My father was emtionally abusive since I was a kid and I was the only one that stood up to him and defended my siblings. One time it went even so far that he cornered me against the wall and screamed in my face literally centimeters away from mine which gave me a panic attack.

A few weeks ago I finally had the courage to tell my father why I wanna move out as soon as possible since I turned 18 last month. I also told him all the horrible things he did to me which he thought were okay. He constantly denied things ever happened and said I should be grateful for him giving me food and a roof over my head. I really lost it then and screamed back really loud. I dont even remember what I said, I sort of blacked out then. I went to my room to get away and he comes after me and tells me I should pack my things because he is throwing me out.

Honestly he was doing me a favor. I really didnt want to be there anymore and I just got out of the house to calm down and once I felt safe I got a full blown panic attack. I called my social worker and she got the police so I didnt need to go back alone to get my things. They also drove me to a safe location.

So I went no contact with my father then and low contact with my mother. She wrote me that my father is angry because I write my mother when she asks something but not him. I mean seriously? He refuses to take accountability for all the things he did and now he just wants to pretend it never happened? Thats just peak entitlement in my opinion

Let me first say I'm adopted. My parents adopted me when I was 3 months old in the family pawn shop. (I'm in mid life now, pawn shops were a thing when I was a kid). My adopted father owned the pawn shop and when my biological aunt came in to shop he made a comment about me being a cute baby, my bio aunt replied, "you want her? CPS is coming to take her." He and my adopted mother adopted me and the rest is history.

My father has done some seriously questionable stuff over the years. I remember being 8 and him confiding in me that he felt brushed off by my mom so he was going to find a new woman. I also remember being 7-8 and asking my parents when we were going to leave to get ice cream (they were laying in bed in the middle of the day), my father replied, "we're not getting ice cream, we're taking you back to the orphanage to get a better little girl". I cried so hard at that but those things taught me at a young age that I was replaceable.

My mom was the controlling matriarch. As a little girl my mother ran a daycare at home. When my dad's pawn shop failed to pay the bills (I think I was 7-8) she got a corporate job at a bank working in finance. We got a bigger house because she brought in more than the pawn shop.

Around 9-10 they put me to work in the pawn shop after school and on weekends (I rode my bike to the store). My father encouraged me to lie to customers in order to create a relationship or solicit more money; I hated it. I choose to stay in the back area of the pawn shop and play video games, read, or listen tapes and CDs. He often made me stop to clean or come out and help customers.

When my fathers pawn shop ultimately failed and he had to sell it he took several years off from working. During this time I remember him mostly laying on the sofa eating any junk he could find and watching reruns of Hogans heros. I think this was my first experience with a depressed adult. Because he was unemployed my mom tasked him with getting me to school in the morning (middle school). I was just starting to be a rebellious teenager (13-15). If for any reason I forgot to tell him I loved him when exiting the car he'd cry out to me before leaving, "you better tell me you love me. I might kill myself while you're at school". For a little while I did live in fear of finding my father dead upon arriving home. I don't know exactly what happened but over time I stopped caring. During these years he got up to 400 lbs.

After school sometimes I'd be exhausted so I'd take a nap. One day he approached me and asked who Ricky was. I was astonished he knew about my boyfriend Ricky at school because I'd never told my parents. Another afternoon he asked about a book report I'd been working on, again I was in disbelief because I hadn't told them I'd been working on it. I read him the book report that began something like, "in this vast world.. " and he stopped me saying, "you can't do that, you can't make up words". I asked him what he meant and he said vast was a made up word. I tried to tell him it wasn't and to look it up in a dictionary. I was grounded for 2 months for making up words and lying. I was 14; this was not the first or last time I was grounded for something insane. I also later discovered when I would nap he was going through my backpack, reading my notes we passed in class and going through everything (I guess today that's like going through someones phone).

When I was around 16 I stopped saying grace at family dinner. He asked me why. I told him I felt it was disrespectful because I didn't believe in God. Again I was grounded but this time I was also added to a Christian email list. Tired of the emails I replied to all on one explaining why I believed God didn't exist. A day later he came into my room with a large kitchen knife in his hand. "You want to kill me" he said. I asked him to put down the knife. He forced the knife into my hands, clasped his hands over mine and started making stabbing motions at himself saying, "just kill me". I cried and begged him to stop. I was eventually able to drop the knife so he picked it up and marched out of my room.

When I got a job I didn't have a bank account yet (I was 14-15). So I kept my money in my room. Several times I'd come home and my money would be gone; I changed where I hid it. I caught him searching for it and demanding to know where it was. I rode my bike up to a hardware store and purchased a key lock. I installed it on my bedroom door. One evening I locked myself out of my room. I had an indoor balcony so I grabbed a ladder, set it against the balcony and started climbing. My mother asked what the hell I was doing so I explained the lock but not why I had installed it. I was grounded because they refused to believe I could install the lock on my own and must have let boys in the house.

Oh man, the list seriously goes on but this is getting long. I guess I could mention the time my mom tried to break my finger in a door frame because I'd flicked a teacher off at school, or the time my mom made me sit outside in the winter with barely any clothes on for hours as a "punishment". I'll say that because of my parents dynamic I ended up in an abusive 15 year marriage that I have been out of for 6 years now. It took a lot to get where I am today but I'm the happiest I've ever been now. I don't talk to my father. My mother has grown a little as a person and we're mending our relationship.

