Parenting is a blessing, isn't it? There's nothing like the feeling of raising a well-rounded, polite, healthy, responsible adult. It's a huge task, and not all parents are prepared for it. Instead, many moms and dads are more concerned with giving their little angel everything they could ever want or making sure that everything—from college applications to going to the bathroom—is done for them.
The result? Helicopter parenting, snowplow parenting, free-range parenting and, well, just plain old not parenting at all. From moms still babying their 30-year-old sons to parents who allow their 14-year-old to get tattoos, these people reveal the worst cases of parenting they've ever seen.
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#1 No Boys
"I'm going to pull her out of school in the eighth grade and then homeschool her because I don't want her in an environment with boys." I don't know why he chose eighth grade.
#2 Insensitive Mom
My son's daycare class has a kid in it who's missing an eye. He has an eyelid/lashes/etc, just was born without the tissue used to see with. He's a completely normal-looking kid, it just looks like one eye is always closed and instead of the roundness of an eyeball behind is flat since it's missing. There's nothing scary, or weird, or gross about him.
I once watched a mother scream and throw a tantrum at pick up time because the teachers insisted he wouldn't be moved from the class as there's nothing wrong with him being there. She swore up and down that this kid was scaring her child and the daycare teachers should do more to 'protect her baby from people like that' and her child shouldn't have to be around 'freaks' and he should have to go with the special education kids.
Her kid seemed fine with this other kid, but his mother was horrified by him interacting with someone who wasn't her idea of normal and she lost it when the teachers refused to give into her weird demands about it. I can only imagine what effed up prejudices this kid is going to have thanks that vile woman.
#3 Irresponsible Pregnancies
Mom is in labor, CPS is standing by to take the baby. She's had no prenatal care, is addicted to drugs and this is her sixth pregnancy. The previous five have already been apprehended. The father is unsurprisingly not present for the birth.
#4 Abusive Parents
I used to work at a pawn shop several years ago. One day a particularly trashy couple came in to pawn a few DVDs and some fake gold. They had their son with them and he couldn’t have been more than three years old. So while his dad is at the counter and mom is wandering around the little boy walks over to the bike display to check out the bikes. When dad notices this he yells “HEY” very loudly and the boy immediately starts running back towards the dad. The mom sees the little boy running back to his father and assumes he’s being yelled at for running around the store. She looks at the dad and says as casual as can be “just hit him.” I don’t think I’ll ever forget thinking in that moment, “Sorry kid, you’ve got very little chance of being normal.”
#5 Straight Out of Breaking Bad
I've spent some time in the family law court system as a lawyer. That family in Breaking Bad that stole the ATM machine and Jesse goes over there and finds that kid... it wasn't terribly unrealistic to me.
#6 School Grades
In high school in Peru, I remember seeing a mother dragging her kid to where the teacher was and slammed her kid's exam on the table and said, "I don't understand! My kid got 60 percent at first, then he got 70 percent and 80 percent, so he was improving. Now he's got a 65 percent!??!?! What the heck???" Jesus...The teacher had the best poker face I've seen in my life during all of this.
#7 Old Yeller
The only reason I know the names of the kids across the street is because their mother is constantly screaming at them from her perch on the porch. A quote from earlier: "Eden! Eden! Come here! No! I just told you to stop being so stupid!"
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#8 Obsessed with Money
I have an ultra-conservative (distant) family member who’s taken her anti-welfare, personal responsibility, tough love philosophy so far that she’s charging her five-year-old rent. Apparently she gives the child a list of chores to complete, then pays her a small allowance, then takes all the allowance back to cover the girl's “bills."
One time the little girl wanted to make some special treats for a party they were going to have at their house (don’t know what it was for), and she (the mom) replied, “Ok, how are you going to pay for that?” I wasn’t there, my cousin told me this. I should add that this woman does not struggle financially at all. She has some bank related corporate job and a very large, nice house. But she will by god make it VERY CLEAR to her small child that every inch of space she occupies and every bite of food she takes has a COST and must be EARNED.
Pxfuel
#9 Overparenting
We went to a pediatric dentist who still brushed her kid's teeth for him. He was 12.
