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Adults With Overly Permissive Parents Reveal The Most Absurd Things They Could Do

Adults With Overly Permissive Parents Reveal The Most Absurd Things They Could Do

Adults With Overly Permissive Parents Reveal The Most Absurd Things They Could Do

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We all know freedom to explore (and sometimes fail) is important for a child to grow into a healthy adult. Almost all of us huffed and puffed about not being allowed to do something at some point in our childhood. A smaller portion of us, though, grew up a little bit differently. Some of us had parents that were too permissive - like to the point of ridiculousness. One Reddit user asked:

Redditors who grew up with overly permissive parents, what was the most absurd thing you were allowed to do?

And honestly, reading these answers we're just glad and kind of shocked that you guys all survived this long. Good jobs.

Roughing It

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I was allowed to saddle up my horse, take my gun, some beef jerky, a canteen, a sleeping bag and bed roll tied to my saddle and ride up into the Ochoco Mountains and camp over night. Then ride back the next day. Also did the same with my motorcycle. I was about 13 or 14 at the time.

But No Harry Potter

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As a kid my parents were perfectly ok with me flipping the golf cart in to the ditch, towing people behind ATVs on plywood, and shooting each other with Roman candles. However they didn't let me watch Harry Potter because they "didn't want my faith to be in witches and wizards."

Hello, Seattle!

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My mother was insanely strict, but she used to send me to spend summers with her sister because she couldn't afford summer camp or anyone to watch me.

My aunt gave 0 shits and didn't want to be bothered with me. I was left to my own devices to.... wait for it...

Wander around downtown Seattle.

Alone.

At like 10-11 years old.

I did not have a phone. I did have plenty of "go away and leave me alone" cash. I was not required to check in. Or even be home by any certain time.

This was in the 90s.

As a kid, it was amazing. As an adult, I cringe when I think of how easily something horrible could have happened.

Helping Your Kid Rebel

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My mother told me at an early age that one day I would rebel, and instead of fighting me she's going to guide me through it. Said that she'd rather know which women I'm dating so that she can provide said guidance than for me to hide it. Said that she wanted me to "sow my wild oats" while I was young, so that I could buckle down when it really mattered. And, well, that's exactly what she did.

And all of it was absurd.

We were dirt poor, living in a mobile home in the s*** part of town when I turned 12. Between child support, disability and welfare she was only getting about $600/mo. (when she went after my father for more child support, raising it from $50/mo to $400/mo he counter sued for custody... that was fun...)

ITo her credit, she was able to use the situation to make friends of all of my friends, and use them to control me. They would do whatever she wanted because they didn't want to lose their invitation to the party. If she didn't like someone she would turn the group against them. She knew everything I ever did, too.. She was like a mob boss, who's only purpose in life was me. ...And she was right about sowing my wild oats - by the time I was 18 I was pretty over partying. And went into said relationship with ample experience for my age...

I ultimately got an engineering degree and will have been married 16 years in 4 days. Live a nice, quiet middle class existence.

For The Love Of Crab Cakes

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Upper middle class upbringing here. My parents got me a car and didn't give a s*** about what I did as soon as I got my license. I once drove 150 miles to Baltimore after high school one day to get some crab cakes.

"Happy Hippie Trip"

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I wanted to try mushrooms, I told my mom and she agreed to trip sit me- basically, let me and my friends do mushrooms in the living room.

She helped us steep it into tea, and then once we were all gone, she carefully timed her steps and ordered a pizza, baked cookies and watched movies with us, making sure everyone was having a "happy hippie trip".

To this day, my mom advocates her "happy hippie trips" of doing drugs with a sober babysitter.

I've now moved out, I do smoke cannabis with prescription, but I'm a rather functional human being with no party drive, but a deep love of quality time with my mom over a pizza.

Dublin And Manchester Aren't Even In The Same Country...

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From the age of 15 I didnt have a time that I had to be in at on the weekends.

