Embarrassing things our parents did when we were growing up

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Definately found it embarrassing that I had to answer my parents with
yes sir, no sir, or yes ma'am or no ma'am when answering them and all other adults.

When my friends came over they always teased me about it.

One of my friends growing up had to call her PARENTS ma’am and sir. Her parents were southern and her dad had gone to the naval academy.
She just rolled her eyes about it, but did tell me that I had to call them ma’am and sir, too. And if I didn’t, then they might make my parents come pick me up.

They also said grace at dinner, and when I just sat there silently (my family is not religious and I had never seen it before) they said I couldn’t eat until I said “amen”. So then my friend invited me over and we unexpectedly went to a Baptist youth group meeting, where the minister tried to convince me to come to church. I honestly answered what I had heard my parents say many many times: “my mom is a Unitarian but doesn’t go to church because she doesn’t like to get up early in the morning and thinks maybe god is actually mathematics, and my dad says we don’t do this crap in our family because we can figure out right and wrong for ourselves without needing the help of a guy wearing a black dress who wants to take our money”.

Needless to say, that was the end of our friendship - her parents said I was wicked and wouldn’t let us play together anymore. I cried and cried. And my parents were like “no, no we live below the mason- Dixon line! Always lie and say you are religious down here!” I had no idea what they were taking about and remember trying to look up the Mason-Dixon Line in our World Book encyclopedia set. So, thanks for the late memo on THAT mom and dad!

[Anonymous]

What is wrong with (or embarrassing about) taking family pictures in front of National Park signs?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Definately found it embarrassing that I had to answer my parents with
yes sir, no sir, or yes ma'am or no ma'am when answering them and all other adults.

When my friends came over they always teased me about it.

One of my friends growing up had to call her PARENTS ma’am and sir. Her parents were southern and her dad had gone to the naval academy.
She just rolled her eyes about it, but did tell me that I had to call them ma’am and sir, too. And if I didn’t, then they might make my parents come pick me up.

They also said grace at dinner, and when I just sat there silently (my family is not religious and I had never seen it before) they said I couldn’t eat until I said “amen”. So then my friend invited me over and we unexpectedly went to a Baptist youth group meeting, where the minister tried to convince me to come to church. I honestly answered what I had heard my parents say many many times: “my mom is a Unitarian but doesn’t go to church because she doesn’t like to get up early in the morning and thinks maybe god is actually mathematics, and my dad says we don’t do this crap in our family because we can figure out right and wrong for ourselves without needing the help of a guy wearing a black dress who wants to take our money”.

Needless to say, that was the end of our friendship - her parents said I was wicked and wouldn’t let us play together anymore. I cried and cried. And my parents were like “no, no we live below the mason- Dixon line! Always lie and say you are religious down here!” I had no idea what they were taking about and remember trying to look up the Mason-Dixon Line in our World Book encyclopedia set. So, thanks for the late memo on THAT mom and dad!

I love this! I'm surprised the baptists didn't try to save you right then and there.

When I went to baptist youth group functions with friends, they always had a moment when they'd ask who wants to come up on stage and be saved. My mom told me to just tell them I was Catholic (true) saying that would scare them off. It didn't. I never took them up on the offer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not parents, but one day DW and I were in Costco in the area near the pharmacy. I was at one end of the aisle and she was towards the other end. I held a Costco-sized box of Depends above my head and asked her, in a slightly raised voice, if these were the right Depends she needed.

A black guy in the aisle couldn't help but snicker.

Plot twist: She doesn't use Depends.

Plot twist: The fact that the guy in the aisle is black is completely irrelevant. You're one of those people. Lovely.

+1

My DH wears Depends sometimes because of a neurological chronic illness. No shame in that.

I don’t fine this story embarrassing..or funny. This PP just sounds ignorant

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Definately found it embarrassing that I had to answer my parents with
yes sir, no sir, or yes ma'am or no ma'am when answering them and all other adults.

When my friends came over they always teased me about it.

One of my friends growing up had to call her PARENTS ma’am and sir. Her parents were southern and her dad had gone to the naval academy.
She just rolled her eyes about it, but did tell me that I had to call them ma’am and sir, too. And if I didn’t, then they might make my parents come pick me up.

They also said grace at dinner, and when I just sat there silently (my family is not religious and I had never seen it before) they said I couldn’t eat until I said “amen”. So then my friend invited me over and we unexpectedly went to a Baptist youth group meeting, where the minister tried to convince me to come to church. I honestly answered what I had heard my parents say many many times: “my mom is a Unitarian but doesn’t go to church because she doesn’t like to get up early in the morning and thinks maybe god is actually mathematics, and my dad says we don’t do this crap in our family because we can figure out right and wrong for ourselves without needing the help of a guy wearing a black dress who wants to take our money”.

