Parenting is a privilege – it’s a tough position but a highly rewarding one. Good parents are supposed to protect, nurture, love, and care for their children so they can grow up becoming happy and healthy individuals.
But sadly, not all parents are the same – a lot of horror parenting stories also happen in our world every day. We can relate to a lot of the stories below as many of our writers have also experienced similar things.
Emily Van Duyne, a Fullbright Scholar, shared a tweet asking about cruel things their parents told them. She tweeted:
Her tweet went viral instantly, receiving thousands of comments and responses of people sharing their own stories.
Here are 13 of the most eye-opening and heartbreaking replies from individuals who still remember those cruel things:
1. A heartbreaking story of a beautiful stitched pillow made out of love – discarded.
2. Parents are supposed to give confidence to their children, not the opposite.
3. One person had a tough childhood overall, and we feel for them.
4. Being called evil by your parents, truly heartbreaking.
5. A lot of parents also project their own problems to their children.
6. A father should teach, not bring his children down.
7. Watching your parents every step and still being called “selfish”
8. Being called a failure by your own mother – gutwrenching.
9. A mother calling her own child a disaster.
10. This one hit home because one of our writers suffers from stammering – we truly feel for you and you deserve better.
11. How can some mothers be so mean to their own children?
12. A father who wouldn’t support, but this person persevered and still achieved – kudos!
13. A father-daughter bond is supposed to be sacred. Good on this person for not listening!
This tweet has over 5k comments, you can read them all on Emily Van Duyne’s Twitter thread here.
Have you been through something similar during your childhood? We have, and you’re not alone. Share your stories in the comments below.
Sources:
My mom once said the only reason i kept you was because my parents made me. While i have forgiven her those words are still in the back of my head.
When i told my dad my ex-husband was abusive he said he could see why. That shit to this day still hurts.
I’m sorry that you have been surrounded (mom, dad, ex husband) by such sub par humans. The fact that you can still feel anything (including pain and indignation) means you are capable of love and empathy which is a lot more than I can say for your ex family.
I try to put all thoughts of my parents aside. I always took care of them in their later years. I do not remember a single I love you ever. Skating I broke my front teeth. I told my mom and she said I ruined the only good thing I had. My dad said I would never amount to anything. I got PG and married at 16 I think to escape. I am haunted by these things still. Try to forgive but still haunts me.
My father was my idol, he could literally do no wrong in my eyes. Then I turned 12 and puberty hit, hard. I had a woman’s body overnight. Apparently, I was a good stand-in for my mother, because that was the beginning of a 6yr nightmare of my “hero”, molesting me.
Even with everything going on with my dad (mom didn’t know), I had that child-like ability to push it away, and live in the moment. I was a super affectionate kid and would hug and kiss the people I loved, a lot. One day, a year after my dad had started abusing me, we were at an amusement park and I was so excited that I was literally hanging off of my mom with exuberant joy. She angrily pushed me off and hissed, “Don’t hang on me like that! People will think that we are dykes!”. I was crushed. She was my last safe place. I didn’t even know what that term meant, but I knew it was something that I didn’t want to be. You can imagine the reception I got when, at the age of 22, I came out as a lesbian.
A few good things that came from those childhood experiences – I am very good at picking up on manipulation, and hypersensitive and hypervigilant, when it comes to sexual predators and children. I moved mountains to protect my son from this curse, and I was successful. It never happened to him and he grew up to be a confident, healthy, happy, young man. Bonus, as a father, he knows firsthand what the fallout looks like, as well as the warning signs, and now my granddaughter is growing up empowered, confident, and free.
As for my parents – Dad’s dead, Mom and I are closer, but the damage that was done; I’m still trying to repair.
I’m so proud of you for overcoming the cycle of abuse. I will also share you making the effort to make it right (to repair it) is your moms job not yours. You’ve done your job and good on you for it.
I remember the person who I thought was my mom at the time said “you are not my child, you have to be the devils child and I don’t want anything to do with you! To find out she wasn’t my mom and lied to me for 17 yrs of my life and would’ve been more if I didn’t find out myself! My aunt was my mom!