When I was 16 myself and a group of my mates decided to get the boat from Ireland to Wales and get a train up to manchester to see if we could score some football tickets. We left on the friday morning and didnt come home until the following monday

My mum called me on the sunday asking me where I was, I told her I was "at the football" and she said enjoy, that she wasnt putting a dinner out for me so

Edit: I was living in Dublin at the time

Taking All The Fun Out Of Rebellion

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My mom was worried I was not getting drunk with my college friends. I never took up drinking, despite all her efforts. I grew up as a straightedge designated driver.

That lady knew what she was doing, let me tell you that.

Home Blaze

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Buddy of mine had a mom who would let us blaze at his house ("so that we wouldn't get caught by cops smoking on the street").

No Rules, Just Consequences

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My dad's rule was that I could do whatever I wanted, but I had to live with the consequences of those actions.

Do you want to drink? Fine, but understand the pain of a hangover.

Do you want have unprotected sex? Fine, but you'll have to get a job and pay for the child.

Do you want to quit school? Fine, but understand the difficulty that will cause you in finding a job.

Because my father made sure I understood the consequences of poor choices, that I was free to make, I never made any.

Free-Range Childhood

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From the age of 10 or 11 on basically no oversight what so ever. Both parents worked at night, I had a babysitter that didn't even watch me.

I could do literally anything 4 or 5 nights out of the week including weekends from around 8pm til 5am.

You know what I did? Virtually nothing, went to a few parties but didn't drink. Everyone else had to be home so I'd be home too. I basically didn't use any of the freedoms, never did drugs, never drank. I'm so boring. I had the longest leash in the world and didn't wander.

Not sure if i was just a great kid or if all that freedom took the excitement out of going crazy.

Tattooed Teens

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They allowed me to get a tattoo (rainbow butterfly on my shoulder)

I regret every single one, especially the chest piece, which I had modified over the years, and will need continual touch ups because my skin doesn't really like ink.

The Ukraine

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When I was 14 I spent a year in the Ukraine. Just me and my sister (18)

We didn't go to school, and we pretty much did whatever we wanted.

(My parents lived in the US)

Also, a Rabbi handed me my first beer when I was 9

Beach House

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I lived at the beach in a tent for a couple of months between my Junior and Senior years of High School. My folks didn't even realize that I was gone.

H/T: Reddit

People Describe The Most Historically Significant Event They've Ever Witnessed In Person

Reddit user FictionVent asked: 'What is the most historically significant event you witnessed IN PERSON?'

Aircraft losing control
Richard R. Schünemann/Unsplash

Do you ever wonder what it must've been like to experience major events throughout world history when reading about them in text books?

But if you take pause and actually think about it, we're living through many newsworthy current events that succeeding generations will be talking about long after we're gone.

Reading about them online or in newspapers is one thing. But seeing them happen unfold before our eyes is another.

Curious to hear from those who'll have anecdotes to tell in the future, Redditor FictionVent asked:
"What is the most historically significant event you witnessed IN PERSON?"

People recall the natural disaster events they've witnessed.

Tremors

"1964 Good Friday Earthquake 9.2 Richter. Was a boy in Cordova, Alaska at the time."

– KitchenLab2536

"My father was skipper of the USCG cutter stationed there. He was inport, and when the quake struck shortly before 5:30pm, he and my mom gathered me and my three siblings on the front porch. At first, it felt like the house was crumbling at the foundation, but on the porch we could plainly see our whole world was shaking. I remember watching telephone poles swaying, and the wires snapping and crackling in the street. The quake lasted about five minutes initially. My dad got his ship underway to avoid the tidal wave which was sure to come. We had several aftershocks in the coming weeks, some of which were quite strong, though nowhere near as strong or as long as the quake itself. I was seven at the time."

– KitchenLab2536

Collapsing Freeway

"October 17th, 1989. I watched the 880 Nimitz freeway collapse during the San Francisco earthquake. The Honda in front of me had the upper deck crush her front-end engine compartment. The mother and her daughter were shaken up but completely fine."

