Hilarious Stories About Parents Shared On r/AskReddit (1 Hour Reddit Compilation)

what habits do your parents have that drive you insane mom one of those people that like and share a picture because they think it'll help kids in Africa dad types with one finger so when he uses the computer you hear a constant tapping for 20 minutes straight my mom doesn't pay attention to movies then quizzes people about the plot point she missed who is that guy what's happening now where did they get the car is the girl still alive just watch the movie mom saying the same thing 10 times in two minutes bTW slightly changing the sentence structure so they are elaborating similarly my parents will just repeat what they are saying in a slightly different way acting as though they are somehow expanding on the original idea I love my dad more than anything but he has this habit of calling me repeatedly just to tell me something and important for example I'll be at work notice nine missed calls from him freak out call him back only for him to tell me that he was talking to someone in Greece on his hand radio if I call him he won't answer comma talking to someone in Greece on his ham radio that's the most Dada thing I've ever heard my mom is losing her hearing but she's in denial she cranks all volumes when we're in public or all I bring her for a walk around the neighborhood she talks about people their houses at full volume and of course any question gets her first answer of what hey mom did dad go to sleep what I said audible sigh of frustration from dad's room never mind when they sleep I'm ninja quiet when I sleep vacuum phone call loud TV loud talking demolishing part of the house fire sirens going off et Cie they micromanage everything I can't wash dishes with them in the room being intentionally technologically ignorant I don't care if you grew up without computers get a goddamn computer so I don't have to fax you every time I want to send you a picture then it just gets worse they get a disease-riddled a sus laptop and you have to play whack-a-mole with the neverending extensions that cling onto their browser while they blame you for the pop-ups walking nude around the house my dad has an extremely short temper that I've picked up it's like a never-ending circle of irritation he'll get annoyed over nothing then I'll get annoyed at him and then I'll get annoyed at myself for being annoyed so easily et Cie they are control freaks dad you aren't even watching the television please give me the remote control over my dead body you son of a be my parents would carry out a war of silence that put everyone in the house on edge I hated it read that as war of science that wouldn't be too bad whenever I call them and forget to mention something and attempt to call them back two seconds later yeah they never freaking answer that second call dad says google that crap all the freaking time mom has no idea what to use technology for she has a smart phone and only recently started texting which is massively frustrating because she's a renowned scientist working with the Defense Department and is one of the top world leaders in her respective field and her research team that she leads regularly wins awards she can use all the cutting-edge technology and computer software she needs but if I ask her to Google something on her phone she looks at me like I'm a crazy person academics I went to a talk by a Nobel laureate last year and him and three professors spent half an hour trying to get the projector to work until the tech guy showed up and hit one button to make it work when you're that smart you don't need to know how the world actually works only how your experiments work pee whenever my mom's comes to visit she will look through my drawers closets basically everywhere after stunts looking for whatever the frickin for she will go to the kitchen complain about dishes piled up even if there is only a spoon in a sink then proceed to doing the dishes all the while complaining I'm 29 years old and moved out of my parents house over 10 years ago you should have a friend hide in your closet when your mom's coming over scare the crap out of her while she's doing her if it doesn't make her stop it'll at least be good for a petty laugh my dad is a channel flipper simultaneously watches two shows and to sporting events at a time even when we all sit down to just watch one show my dad does this and it irritates the crap out of me when a commercial break comes on he'll go to the other show then he won't flip back until they go to commercial - by which point we've missed several minutes of the first show the commercials come he flips back and we've missed several minutes of that show it makes it impossible to follow either of em two words eating noises my mom went through a phase where she would wrap all her teeth after eating with her finger like imagine a less scrubby version of brushing your teeth but with a finger instead of the toothbrush she got offended that it made me gag my father makes a very strange sound every time he eats it almost sounds like he's loudly slurping soup but I hear it when he eats anything I noticed it one day when we were at White Castle together I took a pickle off my burger and he asked me if he can have it after he ate what I already think is a disgusting food accompanied with such a disgusting sound I decided I can never eat White Castle again a promise I kept for about three years until last night when I suddenly craved it dang their marketing then one day he was eating yogurt and I noticed he made the same sound I went and sat down next to him to observe it perhaps get to the bottom of this anomaly and offer a solution to a problem he didn't know existed I thought he was taking in excess air every time he took a bite but that wasn't the case I quickly had to leave the room fearful I'd never be able to eat yogurt again without thinking of that sound now I hear it at every meal with him whether he's eating soup yogurt an apple a burger steak what a Frick is happening I can't eat in his vicinity I guess I have to move out now I'm 25 anyway it's been a long time coming my old roommate made the sound that I can only describe a snoring while eating I couldn't eat around him it was so gross my dad has a habit of speaking his mind very loudly in public I don't know what it is senility all wanting to have his opinion heard whatever will be in line at a subway or something and he'll start trying to have a conversation about how many black people there are or how dirty the start look my mother brushes her teeth sticks the toothbrush almost down her through chokes herself and starts coughing and spluttering like she's going to vomit everywhere every single time just because no one else has mentioned this she's brushing her tongue all the way to the back because that's where the bulk bad breath causing bacteria dwell my mom is always trying to find a way like you have to pay for therapy on the 15th of May she's all like yes honey but can't you talk to her so we pay on the 20th of May no mom you've know we have to pay every 15th day of the month from the start why's IT so hard to follow rules my mom is the worst backseat driver and a terrible regular driver just thinking about it makes me angry my dad wakes up every morning and literally rails see until he almost pukes orders puke and drinks literally 50 beers any given night he is trying to get on disability by giving himself diabetes so he doesn't have to work because he knows he's borderline diabetic he tried to tell me smoking pot and not believing in God was worse than what he was up to ha ha ye good talk but you can't get on disability in America just because you have diabetes my husband is a type to insulin dependent diabetic and works over 40 hours a week another guy I know is a type 1 with a pump and has other medical problems as well and still works at the local grocer stocking food sometimes my mum wear my clothes because they are comfortable 17m here my dad does this and when he takes her t-shirt off he grabs it by the throat and stretches the frick out of it all of his t-shirts are sleeve of wizard and when I catch him in one of mine I get P both of my parents be about something the other domes when they do the exact same goddamn thing themselves for instance my mom always makes fun of my dad for falling asleep on the couch and snoring and she be non-stop about it then not ten minutes after her comment she's knocked out cold and snoring louder than him oMFG my mom does this exact same thing she'll snap her fingers or make this annoying high-pitched whoop noise to wake up my dad then lo and behold five minutes later she snoring away she also be about my dad farting or forgetting things those both pee me off about my dad too but her farts are even more disgusting and she doesn't realize she's beginning to forget things as well smoking everyone in my family smokes except me and I bet I'll be the one to die of cancer starting conversations with me only when I'm leaving the room or when they call you back from all the way on the main floor just as you're about to sit down in your room on the other side of the house when you were just over there twice my dad has a very successful business and has made enough to send four kids to college and is about to build his own house and he still buys one-ply toilet paper it's his burning butthole that drives him to succeed my dad whistles all the time like he'll be running up or down the stairs whistling and all you can do is look in the general direction he's in and wonder what kind of a madman did I derive half my DNA from is this how the children of serial killers feel eta he is also an animal thrower as in if your sleep and he is assigned to wake you up for something he grabs one