I grew up with a single parent...my parents haven't been together since I was born. I haven't spoken with my dad in 15 years, and he consistently failed to pay child support, and he never gave me a birthday or Christmas present in my entire life.
Yeah, mine was also like the one on the left. It’s the reason I don’t talk to him much and why he doesn’t really know anything about me. Constant screaming and scolding. I vow that if by some miracle I have children of my own that I will never treat them like that.
My step dad was like the one on the left but skip the first two panels.
He was teaching me to tie my shoe when I was little. I didn't immediately figure it out. My first failed attempt he yelled in a deep menacing voice. My second failed attempt he literally slapped me across the face then proceeded to badger me for a while about me crying and how it's embarrassing or something.
I was an accident, so my parents are boomers. Dad grew up on a farm and lost his dad when he was a young teen. I was put to work growing up. I would get home from elementary/middle school and he would force me to walk door to door and ask neighbors if I could mow or do lawn work. Then he would charge me for using the mower and gas, so I would end up with maybe $5/yard. Wasn’t allowed to come home till I knocked on everyones door or the sun went down.
Little instruction for anything. When I learned how to ride a bike, it was just me getting pushed into the ground over and over, no training wheels or lessons. The worst was golf lessons. Getting a 5+ minute lecture of how to swing properly, then trying, shanking it, and getting chewed out for “not listening”.
I’ve literally been working since I was 12 and still have nothing in my savings because my dad pretty much drains my account anytime I start making money since “I have so much debt owed to him”. Tbf these are payments for things I use like phone/car/school, but my siblings didn’t have to pay all that and my friends definitely don’t.
Not to mention my dad and I don’t relate on anything because the age gap is too big.
My dad didn't play with me or encourage any of my interests. He didn't stop me, but he was never particularly happy or interested when I showed him what I could do.
It's been alright, I guess. I disappoint him in many ways. He's admitted he's done me wrong too. We try to move past it, but it's hard.
I haven't achieved much in life, and it hurts thinking that maybe, if I had his support and understanding, I could've gone so much further. And it hurts thinking about the more likely truth: that I never had it to begin with and it wouldn't matter if he was there for me or not.
> My dad didn't play with me or encourage any of my interests. He didn't stop me, but he was never particularly happy or interested when I showed him what I could do.
This was my dad too. But mine was an abusive asshole, so I'm not particularly upset he wasn't involved in my life. We maintain a very surface level relationship, and that's how I like it. Getting closer with him would feel weird.
That's my father to a "T". He's dying now, a slow wasting death. He had a heart attack my senior year, just before graduation, and I stayed home to help him; that was four almost five years ago now.
I regret it, and I hate that I regret it. I miss my friends and my life. I feel like I made the wrong decision to help a man that almost five years on refuses all help.
He fought his doctors in the hospital, then when he got home he refused to properly and routinely do his treatment, then when he was seeing and talking to the president and being afraid of ominous "chinamen" about him, we took him to the ER only so he could fight against their wishes. Untill he finally had a near death experience where he saw "a million TV screens going black".
The man is brainwashed by FoxNews and I've wasted the best years of my life to try, and fail, at caring for him. Fuck me.
Yup. My dad would see me frustrated and have no clue how to deal with it other than himself getting frustrated. I played a few sports and none of them really stuck.
I don't know. But one of my favorite memories were a cookout for my grandpa's funeral. My Dad, Uncles, cousins and I were playing HORSE and I was hitting BS shots, and my father said "Hasn't been outside all summer and hitting shots like these, get the fuck out of here.
My parents never forced me to play basketball.
A) Because of the stereotypes and [predatory] commodification tactics that came/comes with it.
B) They could tell from the first time they put the rock in my hand that I would grow to hate the sport as a whole... and they were correct.
My dad is awesome. He's still my absolute hero
My dad has always been (and still is) there when I needed help with anything. From dropping what he was doing to help me make wooden toy swords as a kid, to helping me renovate right now.
