People Share The Most Embarrassing Thing Their Parent Has Ever Done
Is the minute someone becomes a parent the same moment they gain the supernatural ability to know exactly how to embarrass their offspring? It’s very likely. Some parents have the tendency to lose their filters and all sense of public decency. They have this uncanny power to say the perfect thing at just the right moment to create maximum embarrassment.
How bad can things really get? These stories will demonstrate. Some of them take place in school, some at home, and some completely in public. Honestly, the fact that these kids survived the embarrassment at all is nothing short of a miracle.
Don’t forget to check the comment section below the article for more interesting stories!
#1 The Wrong Kind Of Jacket
When I was five-years-old or so, my pre-kindergarten class did a play based on Noah’s Ark (our school was attached to a church). We were instructed that our costumes were supposed to consist of raincoats, rain boot, and umbrellas. I didn’t have any of those things but I begged my dad to get me at least one of them so I’d fit in with the guidelines.
Fast-forward to the night of the play. I’m frantically scanning the audience because my dad is ALWAYS late. He finally shows up and brings me a life jacket. I had to stand up there with all the kids in their little raincoats while I was in a life jacket. I was really embarrassed. My dad’s defense was that I was the only kid who would have survived the flood. I can laugh now, but I sure wasn’t laughing then.
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#2 A Stunning Solo Performance
It was my 16th birthday and my family went to a fancy Italian restaurant. The staff came over to sing ‘Happy Birthday’ to me and my dad started singing along loudly in a bad Italian opera accent (we are not Italian). The staff was so stunned they just stopped singing. The other customers around us laughed and applauded. I was mortified.
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#3 Mom Knows Best: Studies Before Girls
When I was in seventh grade, I went to a youth conference with my church. All students got a free T-shirt and people were signing each other’s name on them. This one girl signed mine, dotting the “i” with a heart. She also left her number. When I got home, my mom was doing my laundry and found the shirt. She called the number and told the girl I needed to focus on my education and didn’t have time for girls.
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#4 First Date Hospital Trip For Dad
My dad, influenced partly by Bad Boys 2, decided to mess with my boyfriend on my first date by acting like a tough guy. He filled a whiskey bottle with tea, and when he answered the door he chugged the whole thing while staring my boyfriend down. Then, tried to break the bottle over his own head. The date was canceled due to the hospital trip, and I became known as the girl with the insane father. “Don’t concuss yourself this time” became the running joke once I was able to get a date again.
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#5 Pajama Day Gone Wrong
When I was in second grade, we had a pajama day at school. At home, I always just wore my boxers to sleep, so I didn’t really have any pajamas. Obviously, I couldn’t show up at school in just my underwear, but I was too little to understand that. My mom allowed me to go to school like that and even drove me there. I have no idea why she thought it would be okay.
It was the most embarrassing day of my life, and the school had to call my parents to come to pick me up halfway through the day.
#6 Pimple Popping Mom
I was 13-years-old, waiting for a ride with my sister and parents at Dollywood. Across the way, two very pretty girls about my age were smiling at me. I smiled back and acted all cool because I was a skater boy with skater hair and some shirt with a skull on it or something. The girls whispered to each other, giggled and even waved at me.
Then, my mom reached her hand and popped a pimple on my face, right there public. The girls were aghast. I was humiliated. I have never forgiven her.
#7 Work Birthday Balloon Embarrassment
My mom showed up to my job at Subway during the lunch rush on my birthday with some balloons and got the whole place to sing ‘Happy Birthday’ to me. The restaurant was full, and I had no way to escape. The worst part is, a few people got out their phones and started recording it. My face of embarrassment is somewhere out there on the internet.
#8 Ridiculous Job Reference
My mom made me call my eighth-grade social studies teacher at home to ask if I could use him as a job reference. He lived with his parents still and I made the mistake of asking for him by his first name. He waited for me at my locker the next day to tell me never to phone his house again or call him by his first name. I didn’t get the job either. My mom denies this ever happened and claims she would never demand I do something so strange.
#9 Lice Alert Is Waaaay Over The Top
I came home from school one day with head lice. Instead of telling the teacher, who would have probably notified the parents in a letter without specifically naming me, my mother rang every person in my class. She told all the parents: “Yeah, she has head lice, so you need to check your kid.” I probably got it from someone else in my class, but the kids were calling me dirty, saying I infected them. It was horrible. I was crying hysterically while she called people.