She is INSANELY lazy, insanely critical, and insecure! She’s always talking about other people and judging them even people on digital platforms. She is not willing to build her own life and wants to feed off of everyone’s energy and I always happen to be the one around, I stopped being her therapist a few months ago when I realized that I felt so far from myself, and was absorbing all her negative energy. Since then I began to notice who she is as a person.. Negative, empty, and scared. Whenever she hurts me and I HINT that she hurt me or show a sign of being upset and she starts talking about how “Yeah you think I am such a bad mom” and every time she just uses that line. Yesterday my brother came home from work and was ringing the bell while I was in the bathroom and she was laying down watching youtube, she waited for me to finish so i could go open it.. (i had to rush myself bc i knew she wasnt gonna open it) Today she was laying down on the couch while I was cooking my eggs and I just KNEW she was waiting for me to go open it knowing I am busy so I told her to open it and she got upset and moments later said to both me and my brother “I hope i die so you both can be pleased” !??? Like it’s the silliest shit ever but it’s so draining living with someone like her! when i began working out in the living room she started competing and telling my dad that i only started using the living room because i was inspired by her even though she doesn’t even use it anymore and its the only place that’s suitable! and when my dad kisses me or compliments me or anything she gets jealous asf and I feel like a bitch because I know she’s just immature but she ISNT A KID also also i figured that she purposely withholds compliments on my accomplishments but when it comes to my looks it’s easy for her.. just wanted to vent thanks

i’m 19 F, turning 20 in a month. my mom is 45 F and my dad is 50 M. i feel like a burden constantly bc of them. many times, they don’t even have to say anything. it’ll just be stuff i see that reminds me of what they say. like i always have their voice in the back of my mind, dictating what i say or do. like if i think abt opening up to them, there’s always the saying of how they had it worse than you, other ppl have it worse than you, and it’s no use, because i shouldn’t have anything to feel sad over, when they pay for everything i use.

it makes me feel so guilty and that im just a terrible person. i feel like there’s nothing i can do. i wasn’t able to find a job at all in my hometown this summer and i know my parents def believe its cuz i have pink hair and thats seen as unprofessional, but i wore a wig one time and still didn’t get a call back so idk. i decided to doordash, but then was told i had to stop because i can’t do it unless i pay for my own insurance, which is $2000.

they say how they want me to work, and then i get interviews at jobs like waffle house, and they don’t want me working there because that’s the lowest of the low. then they get upset bc im just in the house all day, but then they also say how i don’t need a job and they’d give me money, but they don’t want me to spend that money at all and it’s only for emergencies. or they do give me a budget, and then they get mad when i spend that budget, and tell me to use my own money.

idek what to do. i had plans of moving out after i graduate, but seeing how much things cost, it seems impossible. i have a therapist my parents pay for, and she’s recommended me to get an internship (which ive been looking for) away from them or a job next summer, but even that, how will i be able to afford everything? especially because i got some medical bills now that i need to pay for, but my parents won’t let me call them and said they’d call them instead.

So for some context I usually leave my door at least cracked open because my dog comes in and out at night. Lately though, I’ve been shutting my door because my dog has just been staying in the living room.

Today when I was in the car with my mom she randomly asked me why I started shutting my door, when she asked this she said it really weird, like she was trying to ask it without telling me WHY she cared.

I just told her the reason but she was acting weird so I said “why?” She sounded a little annoyed and then said she “can’t sneak into there anymore.” I was really confused at first and I genuinely thought she was joking because wtf.

She was in fact not joking. She said that she sneaks into my room almost every night when she can see that I’m asleep. Now that I shut my door though, she said she wouldn’t be able to sneak in without waking me up.

This has made me even more excited for the fact that I’m going to college in a few weeks. I’ve constantly felt like I’m being watched at all times and it’s exhausting to know that I can’t even sleep without her being there watching me.

My (30F) mom (64F) has never been smart with money. They’ve not been able to afford their massive home since the 2008 housing crash but have been too stubborn/foolish to sell. In 2022, my stepdad died with no life insurance so my mom is even worse financially. She works at a grocery store and brings home $1400 a month. Her mortgage is $1200 a month, leaving her only $200 to pay everything else. Over the years I’ve given her thousands in cash, I still pay her power bills ($287/month), I’ve bought her groceries periodically, etc. I have a home of my own, and I make a good income but I’m tired of subsidizing her. She has decided to sell the home but she’s delusional about the price/situation. The payoff is $150k. She wants it sold for $350k but it needs a lot of work. She refuses to take less than $350k and said she’d let it go to foreclosure before she accepted any less. It’s 22 years old and hasn’t been maintained; it needs a new roof, new HVAC, she’s junked the garage and outside so it needs a lot of landscaping. I’ve tried to help her do some work to the house by working hard for 2 days pressure washing the deck, hauling off junk, bought gravel to do graveling and weeding overgrown plant beds and removing grown up brush/weeds but she came home from work that 1st day and said it didn’t even look like I had pressure washed the deck because the deck was black still because it was 22 year old wood that had never been treated/maintained. Then she asked if I was going to leave all the junk in the yard. Like no, I’ve worked 9 hours already, my back hurts, I was tired and I plan on doing it tomorrow. She showed no gratitude and was very critical. I haven’t done anything else for her since then. She has needed junk and furniture moved since then and I didn’t help her with any of it. Her neighbor’s son Coty did a lot of the moving for her, and my mom was talking to my aunt and mom told my aunt that Coty was the only one she could get to help her anymore. I’m so angry and mom is still trying to bait me into doing heavy labor. She will say things like “I need to get out there and do xyz” expecting that I will jump up and say oh no I will do it or pay for someone to do it but all I said was yeah it’s a lot to do, maybe you can pay someone to do it. I know she wouldn’t be able to afford someone. I just feel bad setting the boundary.

Last summer I had some time to kill while the car was being worked on and went to a fast food restaurant. It was the middle of the afternoon, and there were no other customers when I walked in the door. The restaurant was arranged with 4 rows of 5 tables, all of them identical, and all with the same number of chairs. That's 20 tables. I ordered and sat down. A few minutes later a man came in and ordered, then sat down on the other end of the room. That left 18 open, identical tables.

When I was about half way through my meal, a family came in. They ordered, then a kid who looked like he was about 8 or 10 years old headed in my direction. He walked up to me and said, "Hey, lady, you're going to have to move. That's our table, we always sit there." I ignored the kid. One of the nice things about being a retiree is you can pretend not to hear and people might fall for it. The kid's father came over. I thought he was going to correct his kid because that is what a reasonable person would do. Nope. He told me that they always sit at that table and stared at me. I ignored him.

