“I’ll Never Do That To My Kids”: 30 Things Boomer Parents Did That Traumatized Their Kids

Found this out in therapy but my mom knew that my grandpa had been in jail before for molesting little girls…. but still left me alone with him.

After breakfast Mom would kick me outside and tell me not to come home until the street lights came on.

rowenaravenclaw0: Forcing [kids] to be a pseudo parent to younger family members. My aunt had 13 babies in 13 years, so during my childhood, she was nearly always pregnant, or post natal. Being the only girl in the family, I was expected to help her wrangle her football team of boys. From the age of 7, I was expected to spend the majority of my time doing chores for them. By 12, I was expected to miss school some days.

imthe1nonlyD: I routinely have told my oldest daughter (7) to let me be the parent, and in turn, she gets to be the kid. Let me worry about the parent stuff; that's not your concern. Focus on being a kid.

The silent treatment. I hated this method they both used as a form of punishment, so I swore I would never do this to my own kids, and I haven't. My kids are all grown now, and we might have disagreements, but I will always talk through and communicate with them. The worst part of my parents' silent treatment is that I would often not even know what offense I had committed. It's a great way to really sever any attempts for having a close and loving relationship.

Being jealous that [kids] have life easier than [they] did.

I was born in 76 and saw poltergeist in the theatre (82). Who the f**k let’s that happen?

My Dad worked nights and my Mom worked days, so Dad was supposed to watch me during the day. Instead, he dragged me to his favorite bars with him to hang out with him and the creepy drunk old men where this drunk old lady would take men in the bathroom and measure their "package". I'm sure other stuff went on that as a kid didn't make sense to me, but that stood out as a life long memory. My Mom was always mad about it, but didn't stop him.

Freedom_fam: Being 'midwest nice.'
VagueSoul: Midwest nice is basically doing everything in your power to not 'make waves.' You don’t want to challenge anything, you don’t want to highlight anything 'bad,' and you downplay everything so that everyone gets along. 0chazz0: For example: "'Oh sweetie, let's talk about this later, we don't want to make a fuss on Thanksgiving.
Seagyspy: This was my life! 'What will neighbors think,' and 'you'll regret trying that.' I never fit in and knew my children wouldn't either. I moved many states away to a 'live and let live' environment. ... I recently went 'home.' I picked up the newspaper and saw all the gossip, and it triggered me. Everyone plays 'nice' while gossiping and taking joy in people's pain.

My mom beat the c**p out of me anytime she felt like it and my dad was too busy visiting old people in nursing homes to care.

Drove three kids around in a car with a hole in the floor large enough for us to fall through.