“I Throw Away Stained Tupperware”: 50 Generational Curses People Are Enjoying Breaking

The author of the post, Tee, told Bored Panda via email that she has built up a community of parents who aim to break generational curses. "A lot of the questions I pose to my followers are ones that are seen as 'taboo.' I was inspired to ask this question because typically my videos or posts are heavy. I wanted to stay on trend with my content but also lighten it up a bit," she opened up about the inspiration behind her post.

"While I was unloading the dishwasher one day, I casually began to throw stained Tupperware away. I realized this was something I’ve been doing for years now. Thinking back, my mother and my grandma would never! I always hated using stained bowls for cereal as a kid, so now, I’m ditching them. I love that the post has gotten the traction it has. I’ve had tons of posts on Facebook, TikTok, and Instagram go viral but I knew I was onto something with this post within the first 10 minutes; there were over 100 comments."

The speed at which her post went viral was nothing short of astonishing. "I have a following of over 130k on TikTok and before I could take the post and post it to my account, it had already gone viral. That tickled me. I believe it resonated with so many people because it’s real. I feel as though it opened people’s eyes to the things they are doing differently than their parents and families," Tee told Bored Panda.

"Often times when breaking generational curses is discussed it's in reference to education or careers. No one talks about not eating hotdogs and hamburgers on regular sandwich bread. Instead, breaking that tradition and buying hamburger and hot dog buns because no one likes soggy bread."

For Tee, conscious parenting (aka gentle parenting) is absolutely key. And its core you'll find compassion and communication. "In my opinion, when I think of a great parent, I think about one that can flex and flow. Be adaptable. Children/teenagers go through so many phases in their adolescent years and they need a parent that will be supportive and open to them going (flowing) in a different direction than what they would’ve chosen. This is not to say we as parents shouldn’t guide them, but we should foster an environment for them to feel like they have a safe space to make decisions."

According to the digital creator, some other signs of a great parent include being compassionate, showing empathy, being respectful, and setting boundaries,

"It is my passion to help others create a safe space for their child and to help them better communicate with them. I self-published parent/child shared journals that are available on Amazon earlier this year. This is something my mom and I did when I was a child/teen growing up. We wrote in a notebook and passed it back and forth. It was a great way for me to express myself and ask hard questions," Tee pitched the idea that some of the parents reading this might want to embrace.

"This truly helped me as a child to communicate and it helped my mom to understand me better. All in all, my goal is to give today’s children the opportunity to say how they truly feel about situations unlike a lot of millennials were able to do growing up. Another generational curse broken!"

Tee’s Facebook post made huge waves on social media, as well as other corners of the net. The topic she drew attention to resonated with people so much that even TikTok and media outlets picked it up. TikToker Christal Luster's video which incorporated Tee’s post ended up getting over 716k views and inspired other platform users to make their own clips.

The topic that Tee drew attention to might sound lighthearted on the surface, but it’s actually very serious. It speaks volumes about all the different behaviors that people unknowingly adopt from their parents while growing up, and how they automatically pass those on upon having kids themselves. Some of these might be very healthy. Others… less so.

It’s completely normal that different families will have different approaches to parenting. And it’s important to recognize the fact that, so long as nobody is being neglected or abused, it’s fine to raise kids one way or the other. Parenting is a touchy subject, and there’s no one-size-fits-all approach.

However, certain styles of parenting are known to be more effective than others. Case in point, research shows that authoritative parents tend to raise children who are the most self-confident, successful, and self-reliant. Despite the somewhat imposing name, authoritative parents strike a balance between setting and enforcing healthy boundaries and communicating with their kids. 

Authoritative parents focus on providing their children with structure and support while maintaining as much transparency as possible. Contrast that with authoritarian parents who don’t explain their reasoning and expect their kids to do what they say, when they say it.

Two other well-known parenting styles are permissive and uninvolved parenting. The former is all about giving kids the freedom to do what they want without micromanaging them. The drawback, however, is that there’s often a lack of boundaries and rules. This, in turn, can make it difficult for children raised this way to thrive in more orderly environments as they grow up, like university or work.

Meanwhile, uninvolved parents often neglect any and all responsibilities and leave their kids to fend for themselves. They might be uninterested in parenting or they might simply not have the time to be more involved. In short, children thrive when there’s structure, but not to the point where it becomes suffocating. Too much structure, like too much freedom, can backfire.

Similarly, kids need emotional support, but not to the point that their parents forbid them from making mistakes. So-called helicopter parents tend to be overbearing, and they restrict their children’s activities far too much and often won’t let them behave like, well, kids. By protecting their kids from any and all possible discomfort, helicopter parents can cause a lot of harm. That’s because their children don’t develop useful life skills like the ability to think and act independently. They also tend to be bad at handling stress and failure. 

Fostering positive traditions with your children comes down to spending quality time with them. It doesn’t quite matter what you do, so long as you do it together. So your family traditions can end up being quite fun and quirky. One of the upsides is that you create a sense of predictability and routine in your lives. And it’s often something to look forward to. However, parents ought to remember that they might have to modify these routines and rituals as their kids grow, change, and mature.

Which of these ‘unserious’ generational curses did you find to be the most witty and weird, dear Pandas? Do you have any bizarre traditions that have been passed down from generation to generation in your family? What kinds of new traditions have you developed at home since you’ve become parents? Drop by the comment section to share your thoughts!