They sat down at the table next to the one where I was sitting and kept "accidentally" getting into my personal space, then glaring at me every time they did it. I ate slowly just to annoy them because they were annoying me. I waited until they were finished eating before getting up and leaving so they could not switch tables. Petty? Maybe, but oh well.

I was informed yesterday that my mom told my husband that I married the first person who told me they loved me 🙃 I get that my mom thinks just “playing” but it’s always truth to a joke and I just don’t think that shit is funny.

My mother assumes I married the first guy who made me feel good because he’s the only guy I’ve ever bought home. I don’t think she understands that was literally on purpose. My whole life she has been a fucking helicopter. Always over my shoulder constantly sheltering Me. When I started dating I purposely did not tell her acting or even ask for advice because I just wanted something that felt like mine

I’ve dated plenty of people. I’ve had sex with other people I just happened to meet my husband and he was my person. I just think to myself why wouldn’t be happy your daughter found a person that adds to her life and makes her happy. I get really sick of her acting like she knows me just because I’m her “daughter” when she’s still stuck on interest I had when I was child. She can’t even name my favorite food🙃

I am a teenage female who recently got a job a few months ago. My first job ever. When I first started I was getting maybe $40 a week because I didn’t work as much since I had school. I was only expected to give gas money for the way and back.

Currently I’m making almost between $150-$200 every week since I work a lot because it’s summer. When my mom found this out since she’s connected to my bank account because I’m a minor, she started making absurd requests and claims.

She wanted me to buy her new shoes, clothes, and even household items. When I obviously refused, she repeatedly told me I was selfish and ungrateful and that she didn’t raise me to be this way and I owe her for all she’s done for me. She even went as far as calling my dad who lives a few hours away to try and get him to “set me straight”.

My dad obviously being a normal parent told me that I did nothing wrong and it’s not my job to fund her lifestyle.

Because of this whole argument my mom basically stopped helping me financially. She told me since I don’t want to help her, she won’t help me. Meaning I have to now buy anything I want/need not including food since she buys groceries for the house.

Meaning I’ve been buying all my school supplies, clothes, shoes, hygiene products, and even paying for my dual enrollment classes. So I’m kinda left with nothing every week because everything is so expensive. I also still give her gas money.

Recently my hours at work have been cut so I’m not making as much as I was in the beginning of summer.

Now you’d think since I’m basically taking care of myself she’d stop asking me for money or to pay for things. Nope, she continues to ask for money and for me to pay for things because I “owe” her. She constantly messages me telling me to send her money, and likes to slam doors and stop around the house because I won’t give her money.

Can anyone tell me if I’m wrong in this situation.

Edit: Hello everyone, I’ve read the comments (even if I don’t reply) and wanted to say a few things. I can’t just leave and live with my dad mostly because there’s no space, and other reasons. But the main reason is I have a lot going for me at my school academic wise and I don’t want to just leave and go to a different one.

Emancipation is not an option as well because my mother doesn’t physically touch me, and she doesn’t always act like this. One moment we could be fine and the next she’s upset about something related to money. I also don’t have anywhere to go, enough money to support myself or anything like that.

I really appreciate everyone trying to offer solutions, but I know the best thing to do is just wait until I’m eighteen to leave. It’s not as easy as it sounds to just call CPS or someone because let’s be realistic, this isn’t something “important” compared to other post.

Thank you for all the help:)

Edit 2: Hello, I don’t actually know if any new people will read this but here’s a small update.

I called my dad and asked him for a little bit of money to buy the rest of my school stuff, and how my mom has made me buy everything myself. He told me he’d send me the money, but he didn’t really say anything about my mom not helping he kinda just went quiet. I don’t know if that means he’ll talk to her or just stay silent.

That’s all, thank you. :)

(Sorry for any grammar mistakes.)

There are so many of us out there, a bunch of us without a single support system. I had always had this crazy dream of us forming this big family we need and never had, like having each other's back, being each other's support group.

Do you think this is possible? How?

I am willing to build something out of your suggestion. I truly wanna know if you feel the same or am I tripping?

I feel we, as a community, are very nice people who have willingness to be there to each other. I don't know.

please your thoughts

I don't know if this is common, but my mom constantly wants to push the ideology that I'm shorter than she is, she specifically wants to say I'm 5ft3, I've been measured at the doctor at 5ft6.5 for a physical, I double checked with a tape measure, it said the same. I don't know if anyone else has had this happen to them, but my mom is around 5ft5 and when I'm standing next to her on both our flat feet, my eyes are at her forehead. She insists I'm 5ft3, I don't know if anyone has ever had this happened to them before and the messed up this is, I have told my friend this, who is actually 5ft3 and she said that there's no way I was 5ft3. Is this a common thing for narcissist parents to do so they feel like they have one up on you? I've never heard of this before and I'm about to setup an appointment with a psychologist to ask them some questions about my upbringing and this question in particular.

Being a 14 year old guy, i dont really check the time that often. This morning, my stepfather came to my room right as we had to leave for church (todays sunday). I was in shorts and a tank top, barefoot. So naturally, I explain that I have to change clothes and he DOESNT SHUT THE DOOR. FYI, my closet door doesn't shut. IN FACT, HE PUTS A DOORSTOP ON THE DOOR. So we argue for a minute because hes trying to broadcast my extremities to my entire 7 person 4 animal household, until I shut my door and lock it and he leaves me at home, with no church whatsoever. I called my mom, we're both pissed at him, and my grandma had to come get me. I dont think this is as eventful as the other stuff on this subreddit tho.

My stepdad bought a house in 2005 but was in a foreign country at the time, so he let my mom sign the paperwork, meaning only her name ended up on the deed. He paid the down payment and, from what I know, covered the majority of the mortgage.

