
Teachers have a tough job that only gets tougher upon meeting a weirdo parent.
Redditor caddingtontv provided today's burning question. They asked the online community: "Teachers of reddit, what is the craziest thing you've seen a parent do?"
Yikes. That's what we have to say to some of these stories.
"Her daughter's voice..."
A mother threatened to yank her daughter out of the school if she didn't get chosen as vocal soloist to sing "O, Holy Night" during the holiday concert.
Her daughter's voice was not suited to the part. Moreover, she had told both faculty and her peers that she didn't want to do it - that her mother was forcing the issue.
As I described here quite some time ago, the mother made a big, embarrassing scene in front of students and faculty - eventually transferring her daughter to another school "where she could get the recognition she so richly deserved."
"She was screaming and yelling at me..."
One day I was reading to my class when a mom, who we all knew was a little bit of a problem, came in enraged. She was screaming and yelling at me while I just continued to act calm and smile at the kids, trying to keep them from freaking out.
She was yelling because when her son came home the day before, he had an ant bite and he's allergic. She was yelling about how there shouldn't be any ants on the playground (in our state, that's impossible). She was also yelling that I didn't go inspect the playground prior to recess for ant piles. She was also yelling that I didn't inspect every kids for any ant bites they may have gotten and called any parents of effected kids. She mentioned, in them middle of her rage, almost in passing, that the ant bite was on his penis. It ended with her threatening me with physical harm.
Basically, since I just ignored her, continuing to interact with the kids, she eventually stormed out. Shortly after, my principal arrived, out of breath after running. Apparently a teacher down the hall heard her and called him before I got a chance to. I told him what happened, he said that he'll never let her be alone with me again. He's a BIG guy and a Marine, and I'm a small woman, so that was great.
About 30 minutes later an announcement was made that the playground was shut down for the day, possibly week.
Come to find out that she took it upon herself to "take care of the problem." She went home, loaded her truck with her strongest pesticide, and came back to the playground and sprayed it down. Unfortunately, the stuff she used was not appropriate, so we had to pay a lab to test the dirt to make sure it was safe. The playground opened up the next week.
"I started locking my classrooms..."
I had a new class filled with 3-4 year olds. This one younger girl was quite quiet throughout the lessons but generally not bad for her first lesson with a new teacher. Half way through the class her parent came into class a smacked her around the back of the head because she wasn't speaking enough.
I started locking my classrooms from that point onward.
"I once had a bright..."
I once had a bright, junior student who I recommended for AP English. He was proficient and well spoken--he would have done great, but he declined because he wanted to focus on trades and sports. I understood and told him the offer still stands if he wants to reconsider.
A few days later, I get the signed consent form with his signature on it in my mailbox about him joining AP English. Great, I thought. I went to talk to him about it and he looked nothing but confused. I showed him the page and he just went
"Oh, yeah, no. Ignore it. My mom keeps trying to sign me up for stuff. She has a stamp of my signature."
"She was so nasty..."
I had a parent come in and scream at the childcare assistant because her son came home with mosquito bites. She was so nasty that she made her cry. She wanted us to solve the problem by making sure her son didn't sleep near the windows.
"I teach..."
I teach inner city preschool. Many of my students have learned to fight through their parents and one student recently bit and hit me to the point of bleeding and bruising. I'm not technically allowed to restrain so I just hugged him, told him I care about him, he cried, and now he's my best bud.
"Honestly, our assistant principal..."
Countless verbal assaults at me, but those are not as interesting.
I saw a parent attack our assistant principal. I mean physically grabbing him and pushing him up against a fence(this was at a football game). Police arrived, parent taken away and permanently banned from our campus. Honestly, our assistant principal is a big and tall guy, but this was out of nowhere. I assume the parent was drunk/high.
"Wonder where they got it from?!"
A few weeks ago a mother was screaming "I'm going to slap you in the f---ing face", as someone dared to let her know her children were bullying others. Wonder where they got it from?! Luckily, she's banned from the building finally.
"The mother of my best student came."
Teacher in France here. Craziest thing a parent ever done to me was during a parent (& student most of the time)-teacher meeting. Idk how they're organized in other countries, but in France you have to meet like hundreds of parents on the same day, so you usually don't spend too much time with them, especially if their kid has really good grades.
