" I was somewhat untried and I call back it was a normal life stage . "
Warning : This post mentions childhood negligence and maltreatment .
A few days ago, Reddit userveloraeposted to the popularAsk Redditpageasking, “What’s a ‘harmless’ thing from your childhood that’s actually kind of dark in hindsight?” and the answers ranged from fascinating to absolutely horrifying. Naturally, I had to share; so, here are some of the best answers:
1.“We had a highway in our backyard and whenever there was an accident, my father would get the flashlight and take me and we’d go to investigate.”
2.“As a child, I would have to call the local bar, ask for my father, and then ask him to come home. I thought I was being a helpful kid and telling Daddy how I missed him but in reality, I was used as a way to guilt my dad into coming home.”
3.“Thinking nothing of bomb detectors being fitted on every car we had, regular bombs going off in local towns, speaking to people in town with your parents and they were shot or blown up a few days later, and daily vehicle checkpoints were just life and normal. Then, going to races, and if there were no fatalities, it was seen as a good event.”
4.“My mum is obsessed with puppies, kittens, and babies to an extent. As a child, it was normal for us to have two or three dogs and cats at once, and being the oldest child, I was expected to look after them and train them.”
5.“At the age of 8, I was cooking pancakes and eggs, changing diapers, and babysitting the baby for hours a day. Nah, I was raising myself and my brother, like my sister did for me.”
6.“My mom had breast cancer when I was pretty young and I thought it was a normal life stage. Once I was drawing pictures of myself throughout my life and I drew myself in grade school, then in college, then when I got my first job, when I got married, had kids, had breast cancer, retired, had grandkids, etc. Like each of those things were normal milestones.”
7.“When I was 8 or 9, my older male cousins would send me into the convenience store with money to buy whatever they wanted because the guy at the counter would always give me free stuff if I was alone.”
8.“I had a baby raccoon called Coonie! He was my best friend!”
9.“When my grandma died, I was 15 and the baby in the family. She died in her own bed in her bedroom. There was such an influx of relatives over her last 48 hours that the house ran out of room, including blowup mattresses, couches, etc. My uncle down the street similarly ran out of room. The one unoccupied room was Grandma’s bedroom.”
10.“I had a garage refrigerator full of canned soda in nearly every brand and flavor, with no limitations or restrictions on how many I could have. Needless to say, I hated water for much of my life and still struggle to drink it without adding flavoring. Proud to say, I haven’t had a single soda in three years!”
11.“I grew up in an alcoholic household. It was a vodka house. When I was 7, I started mixing and serving drinks to my parents and their friends while they ‘partied.’ I was just happy to be included.”
12.“My mom never allowed me to have junk food at home. When I was around 10, my parents got divorced, and she started going on dates. On her date nights, she would let me have a bag of chips, but only if I ate them in my closet while she left for her date.”
13.“In the early ’00s when my brother was 6, I was 5, and our youngest brother was 3, our mom used to leave us at home while she worked second shift, or for a day if she was doing something with her friends.”
14.“Candy cigarettes.”
15.“In kindergarten, we got a substitute teacher who announced that she would be staying as our teacher for the rest of the year. She was a really nice lady and I liked her more anyway, so yay!”
16.“My brother and I would pick up used chewing gum from the sidewalk and chew it in the ’80s. I told our older sister a month ago, and she about barfed.”
17.“When my uncle would give me a ride and let me hold the steering wheel in his pickup truck so he could open another beer.”
18.“My mom used to have me come up to her smoking spot in the house for ‘gossip time,’ which actually meant I would watch my mom get blackout drunk, get second-hand smoke, and then she would offer smokes or booze to keep me around. I thought it was cool that I was so adult for my age.”
19.“My entire childhood was wild. My mom used to get us all in the car, or a friend’s car, and take us on vacation to different states, and once to Canada. She was hiding us from CPS. We finally got picked up at school on April Fool’s Day!”
20.“Being born to ‘old’ parents, my mother was 45 and dad was 48 when I was born. As a kid it was fun and I was rather spoiled (had more money, a larger house, etc. than my friends with parents in their 20s/30s).”
21.“Coming home from school or waking up home alone and being terrified that the rapture happened and I was left alone.”
22.And finally: “When I was a child, any time a boy would hurt me emotionally or physically (biting, pulling out my hair, kicking me, throwing pencils and erasers at my head, etc.) my teachers used to tell my parents it was because, ‘clearly the boy just has a little crush on her.'”
So, what do you think? I want hear all your thoughts down below. Or, feel free to talk about your own childhood story you used to think was “harmless” but was actually kind of dark in hindsight.
If you are interested that a baby is live or may be in danger of revilement , you’re able to call or text theNational Child misuse Hotlineat 1 - 800 - 422 - 4453(4.A.CHILD ) ; service can be provided in over 140 languages .
Note: Some comments have been edited for length and/or clarity.
