In an ideal world, all parents are their children's best and biggest cheerleaders. Children deserve to grow up feeling loved and supported.
Unfortunately, that's not always the case, and even the most well-intentioned parents falter from time to time and can harm their kids in irreparable ways.
This leaves kids with a choice when they grow up.
Do they continue the cycle? Or do they decide to change their behavior and not repeat it with their own children?
People told us about all the ways they've decided not to treat their kids after Redditor wetbreadstick asked the online community,
"What is something that your parents did that you swore never to repeat to your own kids?"
"It's why I don't like..."
"Making fun of their interests and hobbies. It's why I don't like showing anyone my artwork. But I will do anything to support my kids and encourage them."
lil_adk_bird
Getting your genuine interests mocked and belittled is the worst. Especially when they compare it to things they’d rather you do with your time.
"If they tell me something in confidence, I'm not using that as a topic of conversation with others. Tell my parents anything and everyone knows. My mom just couldn't understand why I was getting mad when she was telling any yahoo at Walmart the whole story of events leading up to my divorce."
lil_adk_bird
This is huge. Your business is your business! Why is this so hard for some parents to understand?
"I thought I'd grow up..."
"I was spanked. I thought I’d grow up and spank too because I ended up okay and thought that’s how you correct kids. But then as I got older I thought back to how I’d deal with other kids who made me mad or wouldn’t listen to me. I hit them. It clicked this wasn’t what I needed to do."
rnr357
Learning how to use your anger in a constructive manner is a valuable life lesson.
"Try to be controlling..."
"Try to be controlling over my kids life and blame all their problems on the other parent."
Itsonlymedisguise
Not good. Children learn not to trust either parent in this scenario.
"My mom could go on..."
"Lecture."
"My mom could go on for hours for even small misbehaviors. Somehow, it usually looped around to how I didn't keep my room clean, even though the rest of the house was just as much of a mess or worse."
HawaiianShirtsOR
No one wants to be lectured, especially if they're only going to hear the same things over and over again.
"Refuse to admit..."
"Refuse to admit I was wrong."
[deleted]
Parents aren’t infallible, insisting you are is asinine. Parents can provide teaching moments by admitting, explaining, and apologizing for their mistakes.
"Come talk to me..."
"Be unapproachable. Come talk to me any time about anything. Everything can be fixed."
dflear
When children learn to hide things from their parents (and parents are shocked), something went wrong long ago.
"Use them as leverage..."
"Use them as leverage against the other parent. Abuse them, allow them to be abused by a significant other, abandon them then return years later once they've grown and try to cause them as much pain as possible for who knows why."
Droidecon
Did your parents battle over who would get to claim you as dependents on their taxes too? How horrible.
"Growing up in a family of drunks..."
"Get loaded in front of them. Growing up in a family of drunks has soured me for the most part to drinking even socially."
jtown82
You are very strong for setting such an important boundary for yourself!
"I want my kids to know..."
"Judgemental behavior. I want my kids to know that I truly love them because of who they are and not feel like they have to hide certain parts of who they are because they are afraid I won't care about them anymore."
Imloudcauseimdeaf
Many people decide to hide things from their families precisely because of that.
There is always an opportunity to break the cycle. But it starts with taking that first little step. Parents who aim to do better by their children are to be commended.
Have thoughts of your own? Feel free to tell us more in the comments below.
The Most Illogical Breakdowns Toddlers Ever Had According To Their Parents
Raising a child is hard and can take a toll on even the best parents. Children can bring a lot of joy but they can also be very frustrating, and it's okay to give parents room to vent. Sometimes, try as they might, nothing they do can calm a child down.
And that seems to hit the hardest during the toddler stage, when children really, really don't know how to handle their own emotions. They'll yell and kick and scream, sometimes for no reason at all.
What's up with that, right?
Parents shared their stories with us after Redditor mirarom asked the online community:
"Redditors with toddlers, what’s the most recent illogical breakdown they’ve had?"
"My son was basically upset..."
"My son was basically upset I missed the tantrum he had started to throw for grandpa... He was doing his face in the carpet, kicking feet, over the top fake crying when I guess he realized he was missing something."
"So he came upstairs, grabbed my hand, huffed and puffed angrily while walking me directly next to Grandpa, totally positioned me for the show, and got right back into meltdown mode. Looking up every so often to make sure we were still watching it."
"I asked my dad what initially set him off though. He said he shut off his own show and didn’t know what else to do."
Danilixsaaur
Awww, he sounds like he was confused.
Or maybe a drama queen.
But why not both?
"Because the imaginary door..."
"Because the imaginary door on his imaginary fire truck wouldn't open, so he was stuck inside."
napana
Aww, but it was absolutely real to him! It's cute... but also annoying. Sorry, kid. Get a real one.
