Our parents are often teaching us valuable lessons, whether we know it or not. Believe it or not, the best lessons might not always be the most obvious.
After Redditor IridescentBrushstroke asked the online community, "What is an unconventional way your parents taught you a life lesson as a kid, which makes you think to yourself "woah that was good parenting" now that you´re older?"people had plenty to share.
Read on –– you might come away having learned something absolutely essential.
"It seemed unconventional..."
Told me from young adolescence that no matter the situation, if I was drunk or high or whatever, if I was ever in trouble I could call my dad and he would come pick me up no questions asked. It seemed unconventional compared to my friends with strict parents who went buck wild when they weren't under their supervision, but it taught me to stay safe and smart, and I ended up being a pretty good and stable kid who knew I could go to my parents if I needed them.
"When I was three..."
When I was three I always kicked my shoes off in the car seat. Mom would have to put them on again at every destination.
One time we came home and there was snow in the ground. I had kicked my shoes off again and my mom just about had it. My dad came to the car and said "Ok, get out and go inside."
"But Daddy it's cold..."
"I know."
Never kicked my shoes off again.
"When I asked a question..."
When I asked a question she didn't know the answer to, my mother would go out of the way to find an answer or find someone who knew. This humanized her and allowed me to understand that you don't have to be an expert on everything but you should always know where to look for answers.
"My parents divorced..."
My parents divorced when I was a baby and pretty much ignored me my whole life. But my mother would punish me by making me read this huge history book (Roman Empire through WW2) and my dad would make me clean and polish his tools.
By the time I was a teenager I was pretty well read and handy around the house.
"I stole a pack of candy..."
I stole a pack of candy when I was about five. My mom busted me in the parking lot, marched me back inside, got the manager and walked me to the person who had checked out our groceries. She made me apologize for stealing and promise to never do it again while I was full on hysterically crying. It was mortifying. When other teenage girls were shoplifting later- I remembered that moment and was like NOPE.
"The irony of the lesson..."
My dad would make me sign single season "contracts" for my little league teams, basically guaranteeing that I would remain on the team until the season was over. My dad was not a sports dad, and really didn't care whether I played sports or not, he just wanted to make sure that if I committed to something, I would see it through to the end, and not abandon my team mid-season just because I didn't like it or was getting bored (which I was prone to do as a kid).
To this day, I try to be very practical about my commitments, and I don't sign on for anything unless I know it's something I can fully commit to. Anything from work projects, after-school clubs (I'm a teacher), coaching, being a groomsmen in a wedding, I consider how committed I can be. The irony of the lesson is that I think I end up saying "no" a lot more than most people, because when I sign on, I'm committed to the end.
"They got me to try..."
They got me to try a bunch of food that I wouldn't be comfortable with at a young age.
I remember the day that my Mum told me "special fish cakes" were actually calamari and I had been eating squid rings, but I realized it was damn tasty and it opened my mind a little.
"I feel like..."
I feel like it will give context to give a little backstory on myself. I grew up very fortunate in a middle class family. I never wanted for anything.
But when my parents gave me something and I did not say thank you, they took it away. When I was younger, I was always so upset by this. But to this day, I am not reserved when it comes to saying thank you. I find it very important to express gratitude to others, and I am so thankful that my parents taught me that.
"I learned that exercise..."
I learned that exercise can be fun if you find a fun way to do it. For example, I enjoy visiting new places and trying the food there. So when I was a child my father and I would go on bike riding trips so I could try new food and see new places. Now as an adult I know how to ski, ride a bicycle, hike, canoe, kayak, ride a horse, run (sprint and long-distance), play soccer, football, baseball, ice skate, tennis, golf and several types of dance (Irish step dance, formal dancing, and DIY dancing). Incorporating my curious child mind with physical activity.
"My mother let me..."
My mother let me take a drag of her cigarette when I was about four. I would constantly pester her to let me smoke because I wanted to be just like her. I vomited. But I'm nearly 23 and have never touched tobacco since!
"If you accidentally..."
If you accidentally stab or cut yourself, the sharper the knife the easier the wound is to heal.
"When I was younger..."