of the family pets and throws it on you the pet is dropped on you from maybe a foot or two above you so it's fine for the pet in question when it was the 12 pound cat it was a total dong move now that I have a 40 pound dog freaked up fricked up my mom always has to be the last person to say something so that the conversation will continue with her in it for example if someone say me asks my sister a question maybe about school and my sister answers I'm having issues with a friend mom will say something immediately afterwards like oh she's having problems with a friend WTF mom she just said that that bothers me just thinking about it growing old I want them to stay the same oh I understand you my parents had me when they were in their 50s and it's hard to watch them getting older every day they'll wait until they've been driving for about two minutes before putting their seatbelts on will literally reach the top of the street before they put it on when I'm driving I refused to move until everyone is strapped in just put that crap on before you start driving and be safe I know so many people that do this and it drives me nuts now we are moving and they are blindly grabbing turning around trying to find the belt I don't even stop the engine until it is on and I was born before there were laws about it my mom will use a bathroom with the door open and initiate conversation I'm always like do you have no shame woman my parents both think it's totally cool to walk up and stop talking to me through the door while I'm trying to use the toilet she refuses to let me set the proper aspect ratio on her television it doesn't matter that the picture is stretched out she paid a lot of money for that widescreen television so she should be able to use all of it then she says the black bars on the sides of the screen are distracting my mom is very overprotective one of her rules is that I'm not allowed to stand next to a microwave because it might explode I haven't above the range microwave I put something in the microwave and while I was waiting for it to cook I started cleaning the stovetop the microwave must have built up pressure because with time left on the timer the door flew open it hit me in the head and knocked me to the ground my dad has his phone on old time The Scream he walks into my room to say good night to me the screen is visible through his pants sometimes we phone people forget to put the settings back right to win switching over contacts to a new phone it requires the screen to be on stay awake mode edit smartphones my dad always puts bread and tortillas on top of the microwave then complains when it has mold just a few days after purchasing it instead of listening to me he be that it's walnuts fault for selling him expired food no dad it's because you put a bag of bread over the hot microwave which ends up creating moisture in the bag in that moisture causes fungus to grow I dunno I've had a loaf of bread on the microwave since September and there's no mold on it yet I'm just keeping it now to see how long it takes trying to force their worldviews on me everyone does it whether they know it or not when my mom is sending a text she whispers every word she types it rides me insane and yet their entire text is in capitals my mom believes everything told me the other day that drinking water that boiled eggs can cure headaches using the guise of spiritualism to justify their complete abandonment of any personal responsibility to the family but spending time with us is still the most important thing in the world whenever my mom uses paper towels to dry her hands she never throws them away she leaves them on the counter to air dry and then she'll reuse them to wipe the mirror or mop the floor or something she insists it's wasteful to just wipe your clean hands dry and throw the towel away might as well wrap up oh sit which is fine I guess but she is always washing her hands and she never wipes stuff up fast enough to use them all up so we end up with a mountain of used paper towels crowding every sink counter as a kid I was punished if I threw them away she'd reused the towels until they disintegrated when I moved she literally gave me four plastic bags filled with used paper towels to clean my apartment with after she visited me last week I was wondering why there was so much trash and I realized it's because she left a trail of bounty in every room she walked through I opened my linen closet and there was a plastic bag of paper towel smashed into the corner my parents chew with their mouths open to make matters worse my dad has dentures and my mom has a very weird chewing patching she always has to sip a T very loudly as well my mom also watches CNN most times of the day and talks about how America is going to have a revolution almost daily finally my mom has a weird martyr syndrome going on in which he tries to subtlety sabotage herself and then goes to her friends complaining about how life is so hard for her for example all us kids are grown and we manage ourselves the house is an easy house to take care of my mom hasn't had a paying job in over 30 years and my dad takes care of her her only true responsibility is preparing for the Sunday School class she teaches every week she will stay up to 1 a.m. watching CNN or juice TV purposely wakes up about 6:00 a.m. Phil no reason in particular then goes crying to her friends about how tired she always is one time my dad let her sleep in until 8 a.m. because of her tired complaining and she started yelling at him for letting her sleeping if you got to know my mom you would see she is an overall very spoiled woman with few actual problems she likes to create her own drama at times to try an issue 8 conversation my mom asks the most irrelevant and random topics yesterday out of the blue she asked me what I though of dialysis like WTF I have heard every one of my dad's jokes multiple times and every time he learns a new one he calls everyone he knows and tells them the joke I overhear many many of these phone calls insane cleanliness they even have cabinets that they keep their daily Cup in they will drink water rinse it out and then hit the glass again there is nothing out of place anywhere my dad has gone out with me while I'm having a smoke and pick up a single leaf on the drive it is like that at my grandparents my grandma and grandpa have a specific water glass they use parents of Reddit what is something your kid doesn't know you know about them I'm pretty sure my mum thinks she knows I'm gay but I'm not at all she thinks she knows and that I don't think she thinks that if that makes any sense I get it she thinks you might be gay and also thinks that you have no idea that she thinks you're gay you know she thinks you're gay and you also know that she thinks that you don't think she knows you're gay it only makes it better that you're not gay my mom could always tell when I had to poke no clue what my giveaways were I'm 27 about to be 28 and to this day she will be visiting at my house and out of nowhere she's just like you need to poke and she's always right probably a certain facial expression she learned to recognize when you were baby that you just didn't grow it off I know when she's trying to get a light past me girl is a carbon copy of myself all her tricks are my tricks her brain works pretty similar to mine I did most of that stuff when I was her age and spend most my time going I remember trying that one in dear God I sound like my mother I work with a group of boys one is 12 years old and is a smart aleck I know that he currently sucks his thumb when he sleeps next time you see him sleep while he suck his finger pull it out and put one of those big cucumbers in his mouth that he has a crush on the neighbor girl mom shut up now I don't I'm 28 but my dad if he is buying me clothes for Christmas or a birthday always gets my size perfectly I don't keep him updated on my measurements by any means but he always gets me perfectly fitted clothing and I don't know how he does it for some reason my dad gets me clothes that are always one or two sizes too big I don't grow that fast dad my son is only four I know everything because I stay home with him all day every day I know when he's being sneaky he thinks I don't realize he's sneaking his toys into bed with him not to play with and stay up late but because he believes his happy toys give him happy dreams I can tell from how tight his morning hug is whether those dreams were happy or sad he thinks I don't notice when he sneaks a cucumber from the fridge and hides it under his shirt sneaking bites through his collar and giggling as he hides under the table I'm his mom and right now I know him better than anyone else in the world and he has no idea just how much I want him and imprint all of these adorable characteristics in my memories because one day he'll be ready to move out and I won't be the one who knows him best anymore and he has no idea how terrified I am and how fast that day is coming what he does know is how much I love him and how proud I am of every single new thing he learns and every step towards independence he takes he knows that momma can always be counted on for a cuddle after a scary dream or a game of Candyland on a rainy day holy Frick I haven't hit up like this in probably a year I'm a 20 year old male why is this making me so emotional that was moving I know when he's tired my wife recently had that conversation with one of our kids I'm angry and I don't know why you're tired no I know that when he says about a girl she's crazy it means that he really really likes her even if you'll forever deny it he's six we do that at 27 36 and 45 - to be fair I know he shoots the bed every night I clean it while he sleeps through it so I don't know