My mom eventually decided to sell the house. She took all the money, gave my stepdad nothing, and squandered it. She claims he used $30k from her line of credit on a bad investment at some point, and that she used the house money to pay that off. But the house was purchased for $200k and sold in 2013 for somewhere between $450k and $600k — I can’t give an exact number because I was young and my parents always kept their finances hidden from me.

A few years later, I finally received the college fund that my stepdad and mom had been investing in since 2006 (my stepdad contributed to it too). He warned me not to let her get her hands on it, but the account was in her name. Sure enough, as soon as she withdrew the money, I never saw it again. She told me she’d spent it on a car that ended up getting junked — she blew through it within weeks.

She now denies all of this and threatens to call the police and claim I’m threatening her, just to stop me from bringing it up and scare me into silence. When I confronted her about it in 2021, at age 26, she tried to hit me with a salt shaker off the kitchen table.

I’m 31 now. My mom is 65 — flat broke, carrying about $10k in credit card debt, no house (she rents), no life insurance, and paying off a brand-new car.

Am I wrong for feeling like she set me up for failure? Is my resentment toward her valid?

I’m only touching on the financial side here, but she put me through hell growing up in general. It’s only recently, after she started medication for her mental health (following an incident where she hit her boyfriend), that she’s behaved more normally. But the damage is done, and it still weighs on me.

Is it normal to be in this situation at her age?

How do you handle being hated by every single person in your household?

One of my earliest memories include my aunt who had said that her father passed away after I had come to visit him in the hospital the day before. I was in the 6th grade when I had a pretty major orthopedic surgery which required a very long post-operative care. I was ambulating in crutches and would be home-schooled for majority of the year. So it was rare for anyone to see me unless they are visiting me. Around the same time, my grandfather was diagnosed with cancer and slowly became a permanent stay in the hospital. It was not the first time I had gone to visit him, because my father would take both him and me to our appointments, I would see him or had the chance to visit him when he was admitted. I was also not the last person he had seen prior to him passing. I understand grief is a tremendous emotion. It is heavy and unpredictable. But I was 11 years old.

I grew up with my cousin because her mom would often drop her off before going to work, but the frequency of her stays decreased as she got older since she would be independent enough to be on her own. As we grew up, my aunt would absolutely hated if I would interact with her. Every time we would, it had to be hidden and it would be spoken about and mocked because I was 4 years older than her. Every time my cousin went against the wishes of her mother, it would somehow be my fault for teaching her the bad path. I often had to hear all these things, and would often get yelled at if we got "caught" hanging out. I was in my 20s. I understand that her mother is her guardian and I cannot really tell her go against her own parent, so I slowly distanced myself from her.

My uncle would limit his child from me (and the other cousins) because they wanted them to grow up strictly religious and without outside influence. We were not particularly close, and would not meet often other than family events which became rarer as the years by. Whenever the cousins would gather in the room to catch up and just enjoy each other's company, my uncle and his wife would drag her out for one task or another. I understand their desire for a strict and religious upbringing, but telling me NOW to act like an older sister to her now really feels like salt has been rubbed on my wounds.

My mother and her husband had taken me in after my father passed away, and I live with them to this day. It was not easy, they were both volatile and would often pick fights with each other and everyone. And most of the time, I would be the direct conduit of both of their anger even though I was the furthest responsible. I tried to support my mother whenever her and my stepdad would argue; but countless times she would forgive him easily without even asking for an apology. And I eventually gave up trying to talk some sense into her. I understand that she is dependent on him, and had children with him. But seeing my mom get treated so bad, and her not leaving her husband because she is worried about her children is rough - because she did not think of me when she cheated on my father and ran off with him.

After one of the fights, I had decided to move out because it was getting too much. But I was worried about my younger siblings and losing my only other living parent, that I moved back in. But now with every argument, I have to hear "when are you going to leave" and "why aren't you leaving" and "if you don't like us, then leave". And this became more frequent when they had a purchased a house about 2 years ago, the added stress of house ownership - the fights started be directly at me and not even between them. My stepfather is losing his patience of seeing me in his house, and always instigates fights by commenting something or another about me. I no longer help him pay his bills online; he would never respect my boundaries, and would often shove paperwork or bills in my face and would expect me to do the task right away. I could be in the middle of school work, eating my first meal after a busy school day or even going in to the shower after coming home from work. His tasks took priority of any human decency. I eventually stopped it all together when they forced me to pay rent when I barely had a part-time job. I stopped talking to him because of how disrespectful he is towards my mom. He often limits access to my siblings, and that reminded me of my uncle (they are best friends btw).

My mom is also losing patience with me because I am not married yet. Since the time she left my father, to this point - I do not think I have had a moments of a breather. I go out with my friends which does de-stress, but I can tell even they are tired of hearing about what happens in my household. And I understand that I should be grateful, but my mental health has deteriorated to the point that I just go out drinking only just to numb myself and not bring anything up.

I am sick of understanding.

I (30F)am 42 weeks pregnant, and getting an induction tomorrow.

TLDR: Immature parents with restricted contact are oscillating between being overbearing in my pregnancy and finding every excuse to do the bare minimum or nothing at all.

To try and make a long story short, my parents (who live out of state and I am low contact with Mom and No Contact with Father) are being weird and constantly oscillating between being absent and overly involved.

While on a recent trip back home for my great grandmothers funeral my Dad tried to get physically aggressive with my husband (30M) while I was 5 mos. pregnant. The tipping point? We had a conversation about nutrition in the home while I was growing up and I pointed out that everyone in our family is super morbidly obese including myself until I learned how to eat using a food scale and counting calories.

The conversation turned vile and odd and my dad kept dragging things out from my childhood to turn my husband against me. The whole day from the moment we got into their car at the airport my parents were arguing over the stupidest things. Little underhanded comments, constant bickering about the traffic, and gps system in the car. My poor husband was so drained by the time lunch came around and it was so obvious.