The mother of my best student came. I had a huge smile when I saw her entering the classroom, because she was obviously very proud of her mom meeting me: she had a perfect GPA (20/20) in my subject. I honestly thought this was going to be a "well hello Miss X, I've got nothing to say, I'm just happy to have your daughter in my class, you can leave if you have somewhere else to be" conversation, but her mother obviously misinterpreted my smile and started flirting with me.
The first thing she said roughly was "ah, I understand why my daughter is so interested in your classes" and then she started talking about me, asking questions about me and my life, etc. Her daughter was mortified (and I was, too: it was my first year as a real teacher, meaning I had never dealt with parents before and didn't how to kindly ask her to leave). It lasted a long 20-25 minutes before her daughter convinced her to go and freed me from what was my cringiest moment with a parent.
I've been a real teacher for only two years (three if you count the first year where you're sort of an intern) so that's probably tame compared to other answers, but I can assure you that was an intense moment
"I had a parent demand..."
I had a parent demand I reprimand a teacher because she lied to the class. The lie? Their child wet herself and when the teacher sent for the janitor she told him that someone had spilled their juice. This was done so the other kids didn't find out about the soggy pupil.
So I asked: "You want me to discipline an educator for protecting your child's dignity?" "Yes," was the reply.
"The mom drunk texted..."
Teacher & I coached cheer for a few years. Parents pulled their daughter off the squad before we got uniforms, and the assistant principal told me not to give her the uniform because then she'd wear it and people would still think she was a cheerleader. The Mom drunk texted me all night sh!t talking me about what a loser I was and how I was a terrible cheer coach anyway. I quit at the end of that season.
"I don't know where that kid is now."
There is one kid that never passed his tests. Never worked for it. Didn't do homework, didn't do anything. Just sat back because his father was rich and he will get all the inheritance.
One time I was called into a meeting because I was responsible for this kid's homework that he told me that he did but he never did. I sat down one seat from the head of the table. It was a pretty big meeting.
The father and the son sat at the other end. The principal pulls up a slide on the SmartBoard, showing the poor performance that he has done. 50% were marked across and no homework was done. I was dumbfounded.
The father raised an eyebrow and nodded towards his son when asked to explain his poor performance.
I took a sip of water and he said "my homeroom teacher's butt is too big. I can't focus on the class."
I swear to God, and I'm going to hell for this, I spat out all my water and laughed. Nobody cared. Everyone was so surprised. I looked at the homeroom teacher and I felt the guilt wash over me.
After the meeting, the lady cried. She wanted to quit as a teacher, and I didn't blame her. She eventually began wearing longer jackets to cover up her butt. I told the teacher that I couldn't teach that kid anymore.
I don't know where that kid is now. Hopefully he got what he deserved.
"That parent..."
One of my coworkers had a parent cast a spell on her. That parent was later banned from visiting campus.
"Having a normal conversation..."
Having a normal conversation with student's guardian who is her grandmother, when the woman reaches down to the floor, picks up a leaf, and eats it like it's a potato chip.
"We had to have a long talk with her."
I had a parent in an IEP meeting ask us when her child's autism would be cured. She said he had been at school for 10 years now and it's taking too long. We had to have a long talk with her.
I had a parent at a conference suddenly slap his child HARD on the leg because she wasn't cooperating with him. She was 13 and definitely has one hell of an attitude, but she had issues with her dad and didn't want him there at all. Her resentment was palpable every time he opened his mouth.
When he slapped her she got really upset, jumping up and trying to get away from him screaming he had hit her for no reason. He's grabbing her arm to pull her back and she's fighting harder to get away. He appeals to me like I'm going to jump on board and I calm her down a little and get her to sit down. She's calming down and getting back a conversation but he is not even noticing that this is already deescalating, and he takes off his belt. He took off his belt, in front of me, to whip her. I told him that absolutely would not be happening in my classroom and I could not allow that, and he basically told me I should ignore him and pretend not to see anything. When I shot that down he tried to convince me to LEAVE my classroom DURING THE MIDDLE OF PARENT TEACHER CONFERENCES so he could use it to hit her and I would "look the other way". I said that absolutely would not be happening and if he kept trying I would have to call security. He settled down and put his belt back on.