Health.mil
#10 Ignorant Mom
My sister in law. Her and her boyfriend are the most selfish people I have ever met. They live with her mom, who is mainly the person who takes care of her two-year-old but she spoils him and he is extremely bratty. He hits, bites and spits in the face of every kid that comes near him. He throws giant tantrums for up to an hour sometimes that usually end in him getting what he wants. His mom hardly ever interacts with him even though she lives in the same house, she is usually just on her phone. Once when I stayed the night at their house I went to the kitchen at like 2 a.m. and he was awake begging for his mom to put him to sleep and she ignored him and continued to just watch TV. Her age isn't even an excuse (like her mom likes to claim) shes 29.
#11 Five Dads
Mom with seven kids by five dads. Children one, three and seven share a father.
#12 Uninterested
I worry about my cousin. His parents were in their late forties when he was born (oops!) and both already had grown kids. Safe to say they’re over the whole parenting thing at this point, and the kid is only nine. They just kind of accept that he doesn’t like/isn’t great at school and do nothing to help him improve. He’s such a sweet kid, and I hate that he’s not getting the kind of support he deserves. It seems so unfair.
#13 No Girls
My friend's mother homeschooled him because she didn’t want him interacting with females...
#14 Helicopter Mom
I worked with a guy who's about five years older than me. I was 20 at the time so he'd have been about 25. He still lived at home with his parents because mom wasn't ready to "let him go." He had a 9 p.m. curfew and ALWAYS had to have permission to "go over to a friend's house."
I was nice to him because I felt bad for him and I guess in his mind, that meant we were friends so I got to know him slightly better than you would a standard coworker. He did have a learning disability (so helicopter mom's got a valid concern) but he wasn't slow. He was a fully capable adult.
The first time I met his mom I KNEW there was no hope for this guy. She CONSTANTLY controlled his every move. He couldn't eat certain foods because they'd "give you gas" or "I don't think you'd like that anyway," and he wasn't allowed to do ANYTHING without her permission. He had his license, but she drove him to and from work. She even ended up getting a job in the same building, though a different department, and I suspect it had nothing to do with "carpooling to save gas money."
Last I heard, he FINALLY was able to get his own apartment, but I still see them around town together. I NEVER see him on his own. She'll even go with him to the bathroom at the county fair... And I'm 27 now so he's gotta be around 32ish. Helicopter mom ruined that guy and he's gonna be so screwed when she kicks it and leaves him behind.
#15 Teen Mom
Two years out of high school and she already has three kids with three different dads. Constantly posts pictures of her on Instagram in lingerie and bashes anyone and everyone.
#16 Overbearing Parents
There was a kid at my school whose parents were overbearing. In our senior year of high school, his parents:m Did not allow him to talk to females; did not allow him to watch PG-13 movies, one of my friends had to secretly let him borrow Lord of the Rings; didn't allow him to do any extracurricular activities in school.
#17 Abusive Father
I overheard a father telling his eight-year-old kid that she deserved to be beaten because she was a terrible kid. The poor little girl was crying. Screw that guy.
#18 Energy Drinks for a One-Year-Old
I was at a child's birthday party once and was pushing a big group of kids on the merry-go-round. This one or two-year-old boy, not from the party, started meandering his way toward us with no regard for the large metal spinning disc he was about to walk into. I slowed the merry-go-round (much to the dismay of the kids on it) and went to lead the boy away. He then said something that indicated he was thirsty.
I looked over at the lady who had brought him there and waved her over. It took a while to get her attention since she definitely was not looking our way at all. She eventually got up reluctantly to come toward us and it turned out to be his grandma. Once I told her that he was thirsty, she started to pour her Mountain Dew energy drink down his throat with no hesitation. I stopped her and said I had plenty of bottles of water from our party and I would get some. She shrugged and accepted one, let him drink a little, and then walked away from him again to go back to smoking about 10 yards away. It was pretty upsetting to imagine the possibilities of how that kid's life was going to be.
#19 Evil School Mom
The mother who threatened my life. I am a teacher.
#20 Church Only
I know a couple who are extremely religious. I have zero problem with religion, although I am not particularly religious, myself. This couple has three children, the oldest is five. They have decided not to send their children to any established school because it would introduce them to bad and ungodly things. Also, they are adamant anti-vaxxers, so their kids wouldn't be allowed to attend public school in the first place. They have decided to homeschool the kids and only teach out of the bible. No math, no science, only bible stories. I'm not even sure if that's legal or not.