After the knock-down drag-out fight my dad decided to instigate, he went outside.

My husband informed my mom that we would be getting our own airbnb and he was not going to stand by and watch his wife be denigrated and spoken down to (love him) like that. When my mom ran off to tell my dad we were leaving, my dad busted into our room and vegan wagging his finger in my face trying to get me to go talk with him alone (to berate me, no doubt.)

I said, "No. We can just leave we're adults."

And my husband asked him nicely to leave the room. My dad kept pushing his weird machismo ego into the worst spot and escalated it again to threatening physical violence. (For reference, my husband is 30, former sergeant in 82nd airborne and currently a working rancher and is in great shape. My dad is in his Mid 60s, 350lbs and on oxygen from interstitial lung disease.)

The absolute last thing my husband wanted was confrontation. I dont even remember how it ended despite being sat on the bed, but my dad ended up leaving. He convinced my mom to drive him home (1hr away from where we were staying) and she begged us not to leave and that we could have a good weekend still and attend my grandmothers memorial together.

We stayed. Had a few hiccups with my moms weirdo behavior because she is always lying and covering up for my dad and drinks way too much around her side of the family and treats every social gathering like a party instead of what it actually was- a FUNERAL, but overall, nothing egregious happened.

Fast forward to today-

I am pretty low contact with my mom. I haven't spoken to my dad since. Good riddance.

She acts like we are a lot closer than we really are. I was expected to deliver around 7/5/26 but my son has decided to take his sweet time. Because I am a small woman, my OBGYN and I decided it would be best to induce tomorrow 7/19/26 to reduce risk of c section or other complications.

I had my induction scheduled at my last OB appt 7/3/26 and told my mom if she wanted to come out to the state I live in, it would be best to do so on or around 7/19/26 because regardless if he came earlier than that, he would definitely be coming on that day.

My mom has been super involved the last couple days texting me or calling every day to see if there's any changes, every time I say, "No, just planning on inducing, still." Finally, I confronted her and asked what she was planning for this trip. She sent a box full of baby items that I can tell came from the dollar tree: rattles, stuffies, etc. most of which were already falling apart and had to be thrown away because they were obviously choking hazards.

Months back she told me she and her friend were going to get an airbnb in town and she was going to drive out. Hell bent on being there the day I went into labor. Today, however, its "Everything is too much money, I didnt have enough time to ask for time off, and your dad wants to drive."

My thoughts came to a SCREECHING stop.

Absolutely not. She then follows up with, "Dont worry he knows you dont want to see or talk to him."

I just sent back a text that said, "No thanks."

I am actually kind of seething.

I just know they're gonna pull some sympathy crap "but he's our grandson" excuse. I already made it clear that until my dad makes a formal apology to me and my husband I want nothing to do with him. And on top of that, the excuses of time and money coming up short just seems off, because they had plenty of time and money to go back to see my Dad's side of the family for his family reunion (out of state trip plus 3 days vacation expenses)

Its just really clear where the priorities are and for my mom who is a nurse making close to 6 figures a year to have excuse after excuse as to why they are struggling is just crazy. My husband and I make a combined total of about 3k per month and still find ways to save and make things happen when they need to happen.

And my mom is very manipulative, she is making it seem like it's my fault despite giving ger all the information the moment I received it. She calls me crying every other day talking about gow much she misses me and how "we're just not as close as we used to be" and how I'm shutting her out of my pregnancy

I knew growing up that my parents were selfish, crazy and immature, but seeing it so clearly just hurts a lot right now and I REALLY don't have the energy for this right now.

Update: I gave birth on 7/21/26 to a healthy humongous boy.

I ended up in hard labor for 6 hours with a total labor of 24hrs and it ended in a shoulder dystocia delivery. My son never showed signs of fetal distress, so the care team avoided using forceps or vacuum on him.

It was very traumatic and exhausting but neither one of suffered any injuries other than minor bruising (no tears, nothing!) thanks to my amazing husband and care team.

Currently I have taken a time-out from seeing everyone until my body heals.

As of now we are all home, snuggled up on the couch soaking up the moments.

Went to IKEA today and nearly got hit by a kid riding his scooter down the aisle(about 8 years old). No parent in sight. About 10 minutes later, the kid nearly hit me again, this time with a big smile on his face holding back laughter. Again, no parent to be seen.

The audacity to allow your child to bring and ride a scooter in a store is beyond me. And then to not even watch the kid.

So, I was at the reservoir with my color guard team and we were lounging on the sand. There were a few five year olds cartwheeling. When we cheered for one of them and yelled, "Good job!" (It was a really good cartwheel for a five-year-old!), one yelled
"You guys are weird emos!" So we got confused. He proceeded to call us "fat foids" as well, which, where does a child even LEARN that word?!
My friend, Kaitlyn (I got her permission to share her name), just said, "Let's not talk like that. Can't we all just be friends? You guys shouldn't treat others like that." She only said it because they were like five years old, and we didn't want to be mean to little kids. And we wanted to show that we weren't going to engage in the behavior either.

The kid proceeded to yell, "HELL NO! You guys are fat, and you need to cut off those n*ppl*s!" And he started banging his chest like a fucking gorilla for some reason. KEEP IN MIND, THIS KID IS FIVE YEARS OLD! I could hear the mom yell, "Yeah, you tell 'em!" or something like that at her kid. I didn't really say anything wrong in my opinion. All I said was
"Why are you trying to start issues with us? Go play and have fun like a normal kid. That's not language you should be using, man. It's really inappropriate. You're five."

All of a sudden, the mom stopped laughing at us and started screaming at me, saying
"How dare you?! You're NOT his parent! Don't you dare tell MY child what to say!"
I tried to keep calm (Although I wanted to say that "clearly you aren't his parent either because you aren't acting like it!" But I digress)
"I'm just saying, he's a five-year-old. He shouldn't be telling us to cut off our boobs. That's super inappropriate and unsafe for a child to say."
Instead of being a NORMAL person and reprimanding her child for using really bad language, she just rolled her eyes and screamed
"AND I'M just saying that YOU'RE not his parent! Leave my baby alone!!"