When i was younger, i would always do math homework with my dad. Of course i would make mistakes and my dad always screamed at me and "bullied" me. We would do this until 6th grade. By then i was so used to my dad's treatment that i did not even flinch or argue and just concentrate on what was in front of me. Then a few years ago he told me that he treated me like that so i could face people with that kind of atitude and still be able to be the one rational and calm. And, well that worked very nicely as i would be bullied in school and the bullies would just give up as i did not even care to aknowledge them. This is a very good skill when "reality" hits you.
This man..... he knows what's up...
"We were taught to be satisfied..."
We were taught to be satisfied and happy about what we had. Fussing was never acceptable to both my parents. Eat what is served, two new party dresses per year, pocket money just enough to meet hunger pangs. Me and my siblings learned that what we had was enough to have a satisfactory life. I follow it with my kids, though not all the times but no fussing and no binge buying,
I am grateful to my parents for teaching us that I can plan my finances and family requirements better.
"30 minutes later..."
Whenever my parents would get off at the beach or park, they'd show some easy-to-remember landmark to us and always tell us that in case we got lost, this is where baba and mama will come looking for you.
I thought it was kind of dumb since I never thought I'd get separated from them.
Alas, I did get lost once while riding my bike in a huge park and simply couldn't figure out my way back to our picnic spot. I started crying an ocean and all I could tell the staff through my sobs was that I wanted to go to the red ice cream stall with the number 7 on it.
30 minutes later, I was being snuggled in my Dad's arms.
"Not sure if I can say..."
Not sure if I can say that this can be considered good parenting or not. My Dad always drove us to school. One day when I was in high school, he stops midway and cried so hard like he has a mental breakdown. He mentioned something about my mom always looks down on him. I was young and never ask him about the reason. But this teaches me so well that every human being needs compassion and warmth.
"Keeps me..."
If you get caught breaking the law your mother will bring you lunch at the police cell and you'll reimburse me for the lawyer... But no one is bailing you out.
Keeps me on the straight and narrow to this day
"I never let a pillow..."
When I was a kid I was hanging a pillow out the window on a car ride (why? I idk, it seemed fun). My mom said, "Don't hang that pillow out the window."
I eventually dropped the pillow and she yelled, "That pillow was filled with money! No we can't go back to get it!"
I never let a pillow hang out a car window after that.
"Later, I realized..."
Growing up, if I or any of my siblings were crying/yelling/having a tantrum my mom wouldn't say a word - she'd sit back, watch (not in a judging way, more empathetic), and when you slowed down she'd calmly ask "are you done yet?". If you said no or started up again she's say "ok, I'll wait", and she would, very patiently.
We were never punished for tantrums or other outbursts, but eventually you had to be done and then she'd insist on talking about whatever you were upset about. I honestly found the process extremely annoying at the time. I thought she was just trying to get us to stop by 'winning' the first part by outlasting me then 'discourage' future outbursts by boring me insisting on all the talk afterwards.
Later, I realized it taught me more than I thought. It was always okay that I had those strong feelings, and it's okay to be upset, but taking those feelings out on others isn't useful or fair and other people aren't responsible for managing my feelings. I get to have and process all of them, and they're valid, but I need to then be able to talk about the underlying source in a constructive and fair way. Also, if it's someone else raging or demanding I take responsibility for their feelings I don't have to soothe them or accept responsibility - I'm not going to invalidate their feelings or stifle someone else's experience but they need to take ownership of it themselves and then we can talk about and manage the underlying cause together.
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It's highly believed that it is important to learn history as a means to improve our future.
What is often overlooked is that what is taught in history class is going to be very different depending on where you went to school.
And this isn't just internationally, even different regions of the United states will likely have very different lessons on American history.
This frequently results in our learning fascinating, heartbreaking and horrifying historical facts which our middle or high school history teachers neglected to teach us.
Redditor Acherontia_atropos91 was curious to learn things people either wished they had learned, or believe they should have learned, in their school history class, leading them to ask:
What isn’t taught in history class but should be?
The Irish Troubles
"The troubles."
"Too many people in America do not understand why a wall straight through Ireland would be a BAD idea."
"I’m referring to the Brexit referendum and possible outcomes."
"If people were wondering why we were talking about walls through Ireland in the first place."- CLCVS.
Forgotten elements of World War II
"What the Japanese did to the Chinese during WW2."
"Unit 731."- CaptainMcBoogerJew.
