotectiveness.
101. Momma Bear
I knew this girl who was a couple grades younger than me. Her mom was the worst helicopter parent I knew. She'd go on dates with her daughter. She'd never let her daughter leave her sight when she was with a boy. When they were on dates and her daughter went to the restroom, she'd go with her daughter and apparently guard the door to the restroom to make sure the guy didn't follow her.
She'd pick out the daughter's clothes every day to make sure her daughter wouldn't get too much attention from guys. All of these things might describe your typical helicopter parent. When the girl went to high school the mom decided she was old enough to have her freedom. She stopped being a helicopter parent completely.
One day the daughter comes crying to her mom and tells her mom that her boyfriend just dumped her. Mom tries to calm her down and says that it was just a boy, there will be more boys. "But mom, you don't understand! I lost my virginity to him"! That's when the Mom went off the deep end. She then proceeds to drive over to boyfriend’s house, and asks the parents to see their son.
She confronts the son and proceeds to direct her anger at the son's tender area. Son is on floor crying and his parents end up coming in to the room. Mom turns to the boy's parents and say, "If you press charges on me, I'll press charges on you". And that was that.
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