#10 What Not To Do When You Lose Your Adult Child In The Store
When we split up in a store, I can hear my mom her yelling my name from across the store. I’ve asked her 100 times to use her cell phone or look for me instead, but she never does. I never hear anyone else’s names being yelled out! It happens so much that I’ve stopped going out with her. I love her, but she just doesn’t understand how embarrassing it is for me when she yells out my name like that.
#11 Mom Doesn’t Let Any Girl Mess Around With Her Son
In fifth grade, a girl I was friends with would always joke around with me. One day, my mom was picking me up from school, and the girl and I were walking together. She said, “See you tomorrow, dumbo!” (I had big ears as a kid). My mom heard her say that and didn’t have any of it. She stormed over and started yelling at her.
She said things like, “Don’t ever talk to my kid like that again! How would you like it if kids made fun of the freckles on your face?” She started bawling. I was so embarrassed my mom was yelling at this innocent little girl in front of dozens of kids. We left and I didn’t talk to my mom at all on our way home. Mom, I love you, but that was mean.
#12 Mortifying Mom/Boyfriend Meet
When I was 24 years old, I was away on an internship while talking to a guy back home. When I got home and we finally met, I took him to my mom’s school so she could say hi (I have no idea why I thought this was a fun idea). She told me, “Oh, no one is there; it’s the last day of school so there aren’t many people. Come up.”
When I took the guy to my mom’s school and went to her classroom, I opened the door and it was packed. She saw me and yelled, “Everyone! Everyone! This is my daughter. And this is my daughter’s special friend.” I melted into the floor.
#13 The Ultimate Dad Dropoff At School
A long time ago, my dad was a policeman in one of the British forces. He wasn’t some heavy flatfoot, but rather the taser-wielding, fast car-chase type of policeman. One morning, he was on patrol in a big Land Rover, with ALL the toys of that era: a multi-band radio broadcast unit, tannoys, and, best of all, a rear programmable LED board (so he could type messages to the car behind him).
Thinking, at the age of 15 years old, that it would be awesome to get a ride to school in one, I readily accept his offer to get a lift (which he wasn’t supposed to do, but who cares). It was all smiles as he pulled into the car park. I watched my peers and enemies gape their jaws at such a majestic vehicle. I jumped out, then passed off a blasé, “Cheers Dad.”
Five seconds later, the sirens rang out a high-pitched squeal: I turned to look at the departing van, and saw on the LED board “DADDY LOVES YOU TOO XXX.” You simply cannot imagine the heck I put up with at school for the next three years.
#14 That Awkward Middle School Phase… In Print
My mom sent in pictures of me in my awkward middle school phase for the “baby pictures” section of the senior yearbook. EVERYONE else had pictures from when they were five-years-old, whereas mine were from when I just looked generally awkward and terrible. To this day, I have no idea what the heck she was thinking.
The worst part is that I moved to a new town in my junior year, so the people I graduated with never would have known about my awkward middle school phase if it weren’t for that yearbook. Everyone will surely keep that yearbook and look back on it for the rest of their lives. I burned mine.
#15 Mom Doesn’t Hold Back
When I was in high school, I was a pretty poor student. I walked out on my journalism final (I hadn’t studied) and took my girlfriend to the mall on the north side of town, about 20 minutes away. My teacher called my mother because she knew she would sort this out. My mother drove all the way up to the mall and went into every store screaming out my Christian name.
When she finally found me, she took her shoe off and walloped the heck out of me in front of my girlfriend. My mother is 4’11” and I’m a 6-foot-tall lineman. I was crying in front of everyone in that mall. I took my education a little more seriously after that.
#16 Nope. Mom Can’t Carry Cakes
On my 10th birthday, my school held a McDonald’s fundraiser. Everyone was there. My sister worked at McDonald’s at the time and got me a special cake. Life was peaking when all of a sudden, my mom dropped the cake straight onto the ground with everyone from my class watching. Not only is 10-year-old me devastated, but my mom then proceeded to start scooping cake off the floor onto plates and insisting that people still eat it. My mom isn’t allowed to carry cakes anymore.
#17 Extreme Helicopter Parenting
When I was 16 years old, I applied for a job at a restaurant near my house and mom insisted on going to the interview with me. They didn’t hire me, and that’s not even the worst part. My mom actually stormed into the interview room and started yelling at the interviewers, saying that they were going to regret not hiring me.
#18 Keeping The Fun In Funeral
When I was in middle school, I went to a funeral for one of my grandparents on my dad’s side. When we got there, one of his old friends was with his daughter, who I thought was really hot. She was around my age too, so it was perfect. I immediately thought, “Holy, she’s hot.” I guess my dad knew I fancied her because the next thing I knew, he mentioned out loud, right next to her, that I thought she was gorgeous.
