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People Break Down Which Things From Their Childhood They Thought Were Totally Normal Until They Grew Up

People Break Down Which Things From Their Childhood They Thought Were Totally Normal Until They Grew Up
Photo by Surface on Unsplash

When I was growing up, I had a classmate who used to joke about his mother hitting him with the broom when he was particularly naughty. We had a good laugh at it at first until we realized... Wait a minute –– that's not normal. And it wasn't. Most of us grew up in homes with parents who didn't lash out at us, so something was definitely wrong there. But when you're younger, it can be hard to express when something feels off, especially when you lack any other basis for comparison.

After Redditor stupidrobots asked the online community, "What about your childhood did you think was normal until you grew up and realized it wasn't?" people shared their stories.


"I know when we eventually settled somewhere..."

I was a military brat, who grew up with other military brats. And because of dad's role, we moved around a lot.

Apparently, changing home/school/country every 1-2 years isn't normal.

I know when we eventually settled somewhere for me to finish high school, I was shocked to learn that there were kids at my high school who had been to kindergarten together. Like, they'd known each other for 15 years. It blew my mind.

FormalMango

"Coming home every day..."

Coming home every day from school to freshly baked cakes, cookies etc. I honestly thought everyone's mum did this. My mum just really enjoys baking, and is very good at it. She would seriously time it so that her freshly baked goodies were still warm but ready to eat when my siblings and I got home from school.

HighPitchedQueef

"An acquaitance of mine..."

An acquaintance of mine had really messed up parents growing up, and they never let him do anything. He was never allowed to hang out with me or our friends, and wasn't even allowed to go down to the fish and chip shop unsupervised. Even when he turned 18 (legal drinking age in the UK), he still wasn't allowed to drink alcohol. His mum told him that if he was caught even drinking a drop of it, there would be some severe punishment awaiting him.

Unfortunately, his guy genuinely believed the way his parents brought him up was completely normal. It didn't help that his parents kept him isolated from other people as much as possible, which most likely didn't help. What really disturbed me and still does to this day, after his parents found out about his poor GCSE results, he was locked in his room for a week and was not allowed to go out unless it was for the toilet or for dinner. I told him that's straight-up abuse. His response? "They don't hit me, so its not abuse. They just have my best interests at heart." He was baffled to hear that most parents did not do that.

Last I heard of him, he's beginning to stand up to them and has now even got his driving licence. However, the damage has been done already. This guy is 22 and acts at least 10 years younger, and has trouble holding down a job for longer than a few months. He's never spent one night away from his parents/grandparents in his life ever, and is likely to be very dependent on his parents. Let's just say, his parents have done him a massive disservice.

thunderfart_99

"The one thing I wish I could do..."

My parents were always there for me. There was no such thing as I was ever "on my own" until 18 when I left home and joined the military. I always thought parents were your support system and pushed you to do and be your very best. As I was getting older 17/18 I was surprised to see how many of my friends couldn't turn to their parents for anything. Looking back, I didn't realize how lucky I was to have parents that worked hard to make sure we had anything we wanted even whether or not we could afford it, which normally we could.

Thanks, mom and dad, for everything.

The one thing I wish I could do is to go back and help those who weren't as fortunate. But it's never too late to build a strong community around you and change what you can.

TruffleButterFactory

"My parents are old school Catholics..."

Having parents who hate each other. I genuinely had no idea there were couples who were happily married until I was in high school.

My parents are old-school Catholics who never thought divorce was an option. I have never seen my parents kiss or hug. I don't even remember a time when they shared a bedroom.

My four siblings and I struggle with relationships. I wish my parents had divorced and at least one of them had found a healthy, loving relationship.

fireflyfly3

"When I grew up..."

Emotional manipulation/abuse. I never considered it that I just thought its parenting. When I grew up and understood emotions better I realized that my parents were constantly emotionally manipulative towards me to force their opinions on me.

ConsiderComfortably

"My grandfather was a tinkerer..."