#21 Tattoos for His 14th Birthday
I know a kid who was allowed to get tattoos for his 14th birthday, from a friend of the family who needed the practice.
#22 Manipulative Professor
The professor for the Psychology in Parenting class I'm currently taking at school. She is the worst helicopter parent I've ever seen. She has every behavior of her children planned and a punishment ready to administer when she doesn't get the result she wants. She even talks about how she manipulates her husband into performing certain behaviors. I can't even touch on how manipulative she is; it's kinda scary.
She thinks all this micro-parenting is going to create some well-rounded, super smart, and mentally stable person but I think she's the mother of a future psychopath. She's one of those "participation trophy" and "everybody wins" type people. I actually feel worse for her future grandkids. She's going to be the mother-in-law from Hell, I can just see it now.
#23 Anti-Vaxxers
Anyone who claims that they will refuse to vaccinate their kids. And no, I'm not gonna debate about it. Vaccines help us, not hurt us. Period.
#24 Free-Range Parenting
We had neighbors who believed in “free-range parenting." Essentially they didn’t believe in any rules or boundaries. The kids walked into our house one day when we forgot to lock the front door. I had to stop letting our kid play with them after the day I caught them throwing rocks at passing cars. Luckily they sold their house and moved.
#25 No Boundaries
My uncle is a weird man, he used to have a drug problem and I'm pretty sure he has some form of psychological disorder. Surprisingly enough, he got married to a seemingly nice woman. He passed her private pictures randomly to my uncles, myself and probably my other cousins, too. After these incidents, my family decided to cut him off. A few days ago, he randomly sent me a picture of his newborn daughter. I'm honestly pretty worried.
#26 Babying Her Sons
My aunt, of all people. Her sons are 21 and 19. She still babies both of them, and I can tell they hate it. She applied for a good chunk of her oldest son's internships, and her youngest son she still restricts food from, thinking he's overweight (he's more than six feet tall, people that height can weigh 200 lbs. and still be healthy).
#27 No Stewart Little
We weren’t allowed to watch Stewart Little because a parent refused to let their child be exposed to talking animals.
#28 Throwing Parties for Their Kids
Honestly, I grew up with a lot of these kids and partied at a lot of their houses, but one family stuck out in particular. The parents in question often held parties that they "supervised" and supplied alcohol for with the reasoning that kids were going to do that stuff anyway, and it was better they had a safe place to do it. In reality, they were alcoholics who didn't work and just wanted people to partake in their misery. They wanted drinking buddies instead of guiding their children. Granted, most of them have now become adults and overcame their parents' selfishness and toxicity, but not without a fair amount of trauma and dysfunction.
#29 Too Lazy to Parent
One of the office ladies proudly proclaimed she's too lazy to teach her son anything so she is going to pay other people to. Oh boy.
#30 Screaming as Punishment
My old best friend SCREAMS at her son. For everything. Not eating fast enough? Scream. Didn't hear her? Scream. Cries? Scream. He's the same age as my daughter. I had to stop letting my daughter around her because I don't want my children exposed to just screaming at a five-year-old.
#31 Unhealthy Diet
Two of my dad's old coworkers, a married couple, were both extremely obese and led a pretty unhealthy lifestyle in general (eating fast food nearly every day, etc.) Eventually, they had a baby and basically fed her anything she wanted and very unhealthy snacks. That kid is screwed.
#32 Faking Injuries
An eighth-grade girl. She was in honors English but missed almost every day of school due to a "medical issue." Mom got a doctor to sign off that she had some sort of injury that makes her incapable of attending school. Meanwhile, the kid is posting all over her social media about all these Jiu-Jitsu tournaments she competes in.
Kid eventually was switched to my class after the last teacher refused to accept homework which was clearly done by mom (in mom's handwriting and everything). She has missed every single day of school since being switched to my class. I have never met this kid and she's been enrolled in my class for several months.
The best part? The school and district can't/won't do anything about it because mom sued the school about her son and somehow has the district paying for him to attend a private school. She's threatened to sue over the daughter too, but I don't really see how. Mom also works for my school district and gets a stipend to teach her "sickly" daughter from home.
#33 Time to Stop
Mom that tells her 10-year-old son when it’s "peepee time" and walks him to the bathroom and helps him.
