Crazy shit your parents did

[Anonymous]

My parents did the usual stuff like let guests smoke in the house while we were babies and whacked us with a wooden spoon if we got really out line, etc. However, I was friends with a girl whose mom was a RAGING alcoholic. As a kid, I didn't really know what that meant, but she was definitely the "cool mom" because she'd let us eat as much junk food as we wanted, lived in a house with a huge trampoline (which of course had no safety net), and gave no shits about stuff like letting my friend's little brother shoot BB guns all day instead of going to school or whether or not her kids did their homework. This woman somehow ended up becoming a Girl Scout leader, and one day picked me up for a camping weekend in her huge station wagon. When I got in, she said I had the important job of taking care of her "luggage" on the way there. Her "luggage" consisted of a case of beer and two cartons of Virginia Slims. She also had an open can of beer between her knees. At 8:30 am. My mom--who was normally pretty uptight--kind of rolled her eyes and told me to have fun on the trip.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My parents did the usual stuff like let guests smoke in the house while we were babies and whacked us with a wooden spoon if we got really out line, etc. However, I was friends with a girl whose mom was a RAGING alcoholic. As a kid, I didn't really know what that meant, but she was definitely the "cool mom" because she'd let us eat as much junk food as we wanted, lived in a house with a huge trampoline (which of course had no safety net), and gave no shits about stuff like letting my friend's little brother shoot BB guns all day instead of going to school or whether or not her kids did their homework. This woman somehow ended up becoming a Girl Scout leader, and one day picked me up for a camping weekend in her huge station wagon. When I got in, she said I had the important job of taking care of her "luggage" on the way there. Her "luggage" consisted of a case of beer and two cartons of Virginia Slims. She also had an open can of beer between her knees. At 8:30 am. My mom--who was normally pretty uptight--kind of rolled her eyes and told me to have fun on the trip.

LOL!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My parents did the usual stuff like let guests smoke in the house while we were babies and whacked us with a wooden spoon if we got really out line, etc. However, I was friends with a girl whose mom was a RAGING alcoholic. As a kid, I didn't really know what that meant, but she was definitely the "cool mom" because she'd let us eat as much junk food as we wanted, lived in a house with a huge trampoline (which of course had no safety net), and gave no shits about stuff like letting my friend's little brother shoot BB guns all day instead of going to school or whether or not her kids did their homework. This woman somehow ended up becoming a Girl Scout leader, and one day picked me up for a camping weekend in her huge station wagon. When I got in, she said I had the important job of taking care of her "luggage" on the way there. Her "luggage" consisted of a case of beer and two cartons of Virginia Slims. She also had an open can of beer between her knees. At 8:30 am. My mom--who was normally pretty uptight--kind of rolled her eyes and told me to have fun on the trip.

Translation: mom had some really fun plans and wanted to get you out of the house ASAP

[Anonymous]

Parents left me with very shady and drunken babysitters over the course of my years. Otherwise nice, normal people. Maybe easily fooled? I dunno...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My mom used to give my brother and I Dramamine for motion sickness on long car trips. I DID get badly car sick, so this was on the advice of my pediatrician. My brother, however, just talked way too much, and the Dramamine knocked him out for hours. I remember hearing my parents snickering over this.

This made me laugh out loud. Sorry, PP.

Me too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My parents gave no shits about whether or not I was bored.

I'd sit for hours in my grandparents living room while the grownups visited almost every weekend. Even if I wanted to go play, there were only 2-3 leftover toys from my parents' childhood there to play with and certainly no television or video games.

Wow. This is so crazy and abusive. <sarcasm >

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My parents did the usual stuff like let guests smoke in the house while we were babies and whacked us with a wooden spoon if we got really out line, etc. However, I was friends with a girl whose mom was a RAGING alcoholic. As a kid, I didn't really know what that meant, but she was definitely the "cool mom" because she'd let us eat as much junk food as we wanted, lived in a house with a huge trampoline (which of course had no safety net), and gave no shits about stuff like letting my friend's little brother shoot BB guns all day instead of going to school or whether or not her kids did their homework. This woman somehow ended up becoming a Girl Scout leader, and one day picked me up for a camping weekend in her huge station wagon. When I got in, she said I had the important job of taking care of her "luggage" on the way there. Her "luggage" consisted of a case of beer and two cartons of Virginia Slims. She also had an open can of beer between her knees. At 8:30 am. My mom--who was normally pretty uptight--kind of rolled her eyes and told me to have fun on the trip.

Translation: mom had some really fun plans and wanted to get you out of the house ASAP

PP here. Possibly, but my younger brother was still at home. I can't remember which specific incident prompted it, but after awhile I wasn't allowed to go over to that friend's house anymore.