"Japan gets off easy for their war crimes in WW2."
"They killed an estimated 16mil Chinese civilians and another 8mil soldiers"
"Also, Pol Pot."
"Didn't know who he was until I was like 25."
"Worst dictator all time (in terms of percentage of population he decimated)".
The truth about the American Revolution
"That the American Revolution was part of a wider cold war type of conflict with France."
"The American Revolution was basically the UK's equivalent of the US version of Vietnam."- vinsant7.
The Dark side of Swedish history.
"As a Swede, I'd like to know more of all the horrible sh*t my country has done throughout history."
"It's a damn shame we're trying to hide our history."
"For example, Swedes killed a metric sh*t ton of all Polish people when we were at our strongest."
"That's the kinda sh*t we don't get to learn."- mogwandayy.
Colonization
"Basically what Belgium did to the Congo."
"A lot of people are telling me that they are taught about this actually."
"I'm glad to hear it because I wasn't taught about this in the USA during my public school days (1995-2008)."- EconArch.
The truth about "heroes".
"While teaching about historical Heroes they should also tell students about the unspeakable things some of them did."
"Many famous figures throughout history who are pillars of morality actually did many terrible things." - User Deleted
Intolerance for Mental Illness
"The dark history of mental illness treatments."
"I think it's worth learning about."- 7dayexcerpt.
Slavic Mythology
"Slavic mythology in Slavic countries."
"Don't get me wrong, I love both Greek & Roman mythology and as a person from the Balkans both of those cultures are part of my country's history and had great influence over not only my region but the entirety of the continent & the western world but I wouldn't mind knowing more about Slavic mythology as well."- ShorsShezzarine.
The truth about the CIA
"How the CIA was made and all the shady things they did over the years."- ALargeChip.
There is a lot about the history of our world, not to mention our own country which shouldn't be ignored.
And it's from learning from our mistakes that we really improve our future.
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So apparently we are in the endemic phase of this nonsense.
We have light at the end of the tunnel.
So what now?
Where do we go from here?
Normal seems like an outdated word.
How do we get back to normal though?
Is it even possible?
What are reaching back to?
Life pre-Covid.
Those were the days.
If only we could bring them back.
Redditor hetravelingsong wanted to discuss our new normal in this hopeful "endemic" phase. So they asked:
"What’s something random you miss about pre-COVID times?"
I miss people being sane. Though that maybe election cycle issues not COVID. We'll never know.
I thought I was Alone...
"Being able to grocery shop after 11 pm."
Reading_Rainboner
"Hell yes. I miss the days where the Walmart across the street was open 24 hours."
Small_Tax_9432
let's just go...
"I miss spontaneity... everything now seems to have a barrier of difficulty."
iidosee
"I live very close to Disneyland so I have an annual pass. My friends and I would just go there after work and hang out and grab a bite to eat."
"Now, we have to reserve a day to go. And most of the time, the days are at 'full' capacity so we couldn't even reserve. I don't want to schedule to hang out at Disneyland for a couple hours for July. So yeah, I definitely miss the 'lets go eat at Disneyland tonight?' texts."
mymymissmai
Not til 24-25
"Functioning global supply chains. Ah, the product you want has got microchips in it? 9 month wait."
richard-king
"Minimum, I'd been saying for a while now that I wouldn't expect a true return to normalcy in terms of electronics prices till 2024-2025. Although Crypto crashing through the floor really took some of the pressure off graphics cards which I really appreciate."
statiiic
WTF?!?!
"How affordable everything was!"
Disastrous_Hour_6776
"Yep. Today I was bagging up my things at the grocery store and I heard the cashier say to the lady behind me 'thats $78.12.' She had -- 2 boxes of Kellogg's corn flakes, a carton of 12 eggs, milk, strawberries, raspberries, blue berries, a small cheese cake, English muffins, coffee, and a small whole frozen chicken that could maybe feed 3 people if the meat portioning was small."
SnowyInuk
Sushi
"My favorite sushi place. It was good quality, close by, kid-friendly, and not too expensive."
InannasPocket
All of this... it was a simpler time.
NASTY
"As a retail worker, just how f**king NASTY some people have gotten."
DmitriPetrov*itch
"They applauded you for being an essential worker but won’t vote for policies that’ll raise minimum wage while insisting a wage cap for heavily paid employees."
sketchysketchist
CHANGES your DNA...