if he knows can't wait for him to turn one they had his in the first half not good lie was weirded you ot until the last few words I am 17 and I think my parents think I am addicted to drugs when in reality I get five hours of sleep at night and spend all my time watching movies and playing video games I'm pretty sure that its parent law to think your kids are in drugs when in reality all the do is play video games or something else that probably should be done a little less frequently my 20 years younger little brother hides my old toy trains under his bed no idea why he tries to hide them also he likes to listen to bibi blocksberg secretly hex hex that's adorable sadly he probably thinks people would judge him for girly things like Bibi I know she likes other women but thinks since I'm our old fart 50s that I won't accept her for that I'm fine with it but I am a dad and as such must cast on ending date my daughter at risk of life dad jokes I'm sure someday she will tell me in some dramatic private talk with tears and I will just snort and say yeh go knew that since you was 10 and then crack a very inappropriate joke about a girlfriend because I'm still dad hi dad I am gay hi gay I am dad thought I loved reading threads like these reminds me of all the kinky stuff I did as a teenager and deep down inside I know my parents know my mom knew when I thought I was being sneaky smoking weed trick is to let them get away with stuff like that so they don't get away with big stuff fine though when he poops his pants and tells me he didn't this hit home because my dad has dementia and this really isn't a conversation I was expecting to be having but I guess turnabout is fair play that he secretly wants to be a furry I don't really know what that entails but from what people have told me it doesn't seem to be a positive thing my son has had a thing for stuffed animals plushies blankets since he was like 2 it might not be a fetish thing I also had a lot of stuffed animals when I was around 12 13 and still owned them but don't buy them I know for a fact that I'm not attracted to furries though I'm 17 I'm pretty sure my parents know a lot about me that I might not even know myself at that age my mom knew I had a crush on someone I wasn't yet fully aware of what my feelings were her PSN profile is linked to her email which is part of my gmail account so I see not only her emails but all the weird crap she tries on for tonight mostly purchases for $0 she's 10 I may keep it like this until she's 40 I hope you don't and she notice ASAP the importance of privacy she's to y5m I learned her fake cry immediately Hannah she's what okay I am actually the kid in this area but I'm pretty sure my mom knows who I am crushing on I don't know whether I should be scared or relieved one of my two angels named one of their devices titty and then connected it to our home Wi-Fi I blocked access now I wait for the little crap to come to me I know why you take such long showers dad does too I know that you actually really like Ryan and probably Hellena even though you say girls are gross and you say you hate kisses I know that you're actually brilliant despite your learning disability the yago one for each of them hey long showers don't usually mean what by I might think they do I used to take long showers all the time and my mother called me out on it thinking I was being nasty when really I was just relaxing in the warm water my mum had that she smoked since before I was born until she became comfortable with the fact I smoked Blacky and weed I tried to cover the ciggy stink even at a legal age but once she found my bong and was cool I just don't smoke in her presence out of respect and not stinking the house out I'm the kid in this situation but my mom can always tell when I am stressed I don't know how but she always does it I am a mom who can always tell when my son is stressed even when he argues about it mums just know nice try mom not a parent but I know that my ten year old sister starting to discover herself that's the only way I know how to put it I know this cause I saw the search history on her phone I haven't said anything to her yet as I just found the search history a couple days ago and my mom my since really the kind of mom that will talk to her about it in a way she will understand I don't really know how to talk to her about it my parents once thought I was taking drugs when I was younger 11 or 12 cause I hid some baby broccoli on a napkin under my bed one time cause I hate broccoli so much and forgot it was there till my mum found it many months later it looked very shriveled up and gross never taken a drug in my life besides medicine obviously I'm not a parent but I'm pretty sure my parents know I wank in the shower vámanos you wank llamar wank sometimes too sometimes llamar wanks yada but what they don't know is sometimes you wank thinking about llamar wanking yarda freak the above comment this is the real yes officer this is it right here well I'm 19 and my parents know I do drugs because I showed them my weed and other crap on Christmas Day that she hides Cheerios behind the couch I'm on to you baby I know he's screwing around right now instead of getting ready for school not the parent in this situation but whenever I take long showers a good portion of it is spent just laying in the bathroom outside the shower masturbating I keep the water running loudly so any little sounds won't be as obvious to anyone nearby honestly even if they're suspicious the private atmosphere I create and that bathroom is wonderful but the tight spaces I can use to twist my body in whatever way necessary to pleasure myself at the comfort of the towel I lay on all the tiny pillow I make with my clothes the delightful splashing of a good climax upon myself the solace I take in knowing that all the dirt and fluids which I have a mast will be showered away and of course the sound of the rushing shower water which almost lulls me into a deep slumber I love the feeling of immersing myself in there and indulging in self pleasure I connect primitive I'd consider myself pretty wholesome when it comes to sources of joy but those times I spent before showering are blissfully animalistic and free but so maybe a parent or sibling or whoever thinks I know he's masturbating and if you do that's okay because when I'm in that bathroom as far as I can tell nobody knows buddy they do no they just aren't going to say anything this is going down in reddit history as the most wholesome thread ever my mum knew I was gay before I did the pictures kind of prove her point though how to get into their phones I don't do it but it's nice to know I can you freakin terrify me just saying I'm twenty years old and just because I hang out with guys I'm the only female in the friend group along with me being tomboyish and collecting weapons my parents especially my mother think I'm in a gang fighting people for money she doesn't know that I have a job so she thinks all my money is coming from nowhere none of that crap is true lord I have seen my son telling his hamster he loves him on more than one occasion I didn't want to embarrass him and I think it's sweet my parents thought I was gay for a while after I broke up with my gf at the time and didn't really give a reason to them other than I didn't really want to be with her anymore really it's cause she was cray cray and I developed feelings for my best friend who helped me get through some depression and not great thoughts about life and my ex's craziness before I realized it wasn't gonna stop took them a year to realize my ex was actually crazy my mom's exact words were I had no idea she was a crazy baby I just thought you were gay and being an butthole to her they tried to make us hang out after we broke up so we could be friends despite my protests unfortunately I'm pretty sure she's gone back to thinking I'm gay thanks to me taking way too long to get over my best friend after the feelings weren't reciprocated in me being in college by the time I fully got over her I haven't been in a relationship in about five years she's jokingly saying I should marry one of her close friends kids who I'm also pretty close with but all the girls are gay so basically saying I should date the one gay guy which is a massive no considering I am incredibly straight have never felt any attraction to a guy while having been head over heels in love with a girl on multiple occasions parents who regretted having kids what do you wish you had known before let me just ask them one sec amazing first comment they may not be proud of you but I am my mother made it clear to my sister and I that she hadn't wanted us that I was the product of my dad's unrelenting badgering in that my sister had been a new ops she wasn't a good mom at all she screamed about everything you never knew what would set her off my parents divorced and we went on to be raised by my stepmom not without her faults but Jesus and this woman didn't technically want his either she hadn't chosen to get pregnant with us but she treated us just like her own she planned and paid for with my dad my wedding things got better and my real mom is a good grandma now but let me tell you hearing you're not wanted as a child even in passing even as a joke can shape someone's entire life and self-worth if this is you parents don't you dare ever say it where they can hear you throw away for obvious reasons I always knew from a young age that I didn't want children my family is all very strict Catholic Hispanics and basically picked who I was going to marry from a young age it fortunately I like the guy so we did end up married at 19 I was very honest about not wanting kids he was okay with that our families were not I ended up pregnant even though