Realizing what just happened, he said, “Oops, I think I embarrassed him.” I forced myself to laugh it off and the girl did too. Needless to say, I was extremely mad at him, and I still am to this day. What the heck dad.
#19 Yes, My Dad IS The Big, Red Dinosaur
My elementary school used to have Sports Day once a year. It was a whole day of outdoor games and sports activities; always a super fun time. Parents usually volunteered to run the stations or hand out water and snacks. One year, my dad decided to borrow the mascot costume from the university he worked at, which was a big red dinosaur, and come to sports day in it.
I was so embarrassed that I refused to be seen with him all day. Looking back, I feel a bit bad about it and think that was actually a super fun thing for him to do.
#20 What’s In A Name Anyway?
They named me “Guy” and my father would always introduce me as “Little Guy”. He’d say, “This is my son, Guy. You know, like, I’m the Big Guy and he’s the Little Guy.” He relentlessly shamed me in that manner to pretty much any adult he knew or just met. I think he named me that, just for the joke value. I like my name, but I hated the shame.
#21 Parental Scare Gets Loud, Draws A Crowd
My parents are both deaf and have typical deaf voices. I can understand them, but the accents are difficult to understand if you’re not used to them. We use BSL, but they also use their voices with me. I’m used to being stared at in public with them; that’s life in a deaf family. But one time, we were on holiday in Heraklion and they were arguing.
My dad told my mom to go away or something and I, being a dramatic 12-year-old, said “FINE! I’LL GO!” I flounced in the middle of a foreign city. It took them a couple of minutes to actually notice I’d disappeared, and when they did, which they obviously FREAKED OUT. I was nearby and watched from a doorway as my mother frantically searched for me.
It was only a few minutes, but I knew she was going to be angry when she found me, so I stepped forward and let her know I was there. She WENT MENTAL. And with her deaf voice, she drew a crowd. There was an actual crowd watching my mother scream and berate me in sign language. And then, she turned around to the crowd and shouted: “WHAT ARE YOU ALL LOOKING AT?!”
I have never wanted the ground to swallow me up more. To be fair to her, I deserved it. Deliberately disappearing in a foreign city when she couldn’t hear or ask for help, I scared the heck out of her. The embarrassment will forever be seared into my brain.
#22 Embarrassing Spotlight
My grandparents had a big wedding-style reception for their 50th wedding anniversary. They both had big families, most of whom were local, so there were a lot of people. At some point, my mom decided it would be cute if my younger brother and I sang the song “You Are My Sunshine,” which was my grandparents’ favorite song.
Now, if you’ve ever listened to the song, you undoubtedly know the chorus. The problem is that there are verses as well, and I don’t know anybody who actually knows the verses. Keep in mind that this was pre-internet and way before anyone had smartphones, so I couldn’t simply do a Google search and learn the words.
I could have gone to the local library to try to look them up if my mom hadn’t sprung it on us when we were already at the venue. Despite my protesting, the four of us were made to go up and “sing” the song. We made it through the first chorus just fine. Then the verse started, and the four of us just looked at our feet and mumbled. That was pretty embarrassing.
#23 No Bathroom Is Safe
Up until we were about 25 years old, if my sisters or I ever went to a restaurant or store bathroom, our mom would BURST into the room and go, “HEY!!! Are you okay??? What are you doing in there??? Do you need help??? Are you having trouble??? Do you want me to help???” Like, no, I’m going #2, leave me alone!
#24 The Short Bus Couldn’t Be More Embarrassing
My dad worked as a school bus mechanic. He turned one of the short busses that were no longer in operation into a huge tow truck for the other busses. He took out all of the seats and replaced them with tool boxes and other things needed. He did keep one seat (right behind the driver) for when someone needed to ride-along. He also painted the bus black and free-handed some huge flames along the side.
In the eighth grade, I needed my dad to come home from work so that he could give me a ride to school. I had to carry a bunch of things for a project, otherwise, I would normally just walk. Of course, he came home in the black, flaming short bus. To make it worse, when we got to the school, he pulled into the freaking bus lane with all of the other busses doing their morning drop-offs.
Everyone stopped what they were doing to see who would get off of this crazy short bus with only one seat on it. I was completely mortified until I got off and all of the boys were asking how I got such a sweet ride to school. I was actually very popular after that, so it ended up that my dad earned me some cool points.
#25 Overprotective On The First Bus Ride To A New School
I moved from Texas to Connecticut in my kindergarten year of elementary school. My parents thought it would be a good idea to follow my bus ride home from school in their car with Texas plates. Halfway through the ride home, the bus driver pulled over. To my horror, the bus driver had called the police on my parents. I had to walk off the bus and get in the car with them while everyone watched. It was a terrible first day on the bus for me.