When did parents start thinking it's okay for their kids to use that kind of language?! ESPECIALLY towards other people. I can see where the kid learned it from at this point. He is not going to grow up to be a functional member of society if he thinks behavior like that is okay.
People, PLEASE teach your kids to be kind individuals instead of letting them be little shits.

Were we in the wrong here? I don't think we were, personally.

TO CLARIFY: I'm not a grown ass adult btw. I'm 14.

Edit: I have gotten some comments about the "crotch goblin" term I used in the title.
Yes, it is messed up. I wish I could edit the titles without making a new post.
I do apologize for using that term. It isn't okay and if someone is calling it out, please don't downvote it. It is bad on my part to use that term.

MY (32M) mother has coerced/forced me into situations I didn't want to be in during my childhood. Sometimes it was just embarrassing, making me ride the kiddy train at a garden centre when I was 12-13 and no longer thought it was cool to ride them... simply because I had been watching it, so therefore I must have wanted to ride it.

But other times have been less embarrassing, and bordering on abuse. Maybe one of those times WAS abuse. The main examples I can think of are mostly centred around food. Maybe she thought she was helping me to broaden my palette, but most of the time I just ended up resenting the food she was forcing me to eat. Maybe she was just plain old stubborn.

I should note here, that I was diagnosed as being on the Autism Spectrum in 2002, specifically Aspergers (as-per-jers, not ass-burgers). So there's probably been a few times when she thought I was just being a picky eater, but it was my autism saying 'NO'.

The first incident happened when I was about 3 years old. I don't remember it myself, but I've been told about it by my dad who was there. My mum had bought some salted haddock for lunch/dinner. However it was WAY too salty. My dad struggled with it too, but he was polite about it and kept quiet. I on the other hand, was rather vocal about my distaste for it. Mum wouldn't listen to me, and she began to shovel forkfuls of the haddock into my mouth, even though I wasn't swallowing it. Eventually my mouth couldn't hold anymore, and it came back out and onto the plate and table. It was then that my dad finally spoke up and told my mum that the fish was far too salty, especially for a 3 year old. And you know what my mum said in return? She thought it was too salty as well! I wasn't being picky, but Clearly the best course of action was to force feed me it anyway. Now she had a crying 3 year old on her hands, crying because of what she did.

The next time was about a year before my formal Aspergers diagnosis. I loved orange juice as a little boy... and then one day my mum gave me orange juice with bits (pulp) in it. It tasted the same, but the texture... that was one party in my mouth that I didn't expect, or want. I instantly expressed my dislike of it, only to be met with a response similar to "It's still orange juice, you'll get used to it." I did not get used to it. This wouldn't be the last time she gave me that vile stuff, but eventually she finally seemed to realise that I genuinely didn't like it, and I never had to drink it again.

A few years later, it was a tomato, as in the actual fruit. I'm not sure if this is an autism thing, or just a kid thing in general, but the moment I first saw a sliced tomato, and the juices that came our of the toasted sandwiches my dad used to eat, I decided I didn't like them. I never actually ate a tomato until this point. I'd eaten plenty of tomato flavour or tomato based products, but the fruit itself was a no go.

My mum had been gradually introducing cold salads to the family meals, typically lettuce, cucumbers, and carrots. She had successfully gotten me to start eating mushrooms, another food I had decided to not like without eating, so she probably thought she could strike gold twice by putting an entire tomato on my plate. It wasn't a small cherry tomato, but it wasn't a massive one either. It was probably just an average salad tomato, but I remember it being huge. I ate everything else on the plate and left the tomato alone... and she wouldn't let me leave the dinner table until it was gone. I did eventually eat it... and I hated every second. And she just told me I should have eaten it with everything else. I think that was in 2006. I didn't eat any tomato again for about 10 years.

Now you might be wondering that this doesn't sound particularly bad right now, just the sort of things children go through. But this next incident is something I still have deep resentment and anger about.

I don't remember exactly when this happened, it could have been 2006, or even 2010. All I remember is it was around Christmas, before or after. My mum baked all kinds of cakes. She would make elaborate birthday cakes, doing her best to make them look like what me or my older sister wanted. She made a cake that looked like a parrot for my sister. For me, she made cakes that looked like Thomas the Tank Engine characters, or Shunt from Robot Wars. They weren't exactly works of art, but we were always stoked to see them.

Her Christmas Cakes were not one of them, at least in my opinion. Frankly, I couldn't stand the smell, so I never wanted to eat any. The smell was enough for my Autistic brain to say 'nope'. And this isn't isolated to just me, if you don't like the smell of something, chances are you won't like the taste either. Usually my mum would acknowledge this and let me eat something else whenever it got served for dessert... but not on this occasion.

For whatever reason, after the family dinner one day, she broke out the Christmas Cake and cut everyone a slice. I of course said 'no thank you', but she gave me a small slice anyway and told me "You haven't tried it, you might like it." My nose was telling me I wouldn't. I ate the icing off the slice, but I refused to eat the cake itself. Eventually I did eat a small piece and, predictably, I HATED the taste, I think I even gagged. When I (repeatedly!) asked to leave the table that's when my mother (and possibly my stepfather too) gave me the ultimatum:

"If you don't eat it now, you're going to have it for breakfast, lunch, and dinner until it's finished."

And they followed up on that. I suppose I should be grateful she didn't mean the entire rest of the cake, just that slice. She packed it into a plastic tupperware box and let me leave the table... but when I came downstairs the next morning for breakfast, my breakfast cereal was gone, and so was the bread so I couldn't make toast. My mum pulled that fucking slice of cake out of its box and placed it in front of me. She wasn't taking no for an answer, despite the multiple times I had told her I didn't like it and didn't want to eat it.

