I remember being a child and assuming that adults were magical beings who knew everything. They’re older and wiser, so they must have my best interest at heart! But as we gain life experiences, we are often confronted with the harsh reality that not all adults are good-hearted. In fact, many can be extremely cruel.
Redditors have been recalling the pettiest things that adults ever did to them when they were children, so we’ve gathered their most upsetting stories below. From bullying students in a classroom to making rude remarks that left a lifelong impact, these memories are heartbreaking to read about. But perhaps they’ll inspire you to be even kinder to the children in your life!
#1
I was at an Easter Egg hunt when I was around 6. It was in a big park area with lots of rocks. I saw a little chocolate egg foil glisten and ran over to pick it up. As I reached my hand out to pick it up a man trod on my hand to stop me getting it, then he called his kid over to "find" it.
64points
#2
When I was in like 5th grade I didn't put a book cover on my math book. It required cutting up a paper bag something similar (we couldn't really afford the fancy ones) and I just never did it. So my math teacher took away my math book, so I couldn't do homework or follow along in class. Like WTF, who does that to a kid. When my mom found out she went down to the school and RAISED HELL about interfering with my right to an education or something. The school district was terrified of her until I graduated.
59points
#3
My sixth grade teacher didn't like me, I had transferred into her class when the TaG teacher was needed elsewhere, and this teacher was resentful. She was going to have the class read The Hobbit (long, long before any movies). I was excited, I had ready read it and the Trilogy the year before. She called me a liar in front of the whole class, then went on a tirade about how kids like me were terrible and thought we were better. I was a quiet shy girl, and cried. She mocked that too. The rest of the year was hell, she let her pets (officers' kids, it was a school near a Navy base) bully me. I was never good enough. She couldn't fail me because I excelled at bookwork, but she picked on me at every turn. Trash human.
58points
To find out how this conversation started in the first place, we reached out to the Reddit user who posed the question, "What was the most petty thing an adult did to you when you were younger?”
The author, x3Nekox3, was kind enough to have a chat with Bored Panda, but it's been a few years since she created this thread, so she couldn't recall exactly what inspired the post. "Back then, I was pretty new to Reddit and had just recently discovered r/AskReddit," she explained. "Reading through the different posts and comments must have inspired me to post that question."
#4
We were almost out of ice cream, I made myself the last bowl. I came into the living room to eat it and my dad took it and ate it all because I didn’t offer him any. I was about 8. I’m 41 and I still hide while eating bowls of ice cream.
57points
#5
On the wedding day of my moms third wedding, I sat in my room alone crying cause it was hard, but I made sure to remove myself cause I didn’t want to upset my mom. When my aunt came to check in on my and saw I was crying, she went and told my mom. My mom went out of her way to stop hair and makeup to come into my room for being selfish and trying to ruin her happy day, even though I purposefully tried to not look upset in front of her in the first place.
Edit: Oh wow guys I took a nap and wake up and I’ve gotten my first awards and this is my top comment ever! Thank you so much.
To address some of the questions that have come up, yes she is still married to her third husband and I’m grateful for it now because he ended up being great for her even though he had quite the rocky start with me. My mom also finally went to therapy after I had already grown and left the house and was diagnosed properly and given the help she needs and we now have a solid relationship and she still regularly apologizes for the things she did growing up. While still have some childhood baggage, I’ve built a very happy life for myself and will definitely use what I learned from my childhood to be a better mom to my kids if I ever have any.
Edit: Oh wow guys I took a nap and wake up and I’ve gotten my first awards and this is my top comment ever! Thank you so much.
To address some of the questions that have come up, yes she is still married to her third husband and I’m grateful for it now because he ended up being great for her even though he had quite the rocky start with me. My mom also finally went to therapy after I had already grown and left the house and was diagnosed properly and given the help she needs and we now have a solid relationship and she still regularly apologizes for the things she did growing up. While still have some childhood baggage, I’ve built a very happy life for myself and will definitely use what I learned from my childhood to be a better mom to my kids if I ever have any.
54points
#6
I broke two fingers on my dominant hand in 9th grade and had a splint on them so I couldn't write. I had a test at school and the teacher made me write with my left hand then marked my answers wrong because she couldn't read them.
54points
The author noted that she had also contributed to the conversation by sharing a story of her own: "Back when I was 17, I moved to NYC with a friend for three months, to work as an intern. That was my first time living in a dorm full of strangers in a foreign country where I knew the language haphazardly ([I had] just started really using what I learned at school)," she explained. "The day I got there, I was sitting in the kitchen with my friend, just joking and enjoying our usual gimmicks."