I was taking birth control more on that in a minute didn't notice the missed periods because the type of birth control I took lets you skip periods by the time I knew I was pregnant I was five months along which is too late for an abortion had the baby found out while in the hospital I ended up pregnant because our family's ordered fake birth control online and replaced my pills with the fakes needless to say my husband and I were p.i also had horrific postpartum depression but did the best I could my husband took up drinking heavily to deal with the stress and over day he just never came home haven't heard from him since the baby was still an infant at that point for months and I made the decision to put her up for adoption and move away everyone says it's different when it's your own kid everyone says the first time you hold your baby you have an instant bond everyone says it's the most amazing important thing a woman will ever do none of that was true for me I'm in my mid-30s now and my daughter and her family made contact with me about seven years ago we talk regularly and I go visit for her birthday in some holidays she knows the whole story and while I'm sure she doesn't really understand she's only 13 she at least gets it a little if you know you don't want children and have never wanted children don't listen to people who tell you that you're wrong and will change your mind I'm trying to get my tubes tied to make sure it never happens again but haven't had luck finding a doctor who's willing to since I'm unmarried and under 40 filled for divorce years ago and since nobody could find him it went through the same way does for a missing person we really need to stop acting like women don't understand their own bodies and wants ro I'm P on your behalf kkoma this frickin dilemma destroyed my relationship with what I considered to be the one she wanted kids I didn't I decided to break up with her it's better than regretting having kids but the last time I felt genuinely happy was three years ago and that also sucks a lot don't have kids when you struggle with mental illness I upvoted this because my depression is one of the main reasons I choose to not have them I don't think I can handle the stress while going through non-functioning times nor would I want them to inherit the Gein that I'd be upper 3:30 a.m. and then 5:00 a.m. every night because he wants to play my only regret about having kids is that I wasn't mature enough to handle that type of responsibility when my first came I was determined that I can handle whatever comes our way I was wrong I was selfish and stressed my wife out a lot I didn't want to spend any time with anyone else besides myself and became an alcoholic I was really sad all the time and was feeling a lot of negative emotions about my social group my plans for the future everything seemed to be out of reach my wife and I argued a lot but always worked things out for the sake that neither office wanted our children in a separated family when the second one came I had stopped drinking as much and spent a lot of time working and saving money I missed a lot of the milestones for both my children it made me feel like I was alone and I felt like a terrible father and felt a distance growing in my relationship with my wife at some points I deeply resented the three of them and I thought about leaving on more than one occasion for various situations we were in I eventually hit a point where I felt my soul being crushed and I figured it's fine whatever I can be miserable as long as they're happy and I stayed that way for a good two years gradually I started to bond with my kids again and just stuck around for them then I started bonding with my wife again now our family is functioning on all fronts it took six years for me to grow up and become a better father and husband I regret that it took so long and feel ashamed of how I screwed up at the beginning my first doesn't like me as much as my second and my relationship with my wife is nothing like it was before having kids I wish I had known how kids not only change your perspective they also change your future and the relationships you have with others if you try to fight it you will lose in one way or another selfishness is a quality which only makes parenting harder than it has to be sometimes my husband regretted it he felt like he lost me in the process as our baby took up all of my and his time and energy our baby is now a toddler and they've bonded he sees the benefits now but if you would have asked him a year ago he would have told you it feels like a life sentence if anyone out there feels like they aren't wanted in a wholesome way I'll totally be your a dip mom I wish I had known that every time I looked at my son when he was born it would make me sick b/c he's a baby born from debauchery I couldn't bond with him at all not till he was at least two three years old that my crap ex was going to bail and leave me hating myself and him that sucks I hope that it doesn't affect your relationship with your child for anyone now childless and is on the fence about having kids if you have doubts having kids is not for you I have three kids I've always wanted kids I love my kids dearly and wouldn't change a thing but they are a fricking off work and as exhausting as you could ever imagine parenting sucks the life out of you but it's also amazing and rewarding in oh you should only have them if you know for certain that you really really want them to add to this I read this line somewhere I don't recall where else I'd give credit fearing that you'll later regret not having kids is not the same as wanting kids I don't regret having them but I'm not as great at being a mom as I thought I would be my kids are still every bit as huge [ __ ] as all other kids and I do all the lazy bad parenting things I swore I wouldn't do I think I just wished I had been more realistic so I didn't feel like such a letdown that not having to wake up five times a night because of your baby is much better than fricking without a condom and that uni is much more expensive that a condom uni is much more expensive that a condom depends on the country tbh I bought a pack of condoms for six pounds last week and my degree cost zero pounds I don't regret it but if I'd known what I know now I may not have done it I wish I'd know that it's never over you get through the hard preschool years the hard teenagers and then spend the rest of your life being anxious and sad and worried about the choices your grown children make and whether or not to bail them out this time it doesn't end that way for everyone but it happens and I'd never even thought about the possibility this is my parents with me I mean Christ I love that they love and care for me so much but holy crap I will never put myself through that kind of stress dear God it people that do not regret having kids but the Stockholm Syndrome is strong also it's socially forbidden to admit you regret having kids it's like being American and not participating in the Pledge of Allegiance people immediately think y'all a horrible person everything about babies and children and pregnancy last time I was near an infant I was 5 years old and it was my baby brother also other women don't warn you for crap the whole time I was pregnant they would just congratulate me and tell me how excited happy and fulfilled I must be parenthood sucks there's no you anymore only mommy or daddy you have an identity crisis because you literally lose yourself in taking care of the child and responsibilities at three years later I'm still struggling with postpartum depression it's not like how they explained it on the Internet give it time for the hormones to regulate number my father-in-law is like 46 and he knocked up a 29 year old she just stopped taking birth control and didn't tell him she got pregnant again and they aren't married they have been together for like five years he's so fake happy it hurts you can see him dying inside every day the chick he's with us beyond immature and spends money like it's growing on trees so yeah having children with the wrong person sucks having children with the right person is amazing I have a son who's six now and my wife and I decide one-and-done I got snipped to make sure it never happens again my father-in-law is too scared to get snipped law for me I was told so many times that being a parent is so rewarding and fulfilling but it isn't don't get me wrong I love my kids but my entire life is packed with stress and misery at their antics they do not respect me and aren't afraid of my attempt that's discipline striking people is not a catch-all solution I feel awful saying I regret my kids their hair and teams now it's pure selfishness on my part now that they're nearly 17 and 15 I find myself super scared about their safety and future and the stress is hard on me I worry about them driving I worry about them dating going off to college living independently etc I just don't want them to be in danger or get hurt and the worry is weighing heavily on me not a parent will never be a parent here's advice from a seriously and wanted child don't have kids if you want unconditional love a kid can't love you like an adult can a kid can't be your therapist spouse replacement or best friend get friends your own age don't have kids because that's just what's expected of you you will resent them they'll feel it you'll hate them they'll bail when they can and never look back trust me on this don't have kids until you're 100% prepared to accept a disabled kid an LGBTQ kid a kid that will date and marry outside of their race and a kid that won't be your religion if you can't handle any of that you want mature enough for a kid kids aren't dogs they're under Vigil humans you