"Some of the people closest to me became very bitter and petty over the last 2 years. So many people have the 'crazy eyes' now."
__--__7
"So true and holidays with the family is like who has the biggest tinfoil hat building contest. How many jumps does your brain have to go through to think that the Covid vaccine CHANGES your DNA into the patented DNA so that the government now controls your body."
"So like vaccinated people now have a singular DNA set. I feel like I still have a chunk of my brain just broken off due to that comment alone. I was also told by same family member that I could never donate blood again due to the vaccine. I guess it is so my patented DNA doesn't affect people?? FYI my vaccinated butt just donated today fine and multiple other times after the vaccine."
tyreka13
Homeward Bound
"House prices."
adrianinked
"I'm resigned to never thinking I have a chance on owning property where I live. I'm 30 and just can't imagine it anymore. And I don't want to live anywhere else so, whatever."
Osdab2daf
"That didn’t happen because of the pandemic. That was already happening regardless."
CH11DW
Oh Mickey
"All Day Breakfast at McDonalds."
hutch2522
"It was honestly hell to do, and not very popular. ITs margins aren't anywhere dinner and lunch specials. ON top of that, the temperatures are such that They require its own grill, meaning that if you have 2 grills in shop, you are down 50% of lunch capacity."
Freyas_Follower
Way back when...
"Hanging out with friends. And I mean waaaaaay before Covid. Like 2006 back when I had some friends."
LoocsinatasYT
I miss the old days. Maybe we'll get back there.
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What do you believe?
Is there a GOD in the sky?
Is he guiding us and helping us?
Life is really hard. Why is that is a big entity is up there loving us?
Atheists have taken a lot of heat for what feels like shunning GOD.
What if they've been right all along?
Maybe let's take a listen and see what they really think.
Redditor __Jacob______ wanted to hear from the people who don't really believe all that "God" stuff. They asked:
"Atheists, what do you believe in?"
I'm waffling between G-O-D and nothing. So please give me some education.
911
"We need to look out for each other because help isn't coming."
cknipe
Peace Out
"More than 2 decades ago, a priest was giving a sermon in my church and he said 'our faith requires you to believe without question. Why call it faith if you have to ask questions?' I haven't returned to church. Not until my wedding day but you know what I mean."
asiangontear
Delusion
"When I was young I used to think that after death you would have access to a PC that you could see absolutely anything about your life. Stats, any question you had no matter how obscure, replays of moments, perspectives of others in relation to you. No matter what you wanted to know, if it was relatable to you, you could see it. I know it's silly, but as time goes on I just want it to be real, and I don't think I'd have any issue allowing myself to fall into that delusion."
eggwardpenisglands
I think nothing happens...
"Realistically, I think nothing happens. We literally experience nothing after death. Same thing that we experience before birth. We don't exist, so it's nothing. I think the tenant that we should follow while living is to try to be happy and healthy while minimizing the damage we do to each other."
"What I would LIKE to happen after death is whatever you believe in, exists. I think Christians should get to go to heaven if they truly believe in it, Hindus and Buddhists get reincarnated, and everyone else also gets to experience what they believe they will experience."
"'I would still experience Nothing. Maybe it's one of those things where at the moment of death their brain makes them experience what feels like an infinitely long moment in time where they experience their afterlife. I just think it would be neat for everybody."
Better_Meat_
Shrug
"Best advice I received from a dear senior on their way out. 'You win some, you lose some' shrug. Nothing divine, life is that simple and wonderful, accept it and move on."
Tune_Kindly
It all sounds pretty simple. Why are people so up in arms about Atheists?
Whatever
"I believe in a universe that doesn't care, and people that do."
imCIK
Cool with Empty
"Nothing. [Serious]."
rumblingtummy29
"I feel this way about death. When I was 5, my grandfather died and my cousin simple said, he is dead, that means you are gone forever. Everything ends up dying, even plants and animals. I'm now in my 40's and still have this simplistic view of life and death. People think I'm ambivalent to life and death but it's just what it is."
thepigfish82
puppet-masters...