"I was driving a convertible Triumph Spitfire, which was scratched up slightly from debris. However, I walked away unscathed. Aside from the fact I pissed my pants, which I didn't notice until much later."

– CatDaddyWhisper

Thar She Blows

"I sat on the roof of our house and watched Mt. St. Helens erupt less than 100 miles away."

– stinkykitty71

"This must have been fascinating and terryfing in equal measure. What a thing to witness."

– runrossyrun

"It was amazing! The ash that covered everything like snow was interesting to kid me, but less so to my parents."

– stinkykitty71

People recall seeing major catastrophes as a result of malfunctions or judgement errors.

Bomber Crash

"The b-52 crash that led to changing what large military aircraft are allowed to do for airshows."

"I didn't see the plane, but immediately saw the fireball. It was just a perfect, bright red turning to black mushroom cloud."

"Fairchild is a nuclear air base and there were a few minutes there where I was sure the world was about to end."

"A few years before a KC-135 doing the same thing crashed near the school while we were in class."

– goffstock

Tragic Takeoff

"I was standing on my front porch watching the launch of the Challenger."

– StarChaser_Tyger

"Was riding in my parents car to a basketball game in the next town over in north texas when we saw a shooting star and thought that was neat."

"It was the Columbia..."

– Misdirected_Colors

Demolition Gone Wrong

"The failed implosion of the Zip feed mill in Sioux Falls, SD in 2005."

"They hyped it up, sold tickets to it, had a big 'BOOM' marketing thing, and broadcast it live on TV."

"The explosives took out the main supports on the first floor, and the rest of the building above it just plopped down 10ft or so and came to a rest. It was a massive failure, and was a funny little blurb on news stations around the world that day. Definitely not major news, just the rest of the world taking 20 seconds to laugh at us."

"The building sat like that (the leaning tower of SuFu) for quite a while until they figured out how to safely demolish it."

"Here's a clip of the failed demolition."

https://youtu.be/I8DEDUqd0RU

– KitchenBandicoots

These well-known historical events were seen by very few who are alive today.

Historical Remnant

"The tumbling of the Wall in Germany… along with people selling bits and pieces of it on tables in lobby in front of commissary and px in the following weeks and months. I had picked up a chunk about the size of an oreo and kept it… has blue spray paint on the flat side. Wonder if anyone is buying them now?"

– SingedPenguin13

Major Upheaval

"I would have to say the LA riots. I lived about two blocks from where it started. I was on my way home from school and saw someone throw a brick through a window. I didn’t even wait. I just started running the whole way home."

– Scarlaymama0721

Day Of Infamy

"9/11, I could SMELL the collapse of the towers."

– go4tli

"A friend of mine was there. One day in the warehouse we worked in together there was an odd electrical burning smell. He stopped in his tracks and went 'this is what 9/11 smelled like.'"

– mantistoboggan287

I didn't physically witness the fall of the World Trade Center but I was living in New York City at the time.

However, I did see the smoke.

I was living up north in Washington Heights at the time and knowing what happened, uncertain of what was to come, and seeing the plumes of smoke from the attack site was the most ominous sight I've ever seen in my life to date.

Have you ever lived through a historic moment or witnessed something sure to be noted in history books? Let us know in the comments below.

man in business suit standing near the stairs
Hunters Race on Unsplash

A job search is not fun, so most people will tolerate a lot to keep a job.

But everyone has their limit.

Sometimes that limit is reached right in the middle of a work day and people are forced to walk off the job with no prior notice.

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groom in gray suit kissing bride in white dress
NIKITA SHIROKOV on Unsplash

Many weddings involve months of planning and thousands of dollars.

But the one guarantee in life is that poo happens and weddings are not immune to sh*t storms.

Natural disasters, unexpected illnesses, accidents or animosity can derail even the best laid wedding plans.

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When I was in seventh grade, I had aspirations to be a poet. I made a Mother's Day card for my mom with a cute (but now, cringe-worthy) poem inside, and a hand-drawn picture of a rose that took me hours to perfect.