Hoarding. My grandfather was a tinkerer that grew up in a poor household. He saved everything. My dad adopted the behavior. He tried to be like his dad, but he was nothing like him. He didn't repair and invent things. He just broke things and kept on collecting things.Soon, my mom adopted the behavior. She would go to flea markets/yard sales and just buy up crap that would get thrown onto a pile. She only bought what she thought was "worth money."

I never realized how bad it was until I looked at an old photo of myself (probably about three) standing in what I thought was a storage room or maybe a flea market. Nope, it was our hallway. Boxes and items stacked from floor to ceiling. I sobbed. I didn't remember it being so bad when I was young, but it was awful. I wasn't allowed to have friends over. My parents were so extreme that they'd tell me to go clean my room, and then go through the trash bag to see if I threw out anything "valuable." I'd end up with 3/4ths of the trash back in my room, and getting screeched at for throwing away money.

Once I was an adult, I started throwing out anything and everything I could. Parents gone for the day? Throw out crap they don't even remember owning! After my mom passed, I went through a lot of the stuff she collected for value and learned that most of it wasn't even worth the amount she paid for them. All but one item was less than $1. I'm constantly purging stuff out of my house. I don't want a repeat of my childhood.

Osaiya

"That I didn't have to..."

That I don't have to spend the whole of a party or gathering serving people/cleaning up after them just because I'm a girl. This was expected of me every time. I was confused as hell at the first non-family party I went to, and this was as an adult.

KittyTheShark

Having to pay for basically my own life starting at freshman year of high school (year one).

I went around thinking that everyone paid their own phone bill, buying their own clothes, finding a way to school, etc.

But really I came to the realization that it seemed like my family didn't like me. No one else had to do it in my family and it's not like my family is poor. I've been the most successful in my family yet I've gotten to the point where I don't care.

Now I'm 18 years old about to graduate high school busting my butt to get money to pay for college. I'm literally getting 3-4 hours of sleep trying to keep good grades and working.

Chicago1202

"For me, I appreciate it..."

I grew up in what my friends refer to as "a naked house". Nudity is no big deal to me. My mum was pretty much naked most of the time. We'd use the toilet with the door open and we wouldn't lock the bathroom door while bathing in case someone needed to use the toilet. Getting changed in front of my brothers or parents is totally normal to me. I didn't realize that was strange until it became a running joke with my friends that they've seen my mum naked more than their own.

For me, I appreciate it because I'm confident in my skin as I've never been told it's something that should be hidden/ashamed of and it also made for a more open relationship with my parents. We'd comfortably talk about body issues and that made puberty an easier experience compared to a lot of my friends' descriptions of theirs. One friend thought she was dying when she got her first period because her mum had never discussed it with her! That's what's weird to me. I can't imagine not being able to discuss a body issue with my parents.

VonAshley

People Break Down The Missing Person Cases That Just Don't Add Up

Reddit user yourlastnames asked: 'what missing persons case is the most confusing / doesn’t add up?'

Content warning: suicide.

There are truly some strange unsolved cases out there, but there's nothing quite like hearing of a person who has vanished as if out of thin air.

While some of these cases have been explained away or even solved, there are some that remain a mystery that truly does not add up, no matter how the puzzle pieces fall.

Curious about these cases, in particular, Redditor yourlastnames asked:

"What missing persons case is the most confusing [to you] or just doesn't add up?"

The Last Ride of Terrance Williams

"Terrance Williams disappeared in 2004. He's the subject of a fascinating podcast called 'The Last Ride.'"

"The short version is that he was taken into custody in Naples, Florida, after being pulled over in the early hours for traffic violations. He was never seen again."

"The deputy that pulled him over tried to conceal the traffic stop even from his own organization, but staff opening a local business saw the whole thing."

"When the sheriff's department finally looked into it, they discovered the deputy was involved in a similar disappearance of a man named Felipe Santos in 2003. To this day the deputy claims no knowledge of Williams's whereabouts, despite being caught out in a series of lies."

- AlanMercer

Paddy Moriarty and Kellie

"Paddy Moriarty and his dog, Kellie. They went missing in an outback town in Australia with a population of 12 people."