"I think a lot of religious people struggle with the fact that we are all just swirling units of chaos. There is no grand plan or great orchestrator. I think that’s why people who are prone to religion are also susceptible to things like Q anon and the Cabal and all that. They REALLY want to believe that there is some almighty puppet-master who determines all of humanity’s fate."
Lngtmelrker
“we’re living in a society!”
"Just be a kind and empathetic person not because you’re worried about some cosmic justice, but because it’s the right thing to do. If there is some being that created us there’s no way they actually care about believing in it or adhering to some rules from over 2000 years ago."
"Also a big thing for me is that I find the idea that you need religion or the Bible in order to have morals and ethics pretty dumb. It’s pretty f**king clear that most evangelicals have neither. But my main thing is being a good person simply because, as George Costanza once said we’re living in a society!' If you’re only a good person in order to make it to heaven you probably aren’t actually a good and moral person."
conservative_genius
That's All
"You're born. You live. You die. That's it. After you die you cease to exist, the same as before you were born."
serefina
Believe what you want. We're all here together. So let's focus there.
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The list of what irritates me is endless.
I mean... breathing too loud or dust can set me off.
I'm a bit unstable, yes.
But I'm not alone.
So let's discuss.
Redditor Aburntbagel6 wanted to hear about all the times many of us just couldn't control our disdain. They asked:
"What never fails to piss you off?"
I feel like this article can go on forever. Let's get some highlights.
Wasted Time
"Meetings that could and should have been an email."
Sirena609
Lotto People
"Getting stuck behind people playing the lottery at a corner store."
thenuggetlover
"I also used to work in a gas station and you’re SO right. I f**king hated the lottery people. Especially since my store had a small staff and there was usually only one of us working at a time, which meant that I couldn’t get any of my other work done as long as they were there."
"And you’re right, it’s also pretty sad to watch. I had one lady who used to come in every day and spent hundreds and HUNDREDS of dollars on scratch tickets. One day, she won $200 after spending probably around $600 and she was so excited and saying she can 'finally pay her bills.'"
i-am-your-god-now
Aware...
"No situational awareness. Job, home, shopping, driving. Think for one minute and go about. OBSERVE!!"
Dizzy-Foundation8122
"My mom is one of those people who leave the shopping cart in the middle of the damn aisle and proceed to walk twenty feet away. After correcting her a million times to no effect I just walk away now so people don’t know I’m with her."
OutrageousEvent
Shut Up!
"Endless barking in the middle of the night, I love animals but that sh*t I can't stand."
Acceptable-Lemon2924
"Endless barking in general drives me up a wall. One of my friends dogs was barking almost an entire gaming session the other day. I wanted to reach through the computer and smack him for letting it go on."
bangersnmash13
Kindness
"People being mean to service workers, especially if the workers are very young."'
scaryboilednoodles
All of these things. I hate them all.
Admit It
"People who never accept fault when they mess something up. Like, why blame a million people when it was clearly you who did it???"
Quirky-Area-8978
From Above
"My upstairs neighbors."
lutzow89
"I had terrible neighbors at my previous apartment. It was a one person studio for students, but her boyfriend was clearly living with her illegally and he was loud."
"One night we knocked n the door at 3 AM because of the loud music and an unknown girl opened the door. I just thought they were having a little party. But the next door I saw the girl living there come home with a suitcase after having been away for the weekend... Her BF was cheating on her in her own apartment."
Th3_Accountant
Move Away
"People who sit directly next to me at the airport, movie theater, any other place where you can choose a seat when there is PLENTY of other seating."
BacardiPardy33
"I can’t YES this enough and the ones who can’t park for crap so they park so close you can’t open doors on one side of the car or the ones who park directly behind when you pulled through so the door won’t open to load groceries."
BacardiPardy33
It's Over
"People who try to restart old drama. Like I'm done with you, just leave me alone."
Tired_Potatos
"Yep, half the reason I've basically quit playing one of my favorite online video games. People keep bringing old crap up or sh*tting on on someone who used to be our friend. I got tired of it so I just ejected the game out of me."
CaucasianHumus
AHHHHH!!!
"People walking too slow in front of me with no way to get around them. It’s even worse if it’s a couple or group taking up the whole sidewalk. HAVE SOME SPATIAL AWARENESS FOR THE LOVE OF GOD!!"
_-v0x-_
Life in general pisses me off. I'm easy.
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