#26 Diary Drama
At a family reunion, with the whole extended family in attendance (around 80 to 100 people), my mom started quoting parts of my diary to everyone. When my brother heard her start, he started screaming other passages. Everyone laughed and told me to lighten up. I haven’t kept a diary or written down my thoughts since.
#27 Overprotective Papa
When I was 16 years old, I was secretly dating a boy for about a week. We were at a small town mall so there weren’t a lot of people. We were holding hands, just strolling around. Suddenly, I saw my dad in the distance. He saw me. His eyes were wide open, crazy and furious, and so angry. I’m was so scared that I automatically flung my hand away from my boyfriend’s.
At the top of my dad’s lungs, he yelled, “KRIS!! WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?!?!” and just started booking it towards me. Everyone was staring. He grabbed my arm tightly and just dragged me out of the mall without letting me say goodbye to my friends. On the entire car ride home, he yelled at me, saying that holding hands would lead to pregnancy.
It was traumatizing. We broke up. I didn’t date anyone again until I was 19 years old. Sigh.
#28 Frantic Search Includes The Boss
When I was 25 years old, before cell phones were ubiquitous, I lived by myself in a different country. I missed my international return flight home on a Friday night and had to stay an extra day overseas. When I got home on Sunday night, I had my answering machine filled with messages from my mom and girlfriend.
I find out the next morning that they looked up my boss’ phone number and called him up over the weekend. He obviously had no idea where I was, but he was a good sport and teased me about it for a good while.
#29 Sneaking Out Doesn’t Pay
When I was 17 years old, I lied to my parents and told them I was staying over at a friend’s house. In reality, I was at my boyfriend’s house. Somehow, my dad found this out. My boyfriend, his parents, and I woke up at 3 a.m. to someone banging on the door. Once my boyfriend’s parents opened the door, my dad grabbed me by the arm, yelled at me, and took me home.
It is important to note that my boyfriend’s parents thought I had permission to stay over. So humiliating!
#30 Halloween Costumes That Are Anything But Boring
A friend’s mom made her wear these food-themed Halloween costumes every year and she just reveled in it. The year, I was a ballerina and my best friend was a grapevine, complete with gigantic purple balloons poking out of every crevice of her costume and her face painted purple. Another year, she was a milk jug…
Oh yeah, did I mention the broccoli costume? Now I wish I would’ve joined her instead of being a boring princess or whatever. Her mom is my hero.
#31 Calling Him The Wrong Name
I broke up with a guy at the beginning of my senior year of high school. We had been dating for a few months. I started seeing a new guy a few weeks after that and whenever he came to pick me up, my dad and his friends would call him my ex’s name (on purpose). The new guy was friends with my ex so it made him really uncomfortable. He broke up with me after a couple of times of it happening. He said my family was too intense for him.
At the time, I was incredibly embarrassed, especially because I had had a crush on the new guy for some time. To be clear, though they’re definitely jerks, my dad’s friends are like uncles to me and they were just messing around. Honestly, I’m glad that guy broke up with me over it because they are a big part of my dad’s life and I wouldn’t change that. My husband is the only guy that I’ve been with that gives them back as much heck as they throw at him.
#32 Dad Doesn’t Watch His Words
The first time my ex met my parents, my dad made a remark on how short he was. I’m 6-foot tall, my dad is 6’5”, and my poor boyfriend was 5’8”. I’m just glad my ex took it so well and found my reaction funny. My dad did something similar to my sister when she brought her first boyfriend home. He’d say, “Kelly, you’ve never brought home a white one before!”
#33 Yup. Should Have Taken Dad Shopping Instead
I’m starting Little League in the fall. My mom took me to good old Walmart to get a jock strap so I could protect the boys. I’m like, 12-years-old. We were staring at the selection for like, five minutes. I grabbed a medium and headed over to my mom. “They don’t have this in a small? Come on.” She started running through the store, shouting and yelling, “Excuse me! Do you people have this in a small?! A SMALL!” Everyone was staring.
Then walked by my crush, Sarah Jessica Parker. I mean, not really but they looked just alike. It was the worst moment of my 12-year-old life.
#34 Making Guests Feel Comfortable… Not.
My father is a VERY conservative man. I was 16 years old when my two female friends and I were in the back of the car talking about why we didn’t believe in torture against suspected terrorists. Fast forward to my dad YELLING in disagreement and giving some pretty graphic examples to prove his point. I’m 28-years-old now. That was the last time they ever visited.