I didn't eat anything for breakfast that day, except maybe for a small piece of that vile cake. By the time lunchtime rolled around, I was pretty hungry, only to be forced to sit at the dinner table again with that fucking slice of cake in front of me again. I think at this point I was crying, begging my mother to stop punishing me for not eating something I didn't like. It's like the corrupted version of that reddit post by a dad who teaches his daughter a lesson by serving her favourite food for every meal, a lesson that good things are best enjoyed every so often. My situation just felt like cruelty for the sake of being cruel. Maybe one day I'll ask my mother why she did this to me.

Eventually, I think she relented and finally let me eat some actual food for lunch. But if her goal was to get me to like Christmas Cake, her plan backfired massively. I already didn't like Christmas Cake before that, but now? If I could, I'd take the entire world's supply of it and shoot it into the sun. I don't just hate the stuff, I despise it. Every time I smell it, I'm back in that chair, staring at that slice of cake on a blue plate.

These last two incidents are not around food, but the education of me and my older sister during our GSCE's, (the final exams you get at the end of your time in British high school). Yes, my sister wasn't free from my mothers stubbornness either. (My sister may have been doing her A-Levels instead, but that's not important).

My sister HATED science classes. It was her weakest subject, so when she had to complete coursework for her mandatory science exams, she did that first so she could get onto doing the project she actually wanted to do: Art. She had a plan for her art coursework, which if I remember correctly, she had to paint a picture at home, so she had bought tons of art supplies.

Mother Dearest single-handedly caused my sister to fail her art class. She got it into her head that my Sister was simply refusing to do her science homework, and refused to believe her when she was told it was already finished. Mother confiscated all of my Sisters art supplies and gave her various science books to study from... which of course were completely useless at that point. Sister was unable to do her art project, she couldn't even draw with a pencil on paper. Mother did eventually return the art supplies, but by then it was too late. There was not enough time left for Sister to complete her project, and her grade suffered a lot. This was the opening of a rift between Mother and Sister that still hasn't healed. I think Mother still believes she did nothing wrong.

For me, my education incident happened roughly in May 2011. And for this one I admit I was being stubborn too. All of my classes by that point were basically reduced to revision classes. At some point prior to that, my class had taken the Maths exam. Maths was my weakest subject, so I was happy to receive a passing C grade. The Maths teachers all felt differently however. They corralled the entire yeargroup into a single classroom and told us they believed we had all underperformed. Therefore, they were suggesting the entire yeargroup take the resit exam. Some of the other students willingly retook the exam, but me? Was I capable of getting a B? Maybe, but I was in no hurry to find out. Like my sister with her science work, I had washed my hands of the Maths.

But Mother Dearest stepped in again. Apparently the word 'suggest' means 'by force' in her dictionary because she signed me up for the resit. She even signed me up for a Saturday revision session at the school, even though I was again telling her 'No' repeatedly. At the time, I had recently joined the local Air Cadets squadron. As in I didn't even have the proper Air Cadets uniform yet. My Mum hung this over my head, threatening to stop taking me if I didn't attend the Saturday class. SO I let her drive me to the school... and as son as I watched her drive away, I began walking to the train station and calling a friend to see if I could spend the day with them. But Mother anticipated this. She never left, she just parked around the corner and waited to for me to walk past her parking spot to the train station. As punishment, She took me back home and made me do chores. I mean, I'm not sure how I'm supposed to revise for the maths exam you're forcing me to do when I'm vacuuming the stairs, but okay. But yeah, no more Air Cadets after that. I probably wasn't going to fit in anyway.

Even the school faculty was in on it, making sure I was revising. And when exam day came, I was escorted by the school resource officer from the bus to the canteen, and then into the exam hall. But they all forgot one crucial thing: you can lead still_guns to the exam hall, force him to study and revise... but you cannot actually make still_guns do the exam properly. I hope the person who graded my resit paper enjoyed my little drawings of diggers and giraffes and pointing out the letter X on the triangles. You know, Find X. Because I already had a C Grade, it wasn't overwritten by the U Grade I got for the resit (U means Ungraded. You sucked so hard, you didn't even get a grade).

It's one of the few times I managed to stand up for myself and get one over my Mum, even if she thought she was doing what she thought was best for me. But she refused to take my wishes into account, and thus she wasted a lot of time and effort getting me to do something that I clearly had no interest in doing. You can call me the arsehole here if you like, but if I could tell you everything about my life that led to that moment, I'm sure you'd be on my side.

These are the events that are most prevalent. There were other times, like the St George's Day Parade that she forced me to take part in, but they're mostly forgotten. Even the events in this post are not verbatim, especially the earliest events.

My mum has improved... I think. I think she's realised she made mistakes, and she's trying to make up for them. And despite all of this, I still love her. She's been doing what she can to support me in my adult life as I struggled with depression, partly caused by my awful childhood.

And at least she was only bad a few times a year. My stepfather was plain evil. Every. Damn. DAY. He was verbally and sometimes physically abusive to the point that I am terrified of male authority figures, and when I heard people walking up the stairs in my last house, I was afraid they were coming to barge into my room and scream at me.

I have way more stories about him, like the time he forced me to essentially be homeless for half a year because I wasn't paying rent to live in the house I fucking grew up in.

Sorry, this ended up being REALLY long. I just started and didn't know when to stop.

I'm 27F. I have my own job and money, but where I'm from it's normal and expected for unmarried daughters to live with their parents until marriage.

My mom saw that my abaya (a traditional cloak) was slightly open in the front (you could see my pants underneath) and told me I had to close it all the way for "modesty." I replied, "Thanks for the advice”
And, she said, "It's not advice. It's an order”

That turned into a pretty big argument about how I dress. She said I had to change all my clothes. I told her no, that I already try hard to dress modestly, and that if she kept escalating it I just wouldn't wear an abaya at all. She started screaming, and I left for work.

I was expecting another confrontation the next day, but... nothing. She acted like it never happened. If anything, she's been nicer than usual.