I went to the principal immediately, and we went to the guidance counselor. He is the one we go through to make reports because he has all the information about what can be reported and who to contact. He told us we couldn't report it because it was discipline and it's his right to discipline her that way if he wants to as long as she isn't injured and there are no marks. He said it was not even illegal for him to do it on the premises.
The same night, another teacher had a mother punch her son in the face suddenly.
F*cking nuts. Poor kids.
"I saw a dad's ballsack..."
I saw a dad's ballsack during a parent-teacher interview.
He was wearing coveralls with a giant rip in the crotch and nothing underneath, and he was sitting with his foot up on the opposite knee (providing a very obvious viewing angle).
Considering how his child was, I am 95% sure he did it on purpose.
"Had a parent..."
Had a parent who really liked me because her daughter liked me. During the first parent conference, she asked a few personal questions (my age and dating status) and was shocked to hear I was a teacher at the age of 24 and yet I wasn't married (This is in SEA and culturally people marry quite early.) I told her I was in a LTR+LDR of about 3 years and she was even more shocked he hadn't proposed yet. Told me my boyfriend was no good and I should drop him.
Over the next parent teacher conferences, (I taught her daughter the following year too), the mother would bring a different man (family friend or whoever) and what was supposed to be a discussion of the student turned into an interview for dating. She would claim she doesn't speak enough English and that the person was there to help her out. It was quite awkward and I didn't know what to do about it so I just tried to shift the conversation back to her daughter (who was excelling my class anyways.)
I was later told that the mother comes from an extremely wealthy family and she is so so so so bored at home (husband didn't want her to work) and enjoys matchmaking.
"He has also offered..."
My first year I had a parent text me trying to convince me to buy drugs from her. That was a fun time.
This year, I have the daughter of a moderately well-known rapper who, instead of sending his kid to school with treats for school parties sends "exclusive demos" of his new music. He has also offered to hook me up with drugs.
"She had the projects..."
A member of my teaching team had her kids do a pretty cool project. As with most projects, some kids put in a lot more effort than others.
She had the projects on display in her room. At the end of a class period, she noticed a very nice one had been vandalized and ruined.
She asked the class who did it. One student calmly raised his hand and admitted it. She talked to him, and he wouldn't really say what possessed him to do it.
She wrote him up and emailed the parents. They were livid and demanded a meeting.
The entire team and our principal went to the meeting. The mom said her son didn't break the project.
"But he admitted to it."
"He's black, and knew you'd accuse him anyway because of his race, so he just wanted to get it over with."
(His teacher and our principal are also African-American.)
DQ: What's your best parent-teacher conference story?
People Break Down Which Practices The United States Needs To Adopt From Other Countries
We can all agree that there is something to appreciate about every country in the world, but there are arguably some countries that appear to have their ducks more consistently and happily in a row than others.
While it would be easy to let pride get in the way and continue to do things the same way, the more productive thing would be to learn from the countries who have figured out a better way to do certain things, whether it's healthcare, food banks, or other services.
Reflecting on the United States, Redditor Blinds**thead asked:
"What is one thing the USA should adopt from some other country?"
Introductions to Alcohol
"Swedish drinking laws. If I remember correctly, you can purchase alcohol below 5% at age 18, and be served liquor in bars (so the bartender can control the amount being served)."
"Seems like a smarter way to introduce kids to alcohol rather than opening the floodgates at 21."
- underhandfranky
Taxes to Approve
"Automated taxes."
"I've never done them but they seem complicated and stress my parents out, so I just know I'll f**k mine up and end up in stupid jail, lol (laughing out loud)."
"Just send me something to sign, please!"
- teenage-nightmare
Societal Improvement
"A prison system that focuses on rehabilitation instead of punishment. Many countries have been successful with this saving literally billions of dollars and cutting down on crime."
- LtRecore
Universal School Lunches
"Universal school lunches. It is embarrassing that we do not have folks cooking lunches for students from scratch and that it is not provided for free to all students."
"Do you want to bring your own lunch? Great, but you can also have the free hot lunch that looks homemade, not pizza squares, canned veggies, a slice of fruit, and 3 oz of milk."
"Kids shouldn't be going into debt for lunch. We're probably wealthy enough that our food waste alone would be sufficient, if captured magically, to feed every kid in the United States three proper meals per day."
"Also walkable cities and above-ground monorail systems."