A friend saw the card and said they wished they could do the same. Then suddenly, she asked if she could buy the card from me. I said no, since I needed to give it to my own mother, but I said I could make her a copy. From there, my friend got the idea for me to make copies of the card to sell. I went along with it, mostly because I didn't think it would actually work.

Turns out, it did. After making sure people would actually be interested, we went to the library after school and made several color copies of my card for 10 cents each. The next day, we sold each card for $1. Not only did we make enough money so that my friend and I could both afford to get our moms an actual present in addition to the card, but we had enough leftover to put us over the top for the money we needed to buy the matching faux leather jackets we'd been wanting all year.

The next year, many people who bought cards asked me to do it again, so I did. Once again, we made a killing. We didn't try to do it again once we got to high school, but it was definitely fun while it lasted.

When we tell people this story, they think it's a pretty crazy money-making scheme. Maybe it is, but we're not the only ones who ever did anything like this. Redditors know all about crazy money-making schemes, and are eager to share their own stories.

It all started when Redditor primeiro23 asked:

"What are the craziest ways you’ve heard of people making money?"

Tumble Into Business

"In college, I take a class on how to start & run a small business. Prof tells us to think of ridiculous business models for our fictitious businesses as we will get more out of the class that way. Stupid ideas ensue. Selling paperclips door to door, refilling car gasoline tanks in people's driveways, service to read & summarize the newspaper to executives etc."

"One classmate decides he is going to sell tumbleweed."

"Guess who quits college and started a successful business? Tumbleweed guy. Takes a van to the desert, collects tumbleweed and sells them to Hollywood movie & TV studios who need them. Keeps the tumbleweed in a warehouse and since they never spoil, his only costs are gasoline, storage & a website. He eventually becomes the number one tumbleweed provider to studios around the world, shipping tumbleweed globally."

"Made a heap of money selling what millions of people drive by and ignore every year."

– Accomplished-Fig745

Synopses

"I did have a job reading and summarizing newspaper articles to the boss. Literally only task I was hired for."

– Draigdwi

"An actual union job in the film industry is reading scripts and summarizing them in short mean book reports."

– Trixiebees

Jump!

"Heard of crazier, but a guy I know, friend of my mother's, went to Texas 30+ years ago. (we are from Norway), and he noticed every single garden had a trampoline. And it was almost always "jump king" - the circular with blue mat ones."

"So he went to the HQ, bought 10 and took back to Norway. Within days they were sold, and he ordered 50 more, same thing. So he became the only importer and has God knows how many millions to his name today."

– alexdaland

"This IS wild. I went to Norway recently and one of the first things I noticed was that almost EVERY yard had a trampoline in it."

– TrulyMadlyCheaply

Working For A Home

"Back when Dogecoin took off I wrote a guide on recovering old lost wallets and it got so popular I was flooded with requests for further help. Some corrupted wallet files, some lost passwords, etc."

"I have a background in computer science and experience in data retrieval and password cracking, so I started helping people in exchange for a percentage cut (industry standard for wallet recovery). All above board with a contract and everything."

"For a while I was getting new clients every week and making hundreds up to thousands of dollars on every successful recovery (with a fairly good rate of success). The biggest one I ever recovered was a 19 letter long password someone had lost. The work dried up when the price of doge dropped but it got me the down-payment on a house."

– internetpillows

Horsing Around

"A cabbie in Dublin once told me a story about one of his fares who had a brilliant hustle."

"The guy was a sculptor. He would watch horse races, then when a horse won, he'd use social media to contact the owner directly with a digital mockup of a life-sized sculpture of the winning horse. Now, the people who own winning racehorses tend to be very rich - we're talking sheikhs, oligarchs, billionaires. Every now and again, one of these owners would bite, and spend €100,000 euros or so on a statue commemorating their animal's win."

"Dude only did a couple a year, and spent the rest of the time living the good life."

– escoterica

Sweet!