#7
At 16 years old, I had a job at a gas station after school. Did all the grunt work (sweeping cigarettes in the parking lot, emptying trash bins, etc.).
I'm taking the trash out one day and a grown a*s man in his 40s comes up to me and says something along the lines of "I make more money in a week than you do in a whole year" and all I could think at the time was "Well yeah, I sure hope you do I'm in high school".
Such a petty thing to say to a kid just trying to make a little bit of money after school.
I'm taking the trash out one day and a grown a*s man in his 40s comes up to me and says something along the lines of "I make more money in a week than you do in a whole year" and all I could think at the time was "Well yeah, I sure hope you do I'm in high school".
Such a petty thing to say to a kid just trying to make a little bit of money after school.
51points
"Some tenants showed up and were introduced to me. A couple from Detroit was also there. I noticed the boyfriend being distant but thought nothing of it, and there were no interactions between us whatsoever," the author continued. "A few weeks later, the girlfriend came up to me and told me I needed to apologize to her boyfriend. I asked why. She said, because I was making fun of him the day I arrived, and he held a grudge since then."
"I was thinking, 'What the [heck]?' I was joking with my friends hours before I even saw you. Your 30-year-old butt got hurt by some girls speaking German and giggling, and you just automatically made the connection between our laughs and your weight? But shy young me went to apologize anyway and was made to listen to him lecturing me about manners..."
#8
For background purposes; my full legal first name is Abby. Just Abby. All 4 letters, nothing more.
My 6th grade social studies teacher one time kept calling out the name Abigail one day. That's not my name, so I don't respond and looking for this new mystery person. She gets up and comes to my desk and asks me:
"Why aren't you answering me?"
Me: "you called out Abigail, not Abby"
"Abby is short for Abigail, go to the principle's office for being disrespectful"
I went to the principle's office.
P: "why are you here?"
Me: "teacher called out for Abigail and i didn't respond"
P: "why did you not respond?"
Me: "my name is Abby. Just Abby"
He pulls up my record and confirms that I am not and never have been an Abigale, and sends me back to class.
My teacher never called on me again.
My 6th grade social studies teacher one time kept calling out the name Abigail one day. That's not my name, so I don't respond and looking for this new mystery person. She gets up and comes to my desk and asks me:
"Why aren't you answering me?"
Me: "you called out Abigail, not Abby"
"Abby is short for Abigail, go to the principle's office for being disrespectful"
I went to the principle's office.
P: "why are you here?"
Me: "teacher called out for Abigail and i didn't respond"
P: "why did you not respond?"
Me: "my name is Abby. Just Abby"
He pulls up my record and confirms that I am not and never have been an Abigale, and sends me back to class.
My teacher never called on me again.
50points
#9
I was feeling sick one day in grade 3 or 4 and the substitute teacher wouldn’t let me go to the nurse’s office because “I didn’t look sick enough.”
I had strep throat.
I had strep throat.
48points
#10
I got a 0 on a history assignment in fourth grade because I “improperly cited a source” for one of the pictures I used, meaning it was plagiarism. The citation I used was from the educational website I got the picture from, and it was to the format she wanted. I simply forgot a period at the end. F**k you Ms. Easton. This was at least 2 decades ago and I’m just remembering it.
47points
We also asked the OP why she thinks adults are petty towards children so often. "I guess they think they can get away with [it] easily. Many children are also taught to 'respect their elders', which makes it harder to stand up for oneself when facing someone with seniority," she shared.
"The 'adults' who acted petty were maybe stressed and used the opportunity to vent and let out some steam and frustrations. Which, in my opinion, does not excuse their bad behavior. Without getting too philosophical here, I think most 'adults' are just children with forced on responsibilities," the author added.
#11
In elementary school I use to talk to the lunch lady everyday and then the one day I didn’t say hi she came to my lunch table and told me I was fake, phony, and a few other things and stopped speaking to me. I still don’t understand what her problem was.
45points
#12
Had a teacher in kindergarten threaten to expel me because I was sick and didn’t show up the day before. She put me on the spot in front of the whole class telling me not to lie and that she’d call the principal. I cried in front of the whole class not knowing what to do. Apparently she wanted to win some attendance award and thought confronting a child was a good idea. Like bruh I was fking 5.
Still salty on how she got away with it.
Still salty on how she got away with it.
