Kids can be really hurtful, even when they don’t mean to be. Especially to their parents. All parents do is work nonstop to make their kids’ lives as comfortable as possible, and a lot of times kids don’t know it. And even if they do, they can still be cruel cause they’re basically oblivious.
AskReddit users shared stories about their things their kids did that hurt their feelings.
1. Ouch
“Four year old – “Daddy, I love you.”
Me – “Thanks bug, I love you too.”
Four year old – “Daddy, I love mommy more though.” “
2. Daddying
“I have a daughter, 12. We’ve always been pretty close, and in most ways we still are. We’ve always done everything together… but, she’s at the age now where friends, etc. are becoming more important. I’ll bring up something we can do, like watching a movie that I think she’ll like. Five minutes in, she’ll get a message from a friend, light up, and just disappear for the rest of the movie.
Now, I get it. I’m sure I was like that too. I’m not gonna freak out about it or anything… but I’d be lying if I said it didn’t hurt my feelings a little now and then.
Dads just want to keep daddying.”
3. The other side
“I’m speaking from the kids side, but sharing it because I was devastated the other day to hear my moms side…
When I was young, my brothers and I would tease my mom’s singing voice every time we sang together (church, scouting events, whatevs). From our side of things, it truly was done very lightheartedly. I loved singing with my mom, her crooked voice was part of that love.
A few days ago, I was driving with her. She’s in her 70s. A great song came on the radio that I know she loves and I started to sing along, asking her to join me. She did a little, but soon stopped. I asked her why she wouldn’t sing with me.
“Because I have a funny voice.” “
4. Ice cold
“When my daughter was 5, I let her watch the Lion King. She’s a fairly emotional little thing, so we were concerned about how she’d react to the death of the father.
We get to the scene, and I’m watching her carefully, but there’s no big reaction… this is a kid who cries during some commercials. Anyways, I don’t beg the issue and let it roll. Later in the movie she asks where Simba’s dad is, and I think, “here we go.” I pause the movie and talk with her about how he died in the stampede. Her reaction…
“What’s the big deal, he still has his mom.” Ice cold.”
5. At least he’s guilty now
“One Halloween when my son was like 4 our little nuclear family went to a corn maze for fun. To make things a little more exciting the proprietors had also set a tipi with a giant pumpkin inside. You were suppose to go into the tipi and make a wish on the pumpkin. So we sent my son in make a wish and he says “I wish it was just me and mommy and daddy was at work.”
My heart shrank three sizes that day. He’s 20 now and is still mortified with guilt over saying this.”
6. Brat
“Every morning as a kid I was always woke up to the sound of my mom singing. It was her way of “wake up it’s time for school.” I’d sometimes wait beside my door or pretend to sleep just to listen to her more. When I was 10, I was in a bad mood and my mom was singing while driving, I yelled at her “stop singing! you don’t even sound good.” She stopped singing after that.”
7. No thanks
“I didn’t realize this until my sister started doing it (there’s seven years between us). My Mum was a teacher, so when I had homework, it made sense to go to “the teacher” for help. I never asked my Dad because I didn’t see the point.
My sister starts school and does the same with her homework. One night he said “I can help you with it” and my sister, who was about 7/8 at the time walked past him and said, “no thanks, I’ll just wait for Mum to get home.”
He looked really upset. I think it was the assumption we thought he was stupid (we didn’t) or we didn’t want to spend time with him (not always true).”
8. This is depressing
“When my daughter gets a night terror at night she will tell me crying, that she wished I died instead of mommy…. She hasn’t done it for a couple of months now but, it hurts more than I can bear. I calm her down and get her back to sleep and usually go to my room and cry.”
9. It gets to me…
“My four year old is always talking about how she wants her mom to do things because she loves her mama. She spent the first three years of her life saying she didn’t like me. 🙁
I know she’s just a little girl, but once in a while it gets to me.”
10. Ungrateful
“I spent thousands of dollars in court to stand up to my ex-wife so my son could attend an internship his senior year.
He didn’t finish the internship, accused me of never supporting him and then went to live with his mother after he graduated because he wanted to smoke, forgetting the experience he learned during his internship.”
11. Fighting
“Fight, where they really try to hurt each other. I had no idea as a kid how bad it is for the parent. The first time it happened when they were very small, it felt like watching cannibalism, just horrifying. And to think I used to worry about the dog.”
12. Father’s Day
“My kids are 19 and 15. This year they didn’t even acknowledge me for Father’s day. For the most part, my wife didn’t either.
You know who did? My 8 year old nephew and niece.
Made me feel pretty sh*tty.”
13. Body image
“Both of my kids make a lot of comments about my body and some of them can sting. Last week my 5 year old said my arms were like bags of cookie dough.”
14. Crash it
“My almost three year-old twins often tell me I’m not invited to their birthday party.”
15. It stings
“When I drop them off at a party or day camp and I go to say bye, they’ve already gone off with friends. Kids are getting older now so it’s not cool to kiss or hug dad goodbye, but man it stings, and I sure dont want to emberass them so I just sadly walk to my car.”