129 Things Our Parents Told Us As Kids That We Realized Were Toxic Only When We Became Adults

Eating disorder, here I come !

I was the "golden" child when a parent compared my brother to me. I didn't realize it at the time, but it put more of a wedge between us. He shouldn't have been expected to be able to behave in a manner four years older than his level, but if he didn't, it meant more beatings and screaming... leading to even greater efforts at perfection on my part (because sometimes the abuse towards him would come my way too)... leading to him never being able to "be more like your sister." 💔

"So you CAN do it?"

whenever ive been told this its never with bad intent, just an observation. But it still destroyed me.

I hated hearing this as a child

It's not ok decide every aspect of your child's life and future on the ground "I know what's best of you" of course, but it's ok to prevent your toddler to jump from the balcony trying to emulate superman on the ground "I know what it's best for you". The sentence alone doesn't mean anything without a specific context

But in some instances I do. Case in point, it's good for you to wear a helmet when you ride your bike.

I usually make mistakes for one of the 3 reasons 1. My neurodivergent a*s wasn't paying attention enough 2. I indeed did not know something and thus a mistake 3. I trusted my parents/their judgement 1 and 3 are very, very common

I've been told this my entire life! "Don't eat that icecream, you will become a pig!" "Don't eat that [fried] chicken, you will get fat!" "Don't eat that burger, you want to be cow?" Well, I grew up fat anyways, even if I did stay away from those things. I was really sad when my cousins got to eat icecream at the beach and I couldn't....

welcome to reason 1628152717262618819 why i now have anorexia

Without some sort of context, I fail to see how this is toxic. Parents get to make the house rules.

this phrase is proof that they didnt

Emotional blackmail. I remember reading this post where a mom forced her 3 year old to breastfeed so her chest wouldn't hurt. Some people just should NOT be parents.

Oh! Look, im first here. “You guys NEVER respond first!” (Meant as joke plz no downvote)

Bookworm

Bookworm

Community Member • points

posts

comments

upvotes

FollowUnfollow

Premium

Premium user. Get details.

My mother is one of these people. One event (that she probably voluntold us for) where we didn't help as much as she wanted us to: 'You never help me with anything!' Made it hard to hear 'You girls were such a big help with this!' with anything besides relief that we weren't getting yelled at, because I knew it didn't matter one bit the next time she decided we weren't helpful enough.

Hello, imposter syndrome!! 👋

And yet… Greta Thunberg. Emma Gonzalez. Malala Yousafzai. Jazz Jennings. (There are boys too but I don’t have any off the top of my head).

Yep

Only acceptable in doctor’s office/describing being ill

I used to have regular evening panic attacks (0 stars. would not recommend) and my mom can’t deal with anything after 8:30- I don’t judge her, emotional disregulation is real, literally why I had said panic attacks- so it would usually end up with her yelling at me to shut up or go away, me being physically incapable of moving and just straight-up bawling, and dad being the pissed off mediator.

Oh my goodness! What an idea! Why didn’t I think of that?! /s

Then hits me to get me to stop crying only for me to cry more??? Like where's the logic? She doesn't do that anymore but it was stupid when she did

I was told this by my bipolar mother when I was 16. I was having my own mental health breakdown, my parents had just divorced, I wanted my mum but she was off smoking weed, boinking any men she could find and riding around on motorbikes. I got told I was too clingy and that I was 16, I was old enough to look after myself. I moved out not long afterwards and I've lived on my own every since. Mum has since apologised to me for this because she's now being treated for her bipolar and has been stable for years. She says she feels shame for how she treated me.

Wow, today's lesson seems to be context context context!!!!!

depends on what they did, if they did something f****d up like stealing an old lady's purse it makes sense

When will our world have equal opportunities for both genders? Did you know that if women farmers were given the same resources as men, we would achieve the SDG goal of ZERO HUNGER. Gender Inequality is tied to a lot of the other goals, you know.

Please argue with me, I'm good at it and I want my kid to be able to hold her own with anybody, not to mention lots of Kudos when her points are valid and much praise when she manages to bring me round to her take on things!!!

for people who havnt been told this and nont see it as toxic, its usually said in responce to a child asking their parent to do something that the child cannot or to be a parent.

Don't come crawling to me when I become a MILLIONAIRE!!!! (Confidence is key to success, IMO).

I don't know how. I've never been my age, before.

🎵My friends say I should act my age. What's my age again? What's my age again? 🎵

Pov: you tell Edward to stop being edgy

My ex husband gave me an ultimatum. The baby or me. I was 10 weeks pregnant. I had my baby as a single mam at 17. I would never,ever of blamed my son fir that situation. He did nit ask to be born. Some parents are so nasty

Kids don't have a say in being born so she left because of ur choices as parents and partners.

Once again context is everything. If a 12 year old did the dishes and left crusty chunks on everything, this sentence would be absolutely fair.

Ah, the theme song of my childhood.

My mum when it comes to LGBT+

Pov: you ask your teacher about the aerodynamics of a raw uncooked chicken

Well

my mom made me listen to classical music a lot as a little kid (like very little, ages 3-5) cuz she says it'll make me smart when i'm older, now she disapproves of me listening to classical music while studying cuz apparently it makes me not concentrate. meanwhile she's blaring those old-school chinese songs on speaker. i guess anything that's not Mozart or Beethoven isn't classical music. smh

Ur right parent cuz I'm just.like u!!!

children see their parents as rolemodels. this can cause them to develop an eating disorder as a result of their parents own poor self image.

*burp. fart. toe tapping. dress covered in stains because REBEL AGAINST THE FORMALWEAR. playing with food. scratching butt. picking nose* “Huh? Sorry, I couldn’t hear you over me not caring!”

*lets out a big burp* Is this better?