can try and beat their individuality out of then if you really want to at once they can get free be prepared to spend your late adulthood alone wondering what went wrong again trust me on this everything gets harder once you have a child finances work/life balance mental health Parenthood is thankless and difficult and often miserable and isolating I'll never have kids because I'm not 100% on board with having kids I love kids but I recognize that Parenthood isn't for me think hard before you make the choice my son is a narcissistic sociopath I can't change that I couldn't raise him any differently to prevent it you cannot control personality Trey's especially if the person does not want to change or acknowledge that there is a problem the amount of hurt and embarrassment I have shouldered to his manipulative nature has broken me as a human he is no longer allowed in my home and we cannot have a relationship if I understood completely that this could happen I would not have had kids if you have anxiety and/or depression there's a very good chance your child will - and if you think your depression and anxiety sucks imagine how helpless and crappy you feel watching your child suffer wish someone would have said this to me I have ADHD and Tourette's while my so has anxiety and depression our kids are fricked from the start the amount of anxiety they give me everything day and what de failure you will feel like no matter how hard you try oh and also how much I have to drink to make it back to my fun pre kid self you aren't a failure and you don't have to drink this will sound easier said than done but try having fun in different ways redefine what you think fun is I know it may be hard but it will be worth it please people know the person you want to have children with especially young people when you are young you don't think of it when your boyfriend might have mental emotional problems that their parents did nothing about because they didn't believe in it and wanted their son the boyfriend to think of himself as normal yes I get that but they didn't think Leah's down the line when their son was trying to be normal and me 21 years old after one divorce already my child stolen from me I was an emotional wreck I didn't realize his problems because he hid them well because of coping with him without help that his parents wouldn't get for him I was too young and messed up to realize my boyfriend's problems and had a child with him now this child is 30 years old and has always had his problems the mental health care system in USA is a joke I took her to many many psychologists psychiatrists counselors therapists had evel's done X and helped now this 30 years old child of mine has an 8 year old child who has her problems plus his father's problems my 30 years old child with mental emotional problems wasn't intelligent enough to realize her child would be like her boyfriend now I am stuck with raising her child who has double the problems me and my husband are horribly struggling with him because she's not emotionally mentally intelligent enough to raise him when it came time to really decide about having kids I had a revelation I could more easily live with the regret of not having them than I could for having them I can only imagine what I would be posting here right now if I had came to the very-real peer pressure and had kids I do wish people with kids my old friends namely were not so uncomfortable awkward with about my choice but I get that they have to believe I am missing out I love most of their kids with all my heart but love my peace of mind even more I am glad they had them I don't have kids and have never wanted kids I had surgery to make sure of it as soon as I could and I have never felt better about a decision in my life my parents however are a different story bad mental health runs on both sides of the family and my dad is currently falling apart because of his own mental health struggles but refuses to seek help my mom is one step behind him and resents him even though she stays with him often I have heard my mom say the following about my dad's mom who had poorly treated schizophrenia and struggled her whole life she had no business having kids so my mom feels that my dad had no business being born yet mom still had several kids with him don't be like my mom if you marry someone who ends up being a different person and having a different family gene pool than what you were led to believe please pretty please think twice about having kids with that person I have struggled my whole life with depression and anxiety and didn't have a chance so far as genes on both sides of my family go I work extremely hard at having a normal healthy life and sometimes I even succeed but I sure wish I didn't have to live like that TL DR if you think maybe you shouldn't procreate with a cert person you probably shouldn't from the perspective of a kid who has a mom who regretted having kids if you don't want kids don't have them don't let anyone talk you into it don't cave because your partner wants kids let them go find someone else my mom told me when I was a kid that I would rather work 70 hours weeks than spend a moment home with you kids I was hurt but later on I understood that she hadn't meant to be rude or a terrible person she was just being honest because of this and other things I have an honest conversation upfront with anyone I date kids are a very important discussion and waiting until you've spent months or years together to talk about it is a waste for everyone involved if it turns out you're not on the same page it changed me I'm not who I want it to be no one gets what they want I don't because they need me they don't because I can't give them everything but I adore them completely I don't regret having my one and only child but I wasn't prepared for just how chauvinistic society is towards mothers and women in general mom is expected to do everything while dad gets a trophy for changing a diaper when something goes wrong it's always mother's fault and never the father's when I went back to work after my 12-week maternity leave everyone asked how I could stand to be away from my baby no one asks new fathers this then when our marriage fell apart as most marriages do I was a horrible mother for eventually wanting to date again and from not putting my child first my child is first and always will be but I'm still an adult human who matters I'm not only a mother I recently read a Twitter thread written by a stay-at-home dad his wife has a well-paid job with lots of responsibilities yet the kindergarten won't stop calling her about every tiny issue with the kid no matter how often both say that he is the one doing the childcare childcare equals mom set in stone it's all the little things every day tired from a long day well get ready to come home to some kids who want to argue about every fricking thing what they love chicken yesterday but today Frick you for putting on their plate who is brushing their teeth first you closed the door but they wanted to close it you held the door but they wanted to hold it everything literally everything will become an argument you and your spouse made the four in one minor way about parenting and that will be a fight I am so sick of arguing about everything every day god forbid you have a kid with anxiety - and when are they faking it and when is it real when do you put your foot down and when do you caress and nurture then they get into school and there is a school shooting warning and you have to act like the world we live in is okay tell them that life isn't so bad they need to go to school then you get some jack but that like wheel if where my kid I'd slap em what the Frick they have no control of their emotions no control of their thoughts and no control of their willpower being a parent sucks oh oh and if they are sick which parent will need to take off work to be with them and when they get some random ailment how will you pay to take care of them sorry a tunnel my mind lately all of this fine absolutely don't regret having any of my three kids but I wish I would have be more prepared for the endless stream of trick shots and questions while preparing dinner every night mum mum mum watch this that's awesome sweetie mum and this one look check it out cool oh yeah mom but this one a heart mum check it out you're not watching look look dad look what my spider-man toy can do looks at Sun moving spider-man's arms for the six hundred and twelfth time today that's awesome buddy shoot self I always wonder about this during abortion debates when the nice clean Christian lady says that people regret their abortions I immediately wonder how many parents regret not having that abortion when your child is sick and dying when they get hurt and mortally wounded when they suffer tragedies congenital illness a million mishaps these are real concerns that should definitely be considered I have two kids and it's been 30 years and I still worry about everything and now grandbabies studies been done more than 90% don't regret their abortion but found sense of relief Semyon topic but don't have a bunch of kids thinking the older ones will help raise the younger ones that's not fair to the older kids they didn't sign up to be a parent you did stealing an older child's actual childhood by making them act the grown-up in your stead should be a crime I wish I realized my ex-wife was a clinical psychopath before reproducing with her details please how much it end up hate being a father I love my kids but I wish I never had them they are annoying I don't sleep I can't enjoy anything without them being there I miss my alone time I miss being able to eat a meal without anyone bothering me I genuinely can't stand my life right now because I have