- radiantpenguin991
Relieving Homelessness
"Finland has recently ended homelessness by just allowing people to live in small apartments without any preconditions, and four out of five of them make their way back to a stable life."
"It's also cheaper than allowing people to be homeless."
- littleMAHER1
Period.
"Universal healthcare."
- fastal_12147
Foster Care Assistance
"It would be nice to also eliminate the fees foster parents pay for general registration, classes, and social services related to fostering or adoption."
"And also eliminate trying to recoup costs by billing parents whose children have been placed in foster care."
- hawtpahtadah
Longer Paid Family Leave
"I was SUPER blessed to get 12 weeks fully pay. But that’s not enough time. Putting the emotional aspect aside, I’ve returned to work functioning on four to five hours of sleep a night, and my productivity and cognitive abilities are greatly handicapped."
"My three-month-old son can’t even hold his head up or sit, let alone talk to tell me if anything’s wrong, and he’s placed in the care of someone else from 7:15 am to 5:15 pm. Doesn’t seem healthy for mother or child."
- tealpineapple456
Bathroom Upgrades
"The fact that our toilets don't have bidets and that at public restrooms the gap between the doors is massive, are both disgusting. Our whole bathroom situation is messed up."
- darksix
Having a Siesta
"According to Dr. Andrew Huberman, whether you eat lunch or not, everyone requires a rest midday."
- Justhere_2468
Tax Included in the Price
"Man, I had such a hard time with this when I visited America. Maths in my head is not my forte and I’m so used to looking at prices and expecting that to just be the price."
"I don’t get why you wouldn’t just add in the tax to the price. No one wants to do math unnecessarily. I mean, we don’t even tip in Australia so I don’t even need to work that out."
- Cookie_Wife
Raising Multilingual Children
"Teaching a foreign language to young students in public schools (ie 5yrs, k-5) when the propensity to learn the language quickly is maximum."
- zenjen22
Clean Public Restrooms
"The clean restrooms in Japan were amazing. I never had to clean a toilet seat to put my young kids on it. In the states? Near every time. People here just don’t care about the ‘we’ when it comes to restrooms."
- NoodlesAreAmazing
Separate Work and Healthcare
"Decent healthcare that isn't tied to your job. Other countries all over the world have figured out different ways to do this, so why can't we? (I know, corporations own politicians.)"
"I'm not an expert, but I'm guessing it would destabilize a bunch of industries in the near term. But I wonder if long-term, it would create so much new innovation since people would be unafraid to lose their health benefits to leave their stable but s**tty corporate jobs to start new ventures."
- michiman
Designated Drivers on the Go
"In Japan, there is a service that you can call 24 hours per day that will come with two drivers and one car. One driver drives you and your car home, and the other follows in their car to pick up the driver that took you home with your car. No DUI, etc."
"It's actually really affordable there. No need to get an uber home that night and then an uber back the next day when you are hungover only to find out you have a million parking tickets or your car got towed."
- Visual_Sport_950
Though there are positives to every country, it would be so cool to see each country be more open-minded about adopting the positives of other countries.
If a country is doing something better than another, the best thing for the citizens would be to take some notes, rather than let their pride do the talking.
Every year, at the end of the Academy Awards, while the auditorium erupts in cheers upon the announcement of the Best Picture winner, as they are somewhat obligated to do, many viewers at home instead shake their heads and raise their eyebrows.
That's if they don't throw popcorn or worse at their TVs.
While those who did so when La La Land was announced as the winner in 2017 would end up getting their revenge in what remains one of the biggest blunders of Oscar history, others are still reeling at some past winners, which they believe were more worthy of a Razzie than an Oscar.
Taste being subjective, plenty of people still find themselves confused by some films which won countless awards, received across-the-board raves, and are considered classics or masterpieces, but they find to be utterly unbearable.
Often finding themselves in an unpopular minority and having to keep their opinion to themselves, similar to Seinfeild's Elaine Benes and her unique disdain for The English Patient.
"Which film that’s universally praised do you find utterly repulsive?"
Any Downers
"My best friend really enjoys movies that make you anxious and uncomfortable like 'Uncut Gems' and 'Good Time', but I firmly do not like those kinds of movies."
"I know it's the point, but i find no joy in the level of discomfort I feel while watching them."