I could tell a billion stories about the alcoholic mom but I'm worried someone will recognize her because I grew up locally.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We immigrated here from South Asia when I was 6, so lots of crazy things, but my favorite one was not allowing me to sleep over at my white friends' houses because "if there was a fire, the parents would save the white children first" WTF

I can totally see this as something Jessica, the mom on Fresh of the Boat, would say. They are east Asian but if your parents said what you mentioned I hope you watch the show. You would like it.

[Anonymous]

Dad was a hippie. I grew up smoking a lot of weed. Not just being around a lot of weed - smoking it too.

I am now a boring suburbanite rat racer with a security clearance - that's my rebellion, I guess.

[Anonymous]

My parents were also periodic spankers and the types that let their 7 year old ride her bike 2 miles down a Frontage Road, next to a major interstate, to a 7-11 for candy.

But I guess the craziest thing they did was leave my sister and I in the care of a truly crazy woman for a weekend, so they could go to a concert. This woman drank beer from the moment she woke up until she went to sleep. She was incoherent and lit the couch on fire with her cigarette (my sister and I put it out with a blanket! She was 4 and I was 6). She took us to her boyfriend's house for the evening and we sat, scared to death, on his couch watching tv until 3 am while crazy lady and her boyfriend did god knows what in the back.

When my parents returned, they weren't upset about the woman's mental state, the condition of the couch, or the other trash the woman left around our home. They were mad that my sister and I had "taken advantage" of our babysitter and drank all of the soda in the house.

Still, they learned part of their lesson. That woman never returned to take care of us. After that, I was left in charge of my sister whenever they left -- for a date night or for a weekend. I guess they figured that if we could survive that weekend with the crazy lady, we could definitely survive on our own.

[Anonymous]

My father was a very cranky baby and my grandmother, a young mom in rural GA in the late 40s, sometimes put Valium in his bottle out of desperation. He grew up to be a physics professor.

[Anonymous]

-spankings with a wooden spoon (only my brothers ever got the belt )
-the junk food. Oh, the junk food. Country time lemonade was a staple in our house, ate a bologna sandwich on white bread every day for lunch, and so many random casserole contraptions. (To HELL with those casseroles.) But none of us were even remotely overweight because if we weren't in school, we were outside playing the entire day.
-Smoked in the car with us in it
-put us on a bus to Canada for swim meets when I was 8 and my brothers were 6 and 5 and every summer thereafter without any idea of the itinerary, how to contact us, who the chaperones were, etc.
-it was always our choice if we wanted to go in the store with Mom. Otherwise we just stayed in the car.

[Anonymous]

Not sure my parents did anything not already mentioned...parenting and safety standards were different in the 70s and 80s. Some of that stuff seems crazy now, but lack of seatbelts and junk food were just the norm back then.

They weren't great parents in many ways, and many of the things they did might cross the line into emotional abusiveness (certainly have landed me and my siblings in a lot of therapy and my sister and I with eating disorders)...but not sure that's what this thread is about.

I guess the one thing I've come to appreciate being a big difference between my parenting and theirs is how personally they took misbehavior/discipline. Before I had kids, I always marveled at (and secretly judged) parents whose kids severely misbehaved, enough to get punishment etc from their parents, but then turned around and acted all lovey and cuddly with them very soon afterward. I grew up in a house where if you misbehaved, you kind of got the cold shoulder in addition to your punishment for the rest of the day (esp. from my mother). It's actually pretty damaging for a young child to feel like a little mess up makes them a pariah to their parents. Now, though, I also see how weird it is. DD often pushes every button I have and can be a real handful, but once she's had her time out and calmed down, I actually can't help but give her a hug and kiss and tell her how much I love her (she's also usually at her cuddliest after being disciplined anyway).

[Anonymous]

Mine did many or most of the typical 70s parents things; things that would generally be considered lazy now. I'll add to it the terrible food. Everything was from a mix of a box, even chili and spaghetti seasoning. Bonus points of it could be cooked in the microwave (like spam covered in brown sugar and pineapple for example.) My mom is probably the only person who considered potato salad with spam to be a suitable entree, with no side veg. In the summer, sometimes she'd make a dip out of cool whip and yogurt and we'd have cut fruit and dip for dinner.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My parents gave no shits about whether or not I was bored.

I'd sit for hours in my grandparents living room while the grownups visited almost every weekend. Even if I wanted to go play, there were only 2-3 leftover toys from my parents' childhood there to play with and certainly no television or video games.

Wow. This is so crazy and abusive. <sarcasm >

Yeah, I don't know what that PP is complaining about. Sounds great to me! One of the best things we can do for our kids is allow them to be bored and not rely on us for entertainment.