"Richest guy in a rich town near us makes enormous amounts of money buying Hershey bars and rewrapping them with customised retirement celebration designs or corporate logos to be given away at events. Literally just rewraps them in pieces of paper and doubles or triples his money."

"Every time I try to start a company or invent a better product or something, I ask myself why I’m not just rewrapping candy bars."

– perchance2cream

"F**k man, I think I found my new niche."

– LibertyPrimeIsASage

Slightly Used

"I went to college in a capitol C college town. A friend of mine bought an old school bus, fixed it up and took out all the seats."

"At the end of every semester she would drive around the neighborhood that was the fancier side of off campus living and collect whatever the rich kids were throwing out before they moved / went home for the summer. Flat screen TVs, couches, computers, tables, it was wild to see what people would chuck out and replace the next semester rather than having to deal with getting a storage unit or moving themselves."

"Sold it all on Craigslist over the summer or the beginning of the next semester and made a killing."

– sam_neil

Credit Where Credit Is Undue

"When I worked in a really busy, upscale restaurant my coworker would put all of his cash-paying customer’s bills on his credit card and keep the cash which he used to promptly pay off his credit card."

"He did this all day, every day for quite a while and the points started to add up and he was getting free airfare, etc."

"Worked great for a while until management notice a rise in credit card processing fees with an emphasis on one employee and they shut him down real quick."

– blinkysmurf

We Found Gold!

"My buddy worked his way through college by panning for gold. This was in 2009 in California. Most days he made nothing, occasionally he would come home with a couple hundred bucks worth and I think once he found a night worth over $1k."

– discostud1515

"My cousin had a metal detector when he was in HS. He would go every weekend down to the lake and take it with him on vacation. He found all kinds of things. He did find gold jewelry and would sell it online. He made so much money he bought his own car."

– Content_Pool_1391

Sleeping For The Job

"I knew a woman whose job was literally to sleep."

"A local office building owner wanted somebody on-site 24/7 to be the point of contact with first responders if they ever needed to be called. So they hired her to come in to the building in the evening when the maintenance crew was finishing their work. And she would settle up to sleep for the night in a bedroom they'd set aside for her. In the morning she'd hand the building back over to the office employees and go on about her day."

"No first responders were ever called. It's about the least stressful legitimate job I could ever imagine."

– CaptainTime5556

The Secret

"Back in the 90s, I knew a guy who put an ad in the classified section of the newspaper which read something along the lines of, “For $10, I’ll tell you my secret to making easy money. Send $10 cash to (address) to find out how.” People would send him $10 & he would then instruct them to put a classified ad in the newspaper telling people to send $10 & how to make money."

– freudianfalls

Accident Payment

"I was pushed down the stairs by a teen girl who told me to "pay attention and get out of her way" i ripped my dress during the fall and was getting back up when some guy rushed up to me, apologized for his daughter and handed me $500 as compensation."

– thebrilliantcounc

"LOL - years back, I was in a parking lot during a snowstorm. A guy was trying to pull around me, slid on the snow/ice and hit into my passenger side door. It really and truly was an accident. He was all apologies. We exchanged info - he said to get a quote and he would pay for the damage."

"Well, the car I was driving at the time was a crappy old Ford worth maybe $500. But, I went to a body shop, got a quote on the repair and it was $900. I faxed it to him (this was back in the 90's, LOL) thinking he'd tell me to go through the insurance company and just have the car totaled out."

"To my surprise, I had a bank check for $900 from him in my mailbox three days later. Now, I already owned another car, so I pocketed the $900, sold the smashed car for parts for $300 and ended up with $1200 on a car that was worth only $500 before the accident. I was very glad that he ran into me!"

– Deleted User

Only Feet

"I have a friend who sells pictures of her feet. In heels. Barefoot squishing cake. In mud. She charges extra for special requests. Has strict ‘no go’ rules. Never shows anything above the calf so she can’t be identified (no tats). All proceeds go to her kid’s college fund. Has made enough to fund a PhD."

– NotACrazyCatLadyx2

The things people do for money! But, I guess it works for her!