"They were last seen leaving the pub riding his quad bike the one-kilometer distance to his house. He or his dog have never been found and no one has been charged in relation to his disappearance."

- Bigred0762

Susan Powell and Family

"Susan Powell went missing from her home in West Valley, Utah, on December 6, 2009."

"She is presumably dead. Her husband, Josh, was the main suspect and just a real piece of work. No one knows what really happened to her."

"Sadly in 2012, Josh murdered their kids and committed suicide after Susan’s parents gained custody of the kids."

- AlexisVonTrappe

"This case is so frustrating since his brother and father are both dead too. We’ll never know what happened to Susan, but I’m positive she’s in an old mine shaft somewhere. F**k Josh Powell."

- burittosquirrel

​The Last Call from Brandon Swanson

"Brandon Swanson. He drove into a ditch and called his parents for help. They stayed on the phone with him for 47 minutes while they drove around looking for him."

"They heard him say, 'Oh s**t,' and then the phone went silent. They eventually found his car far away from where he said he was but he was never found."

- kittengoesrawr

"Reading this was absolutely chilling. It seems at first glance that it's most likely he drowned, but that really doesn't make sense because the water was only 10 feet deep and they would have found the body."

"He just suddenly said, 'OH S**T!' and the phone went silent, but he did not hang up. The phone call continued with total silence from his end. What the f**k happened to him?"

- angelposts

Babysitter Mar Lou Bostwick

"Mary Lou Bostwick. She disappeared July 18, 1972, from Waverly, New York. She was dropped off by her dad to babysit at a friend's house. This was also her 16th birthday. Her mom stopped by later with a cake and presents."

"The people in the apartment told her that Mary never showed up. However, her bag was in the residence. Nothing else was ever found."

"There was another girl around the same age, Sharon Coston, who was abducted and murdered in a nearby town about a year later. October 1983 in Sayre, Pennsylvania."

"There was a man convicted of that, but he always denied doing anything to Mary. One of the people who testified against him and was given immunity was a suspect in Mary's case. Mary's mom thinks there's a connection, but nothing was ever really found."

"I've sadly never seen anyone cover her disappearance on any of the podcasts or YouTube shows."

- Vamp459

Derek Seehausen of San Diego

​"Derek Seehausen. My friend was dating him at the time of his disappearance, and he was actively planning his future in medicine, and was last seen in San Diego."

"I saw him about two months before he disappeared. Please send any tips."

- Hereforit2022Y

The Beaumont Children

"The Beaumont Children. Three kids go to the beach, are seen with a mystery man, and never make it back home."

"Never found out who the man was or where they went. Their parents just recently died without ever getting any closure."

- snguyenx96

Xavier Dupont de Ligonnes

"Xavier Dupont de Ligonnes. The whole family (parents and four kids) went missing overnight in 2011."

"Employers, schools, and the extended family received weird letters informing of their absence or departure (one of them saying they are going into a witness protection program). Two weeks later they found the corpses of the mother, the kids, and the dog hidden behind the house."

"They investigated and retraced the father’s whereabouts in the south of France. He was last seen leaving a hotel a few days before. The region was thoroughly searched, but he was never to be found."

- z4zazym

Branson Perry of Skidmore

"Branson Perry, aged 20, disappeared from Skidmore, Missouri in April 2001."

"He was working on his house with a friend, went to the shed to grab some power cords, and was never seen again."

- AdamR91

The Incomplete Story of Marshall Iwassa

"Marshall Iwassa. Good guy."

"He came back to his hometown to visit his family and friends, and everything by all accounts was good. He left to take the two-hour drive to where he was living and never made it. Instead, it was recorded he spent the entire night trying to get into his storage unit and then nothing."

"A week or maybe more, his truck was found 12 hours away on a back road in the middle of the woods burnt to a crisp with belongings thrown about everywhere, no sign of Marshal."

"From what I remember, the family was adamant that some of the things inside the truck, burnt or not, were missing, things they knew he had. The truck was even missing parts."