"Some other honorable mentions:"
"Spring Breakers."
"High Life."
"Climax."- nuut_meg
Not Exactly Authentic
"'The Greatest Showman'."
"Mostly on the grounds that the real P T Barnum was a f*cking monster."- LostMercenary99
"'Pocahontas'."
"The real John Smith was a f*cking sick bastard and the true events most definitely weren't a love story at all."- CagedKage
Who The "Devil" Was Is Debatable...
"'The Devil Wears Prada'."
"I just wanted everyone in that movie to die in a fire."- PothierM
Tearjerker, Or Sleeping Pill?
"'The Notebook'."
"I don't know if it's universally praised but I f*cking hate it."- sara_c907
One Of The All Time Creepiest Shower Scenes...
"F*cking 'Elf'."
"Every damn Christmas."
"To be fair I can’t really stand Will Ferrel in general."- cook-isation
The Title Could Refer To The People Leaving The Theater...
"'Fast and Furious', just a terribly written extremely corny show."- tds542
Fern Gully Did It Better...
"'Avatar'."
"All day long."
'Those blue miserable tw*ts."- akbarkhan666
There Was Bound To Be One...
"I don't know about utterly repulsive, but I have a hard time seeing why everyone loves 'Citizen Kane'."
"And I understand that there was movie making before 'Citizen Kane' and movie making after 'Citizen Kane' such that it informed movie makers going forward as to how it's done, let's say, but after a certain point we, the audience, don't see that anymore, and it's just another movie."
"And then I hear people say well it highlights social hierarchy under capitalism and such, but a lot of movies do that."
"And then there's the twist at the end which is not much of a twist which is the point, I suppose, but the whole thing seemed like a letdown when I finally watched it."
'As a result while a lot of people say it's their number one movie ever or at least in their top 10, it's on my top 10 list of movies not to watch again."- emjaysea
Why Not Just Do A Documentary?
"Most Biopics."
"I think it's atrocious how they create hyperreality by over romanticizing the life of a famous person."
"Out of all the awful biopics however, i despise 'Bohemian Rhapsody' the most."
"The scene where the band supposedly invents 'We Will Rock You' on the spot makes my skin crawl."
"How did that movie end up winning so many awards, despite all the plot inaccuracy's and the poor editing."
"It is really beyond me."- Biemolt
Maybe Too Realistic?
'Not utterly repulsive, but I'm in the minority for thinking that 'Nomadland''s Best Picture win was a joke."
"It was barely a movie and relied too much on performance exploitation of actual people for its thin-as-f*ck narrative."
"Honestly, it might be my least favorite BP winner of recent times, yes I'd say that even 'Crash', 'The Artist' and 'Green Book' were better."- SamwisethePoopyButt
Not To Mention That Fake Baby...
"'American Sniper'."
"Shameless piece of 'Merican' propaganda, and I couldn't help but laugh at Bradley Cooper's portrayal in the first half hour."- mos_meth
Truman Capote Would Agree...
"Breakfast at Tiffany's."- LucyVialli
He Did Not Have Them At Hello...
"'Jerry Maguire'."
"It was just TOO. DAMN. LONG."
"The 'Show me the money' bit was funny, but it happened early on in the film, and the rest dragged on forever."- Brilliant_Tourist400
We All Know "Moonlight" Was Better...
"'La La Land'."
"The music was utterly forgettable and the plot felt like it was written by a bunch of Hollywood executives jerking each other off."- Aviator506
Needless to say, everyone's taste is different, and everyone is entitled to their opinion.
Meaning there's bound to be an argument at the next "movie night" you have with friends over whether to watch Citizen Kane or Spice World.
And you should feel no shame in expressing which movie you want to watch.
Or rather, "what you really, REALLY, want" to watch...
Everyone wishes there was something different about their body.
Smaller nose, longer legs, a different hair or eye color.
There are those, however, whose frustrations with their body are less personal, and more universal.
Finding themselves frustrated less with their own DNA, but with human anatomy in general.
Frustrated by how certain functions work the way they do, and feeling there could be significant improvements in other departments as well.
"What is the biggest design flaw of the human body?"
Would Make A Lot Of People Less Cautious
"Unable to regenerate body parts."
"You lose an arm or a leg, you can't grow a new one."