kids I haven't been happy for a long while my kids don't make me happy seeing them grow gives me no sense of joy or satisfaction if you're rich there's always the solution of boarding school to prepare to add child to your marriage sets an alarm to go off at night every 25 minutes all night long for a month straight and then see how fast you become monsters to each other if you're all hunky-dory continue that experiment for a year or two straight with an alarm going off every hour followed by high-pitched screaming unless the alarm is attended to in the other room for at least 1020 minutes of that blessed hour of sleep if you are still a functioning human being and also still married yeah go ahead have a kid it is actual horrible awful torture for at least two years and I do not know why people have children don't do it I don't regret having kids but dang are they brutal on every aspect of your life my three-year-old is currently at the other end of the couch crying and saying how much he hates me it's not just the kids either your spouse will suddenly accept things they did not before we would see parents jamming iPods in front of their kids and we were just baffled like really lady you're not even gonna try we were also very against co-sleeping too risky I have lost my voice in both of those things as my wife now allows both to occur it's very tough not me but a close friend of mine from high school met a girl not long before I left for college first relationship for both of them and not long before them talking about getting married and stuff the rest of our friend group didn't really like her not just for the normal you're stealing our friend drama bulls but it just didn't seem like the healthiest relationship for how serious it was getting some of us tried to warn him he shrugged us off well eventually she gets pregnant she decides to keep it it's triplets I crapped you not so this kid is still a teenager and he has three kids on the way they did end up getting married but he went into a sort of downward spiral I don't think he ever said it out loud but it's pretty clear he had his regrets and maybe should have put the brakes on that relationship good news is they're no longer married the kids and ex seemed to be okay she got remarried and he's in a better place now not dead like mentally I guess the moral of the story is don't stick your tongue in crazy especially if you're not even old enough to vote and always use protection because honestly I have my suspicions that she used some sort of fertility drug behind his back like triplets dang this story just screams I live in a small town as a father of two I can only cringe and dread the idea of raising triplets that crap has to be frickin exhausting that with a little confidence and a lot of cardio I wouldn't have had to settle for my ex you don't have to be in any relationship you don't want to be in no matter what you look like one know that they're frickin expensive to care for and raise day care costs more than college tuition yearly average is over $15,000 a year if you don't have family near you that can help out you are freaked I can't afford another child and I do not have the mental capacity to handle another one no thanks to Frick your free time you don't have that anymore time to clean nope time to take a crap or use a bathroom an interrupted nope free time will ease up after a few years three your current life odd relatively being stress-free and Caffrey is over good luck for kiss whatever's left of your private life goodbye five for better or worse kids will change you prepare for that you know that feeling when you get done with work and who you are heading home and you're finally going to get put your feet up and relax some days that is what it will feel like when you leave for work in the morning I don't regret any one of my kids I regret having a child too young I was 21 I got pregnant we got married and are still as happy to this day but she passed away a 3mo old and I was too young to actually get what happened it's strange to explain because obviously my heart is broken every day for that baby with the funeral and everything I couldn't comprehend what was happening it jaded me a lot we have two children now six and almost two and I somehow appreciate them so much more because I'm scared of losing them so not regret having her just wish she could have been born when I was more mature so I could appreciate what she meant at the time hi single guy with no plans of having children here every parent here I want you all to know that you are all braver than me I have no patience for children and the prospect of taking care of someone who is completely dependent on me scares me all of you are braver than me all of you have the patience that I lack how difficult it was going to be trying to keep or have friends most of my friends from before kinda disappeared and now I struggle making new friends unless they have kids I hate kids I don't want to be around my own let alone other people's it's the worst thought my life sucked before kids but now I know what true misery is 0-6 Moss hard work not fun three stroke three kids same experience six more six years hard work lots of fun three stroke three kids same experience six years to 15 years easy lots of fun three stroke three kids same experience 15 years to 20 years hard heartbreaking depressing also sometimes fun two stroke three kids easy fun one stroke three kids that's it so far youngest is 17 oldest is 22 I appreciate the time line breakdown here thanks for commenting I will start this by saying I'd or my daughter she is the most amazing wonderfully spirited beautiful person I've ever known I don't know if I regret having her because she's changed me for the better and has made my heart feel love like I've never felt before I was extremely on the fence about having children before I got pregnant once I found out my husband and I decided we would keep the pregnancy but anytime I talk to my married friends who are considering the possibility of having kids I tell them unless they are absolutely sure that they want to be parents don't have kids I had crippling PPD and PPA after she was born so much so that someone had to be in the house with me during waking hours at all times for about the first six weeks I've never loved anyone as much as I loved her but I've also never felt such gas trenching fear and anxiety about the future about her safety about anything in general you will lose your independence your ability to truly relax your stability and while parenting is something wonderful and beautiful if you're not sure you are up for it don't do it also absolutely don't do it if you feel like maybe it's just the next step in life that's just not the type of world we live in anymore parents of grown children what do you regret about the way you raised your child I have one that my father told me he always regretted how poor he was in how often he couldn't provide for us and how he wished he could have done more my parents were divorced when I was 2 and I saw him every other weekend so he felt like he didn't have enough time to really bond with me that was his take on it I just remember sitting in the car Monday before school making our lunches on the dashboard and I got to have those little bags of cheetah's which was really awesome my buthole mom sprang it on him that he'd have to take us to school Monday when he had no food in the house so he had to buy some early Monday he taught me how to cut up vegetables for soup with a little paring knife and showed me how to cut around the bad parts and use all of the good parts we got a lot of stuff from the banquet was on the edge of spoiling he taught me how to use basic carpentry tools on how to build a flower box and an aquarium stand he was part of a gardening club as well as an aquarium club so he would build stuff to sell to the other members we compared notes after I grew up and it really shocked him to realize that some of his perceived failings were some of my most cherished memories I don't know what to say it's both beautiful and sad at the same time first they told me not to get him diagnosed because that would pigeonhole him as special-needs then they reported me to CPS for neglecting to have him dah nosed once diagnosed I tried to advocate for him give him a small quiet dark place to regroup in and I was reported the CPS for locking my disabled child in a closet dude he hollowed out the linen closer himself and went there himself when upset I was just paying attention he wouldn't eat his lunches they said to let him make his own lunches then reported me for sending him with nothing but junk they ruined his school experience by forcing him into all these social interactions that meant nothing to him they were trying to play fetch with a cat and it wasn't until he was I high school that I looked up the law and got him the Frick away from the idiots the meanwhile I have a three inch thick CPS file and we'll never be able to foster that hurts me just reading it I wish I'd got down on the floor and play Lego e.t.c with them more when they were under seven it really builds a bond just simple fun time together rather than me supervising my two boys playing together with one eye on my phone or laptop my parents never played with me they worked a lot and also it was not a thing for parents to do back then I don't think it affected the way I relate to them if it is of any consolidation I have four kids quite spread out in age I regret being too tough on my oldest you learn to chill out a bit and that everything isn't so critical I wish I'd spent more time with them versus working crazy hours I used to yell and scold my daughter often conversations with my daughter were usually me scold her because