There are all sorts of parenting styles in the world, and honestly, if you are a parent, you’ve probably realized by now that no good can come from judging anyone else’s choice.
Not most of the time, anyway – but sometimes, other people’s parenting choices are so appalling and extra that we can’t help but wish they were doing things differently for the sake of their kids (and the world at large).
These 13 overbearing parents take things way too far, and we can’t look away.
13. That’s sad.
I asked my friend to spend the night and his parents said, “no. You’re too old for sleepovers.” We were in 4th grade.
12. That’s definitely weird.
One of my friends in high school was from an incredibly wealthy family and his parents travelled on most weekends so they would get him a babysitter while they were gone. She wasn’t a maid, she didn’t cook, she didn’t clean, she didn’t drive him around she would just be there in the house on her phone.
I never saw him talk to her for more than he had to cause I think he thought it was strange since he was a senior with a car and a job and she was only a year older than him.
Not that ridiculous but I thought it was funny.
11. They lasted longer than I would have.
My mother wanted my sister to stay at home until I graduated from university. When my sister ended up marrying she wanted to move out but caved into family pressure and stayed an extra year before sneaking out in the middle of the night. Keep in mind that she’s 14 years older than me and I was 12 at the time. That would mean my sister was expected to stay for another 10 years, at minimum, until age 36.
My mom moved to Canada over twenty years ago but she never picked up the language. My sister became fluent so she could speak, read, and write in both English and Chinese.
Because of this, my sister ended up assuming all of my mom’s adult duties, including dealing with the bank, taxes– basically anything or anyone that wasn’t Chinese. It didn’t help that my mother was extremely condescending. She’d do the cleaning and chores but made sure that to let us know that she was doing ‘all of the work’ and that she was having a rough time at every opportunity. Whenever my sister and I were having trouble she’d be extremely dismissive and deflect everything back to her problems.
Basically every argument would boil down to my mother saying that if we were good children we would be dealing with all of the chores, paperwork, repairs, cleaning and cooking for her. And that she shouldn’t be having to even do any of these things at all. My sister has been fed up with her on more than one occasion, but there was one time when things got serious.
A few months after my sister’s marriage and before she sneaked out, she got pregnant. My sister and mother got into another argument within that time.
On one side, my sister was being fed some really shitty food by mom as revenge for my sister rushing through the ceremony, essentially getting married without her approval/permission. It only worked because my BIL’s family was visiting at the time from Taiwan so the timing was perfect.
Anyways, any time my sister would show any disapproval or reluctance to eat her cooking my mom would rage out and bust out into a tirade about how she spent so much time and money to cook for her, and that she didn’t even have the respect to at least eat it (it was only fucking ginger pig feet). Because my mom would go into an argument about this every time she fought back and you can’t exactly beat up old people, my sister ended up sneaking meals in the middle of the night for two reasons.
One, she couldn’t physically eat the food (she became oddly nauseated to new and specific foods that she wasn’t before during her pregnancy) and she would end up vomiting. And two, my mom would never let her live it down if she was caught sneaking food. She’d probably feel deeply insulted as if she was abusing her and she’d get even more angry. This led to my sister eating essentially only a meal or maybe even two meals a day, which really ate away at her patience.
Either way, between the abuse and hunger, she snapped. One day, my sister threw our home telephone against the wall and started shouting at mom, but my mom was quick to shout back. It was explosive. And it just, happened. My sister would go into cold moments of silence, and after prodded enough she would go into an argument, but this was different. I took some distance.
They would move around, shouting back and forth, shifting from the living room to the kitchen.
The stalemate ended when my mom pulled out a knife from the drawer. Her arm was raised, knife peering down at my sister, and she would walk up to her, shouting louder and louder as my sister shrunk back. Luckily, my BIL forced his way between them. He got out with a few cuts but my sister was fine. I ran off. I was sitting on the stairs, looking down from above. I was 12 back then so the thought of intervening never crossed my mind. Arguments between family were the norm for me. I got into a few myself but they would always pass. I just took my distance.
Either way, that was the final straw.
My mom ended up treating my sister even more coldly since then, and a month later they sneaked out in the middle of the night and booked it on the next flight to Taiwan.
10. Why would they want that?
I had a friend who didn’t learn how to use a toaster or microwave until she was 14.
Her parents literally did everything for her and to this day (she’s 17 now) she still doesn’t know how to do her own laundry.
9. Too late?
A really sweet girl in my year at school wasn’t allowed to come to Starbucks with my friends and I after school because it was allegedly too late and too dangerous… the Starbucks was in an upscale densely populated area of town, it was 5:30pm and we were 15.
