When I was in middle school, my dad and I went on a father/daughter scout camping trip. Everyone rode their bicycles from a check-in point to the campsite. My dad didn't have a bicycle, and for some reason, he wouldn't let me ride my bike with the 2-dozen other dads and daughters. He insisted he would drive us to the camp. But... instead he decided we would hitch a ride with the scout leader, who was driving all the equipment to the camp.

My dad sat in the front passenger seat, chatting with the leader, while I literally sat on a door handle in the back, up to my ears in sleeping bags and backpacks. With my face pressed to the window, I got many cheerful waves from my friends and their fathers as we slowly drove past the parade of cyclists.

Yes, I realize I was lucky to have a dad who was willing to go at all. It ended up being a pretty fun trip.

Someday I still hope to feel lighthearted embarrassment instead of pre-adolescent mortification.

Mom gave me and my siblings rhyming names and dressed us in matching outfits for every holiday.

Anonymous wrote:Pulling the car over to dig up wild growing flowering plants on the side of the road.

Are you my brother?

I once went to a volunteering event in my hometown, and the mayor showed up. My mom came to pick me up and waved at the mayor cluelessly. She didn’t know who the mayor was.

Unexpectedly substitute taught my 2nd grade class because the teacher never showed up. Then lay down in a dark room and cried. In retrospect it is completely understandable.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: Taking home the extra ketchup packets or sugar packets from a restaurant.

Don't forget the jelly packets and minitubs of half and half.

Also latex gloves, bandages, and whatever was loose in drawers at doctors offices.

I grew up in a traditional South Asian household where girls and women are supposed to be segregated during menstruation. My mom and grandma would make a point of loudly announcing the fact to anyone who visited our house while I had my period. It took a huge fight when I was 15 to get them to stop.

Anonymous wrote:When I was a teenager my house was the hangout house. My mom would always yell down to us in the basement asking if we wanted any snacks.

As an adult, I can see absolutely nothing wrong with this but I was so embarrassed every time she dared try to feed us. Mom, I'm 15, I can get my friends chips.

She was ditching in on you to make sure you weren't smoking up or doing it

Tried to windsurf and got carried by the wind to the Canadian side of the lake. This was in the 80s so the border was not considered a big deal but they drove her back around to the US in a border patrol car and I was mortified.

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.

Anonymous wrote:My mother would sing along with whatever music was playing in any of the stores we visited. Now, that would be bad enough, but she didn't just sing the song as the singer had. She would harmonize. And it wasn't quiet. Everyone around us heard and stared.

I'm the dad version of your mom. And while I'm the best singer in the family, I'm not good, just really enthusiastic. At Church my kids keep elbowing me to sing softer...

Anonymous wrote:We took a family picture in front of the entrance sign for every national park we visited.

My mom made our clothes (bad enough) and had us model them in local fashion shows hosted by the fabric store.

This is sweet.

Anonymous wrote:This is more sad than embarrassing now that I see how much my mom had to do for us with no help.

Our lunches were never packed on time. She would constantly bring them late (drop them off at 10am, after she took us to school, went home, packed lunch and brought it back).

I remember the teacher saying, "You should have your mom pack lunch the night before". I was in first grade.

How many kids did she need to pack lunch for? Did she have to leave to bring you to school unusually early? Did she work second shift and was still tired in the morning from not enough sleep?

This is more sad than embarrassing now that I see how much my mom had to do for us with no help.

Our lunches were never packed on time. She would constantly bring them late (drop them off at 10am, after she took us to school, went home, packed lunch and brought it back).

I remember the teacher saying, "You should have your mom pack lunch the night before". I was in first grade.

Anonymous wrote: Taking home the extra ketchup packets or sugar packets from a restaurant.

Don't forget the jelly packets and minitubs of half and half.