of something she did wrong every morning started off with me scolding her she's grown now and I think our relationship was damaged by my constant negativity around her the thing that saddens me most about my relationship with my mother as I didn't expect her to be perfect and she knows she wasn't but she's completely incapable of owning that in front of her children it makes it hard to be open with her about anything when she's so defensive father of two teenagers I decided long ago that you everyone Frick's their kid up in some way it can't be avoided and it's rarely the big decisions that do it it will end up being that small comment you made on some idle Tuesday one you don't remember but sticks with them the rest of their life but you can decide how they won't be Frisch's up my kids won't be fricked up cause I didn't tell them I'll up then enough they won't be flicked up cause I didn't go to their baseball games or plays they won't be flicked up cause I didn't believe in them I can choose how they won't be flicked up the rest once they become an adult that's for their therapist to figure out my very first guilded comment thanks kind stranger dang straight once when I said I felt pretty which I didn't very often my mother said but you're not she denies it I know she loves me but goddamn I am never going to forget that I guess the important thing for you to take from that is that I agree to month old daughter beside me here to take notes three-month-old son at home I'm here for the same reason I never gave my son the chance to prove himself I was very much conscious about him and today is the day he is away from me today is the day he can't face the world like others do because I never let him out to face the world as a child of a workaholic father who was never there under alcoholic mother do not leave your child to look after a parent to his passed out drunk on the sofa also spend any spare time with our children instead of ignoring them I had to fend for myself a lot until I was 14 my mom have since got sober apologized for what she did and our relationship is repaired but the one with my dad is still very strained and fractured I just want to contribute this as the child of an abusive mother who walked out when I was 13 which resulted me being in the care system it is good that you guys contributing here can admit a wishing having done things differently and I have respect for that when I was 16 I went back to live with my mum for a short time as my foster parent was ill she never apologized for anything continued to be the most manipulative person I have ever met and painted herself as the victim constantly I hear she is currently ill with cancer and whilst her side of the family pushed aside their views of her as a nasty irresponsible waste off space to take care of her they have since took to being dongs to me on social media for not taking care of her they are just too selfish as each other really and they are probably resentful that they have to take care of her from what I have heard she is still playing the victim of my children won't speak to me what ever did I do wrong they are terrible people some people are deluded beyond repair I guess what I am trying to say is I have respect for you guys here for coming forward and saying how you wish you had done things differently parent here my daughter is 13 look it's not like they come out with instructions I regret a lot of things I've done I've yelled when I shouldn't off being exhausted and taken it out on her not being supportive of something she loves good lord I wish I could have a really sometimes I'm not perfect but one thing just this one thing every day I tell her I love you no matter what it's our saying hers and mine and a few days ago when I effed up I apologized and of course felt like the crappiest mother in the world when she hugged me she said I love you no matter what and you know it's the truest most on conditional love I've ever felt I hope she feels that from me too I have to say as a daughter of a single mother for a long time her sharing her frustrations and sometimes taking it out on me was part of life it teaches us kids that parents like everyone else do not have infinite patience for our crap I honestly think it's a great lesson to learn a little regret of mine I raised three sons with my ex-husband while the accent I did argue it was when they weren't home or quietly bitching behind closed doors we provided them a huge home yard activities each kid had his own TV VCR PlayStation Sega Nintendo and phones mind you not super high end luxury but dang each kid had it made when my youngest was 10 the marriage fell apart I was hoping to hold it together till he graduated but that pain in the buttocks made it too hard for me to cope so I bailed out moved on we divorced not bitterly my three sons all came to me months afterward to comment on my happiness and attitude and they all asked the same question mom you were obviously so unhappy with X why did you stay together so long I did it for them I put up with X's horseshit so that my kids could have the same bedrooms school friends and life I regret not being able to do it all by myself I would have left earlier if I could everyone is all grown up moved on and happy I'm the grandma now usually kids can tell if their parents are only together for them most of them aren't very happy about it grown child turn off the goddamn TV seriously my mom has wasted so much time from when she gets home from work to when she goes to bed watching TV now I spend most of my time in my room on my computer or with my friends dad's an out-of-work workaholic trying to start his own business I'm a manic-depressive college student manic-depressive college student guess who that is brain I was very strict with my eldest son his mother was a drunken there was no way our household would have managed without a pretty solid schedule and routine he was babysitting his little brother and sister at 10 years old he was making dinner most nights by that time I depended on him to help out quite a bit while he was much too young for that kind of responsibility he was in his late teens when I finally managed to get his mother sober so because of that we never had a very good relationship and were never very close he blamed me for a lot of things that were mostly his mother's fault and she was manipulative and hateful when it suited her there is no way to repair that damage it really bothers me because I still cannot think of any other way I could have managed to keep the family off the streets his diet I was a single mom going through college when he was a toddler our meals consisted of a pot of spaghetti to get us through the week I'm not sure why I didn't know any better to introduce fresh fruits and veggies at the time it wasn't until I married someone who loved to cook for my son to even try new things he's a very healthy eater now but I still regret not feeding him healthier foods in his childhood it's easier to have regrets parenting is continually riddled with self-doubt my only big thing is that I wish I had remained single instead of remarrying I thought my daughters needed a good dad what they got was a distracted mom and instability I had underestimated my ability to raise them well on my own one strong mother is better than turmoil under the roof it's not like that for everyone of course just my experience even with that they learn and grow and make their own mistakes and mama does too as the son of a single mother and as someone who was exposed to volatile adult relationships at a young age you're very much correct in your assessment however as long as your daughter's knew you loved them and they trusted you then it's not a huge deal a coelom nor the mother but the child my mother was always dieting dieting dieting I wound up being a fat kid but would try to diet as well I always gained it back until I finally figured it out in my twenties mum would say offhanded mean things to me like those pants make your legs look like stuffed sausages I'll never forget that my dad worked a very stressful job managing a data center he was pretty strict and often angry we never got close until he retired left that job behind forever and could finally have time to relax and be happy we're much closer now mummy's mom at least she can't comment on my weight now this is this my mum has always had a strange relationship with food and always asked if I've been to the gym or not she even called me a pig once was always a chubby kid and I overeat when I get stressed currently 21 now trying to sort out my weight got divorced it definitely affected them so many things souls have been different not a parent but I have a very superficial relationship with my dad I just can't hold a conversation with him I'm almost 30 the eldest of his six children and he has no idea who I am he left for work before I got up for school and returned home after I was in bed never really saw him during the week until I was 13 and he was made redundant from his job and he started his own business from home even then he was grumpy and taciturn time spent together was doing things he liked in a group with my other sisters if I wasn't good at the activity he chose hunting fishing et Cie he was really critical I never had alone time with him and any time spent with him was full of criticism and being forced to do things I neither like nor was good at give your time connect with your kid my mum did and still does I love her more than my dad I often wonder about when my mom started resenting me as I've gotten older I realize that every time I have shared good news about my life raised at work going on a trip etc it's always met with a well that must be nice or a glad you get to go to that I never want to tell