"My youngest was mad..."
The enraged, sobbing wail from the back seat of my car: 'He's looking out my window.' "My youngest was mad because his brother was looking out of 'his' window instead of the other one."
RavnNite
Tell them that you're driving and that it's your car and that they're actually your windows!
"My girlfriend-at-the-time texted me when she was looking after her 3 year old brother. "Josh is crying because he doesn't want an ice cream. He already finished eating it. This was 15 minutes ago.""
KingGumboot
Wow, this kid doesn't realize how ridiculous he's being, does he?
Well, bless his heart.
"He wants..."
"He wants to put a box on my head but it's broken and keeps falling off. So apparently it's ruining his playtime."
Ccaster0620
He sounds very particular!
"Took the car down..."
"Took the car down to the body shop to get the side panel that he crunched buffed out. The car won't be ready until Wednesday but he wanted to go back downtown to party with his roommates tonight. He's 22."
optiongeek
Okay, this one is an exception to all the toddler stories... or maybe not. It sounds like he never grew out of the toddler stage.
"8 year old sister was looking at her. It was just a glance, but my 3 year old went into a f**king rage."
everybodyknowsdikbut
This reminds me of that incredible scene from The Favourite.
"Did you just look at me? LOOK AT ME! How DARE you, close your eyes!"
"My little kraken just slept... after a raging tantrum because i did not let him chew on the connected cables. I'm just trying to keep you alive buddy, I swear."
O_oHaniG
He doesn't believe you!
"First..."
""First: his dad left for work. Second: he dumped out the box of goldfish crackers. Third: I picked up the goldfish crackers. Fourth: it wasn’t the right episode of Paw Patrol. Fifth: I won’t let him eat shoes."
Autumn_Tea95
You're just restricting him from living his life, man.
"They wanted..."
"They wanted another chicken nugget, so I gave them another chicken nugget. Breakdown."
gloomyquelledbasket
Children are so odd. Sorry!
These stories might make you think twice about being a parent. But if you can get through the toddler stage—particularly the "terrible twos"—you'll probably be fine.
Have some stories of your own? Tell us more in the comments below!
The world is a really cool and often strange place. We meet all kinds of people and have different experiences. So many people take different paths. Why would these paths ever collide again, right? It makes sense, at least on paper.
A coincidence is defined as a remarkable concurrence of events or circumstances without apparent causal connection.
That means a bunch of little things had to fall in place for a coincidence to happen, which shouldn't be a surprise because life is often all about timing.
That'll be on your mind when you read the following entries.
People shared their thoughts with us after Redditor RichCauliflour asked the online community,
"Hey Reddit, what's the strangest coincidence you've ever personally experienced?"
"My dad..."
"My dad and his twin live far apart. Without even knowing it, they both bought, in the same week, the same car in the same colour."
Garaquarubyline
They're telepathic, aren't they? We love to see it.
"Lost my wallet..."
"Lost my wallet on a trip to Chicago. Found a wallet under the night stand in the hotel. It was not my wallet but belonged to someone who lived two blocks from me in DC."
voice_of_craisin
Hopefully you did a good deed and returned it once you got back!
"Here in my little town..."
"Here in my little town in northwest England there's a good kebab shop from which the lads and I have ordered for years. We've been in there after countless nights out and had them deliver to our doors, so we know the guys who work there pretty well. They're mostly Turkish."
"Once a few of us got together for a short break in Turkey. Having got off the plane, we waited in the car park outside for another pal who'd been on a different flight. As we stood, soaking in the ambience of a new country, none other than the tall guy from our local kebab shop walked across the road right in front of us, two thousand miles from home."
"That was weird."
Superbead
Plot twist: He was an undercover Turkish agent who was also good at kebabing.
"In 1999..."
"In 1999, took my girlfriend to Disney World for a graduation present. While at Epcot, we sat outside and ate while talking about the band I had previously been in. Just then, the guitarist walked up and said 'Hey!'"
codallas
This is so cool! Hopefully you all hung out right then. We are overdue for a cool buddy comedy.
"Seeing Paul McCartney..."
"Seeing Paul McCartney (The Beatles) on TV in 2001, and noticing he was tall. Next day I'm walking down a very quiet street, and walking towards me is a really tall guy, and it was Paul Mcartney. He must've seen my expression so he veered my way, stuck his hand out and said "Hi mate." I was shocked. 18 years later I'm still shocked lol."
[deleted]
What an experience! Apparently he's quite friendly like that.
"I drove 600 miles..."
"I drove 600 miles with my brother and a friend to climb a very remote mountain in the desert."
"None of us were mountain climbers, so this was not a normal thing for us, but we decided to give it a shot. We get there and after climbing a few hundred feet, I look back and notice someone coming up below us."