"It's been four years and there's never been answers. It makes me sad and fearful of long travels. From what I know of him, he was a fantastic friend; I hope they get closure one day."

- devbot8

Out Shopping Asha Degree

"Asha Degree."

"She went missing at the age of nine from Shelby, North Carolina, United States. In the early morning hours of February 14, 2000, for reasons unknown, she packed her bookbag, left her family home north of the city, and began walking along nearby North Carolina Highway 18 despite heavy rain and wind."

"Several passing motorists saw her; when one turned around at a point 1.3 miles (2.1 km) from her home and began to approach her, she left the roadside and ran into a wooded area."

"In the morning, her parents discovered her missing from her bedroom. No one has seen her since."

- EstateWeary5789

The Vanishing Marion Barter

"Marion Barter here in Australia."

"She boarded a plane overseas in 1997 and changed her name beforehand (didn't tell family). She apparently came back to Australia for a few days (according to passenger records) and completely disappeared."

"It's an ongoing investigation at the moment, there is a podcast about it called, 'The Lady Vanishes,' featuring her daughter."

"It's so tragically fascinating."

- CuddlySubject

The Grieving Bryce Laspisa

"Bryce Laspisa."

"He was driving to his parents' house (three hours) after an argument with his girlfriend, apparently due to his alcohol and video game addiction and abuse of prescription medication."

"Partway through the drive, he pulled off the highway and just sat there… from 9:00 AM to 3:'00 PM."

"A roadside assistance guy checked on him twice and said he seemed fine and coherent, and Bryce told him he would be carrying on back to his parents shortly."

"Sometime later, his car was found only a few miles away, driven off the embankment, and he was nowhere to be found. They never found him."

- Just_Raisin1124

News Anchor Jodi Huisentruit

"Jodi Huisentruit was a news anchor who disappeared in the early morning in Mason City, Iowa."

"There were signs that she was abducted and the investigation is still ongoing with new leads nearly 30 years later."

- Have_you_eaten_yet

Three-Year-Old William Tyrrell

"William Tyrrell. In 2014, the three-year-old boy went missing from his foster grandmother's yard whilst playing with his sister. His foster mother and foster grandmother were apparently watching them play outside, and the foster mother went inside to make a cup of tea."

"They then noticed they hadn’t seen or heard him in a while and searched the house and yard."

"In 2021, police began searching national parkland near the grandmother's home for human remains. They also revealed that the foster mother and grandmother were persons of interest in his presumed death."

"Earlier today, the foster mother pled not guilty to assaulting another foster child that was in her care (a 10-year-old girl). She has also been charged with intimidating and stalking a minor. Her husband has also been charged with the same crimes, but plead not guilty to all counts. The foster grandmother is now dead."

"Basically, police believe that William died whilst in the care of the foster family, and they disposed of his body to cover it up. Police are recommending that the foster parents be charged with perverting the course of justice and interfering with a corpse."

"His photos went viral at the time of the 'disappearance,' and he went missing whilst in a Spiderman costume, and the photo that was distributed was taken minutes before."

- Red_bug91

These stories are truly haunting, and it's no wonder that Redditors have worried themselves with what might have happened to these missing people.

We can only hope that answers come for at least some of these cases and that their closest loved ones achieve some sense of closure eventually.

If you or someone you know is struggling, you can contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 988.

To find help outside the United States, the International Association for Suicide Prevention has resources available at https://www.iasp.info/resources/Crisis_Centres/

Senior citizen using a camera
Tiago Muraro/Unsplash

The realization you're getting older can smack you in the face at any given time, and boy-howdy is it fun!

It can be in the morning when you get up out of bed, and your body makes crackling noises, or when you can't seem to keep up at the gym and you cut short your running time on the treadmill.

That's just the physical.

When you suddenly have the epiphany that you're suddenly the oldest one in a group setting, it's humbling.

Curious to hear from strangers online who are no longer the young whipper-snappers they imagined themselves to eternally be, Redditor redmambo_no6 asked:

"Redditors with younger coworkers, what was your 'I’m officially old' moment?"