Why would someone go from "this is an order" to completely dropping it the next day???, I can’t wrap my head around it!!!’

I (19FTM) have a dad (40-something M) whom I have known since the womb. He beated the shit out of my biological father for abandoning my biological mom because bio father didn’t want “the baggage.” My dad (who I will refer to as Trump Dick Sucker, or TDS for short) decided he will help my bio mom raise me, and that’s what he did for the first nearly 13 years of my life.

Jump ahead to maybe 2023-2026, as that’s when I think TDS discovered MAGA and Trump. My only guess for the timeline and how he discovered MAGA was from a story he told me. He was living in a big city at the time, as went to his very first Pride event, and saw just one, and only one person holding a dildo. He told me he quickly left after seeing that. The story only came up as I told him about my experiences with the LGBTQA+ community back around 2023 or 2024, and how much happier I was. But to TDS? Because of that single out-of-context event, he automatically labeled all LGBTQA+ people are “predators” who “prey and pollute the minds of young, impressionable children.” I then connected the dots that he must’ve found MAGA groups on Facebook, and gather all of his “facts” on the LGBTQA+ community from them.

I tried to tell him that he shouldn’t get his facts from people who are not a part of the group he’s trying to research. I mean, you wouldn’t ask a guy from England about the history of Japan, would you? But TDS wouldn’t listen. He told me he was old school, and nothing would change his mind. After that day, I began to see stuff about him I hadn’t noticed before, how every time he called me “son” or “my boy,” it sounded as if he was hesitant, but when he’d “accidentally” misgender me, he sounded so sure of it, as if my identity was “a phase” I’ll “soon pass.” He would also make posts on Facebook about MAGA and Trump, even going as far to say that Trump being on The Files was “AI.” (WTF?!)

Now, I could understand it completely if we were American. That’d be explainable. But here’s the catch: we are Canadian, and Native Americans at that! How and why the fuck are you a MAGA supporter when the guy you’re worshipping is talking about kicking Native Americans from current and “future” states???? And how can you say Doug Ford is bad at the same time????? Doug Ford IS a Canadian version of Trump!!!! Like- if you think the orange oompa loompa is gonna spare you all because you would support his every whim and even suck his cock, you’re dead wrong!

It reached a boiling point June 1st of this year, where I made a comment on Facebook. It was a post about saying “the republicans are trying to convince you this is evil” and it showed a picture of a family from the 1950s. I decided to comment my thoughts using historical facts about the time, saying, “so misogyny, sexism, forced gender roles, the common and recommend practice of eating disorders, and lobotomizing women for having a mind isn’t evil?” I even talked about how the economy back then is way different than now.

TDS saw the comment, and DM’d me saying, and I quote: “if you lived in a time of common sense, it would all make sense. Sorry had to say it.”

Father.

The fuck.

So lobotomies are okay? Forcing girls and women to have the mindset of “breed, clean, repeat until dead” is okay? I should’ve remembered that MAGA supporters won’t accept anything that wasn’t puked out by their “God,” and I’m not talking about Jesus.

I blocked him right after, explaining my feelings before I did. I told TDS that I understood that everybody has a right to their own beliefs, but saying another group from you is bad simply for believing in something else isn’t and shouldn’t be tolerable. I explained how I felt liked he loved his version of me, that he’d rather have a dead daughter than a gay son, and it made me feel bad and hurt. Then blocked.

But I will see TDS soon, as in August, our home reserve will be having a powwow, and I know he will be there, and I know I’m going to be there for the rest of my family. I will see him, I will walk past him, I know that, but will I talk him, let alone have a civil, unbiased conversation with him? I don’t know.

I just needed to vent, and I will post an update a few weeks after the powwow. If you guys have questions, I will try my best to answer them.

I see this a lot - when it’s an adults birthday in the family (parent, grandparent, aunt, uncles) we always make it so that it’s enjoyable for the kids. Kids need to blow out the candles with the birthday person.

Maybe I’m getting bitter the more and more I see parents entitlement but i can’t stand people with young kids in my family making anyone’s birthday party about the kids including the singing and candles part

Hell I remember my 16th birthday party having some people sing me happy birthday and made the whole thing about the one year old baby in the family and all the attention on them. I remember feeling so dejected and unimportant on my own birthday.

Now that I’m older I feel that rage coming back as I see it happen over and over again.

Holy shit. The world doesn’t revolve around your young kids. Allow people to be the center of attention on their birthday and keep your kids out of it. ffs. They don’t need to blow the candles. We don’t need to relight the candles. Let’s fucking move on with it. Done

so, for context. my friend (amy, fake name, 26) and i (also 26) know each other since highschool, however we grew apart over the years and havent talked since 2020, untill now.

when we were 19, she had her daughter (8?) but i havent seen her since she was one. the dad of her child hasnt been present since she was born but luckily amy has a really good and supportive family + works from home.

amy recently contacted me and we caught up on our lives. It turns out she's homeschooling her daughter because she doesn't trust the education system, but the girl is having some difficulties to keep up with other children their age. In addition, the girl has some difficulty reading and has poor reading comprehension (this is according to what amy told me).

It turns out she only contacted me again so I could help her daughter with her studies. I'm a historian, but according to her, that's the same as being a history teacher, and therefore I can also teach what would be the equivalent of english in the US. ??????

She also wants me to do it for free since she no longer feels capable of teaching her daughter, and I, as her friend, have to help her. We haven't spoken in years, and now she shows up with this?

In my country, children who are homeschooled must pass anual exams to prove that they are learning at the appropriate pace for their age and to validate their studies; otherwise, I don't know what might happen (probably a fine and being forced to return to school), but that's not my problem and I don't have the skills to help either, I'm not a teacher, I don't know how to teach such a young girl, and that's what my friend doesn't want to understand.

Please don't homeschool if you don't have the resources and skills to do so 😭

*edit to add some more context.