"We can grow hair and nails forever, but not body parts."- drygnfyre
And Maybe The Whole Childbirth Process While We're At It...
"The size of the average baby head vs the size of the average vagina."- Ruggiard
"The Obstetric Dilemma."
"Basically, the human body isn't built for easy birth."- strykazoid
It Isn't Terribly Practical If You Think About It...
"IMO the whole 'we put food into the only air hole we have and can choke and die if we aren’t careful' thing is a pretty big miss."- el_rico_pavo_real
"Throat has a built in flaw - we breath n swallow food through the same area."- coolguy1793B
A More Direct Route Would Be Helpful
"I like the example of the recurrent laryngeal nerve."
"It runs from the brain to the larynx."
"However, to get there it goes from the brain, down the neck, into the chest, around the aorta and then back up the chest, up the neck and then connects to the larynx."
"That's a massive detour."
"It also means a blow to the chest can damage your ability to talk."- The_Thunder_Child
Never Underestimate The Damage Teeth Can Do
"The fact that I sometimes accidentally eat the inside of my mouth."- -Grey_Area-·
He Does Have A Point
"'Nostalgia is the greatest human weakness. Second only to the neck'... -Dwight Schrute
In Plain Sight...
"In our eyes, the blood vessels supplying our photoreceptors are in front of them and therefore in the way of the incoming light."
"Probably not the biggest and there are some good justifications for it being set up this way."
"But it still must be such a pain for the brain constantly having to edit these out when forming our visual experience."- oliwoggle
Maybe Just Every Illness And Ailment?
"A stroke."
"My aunt had one when she was 31 and the healthiest person in the world."
"Ran an aerobics class at the Y, just perfect perfect health."
"Went to Pizza Hut with her the night before, next day, massive stroke, almost died, critical surgery, twenty years later she still has trouble speaking."
"It sucks."
"There is no reason that should’ve happened."
"Perfectly healthy person damaged for the rest of her life."
"She’s still amazing and lovely and my favorite person but damn is that annoying."- Jibber_Fight
"You can kinda just die at any moment from a brain aneurysm, even if you're perfectly healthy."- mcsteve87
All Our Bones Could Be Stronger...
"For upright walking creatures, why is our head so (relatively) delicate?"
"Trip a single time and you're blinded, have brain damage, bit off your tongue, or lost teeth."- kmn493
They Arguably Also Weren't Built For Stairs...
"Our knees for sure."
"They just weren't built to last past 40 years."- TopShelfCrazy
A Couple More On/Off Switches Would Be Helpful As Well...
"That we cannot delete or sort unwanted/not needed info and memories from our brains."- PickAName616
As the saying goes, "nobody's perfect."
Or rather, "no BODY is perfect."
Otherwise, we'd all stop complaining about aching limbs or worrying about choking or other injuries.
Relationships are hard, and sometimes, they're confusing. When you're having a problem with your partner, or you're inexperienced and looking for lessons, you turn to your friends and family for advice.
Sometimes, the advice is sound and helps make things better.
Other times, the advice is trash and makes everything worse.
Redditors know this all too well, and are sharing the worst relationship advice they've ever gotten.
It all started when Redditor Spectrelegit asked:
"What is the worst relationship advice you've ever heard?"
Loyal As A Dog
"Any "loyalty tests". Always a bad idea."
– thedawntreader85
"Heard a youtube therapist once say that as soon as you decide to do a loyalty test, you've already decided the relationship is over because either they fail and you can't trust them, or they pass and you show them that you don't trust them and they stop being able to trust you"
– ParkityParkPark
Choose
"Ultimatums fall under a similar category."
– GarbageTheClown
"If this is a current situation it sounds pretty toxic, and if you are unhappy I hope you get the support you need to make any changes."
– countzeroinc
Diamonds Are A Girl's Best Friend
"Spend 3 months salary on an engagement ring. This was literally started by the rich diamond families to increase sales."
– Samisoy001
"My girl literally threw a jewelry store book at me with the ring she wanted circled and happily said there was a coupon lol. It was like $80 but it's the one she wanted. We've been together for almost 10 years and happily married for nearly 3 now"
– shumi19
"Yeah it's ridiculous, there's lab created gems that are basically the same and a fraction of the cost."
