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“I Still Don’t Understand”: 19 Of The Most Petty Things Adults Have Ever Done To Children
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!
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#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.
#2
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.
#3
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.
#4
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.
#5
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.
#6
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.
#7
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.
#8
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.
#9
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.
#10
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.
#11
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.
#12
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.
#13
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
#14
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.
#15
I was 7 or 8 years old, living in a certain US state where the vast majority are of a certain religion - I am not of the same religion.
I was playing outside with all the neighborhood kids and one of the parents came outside and told everyone that her child was having a birthday party next week and we were all invited ... “except you” as she pointed to me. And it was absolutely because I didn’t go to church with them.
#16
I finished a clay sculpture in art class and the teacher asked if I wanted to go to the principals office (in a way that implied I would be in trouble) for poking holes in the leftover clay I had. I am guessing she did this because she was in a bad mood. I told her I did want to go explain exactly what I did wrong. She realized how dumb she would look. I did not go to the principals office that day.
#17
In cub scouts, we were doing the pinewood derby. I worked really hard on my car, (my dad helped, of course). I had already won the first 3 rounds, and before the final round, one of the dads of the of the other kids picked up my car to hand it to me. It “slipped” out of his hand, and broke the wheels when it hit the floor. I’m convinced it was not an accident, and he was sabotaging my car so his kid would win.
This was over 30 years ago, and I'm still salty about it.
#19
My swimming teacher promised me a candy bar if I jumped off the board when I couldn't swim and when I did they said they forgot ,but I saw them eating one in the lounge. I was 5 and I was betrayed.
Another thing that swim teacher did instead of teach me to swim was to try and teach the group how to keep their eyes open underwater and see. We all had goggles and had to take them off to do this.
Also I didn't learn to swim there I ended up learning at a hotel on vacation when my sister taught me like a year later.
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