People Online Are Sharing The Most Awful Things Parents Ever Told Them (36 Stories)

When a person becomes a parent, they get saddled with new responsibilities – taking care of a whole new family. That includes things like providing them with food, a roof over their head, clothing, financial support, safety, education, and many other things. It also includes the responsibility of protecting a child from harm, both physical and emotional. 

Unfortunately, sometimes parents themselves cause that harm to their kids. When we mention parents hurting their kids, what probably pops up first in our minds is physical hurt. And while that’s a big problem in itself, it isn’t the only way a parent can harm a kid. 

There’s also emotional harm. This kind can take many forms – from constant criticizism, dismissal of their feelings, calling them names, or just saying nasty things. That’s what we’re going to focus on today: terrible things parents told their kids and how it impacted them.

Let’s take a look at our list - it’s full of examples of such occurrences. All of these examples were shared by people on the Mumsnet forum when someone asked folks to share the worst things their parents said to them, and, oh boy, they delivered. The post got over 300 replies, so we decided to make a list of the most interesting takes. That’s how this collection was born.

Sadly, it’s a heartbreaking one. For instance, parents blaming their kids for their divorce, berating their looks, or even telling them they regret having them. Well, apparently, parents can find a lot of ways to hurt their kids with words. 

The thing is that these things tend to stick with people. It’s no secret that children absorb everything that’s spoken around or to them like sponges, both good and bad. So, if a parent chooses to say negative or especially hurtful words to a kid, it can do quite a lot of damage. 

For starters, it can damage the relationship between a parent and a child. If someone is saying nasty things to you, especially if they revolve around you, there’s no way it doesn’t cause at least a little strain between you and them. 

It can also diminish a kid's self-worth and propagate a pessimistic worldview. If someone keeps telling you bad things about you or the world, at some point, you might start at least partially believing them. After all, when you hear things often enough, they start to sound true. It’s something called the illusory truth effect. 

And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. People telling each other terrible things is never good, but another level of despicableness is added when these things come from a parent’s mouth to a child’s ear. The sad thing about it is how relatively often such events happen.

Do you have any similar examples you would like to get off your chest? Do so in the comments!