Embarrassing things our parents did when we were growing up

[Anonymous]

My father would insist that all passengers in our Girl Scout or after school carpool circa 1978 put on their seatbelts OR THIS CAR ISN’T MOVING!

Backstory: my father was a USAF pilot and was, for the era, hyper concerned about car safety and proudly boasted that he special ordered back seat safety belts for our very first family car in 1968.

But, at the time, we were living in a rural area and seat belts just weren’t a thing. My classmates hated driving with my dad and thought he was so mean and uncool. Several friends would pantomime or pretend to buckle or even drape the belt across their laps for the car ride home, then tell me later that
they’d never want to ride home with me again because my dad was such a jerk.

For perspective; the school would raffle off a chance to ride downtown in the back of the principal’s pick up truck. I wasn’t allowed to even enter.

[Anonymous]

My dad loved old VWs and our family always drove them. He collected "donor" cars for parts and we always had a number of Bugs and Squarebacks in our driveway. It was embarrassing at the time when richer friends would come by with their parents and there'd be all these old cars and my dad kneeling into the engine of one.

Now I look back at those feelings I had with shame. My father was poisoned by Agent Orange in Vietnam, which lead to his early death. He wasn't well educated but damn he loved his wife and daughters and worked hard to give us a good life on not a lot of money. I'd give anything to see him lovingly bring a 72 Superbeetle back to life again.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My father would insist that all passengers in our Girl Scout or after school carpool circa 1978 put on their seatbelts OR THIS CAR ISN’T MOVING!

Backstory: my father was a USAF pilot and was, for the era, hyper concerned about car safety and proudly boasted that he special ordered back seat safety belts for our very first family car in 1968.

But, at the time, we were living in a rural area and seat belts just weren’t a thing. My classmates hated driving with my dad and thought he was so mean and uncool. Several friends would pantomime or pretend to buckle or even drape the belt across their laps for the car ride home, then tell me later that
they’d never want to ride home with me again because my dad was such a jerk.

For perspective; the school would raffle off a chance to ride downtown in the back of the principal’s pick up truck. I wasn’t allowed to even enter.

Your Dad was a man ahead of his time! He sounds great.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My dad loved old VWs and our family always drove them. He collected "donor" cars for parts and we always had a number of Bugs and Squarebacks in our driveway. It was embarrassing at the time when richer friends would come by with their parents and there'd be all these old cars and my dad kneeling into the engine of one.

Now I look back at those feelings I had with shame. My father was poisoned by Agent Orange in Vietnam, which lead to his early death. He wasn't well educated but damn he loved his wife and daughters and worked hard to give us a good life on not a lot of money. I'd give anything to see him lovingly bring a 72 Superbeetle back to life again.

Your Dad sounds great, too.

[Anonymous]

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

I don't get what's wrong or embarassing about this either.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Go away. The PP’s story is absolutely fabulous, and people who try to convert a child to a religion without their parents’ consent should probably be prepared to hear some home truths.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Go away. The PP’s story is absolutely fabulous, and people who try to convert a child to a religion without their parents’ consent should probably be prepared to hear some home truths.

+1
Well said

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Any time my dad opened a gift, he’d shake it and ask ”is it (insert childish Disney character) underwear?” He would sing and dance to Britney Spears songs in front of my friends. He also (still) is obsessed with flying kites at the beach and topping his “extreme” kite feats each year. Once he got an extra long string and ended up snagging a plane with a big banner flying behind it. The banner came undone and fell into the ocean. The next year he used his kite to pull himself out to sea in a raft and had to be rescued by kayakers.

Omg the kite thing!!!