#34 No Consequences
Eighth-grade boy. Mom has accused every teacher this kid has ever had of being "out to get her son" since kindergarten. I was warned about her and her kid before school began. I was told to never call home without an administrator present and basically that there are no consequences for this kid because he is "special needs" and mom has threatened to sue.
This kid does nothing other than disrupt class. On the few occasions I've gotten him to work, he's been completely competent and fully capable, but there's no punishment for doing nothing, so he chooses to mess around instead. The kid will ask to go to the bathroom and instead spends 20-30 minutes just wandering campus, peeking into classrooms whatever. I've had to have campus supervisors find him and bring him back more times than I can count. Sometimes he wanders out of the room without permission. But legally I can't stop him due to his "needs."
The kid peed all over the boy's bathroom once. No consequences. He took another kid's phone and chucked it outside on the concrete in the middle of class, smashing it to pieces. I sent him to the office and they sent him right back. He's been in multiple fights. The school actually suspended him for once. Now, mom is saying that due to his "needs" he should be exempt from suspensions.
#35 Elvis Obsessed
When I was a child I knew this couple that had Elvis tattoos all over themselves. They were in bars every night with their kid (named Elvis). They were also homophobic and when little Elvis was old enough he came out of the closet, he moved far away. Good for him.
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#36 Another Helicopter Mom
My aunt’s girlfriend’s sister is such a helicopter mom. She used to cut his food for him until he was about nine. She used to ask if there were bones in everything (even if she knew there weren’t any bones in the meal). When he goes to the bathroom she waits outside. He still wets the bed. I could go on.
#37 Bad Manners
My daughter was in grade 0. And the three local schools had a fun "sports day" for their grade 0s. Sports day meant you did a 40-meter dash, then obstacle course, then an egg/spoon run etc. All with your own class. So no competition between the schools. This one dad kept yelling instructions to his five-year-old "Elbow him, trip her, knock them over." So much for the fun.
#38 Wash That Mouth
I didn’t meet the parent, but I witnessed someone get rear-ended in rush hour the other day. I hear a woman screaming, not from pain, but from anger, and she gets out of the driver’s side of the car that was hit and opens the back door (to get something out?). Then, a child who looked to be around eight years old leans out of the back passenger window furiously screaming, "WE’RE GONNA EFF YOU UP! GONNA EFF YOU UP!!"
#39 No Need
Saw a woman slap her kid in Ikea for the non-crime of trying to get her attention.
#40 Unsupervised Kid
Parents chose to have her in their 50s. They're definitely not able to physically keep up with an active and energetic 10-year-old, plus the mother is now sickly, has memory problems, mobility problems and is out of a job. The girl has fancy electronics that they have no understanding of, social media accounts across the board where she's constantly posting unsupervised, and ran up a $6,000 bill from Amazon that they weren't able to stop without cancelling the account entirely.
#41 Herbalife Shakes Only
High school ex-boyfriend. His self esteem was below the ground. His mom sold Herbalife products and made him drink their shakes and just their shakes for breakfast and for lunch (a 17-year-old boy, who was the captain of the volleyball team, mind you).
#42 Unhealthy Pregnancy
A super trashy coworker. She used drugs but swore she was clean. Her son couldn't talk, only yell and grunt. He also screamed around new people. But she wouldn't get help for him and denied anything was wrong. She said she didn't use drugs while pregnant but none of us believed her.
#43 Real-Life Miss Honey
As a teacher, I see this literally every day. But I currently have a student who is the sweetest kid ever, but her dad is... not. He’s abusive, always angry and she is never good enough. He openly admits that he wants her to do well in school so she can pay to support him because “that’s what kids do."
There’s currently an investigation going on with an armed robbery that he was involved with. I’m currently waiting with all the adoption paperwork ready to go since she has no other family if he goes to prison for 30 years, which is likely. I’m going to do everything in my power to make sure she doesn’t go into foster care.
#44 Powerpoint Presentation
Lady had a powerpoint presentation laying out her child's future including what GPA she was going to get and what college she was going to go to.
#45 Stalker Parent
A friend of a friend. Most recently, his ex-wife is on baby number six, and he also just had twins with a girl that moved up north from Florida after stalking him on Tumblr for about a year. They knew each other maybe a month.
