My parents and I talk about a lot of things, but to me, it’s just plain weird when people tell me that they tell their parents EVERYTHING. And I do mean everything…
But that’s just me and I realize that every family dynamic is different.
Still, I can’t imagine discussing certain subjects with my mom and dad at the kitchen table…it just ain’t gonna happen, folks.
And I’m not alone, because people replied to this question: What’s something you can’t tell your parents?
Here’s how AskReddit users responded.
1. Stressed.
“That I have major financial issues and am worried about the next month’s rent.
It would stress them out and I don’t want that to happen.”
2. Thief!
“I used to steal Mom’s pot when I was in high school.
I’m sure if I told her she’d laugh, but my stepfather got the blame at the time (“Are you smoking before work? The stash is getting kind of light.”) and that man has a long memory.”
3. No wedding plans.
“My girlfriend and I won’t be having a wedding.
Sure, we’ll be going to the justice of the peace and having a small reception, but my mom doesn’t understand the concept of not having a wedding.
I absolutely cannot tell her flat out’ no, you’re not going to be getting a wedding out of your only child.'”
4. Neglected.
“I can’t tell my parents how difficult they have made my life by neglecting me emotionally as a child.
It used to be a bit of a meme that “daddy never hugged me.”
Well, like that, but to such an extreme degree that it actually qualifies as damaging.”
5. Kindness of strangers.
“That Internet strangers have been nicer to me in a year than my parents in my entire lifetime.
My father is ignorant and my mother always negatively misinterprets me.”
6. My way.
“That my success wasn’t because of your “great” parenting methods.
It was in spite of them…”
7. Scared and angry.
“How scared I am to have brain surgery in a few months and how angry I am this has happened to me.
I know how stressed and worried they are already and I don’t want to add to it.”
8. It’ll get better!
“I’m not happy with my body, my life, and my friends to the point that I’ve contemplated suic*de multiple times.”
9. No future.
“That I don’t see a future for myself.
They deserve better than to think they failed me, but I’m beginning to suspect they already think that.”
10. Bad examples.
“They are a pretty sh*t example of how you should live your life as a adult.
They haven’t done anything particularly bad, but just how they deal with finances and emotions and everything.
It’s unhealthy and not planned ahead the slightest and they suffer a lot because of it.”
11. Very strict.
“My boyfriend.
My parents are very old fashioned and having a boyfriend at 20 is seen as a ‘crime’. They’ll force us to break up after they scold and/or beat me.
My boyfriend’s been the best thing to happen to me and I’m not ready to give him up.”
12. Trying to get away.
“I’m considering moving away without telling anyone, them included.
I‘ve been having difficulties improving my life, and it eats at me. I know they don’t think poorly of me, but when I’m around them I feel inadequate, even though I do enjoy their company.
I think I need to go someplace where no one who knows me is nearby to get into a good state of mind to make the changes I need to make. But there’s always the fear of being wrong, so I don’t know if I’ll do it.”
13. A burden.
“Won’t ever tell my dad that he is a burden.
It would probably result in him taking his own life. I was “granted” legal guardianship of him when I was in my early twenties when my mom and sisters split from the picture.
It’s a young age to take something like that on. No one your age understands. Little to no resources to know what you’re supposed to do next. It’s been a very difficult run. He is finally in a safe place but it’s still a lot to do taking care of all his financials, on top of trying to live my own life.
The rest of our family believes he should have just been abandoned, but I could never have done that. Despite the awful things he has done, it isn’t who I am.”
14. Something was wrong.
“I tried suic*de.
Sorry Dad.
He knew something was wrong, but I never told him what was happening. I was scared of my mum, she often shares my private problems with her friends/other family members,
I just can’t talk if I have any problem without being scared of it being shared.”
15. Take that lie to your grave.
“This is the first Christmas I won’t be spending with my family so my parents have been shipping my gf and I a bunch of packages. The other day our door bell rings and my gf goes out and sees an older woman in a baseball cap getting in her car and driving off.
At our doorstep is a Christmas popcorn tin in a grocery store plastic bag. It’s not addressed to anyone, there’s no label indicating who it’s from, it has a plastic seal around the top but it looks old and not very tight. My gf works in law enforcement so her immediate reaction was ‘wtf, bomb, poison, oh my.
We ended up erring on the side of it not being a bomb and opened it in the garage. Turned out to be full of popcorn and nothing else. We were still suspicious so we chucked out the popcorn and saved the tin. I notice in fine print on the inside of the lid the name of the company it’s from so I give them a call.
It’s a small local business and I end up chatting with the lady who delivered it. Apparently she thought she was told to deliver it anonymously. Turns out my mom had sent me popcorn and this lady asked her if she should say who it’s from, and after not getting a reply in a a few hours, decided to deliver an unmarked tin in a plastic bag…
My mom has been having a hard time with all these restrictions and me not visiting so telling her I threw out her gift because the lady who delivered it was stupid would make her feel awful. So now my gf and I must say that the popcorn was delicious and take that lie to our grave.”
Now we want to hear from you.
What’s something you definitely can’t tell your parents?
Talk to us in the comments. Thanks in advance!