44points
Finally, the OP added what she thought of the replies to her post. "What stood out to me in those answers was how many figures of authority just straight up abused their position to be a bully, but I wouldn't call it surprising."
#13
I was in middle school at a friend’s sleepover. Her parents were very strict, she and her siblings got pulled out of public school to go to a Catholic school (were homeschooled in high school), and they scared the hell out of me.
Anyway, it was probably like 11pm at this sleepover, and her mom hesitantly let us watch the Disney movie *Zenon: Girl of the 21st Century*. I laughed at a part, and even though her parents were awake, they came into the living room to scold me for being too loud. Not long after, I took a drink of water, choked, and started coughing.
They called my parents after 11pm to come pick me up because “I couldn’t behave.” They had no regard for them being asleep and having jobs to get to early in the morning, they wanted me out for laughing and coughing in the span of about 10 minutes.
My parents never let me stay the night at her house again, and are still pissed at them for doing that almost 20 years later.
Anyway, it was probably like 11pm at this sleepover, and her mom hesitantly let us watch the Disney movie *Zenon: Girl of the 21st Century*. I laughed at a part, and even though her parents were awake, they came into the living room to scold me for being too loud. Not long after, I took a drink of water, choked, and started coughing.
They called my parents after 11pm to come pick me up because “I couldn’t behave.” They had no regard for them being asleep and having jobs to get to early in the morning, they wanted me out for laughing and coughing in the span of about 10 minutes.
My parents never let me stay the night at her house again, and are still pissed at them for doing that almost 20 years later.
42points
#14
I did a chore that my father had asked me to do. My mom got home and commented on how nicely the chore was done. My father took credit for it in front of me - so I fired back saying that I was the one who had done it... he then yelled at me and called me a traitor.
42points
#15
A math teacher handed back our tests in class. They were graded and marked and all that. She was going over some of the questions that most people got wrong (myself included), so I was writing down some notes on my test so I could reference it later and remind myself why I got things wrong and what I was supposed to do. She ripped my test away from me and started *screaming* at me that cheating is absolutely not allowed and that I should be ashamed of myself. Confused and in shock, I started choking up and tried to explain that I was just trying to take notes. One of the most humiliating times of my childhood (around 13 years old), and I still don’t understand why it happened.
41points
#16
Preschool me wasn't sure if shaking hands should come after or before getting awarded a prize on stage. Adult snatched my prize out-of-reach to hall full of guffawing adults. Preschool me burst out in tears and was led off-stage. Parent scolded me for making her look bad.
Edit: my form teacher passed the prize to parent later when we were seated. Prize giver was a local celebrity.
Edit: my form teacher passed the prize to parent later when we were seated. Prize giver was a local celebrity.
40points
#17
My aunt was unpleasant or weird with everyone but always particularly cold to me. One day when I was about 14 she took me aside and said she'd held a grudge against me because of my name - she had wanted to call her first daughter that name but my parents had had a child first and used it (they had no idea she wanted the name and aren't the kind of people who would have done it on purpose). She said she'd tried really hard and had just about forgiven me for it.
I just remember being baffled by it and then feeling sorry for her for being that spiteful, to be honest, but it palled later in comparison with all the other crazy horrible things she did to her own family.
I just remember being baffled by it and then feeling sorry for her for being that spiteful, to be honest, but it palled later in comparison with all the other crazy horrible things she did to her own family.
39points
#18
One of my uncles was in a years-long fight with my mom. To stir trouble, any time he greeted my sister and I, he would tell my sister how beautiful and wonderful she is and to me just say "Oh, you're here too" and then promptly ignore me the rest of the night. I used to adore him up to that point so this ended up in me being extremely hurt and crying to my mom for hours about how I'm ugly and not special.
He got his petty vengeance on my mother and crushed my self-esteem. Till today I don't forgive him for it.
He got his petty vengeance on my mother and crushed my self-esteem. Till today I don't forgive him for it.
39points
#19
I got in trouble in 6th grade for reading during home room. Home room was like a random 30 min period to work on homework but I always did my homework the night before so I would just quietly read. For some reason my home room teacher hated it. One day she just yelled at me for always reading in her class and told me to do my homework. I told her all of my homework was done. She told me to prove it so I showed her all of my completed homework. Then she confiscated my book and sent me to the principal’s office for being disrespectful. I’m still salty about it.
38points
#20
I wrote a letter to my Grandma that died on Christmas day and put it in her casket at her funeral. My aunt took it out and gave it back to me and told me I couldn’t do that. I was 6
37points