her anything anymore because I feel like she doesn't like it when my life is going well I tried to teach my kids to eat right but I guess I didn't try hard enough they're 15 and 12 and eat nothing but processed junk I won't buy the stuff but on fortunately my wife does I think a lot of people eat poorly in their teens and early twenties eventually a lot of us have more refined tastes and starts to eat healthier all hope is not lost but teaching them some basic cooking skills will speed the process along I still love pizza' rolls though I know that my parents regret listening to my teachers too much I once met a guy while at an awesome outdoor bar in Hong Kong that ended up with both of us in tears he told me of an early first marriage that produced a son that he was incredibly hard on after he was divorced and then sent to Iraq and came back to remarry and have a couple of daughters with the new wife did he realize that he treated his son so badly when I talked with him he knew he treated his son terribly but didn't know how to fix it I remember telling him that a phone call could accomplish a lot he said through a tears that his son won't answer his phone anymore thank you to all who have shared their experiences being a parent is not easy I questioned myself daily on how I can provide my 19 month old boy with the correct upbringing and life skills so that he can live a happy and fulfilling life it's stressful at the same time as raising a child or children you also have to adult and life if this means you had to work crazy hours or you snapped at your child due to frustration everything you did from the day they were born was for them but thank you for the insight on your personal experiences it's been a lovely read for me if I would have said yes more often I was always saying no you can't have that do this go there watch TV play video games I would have gone more places with them it just seemed so overwhelming at the time I would have given them more chores would not have obsessed about their reading for God's sake some kids are just not readers I would have had more laughs with them my mom regrets not leaving my dad and staying with him for seven years they lived in separate bedrooms while barely speaking to each other my brothers and I may have lost my dad if she had moved out but we knew they were both miserable she left him 18 months ago and is much much happier but is still self-conscious about her decisions my daughter is only 2 but something my mom passed down me as negative body image my mom was still kind of is a darting exercise freak she spent her teenage years in the 80s which was a time of bad dieting practices actually she was bulimic in my early childhood I caught her making herself throw up a couple times my mother is a very beautiful woman but I recall a lot of times she would shame her body out loud in front if the mirror when I became a teenager I was in pretty good shape but was always constantly pointing my flaws out and was ashamed of my body and didn't feel good about myself now six years later with the baby and 90 pounds heavier I look back at all those pictures from high school and wonder why the heck I thought I was ugly or fat it has taken me years to accept my body has changed to understand that a number on a scale does not define beauty also that eating and thinking healthy is the best I can do for myself and my daughter I don't ever want her to feel less than beautiful it comes to show you that your children are always watching you my mother has told me for years that she feels guilty for how she treated me sometimes single mom with anger issues and stress of never having enough money I told her yes there were some rough times both physically and emotionally but I never felt unloved she always cries when I tell her I forgive her she never made me feel unwanted or a burden she let me be a kid but I also learned to make adult decisions and be responsible she got a better job working nights at a hospital so I was home alone all night from fourth grade until seventh grade got myself up and dressed for school sometimes I would see her for about 20-30 minutes in morning before I caught bus I remind her about the times she would call me from work to see if I had anything major going on at school if I did and she would let me skip school and we would go to movies or shopping or whatever I remind her often that I have no regrets about my childhood I'm 45 and we are still best friends that I raise them in separate households their mom and I divorced when they were pretty young I know as much as anybody that an intact household doesn't necessarily guarantee productive offspring especially if the home environment is abusive or emotionally toxic my ex and I weren't getting along but our discord was hardly abusive and not very toxic but I have to say in looking back maybe if my ex and I had endured our comparatively minor differences a little longer maybe just maybe we could have made our kids maturing experience a little better and it's not that my kids didn't turn out great they did they both graduated college with hard science degrees and somehow both managed to find jobs in the tech industry in this crappy economy it's just that there were a lot of times I wished I could have been there for them more often than one weeknight a week and alternate weekends with them I really do feel that I could have added even more to their positive development I can't prove this of course it's just something that has always nagged at the back of my head how much better off would my kids have been if my ex and I could have just choked back our respective immaturity is a little bit longer sometimes I actually catch myself thinking that maybe we should have held off our differences and divorced shortly after the kids left the house like they used to in the old days I don't lose much sleep over it though it's just when you're a parent you're always trying to think of how you can do better but I don't have a lot of guilt regret maybe but not guilt since my kids were lucky enough to turn out great this is all mostly just a thought experiment these days I kept me up some nights when they were younger though I couldn't even imagine my kids only seeing dad every other weekend he's so good with them he is everything I'm not even when we seriously talk about splitting we have highs and lows I can't imagine how we could do it we'd have to live in a duplex or something law not a parent but my dad taught me how to light my hand on fire with rubbing alcohol when I was ten this comes in handy when you want to prove to the other kids you're not a worse not sure if it counts since it's our perspective from a child but one day our family dog was taken away for a BS reason I said to my mother I'm crying on the inside and she told me shut up and made fun of me I was very young around nine I never opened up to my mother again emotionally also just wanted to add that I have a very good relationship with her but I never share anything personal with her anymore I've never understood why it's expected to be open with one's parents going through this thread hoping to see someone who sounds like my mom say something like gee I really wish I'd taken an interest in at least one of his hobbies so I could relate to something about him as an adult my mom really has no interest in me as a person and it's something that bothers the freak out of me every day I don't know how it doesn't bother her that she was an only child that my relationship with my mom was so poor the whole time and has gotten worse that I didn't have a sister or a female cousin living place who could be a role model for her that I took until they were teenagers for me to realize how close she and her then male friend later boyfriend now husband really were and how smart he really is never enough time for great vacations I have a great relationship with my adult daughter my biggest regret is that we didn't travel much when she was younger financial pressures were pretty heavy back then I wish I'd been more patient less uptight and less aggressive it was unnecessary and none of us enjoyed the very young years until I realized how unhappy we all were and changed things luckily my boys don't recall too much and they understand how tough things were for me back then they've grown into two fantastic men who helped me raise my youngest but it's because of the nurture and not a discipline that things worked out okay my mom said that she wished she would have shown more patience toward me when I was learning how to do things she gets frustrated easily and especially doing things like cooking it was just far easier and faster for her to do it than to let me figure it out driving was another nightmare to this day I cannot drive with her in the car it's too stressful she nitpicks every little thing and it makes me have a panic attack no wonder I'm so self-critical and nervous all the time I don't know how to relax you have been visited by the healthy spirit of exercise boy you will burn all calories today if you comment blessed be the health hound like and subscribe you magnificent person [Music]

Channel: On Tap Studios

Views: 114,177

Rating: 4.7572818 out of 5

Keywords: parents, parenting, parent stories, 1 hour, reddit, compilation, 1 hour reddit compilation, parents stories, best parents, #updootst, updoot, r/askreddit, askreddit, ask reddit, r/, \r, r\, best of reddit, reddit stories, reddit story, top posts, funniest posts, funny, funny posts, funny askreddit, reddit funny, askreddit funny, askreddit stories, sub, reddit cringe, memes, comment awards, dankify, toadfilms, updoot everything, updoot reddit, chill, story, stories, reddit on tap

Id: XUUcyv4uc98

Length: 81min 27sec (4887 seconds)

Published: Sat Apr 04 2020