"I suggest we take a breather and wait for the newcomer and say hi."
"He gets within earshot after about 20 minutes and we start talking while he pauses to rest below us. Turns out we are from the same state (Texas), and both drove almost the same distance to the site."
"He asks where about in the state we live, and it turns out he knows the town."
"He asks if we know a certain family in that town. I point to the friend who came along with me and say, 'Here’s one of them!' ”
"It ends up this guy dated our friend’s older sister several years before that."
"When he finally climbs up the rest of the way we all recognize him! My brother had actually met the guy when he was dating our friend’s sister, but hadn’t seen him since."
"We all made the rest of the climb on this remote mountain almost a thousand miles from home together."
- Onomatopoeia_Utopia
This is a charming story—the world is so much smaller than we think!
"I started a new chapter..."
"I was sitting at the Raleigh-Durham Airport, waiting for my flight to Newark, NJ."
"I started a new chapter in the book I was reading; and it was about someone taking the flight from Raleigh-Durham to Newark."
"The book hadn't been about air travel or either of those locales up until that point, but about Astral projection."
"Definitely one of those moments that makes me think the universe has a sense of humor."
le4t
Indeed it does. We might as well roll with it, don't you agree? It's not like we have a choice.
"I used to get..."
"I used to get two buses home from work. I got off the first one having left my phone and keys on the front seat of the bus without realising. Got on the second bus, went to my favoured front seat and my possessions that I didn’t know were missing were waiting for me. The bus had changed driver and route. Still freaks my nut out to this day."
[deleted]
You really lucked out. This could have ended badly!
"On the way there..."
"I was in St. Augustine on vacation. On the way there I just happened to think about this girl I knew back in college in Orlando. Just sorta wondered what she was up to and the like. Sure as s**t I ran into her in a bar there the first night. She was there celebrating graduating from PA school."
Col_Water
And you got together, right? Or is this something we only hear about in romatic comedies?
Life can be very strange, don't you agree? There's nothing like a seemingly out-of-this-world coincidence to make you feel that the world isn't such a big place after all.
Have some stories of your own? Tell us more in the comments below!
As if finding someone to date isn't hard enough, most of us are inevitably going to have to go through break-ups at some point. They can go smoothly... or they cannot. And few things make a breakup more painful than someone giving you a stupid reason why they're breaking up with you.
Actually, their reasons could be rather funny in hindsight. Pathetic even.
You might walk away thinking you've dodged a bullet from the moment you were broken up with. That's okay, everyone's relationship is different. Both kinds of break-ups are featured here. It's up to you whether to laugh or cry.
People shared their stories with us after Redditor Tomhasmajorswag asked the online community,
"What's the dumbest reason someone broke up with you?"
"Because her friends..."
"Because her friends broke up with their boyfriends."
HarryWinks182
There is such a thing as being a follower and not a leader but this is really taking it too far.
"I visited my dad. While he was in hospital. With cancer. She broke up with me because I was visiting my dying dad instead of visiting her. I feel like I dodged a major bullet..."
gay_idiot53
You didn't dodge a bullet, you dodged an entire plane.
"No joke."
"No joke. Her mood ring changed colours."
IceIceMaybe11
I hope you were a kid when that happened. Otherwise, OMG!
"Dropped her..."
"Car was too old. Dropped her, car is still chugging along."
Study_Slow
The ironic part is that very often the type of girl who complains about her boyfriend's car, would be taking the bus if it wasn't for his car.
"You've been really..."
"You've been really sad ever since I cheated on you and I don't like that, so bye!"
MsMcFrostyNips
The nerve! What in the world is the matter with people?!
"She broke it off..."
She broke it off to try and be with a guy at her job. He told her he wouldn’t go out with someone already in a relationship. He was trying to be nice and not cause trouble. She didn’t get the guy and she lost her job because she made a big scene about not getting what she wanted. I’d say I was the lucky one in that situation even if it didn’t feel like it at the time.
ITeechYouKIdsArt
Really, that's what you're supposed to do. The only dumb part was in not recognizing that she might not get the new guy.
"She sent me..."
"She sent me a breakup text as she was jumping into some other guy's back seat. I got the story a couple hours later through a mutual friend who was there. The next day she called wanting to get back together."
"Basically, she just wanted to cheat guilt free.""
[deleted]
Oh, perfect — I'm sure she came back like, "We were on a break!"
And please tell us you didn't get back with her.
"My first boyfriend came over and dumped me on my front porch. He said he didn't like my lisp. He also had a lisp."
kaairo
I would say he needs to look in the mirror but it's probably best if someone records him and plays it back.
"Not me, but my sister..."
"Not me, but my sister got dumped because the dude had gotten a nicer car, and told her that now he felt he needed a prettier girlfriend than she was."