#35 Illegal U-Turn For Hot Gate Guard
My family and I lived on a military base when I was young. The same military guy was always at the gate of the complex. I thought he was very handsome and kind. One day, I told my mom after going through that I wanted to give him my apple, so she made the most illegal U-turn possible to go back through the gate.
She told him that I had a present for him. It was the most mortifying thing to me as a shy kid. I slumped low in my seat so he could only see my big forehead and I slowly gave him the apple. He thanked me and my childish brain told me to hiss at him. Looking back, I may have embarrassed myself more than my mother did.
#36 Mortified By The Mermaid
I remember going to Disney World with my older sister, who is old enough to be my mom. She was adamant about taking as many pictures as possible. I had to pose next to EVERYTHING. They had parades every so often for each movie or whatever. They also invited the patrons of the park to march along with the parade, so it was cool.
I was in the Lion King parade, but when it was time for the Little Mermaid, I noticed that the only people joining in were little girls. So naturally, being an eight-year-old boy, I didn’t want to go. She hated this and continued to yell at me while everyone watched. She eventually forced me to go. I was mortified… All that for a picture.
#37 Best T-Shirt Ever
My mother wore a shirt with my face on it to my senior year high school awards ceremony.
#38 Mom’s Midnight Rampage
Once in high school, I snuck out to go to a party. My mom randomly wanted to talk to me at midnight, so she came to my room and found out I was missing. She went on a rampage (she goes to bed very early so this was unheard of). She drove to my girlfriend’s house and woke up her entire family to find out neither of us was there.
She eventually got the address of the party from girlfriend’s brother. He gave it just so she would go away. She came to the party and yelled at me in front of everyone; screaming and shaming. There were also parents there permitting high schoolers to drink. She yelled at them too. She’s a lovely woman normally, but that night, she was a lot to handle.
#39 Nope. You Don’t Have To Share This With The Family
My mom and I are really close like best friends close. So I made the mistake of telling her that I had my ‘down south’ pierced. She seemed to think it was a great idea to tell all my siblings, family friends, and even my grandad. I’m not sure if she did it out of anger or if she just really thought it’d be funny to embarrass me like that. Yup, I screwed up.
#40 Parents Really Know How To Keep Siblings Close
Nothing will ever beat being duct taped by the wrist to my brother for an entire day. This brother and I were constantly fighting and sometimes our siblings would even pit us against one another. My mother was in a horrid mood one day and that, combined with my brother and I fighting again, made her snap. She yelled at us for a while, then one of my brilliant siblings had the idea of duck taping us together.
Everyone took to this immediately. We cleaned the chicken coop together, did all the household chores together, and were the circus show of the household. Our siblings relentlessly teased us and my mother even joined in, saying that they would take us swimming as long as we could keep the duct tape on while doing so.
#41 Mom’s Hair Advice
When I was eight years old, my mom gave me a perm. I’m a guy.
#42 Dad, Repeat After Me: No More Tighty Whiteys
Towards the end of high school, my parent’s house was “the house” that my friends and I would hang out at because my parents were pretty laid back. Unfortunately, there were instances when we had girls over partying in the basement and one time, we got a little too loud. My dad would come down to tell us to be quiet in only his tighty whiteys.
Usually, he would come around the corner and just stand there staring at us for a while, then awkwardly say, “Don’t wake me up again.”
#43 Restaurant High Standards
My mom really got into reading the health department’s restaurant inspection blog when I was in middle school. I forget the exact details, but a group I was in won an award or something and our treat was that our teachers were going to take us out for breakfast somewhere. They chose a restaurant, and my mom wouldn’t let me go because the restaurant had failed its last inspection. In retrospect, I’m glad my mom cared a lot about what I ate, but I was mortified.
#44 Moms For Peace, Not War
I served in the army during the Vietnam War. My mother wrote to the president to tell him he needed to resolve the conflict because his policies were putting me at risk. The letter was actually passed down the chain of command to my company commander who called me into his office for a “chat.” He asked if I thought that there might be better things for the entire army to focus on instead of reassuring my mom that I was well. Embarrassing.
#45 Dad Makes An Entrance During School’s Museum Trip
When I was in third grade, I took a field trip with my class to the art museum. Parents were apparently welcome, and my father met up with me right as we came off the bus. It should be noted my dad is a handyman by trade and artist by hobby, so dresses in a perfectly disheveled mix of both. As he reached out to give me a hug, my female teacher charged up to him yelling, “Don’t you touch her!”
I had to explain to her and my entire class that this man was not a creep, but my father. I was mortified but my mom still loves the story.
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