– YouJabroni44
"I’ve said this to friends and family several times when they’ve asked me while stressing about picking out expensive rings:"
"if the ring is the problem, then the ring is not the problem."
– DamonHay
Not The Way To Go
"There was a Reddit post about a guy who told his partner that she stunk several times a day. Poor girl was horrified. It got to the point that she was showering incessantly, using industrial strength deodorants and he still complained non-stop."
"Paraphrasing here, but when finally confronted, it turns out his father had given him this sound advice: “Tell a women she smells bad, and she’ll never leave you.”"
"Daddy was wrong."
– UnderstandingEmpty21
Anything Doesn't Go
"That you only truly care if you're "ride or die.""
"An ex once told me that she thought if she pushed me far enough that I'd leave. I told her "Yes, I would leave. Why would I want to be with someone who thought so little of me that they'd push me far enough?""
"I had put up with a lot of abusive behaviour from her and it didn't last much longer before she tested my statement and I did exactly what I said."
– FancyMFMoses
"Totally!! And that you should love your partner “unconditionally” ie any behaviour goes. Nope"
– Rare-Republic-1011
Maybe Not The Right Person To Ask
"A friend of mine once prefaced some unsolicited advice about my 10-year marriage with the phrase, "I've been in dozens of relationships..." and then he went on to rant about how men shouldn't do the grocery shopping or something stupid like that."
– Odd-Sink-9098
"Right, we had a three times divorced friend who loved to give relationship advice. Most of it was BS."
– JanuarySoCold
"The Children" Need A Good Example
"Stay together for the kids."
"I was the child. Please don’t."
– ArtisticPolarBear23
"I was also the child. Your children know when you don’t love each other, when you’re fighting all the time because you decided to stay with someone you can barely tolerate. They will live with that knowledge and grow up with a warped perception of love and relationships because they were never given a proper example."
"They will either become obsessive and do whatever they can to make someone stay, or they’ll develop a fear of commitment that will ruin every relationship before they even get the chance to try it. Divorce can be messy, especially when kids are involved, but sometimes the alternative can be far worse. If you decide to have kids, do right by them."
– imscaledandicy
Nobody's Perfect
"“There is a perfect person out there”"
"No. No there isn’t. There is no such thing. People change as they experience life. To believe someone will stay the same forever is silly. Pick someone who you can grow with and shares common values with you. Everyone has to make some compromises and that includes someone making them on you too."
– BallTipSizzler
Not A Great Justification
"Being married is like eating spaghetti every night for dinner. No matter what sauce you put on it, it's still spaghetti. Sometimes a man needs to eat some steak once in a while."
"That was from my dad while trying to justify cheating on my mom."
– Feelin_Dead
Look Good For You
"My (very attractive but very unhappy in her own marriage mother) tried to make me believe that the secret of a successful marriage is to look desirable at every hour of the day and night . Make up, clothes, perfume… anything to keep the husband interested. Having a personality is nice but not necessary."
– ComplexPrinciple3636
"I feel guilty of this, although I also feel like I can take the time to get ready all I want, he’s still going to admire someone else and probably in front of you. Just get ready for yourself if it makes you feel better. I have always hated to go out in public to run into anyone bareface, whether it’s an old friend, someone who picked on me in school, an old crush."
"Not sure where it came from me being this way but growing up my parents made fun of me when I’d have no make up on. If I got bad grades or did something that upset them they’d take it away and give it back saying “I need it.” Then other days tell me I wear too much of it, like high school wasn’t enough already. I could never win."
– 1lilhedgehog
"I know several people who believe this and it’s sad"
– Arra13375
Don't Be Who You Are
"When I was a teenager, my mom told me to not let boys see I was smart because no man is attracted to a woman whose smarter than he is. Also, I should work on my laugh because no one would be attracted to my laugh."
– Educational_Use_9980
"Being smart and passionate about your interests is the most attractive thing ever"
– DogShampoop
Tell Me I'm Right
"Most people that come to you for relationship advice don’t want to advice they want you to validate the terrible decision they are about to make."
– IBdunKI
"I think your statement applies to advice in general. A lot of people to want to actually change or put in effort, they just want validation for their choices."
– BusinessBear53
Yeah, that tracks.
We cannot believe some folks are dishing out such advice!
Has anyone every told you something truly crazy to keep a relationship propped up? Let us know in the comments.