These moments of realization never get old. But people do.

Senior Kitty

"My childhood cat lived to 21.5 so teaching (freshman biology lab, so students were ~18) became very weird when I realized my cat was older than my students."

– mollusck_magic

Aging In Reverse

"I'm a preschool teacher. It's been a TRIP to watch parents go from Soooo much older than me, to the same age as me, and now they're younger than me!?!?"

– Smart_Alex

The Shook Pediatrician

"My kids pediatrician was also my husband's pediatrician when he was a kid. He was the first kid she had to come back as a parent and she was SHOOK."

– trixtred

Older Together

"See, that's what really kinda drives it home for me."

"I'm not bothered that I'm 48. But that means my school friends are 48, and that's weird for some reason. Like, I went to school with a guy who was wild and crazy. That guy is 48 now, and has a new grandbaby. Somehow, he's old, and I'm just 'getting up there '."

– ThatWeirdTexan

Relics of the past don't just pertain to humans.

Dialing It In

"Had a co-worker ask me, 'Back before cell phones, did you just have to wait around at your house for a call?' Uh, yeah, pretty much."

– Status-Effort-9380

"Reminds me of having to explain the concept of collect calls to my kids. The whole speed speaking where you were for pick up during the recording so your Mama never accepted the collect call."

– DaraScot

Legendary Aircraft

"Various colleagues were debating whether the Concorde had been real. They couldn’t fathom that supersonic civilian aircraft used to exist and now they don’t anymore."

"The Concorde last flew in 2003, when these colleagues were toddlers."

– geckos_are_weirdos

Foreign References

"We were talking about where we were on 9/11, and my coworker went quiet. He wasn’t even born."

"We also had a band that was famous in the 90s stay at the hotel, and he had no idea who they were, meanwhile I was so star struck as they were my entire childhood!"

– Itsagabby

Gravity is not our friend, and not just because of its effect on our faces.

The Day It Went Downhill

"When i fell down the last couple of steps on a stairway. No one pointed and laughed like I expected, instead they helped me up and asked me if I was okay. That’s when I knew."

– day_of_duke

It's About The Recovery

"F'k. That has to be a bummer."

"You fall. You know you're fine. You feel like an idiot. You get ready to wave to the crowd as they laugh and clap. But then... a hand is placed on your arm and you hear 'that was a big fall, are you ok?' You stay in shock for a moment. Of course, you're fine. Everyone is looking at you. They all have concerned faces. Sh*t. Two weeks later, the soreness finally subsides."

– minimalfighting

Ice Slip, You Slip, We All Slip

"This happened to me as well....walking my dog the day after a huge snowstorm. There were some rowdy teenage boys having a snowball fight across the street (schools were closed that day, of course). I slipped on the ice, my feet flew over my head and I landed solidly on my backside. As I struggled to get up I braced myself for the laughter and catcalls, but all I heard was "Are you OK Ma'am??' 'Do you need help??' I was in my early 50s and had never felt 'old' until that moment."

– Ouisch

Conversations with younger coworkers can be fun.

You can quote lines from your favorite TV shows and talk about the latest CD you bought at Target and brag about your new digital camera that takes better pictures than a smartphone.

And then you can watch the blank expressions on your coworkers' faces because they haven't a clue about what you speak.

Yeah. This has never happened to me...

Old.

person getting a tattoo

Collins Lesulie on Unsplash

The art of tattooing has been practiced across the globe since at least Neolithic times, as evidenced by mummified skin, art and the archaeological artifacts.

The oldest tattooed human skin was found on the body of Ötzi the Iceman from between 3370 and 3100 BC.

Tattooed mummies were recovered in almost 50 archaeological digs across the Earth with locations in Greenland, Alaska, Siberia, Mongolia, western China, Egypt, Sudan, the Philippines and the Andes.

But while advancements in tools and inks have opened up endless possibilities for body art, some designs have garnered a bad reputation.

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National Cancer Institute on Unsplash

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