8. I mean, to be fair…
I remember this kid on my street wasnt allowed to hang out with me because I let him play Duke Nukem on n64. I still wonder how exactly he described the game to his parents.
7. Control freaks much?
My next door neighbor’s parents had signs around the house by the door and phones that gave specific instructions on what to do or say to a stranger who called or rang the door bell if the parents weren’t home. One time we were having my birthday party (maybe 10) and it was cop themed (what I wanted to be growing up).
My local police department agreed to host us for a tour of the station and to look at the squad cars. This was clearly printed on the invitations. Same neighbor had to ask his parents permission to go to with us, they came over to look around the party and see what kind of characters were there. They also drove their son to the station in their own car.
Did not offer rides to any other child. Station was maybe a 1/2 mile from my house. He was my childhood best friend but we went our separate ways.
Last I knew his sister (who I graduated highschool with) left for D.C. and got into politics. He dropped out of high school, private school, private Christian school, and vocational school. He spent 7 years in high school before flunking out.
He is a pale Irish ginger kid who thinks he’s ghetto and black. He shaves his head, got tattoo sleeves of pin up girls on his arms (Idk where he got them but if those happened on ink master the artist would be gone) smokes cigarettes, and doesn’t want his GED. The one time I chatted with him when I came home from college he complained about how difficult it is to get a job without a degree and bitched out an elderly neighbor who only gave him $20 to clean out her basement.
I feel bad for him cause I definitely growing up in that house fucked him up. Last I heard he still lives with his parents, constantly selling his stuff for tattoo money, and works as a dishwasher somewhere.
6. What the actual f*ck.
In middle school I had an online account on a website and also frequented AIM very often. We had moved out of state and I’d made no friends yet(neighborhood was in the early stages and school hadn’t started yet).
My step mom read every single conversation when I went to visit friends back home and decided to print out a bunch of my things and added handwritten notes about myself on the pages. On the drive home from my visit she told me an officer pulled a guy over in a neighboring state and had found that info packet on me in his backseat and contacted her because he was coming to kidnap me.
I obviously know better now as she didn’t even change her handwriting, but that was really fucked up. I was a good kid and always stayed out of trouble, I’d call and check in when asked, I was just depressed about the move and needed an outlet. As a parent myself now- I’m grossed out by that entire incident.
5. That’s not really something you can control.
Context: overbearing Mom has 2 sons. The first one came out as gay, which horrified her.
After this, she became obsessed with making sure her second son wouldn’t come out. Because she had forbidden the elder son from doing anything that involved girls, she thought maybe that was why he “turned” gay. (I don’t think she really grasped the concept of “You don’t choose your sexuality”).
For her second son, she decided that she had to make him do things with girls, so she pulled up the name of a girl that he had once had a crush on years ago, went to the girl’s mom, and asked (demanded?) that the girl go to prom with her son. The girl’s mom agreed.
Keep in mind that neither kid expressed interest in each other. Nonetheless, overbearing mom made her son make posters and bought flowers for him to use in the Ask, all 2 days before the actual event
I’d love to say they had a great time, but I heard from one of the other couples that it wasn’t fun, and I think the girl found out eventually that her prom date wasn’t really into her but just pushed into asking her because his mom wanted him to have more contact with girls.
4. Not good for making friends.
They came into school to coach their child along side the the sports teacher during cricket practice, and of course they got their own net to bat in.
In all honesty, I felt bad for the kid, he was already quite a shy dude and having your dad come in specifically to help you with a sport only puts more pressure on you.
3. So much cringe.
My friend quit his job at the pizza place and his mom called in to bitch to the owners….we were 18 at the time.
2. They’ve got a lot of free time.
Probably mine as of right now. I’m 17, and can’t visit a friends house unless one of my grandparents (who I live with) has met said friends parents. They refuse to let me apply for part-time jobs in a town 20 minutes away. I go to school in that town. I’m not allowed to have anyone ride in the car with me.
I can’t get specific styles of haircuts. I have to ask for money to get clothes that fit me properly, and are in a style I enjoy. I’m not allowed to drive passed 6pm. I’ve been stalked to a friends house (caught them driving by) to see if I was going where I said I was. Lot of stuff such as that.
1. I don’t think they care.
I wasn’t allowed to spend time with friends outside of school. I remember the one time they relented after a week of begging that they let me go see a movie.
At a theatre that’s less than 5 minutes away. With my most responsible friend. With a GPS tracker on my phone. Immediately after I had to call them to pick me up.
And they wonder why I turned out so socially awkward
Yikes. I certainly hope I never see anything this rough, but I probably will.
Have you ever witnessed anything like this? Tell us about it in the comments!