Empty-Masterpiece242
Wow... that is awful and the sort of comment that could absolutely wreck someone's self-esteem. Hopefully she's okay now.
"Two months into dating a girl..."
"Two months into dating a girl, I accidentally spilled some melatonin out of my backpack on her bedroom floor. She was like, 'What are those pills!?' Accusations of me being a drug addict (I wasn't) and then blocked me on everything."
SummonWorms
What do you mean you need to sleep? Is that some kind of code for something? Is that your street slang?!
Yeah, it's pretty safe to say that all of these people are better off. Hopefully they've all found someone better and are in happier relationships now. But if not, that's okay too.
Have some stories of your own? Feel free to share them with us in the comments below!
I once heard of this guy who ran after a bus and attempted to leap on just as the doors closed. He did it, and got in. But it could have ended so badly for him. He could have fallen into the road or into traffic. He could have busted his face open or his head. Oh, and the bus was one of those that came by every 10 minutes.
So what was the point of that? That was the definition of "high risk, low reward," if you ask me. Why? Just why?
But others are far more daring—or reckless—than him or I.
We heard some people's stories after Redditor siiborg asked the online community:
"What's the most high risk, low reward thing you've ever done?"
"Moved across the country..."
"Moved across the country for a guy. Got married, now divorced, hate it here, no family."
pinkwahpul
So sad. Sorry to hear it didn't work out. Is there no way to move back?
"I swam..."
"I swam in the Zambezi when I was drunk on a tiger fishing trip. Still can't believe I was that stupid. For those that don't know, it's infested with hippos and crocs, known for taking people."
[deleted]
I don't know if hippos or crocs scare me more. They're both terrifying creatures and you are clearly braver (or more daft) than I.
"I once followed..."
"I once followed a young homeless man I just met because he wanted to show me where he was staying. It was nighttime and he invited me down into a dip in the trees. We walked through a dark section of forest then he showed me some rocks and small caves with a couple beds set up."
"Then we left. I literally followed a stranger into the dark woods because...curiosity?"
somebsthrowaway
Ummm... have you never watched a horror movie in your life? Get it together.
"I once climbed..."
"I once climbed an old truss bridge to get some neat pictures of myself. I climbed under it and sat on the beams beneath the bridge. I climbed the the very top. I hung off the edge of the bridge above several rocks."
"Once I got done and showed the pictures to my friends they said they sucked."
basic_wh1te_boy
Well, that's disappointing.
Made you think twice before attempting something like that again, didn't it?
"Taking a year..."
"Taking a year in a program I wasn't interested in to try and get a girl, who turned me down instantly."
"I wasn't horny, I was lonely. We were good friends prior, not so much afterwards as s**t got awkward; it was also my second year, so I did get a useless degree I never claimed for my trouble (social science.) So there's the reward, I guess."
[deleted]
Usually isn't a good idea to do something for a girl when you're so young and in school, but you live and learn, right?
"Climbing up..."
"Climbing up a water tower when drunk to find a friend. Turns out said friend was not even lost. He was yelling at me from the base of the tower."
CheekyBlind
Wait... what?
How?
Were you drunk?
"I started smoking."
"I started smoking. It has literally no benefit; it just makes me uncomfortable when I don't do it and when I do it as well."
MrMcQuestionable
There are thankfully resources if you are looking to quit. You can do it!
"My spirit..."
"Once my mom started counting backwards from 5, and I started counting down from 3. She stared daggers at me and asked what I was counting to. I said that's how much time she has to stop pretending she was going to do s**t when she got to 0."
"My spirit lives on to warn others of my misfortune."
The_Celtic_Chemist
Oh, dear. Hopefully it wasn't too rough.
"My friends and I..."
"My friends and I used to target and steal those signs that said "If you are caught stealing you will be prosecuted." Many illegal things were done and many hundreds of thousands of dollars of stuff was ignored to steal increasingly difficult to obtain paper signs."
Churonna
You're clearly a risk-taker and it sounds like you haven't been arrested yet, sooo... good for you?
"This was in the '90s..."
"My friends and I used to break into expensive looking houses and use their showers. This was in the late 90s when ridiculous showers were in vogue and we wanted to know if they were actually any good (for the most part they were not). We never stole anything (well, except water)."
"We brought our own towels and toiletries. We were very careful about who we "hit" and made sure they had set schedules and no children or pets. The reward was a s***ty shower. We risked jail time."
Smeggywulf
To say the least! Wouldn't be me. You could have left a check for the stolen water.
I think I'll stay risk-averse, thank you very much. It's saved me from jail time... and certain death. Let's just say no homeless man is going to convince me to follow him into the woods!
Have some stories of your own? Tell us more in the comments below!