Needless to say, that was the end of our friendship - her parents said I was wicked and wouldn’t let us play together anymore. I cried and cried. And my parents were like “no, no we live below the mason- Dixon line! Always lie and say you are religious down here!” I had no idea what they were taking about and remember trying to look up the Mason-Dixon Line in our World Book encyclopedia set. So, thanks for the late memo on THAT mom and dad!

I’m a Baptist, and I’ve long felt that mathematics was a language, tool, and/or manifestation of God. I don’t know much about higher mathematics, let alone the divine nature of God, but what I do know of each leads me to believe they are tied together inexorably, in ways too deep for me to comprehend.

[Anonymous]

My mom used to (and still does!) gush over things in a way I used to find embarrassing.

Example: We were in Greece when I was 8 and saw bougainvilleas. She said, “My goodness, aren’t those bougainvilleas just astonishing?!”

When I was a kid, I used to roll my eyes and think “there goes mom, gushing over the flowers again,” but now I find it very endearing.

My dad used to try to bond with anyone who came over to our house to fix anything or do any manual labor. I think he felt insecure about the fact that he couldn’t really do any of that. So he’d stand behind, say, the plumber and be like “oh yeah, I totally understand why you’re using that tool. Makes total sense. I would’ve done the exact same thing.”

[Anonymous]

My mom would talk about my body in front of strangers. Trying to pinch my cheeks, grab my arms and ask me to "give a twirl or a jiggle". So umm...yeah. Great memories.

[Anonymous]

When the kids were little we used kiss ostentatiously in public. Drove them nuts.

[Anonymous]

My mom always had a big baby pool in the backyard and would wear a bathing suit all day long. One day my little brother asked her to please not wear such short skirts around his friends 🤣

[Anonymous]

My parents would physically dance in the driveway to get us to turn down the volume on our boom box while we were playing basketball. This was on the 1980s.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My parents would physically dance in the driveway to get us to turn down the volume on our boom box while we were playing basketball. This was on the 1980s.

Ha, I actually love this

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My parents would physically dance in the driveway to get us to turn down the volume on our boom box while we were playing basketball. This was on the 1980s.

Ha, I actually love this

Yes, and they looked like a couple of scare-crows dancing flailing around. Not good at all and definitely embarrassing enough to turn down the volume!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not parents, but one day DW and I were in Costco in the area near the pharmacy. I was at one end of the aisle and she was towards the other end. I held a Costco-sized box of Depends above my head and asked her, in a slightly raised voice, if these were the right Depends she needed.

A black guy in the aisle couldn't help but snicker.

Plot twist: She doesn't use Depends.

Whenever my college boyfriend and I would go to a store, he would wait until I wandered off into an aisle that had another person in it. He’d pretend he didn’t know me, walk past me and the stranger and crop dust us both, then stop a few feet away and exclaim “oh my god what is that smell?!”, cover his nose and scamper off. Since he looked like he didn’t do it, and the stranger knew they didn’t do it, stranger would think I was the farter.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My parents would physically dance in the driveway to get us to turn down the volume on our boom box while we were playing basketball. This was on the 1980s.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Definately found it embarrassing that I had to answer my parents with
yes sir, no sir, or yes ma'am or no ma'am when answering them and all other adults.

When my friends came over they always teased me about it.

One of my friends growing up had to call her PARENTS ma’am and sir. Her parents were southern and her dad had gone to the naval academy.
She just rolled her eyes about it, but did tell me that I had to call them ma’am and sir, too. And if I didn’t, then they might make my parents come pick me up.

They also said grace at dinner, and when I just sat there silently (my family is not religious and I had never seen it before) they said I couldn’t eat until I said “amen”. So then my friend invited me over and we unexpectedly went to a Baptist youth group meeting, where the minister tried to convince me to come to church. I honestly answered what I had heard my parents say many many times: “my mom is a Unitarian but doesn’t go to church because she doesn’t like to get up early in the morning and thinks maybe god is actually mathematics, and my dad says we don’t do this crap in our family because we can figure out right and wrong for ourselves without needing the help of a guy wearing a black dress who wants to take our money”.

Needless to say, that was the end of our friendship - her parents said I was wicked and wouldn’t let us play together anymore. I cried and cried. And my parents were like “no, no we live below the mason- Dixon line! Always lie and say you are religious down here!” I had no idea what they were taking about and remember trying to look up the Mason-Dixon Line in our World Book encyclopedia set. So, thanks for the late memo on THAT mom and dad!

Holy cow. This doesn't belong in a thread about embarrassing things our parents did, this belongs in a thread about embarrassing things WE did. How can you not realize what bad manners you had and how rude you were? That's astounding to me. You must be mortified thinking about your behavior now. Sheesh.