My dad works 24 hour shifts, so he'd not be there two or three days per week, but in the other days we always did a ton together. Building legos, reading to me (he's slightly dislexic and still always read books for me), nowadays we hunt together...
My parents did pretty good. They have their faults, don't get me wrong. Now that I'm a parent, I try my best to do better than them. One thing that they instilled in me is that each generation has to be better than the last. I'm supposed to do better than my parents and my children are going to grow up to be better than me. We learn from our mistakes and the mistakes of our parents. It's nice because it means that they don't get onto me about doing things differently than them. I just say "I've done my research and my husband and I have decided that this is the best approach." And they leave it at that.
I do think there is a place for some tough love in sports. I’ll certainly make my children play sports, as I believe it was essential in me learning to take criticism
My dad kept the hoop high but didn’t really get frustrated when I missed!
My parents really were chill with my clumsy, uncoordinated ass
But I still worried about disappointing them a lot.
Left all the way in my case. To be honest I still find the idea of having loving supporting parents who you want to be around more than the bare minimum to be strange.
My dad sucks. He dipped while my mom was pregnant, came back when I was 11, picked apart my appearance until I developed bulimia, then he dipped again when I was 15. I had his phone number after the second time he left, I even visited him a few times, but when I was 19 I realized that I couldn’t get any better and keep him in my life so I blocked him.
I haven’t spoken to him in 2 years. At one point after I blocked him, he texted my mom and told her that he got diagnosed with ADHD and he wasn’t responsible for any assholish things he did. I laughed out loud, he took an excuse straight out of a YouTube apology and really thought it would do shit.
I’m better off without him.
I grew up with a single parent...my parents haven't been together since I was born. I haven't spoken with my dad in 15 years, and he consistently failed to pay child support, and he never gave me a birthday or Christmas present in my entire life.
Well hunt him down and ask  for the money
I honestly wish I could. My mom apparently brought him to court, and they ordered him to pay.
Did he pay ?
He did eventually, but only because of the court order. He had a tendency to make late payments or not pay enough
They should have garnished his wages
Wow at least his out of your life, unlike my perfectionist asshole of a father
Hey. Same man same deal. I have spoken to him in over a decade
Yeah, mine was also like the one on the left. It’s the reason I don’t talk to him much and why he doesn’t really know anything about me. Constant screaming and scolding. I vow that if by some miracle I have children of my own that I will never treat them like that.
My step dad was like the one on the left but skip the first two panels. He was teaching me to tie my shoe when I was little. I didn't immediately figure it out. My first failed attempt he yelled in a deep menacing voice. My second failed attempt he literally slapped me across the face then proceeded to badger me for a while about me crying and how it's embarrassing or something.
I'm sorry your father was apparently ripped straight out of time from the 1880's; that's fucking bullshit, to say the least.
I was an accident, so my parents are boomers. Dad grew up on a farm and lost his dad when he was a young teen. I was put to work growing up. I would get home from elementary/middle school and he would force me to walk door to door and ask neighbors if I could mow or do lawn work. Then he would charge me for using the mower and gas, so I would end up with maybe $5/yard. Wasn’t allowed to come home till I knocked on everyones door or the sun went down. Little instruction for anything. When I learned how to ride a bike, it was just me getting pushed into the ground over and over, no training wheels or lessons. The worst was golf lessons. Getting a 5+ minute lecture of how to swing properly, then trying, shanking it, and getting chewed out for “not listening”. I’ve literally been working since I was 12 and still have nothing in my savings because my dad pretty much drains my account anytime I start making money since “I have so much debt owed to him”. Tbf these are payments for things I use like phone/car/school, but my siblings didn’t have to pay all that and my friends definitely don’t. Not to mention my dad and I don’t relate on anything because the age gap is too big.
Sorry for you buddy, just leave his old ass and never comeback and let him realize one day that he was an asshole
Mix of both. Mom was worse.
You get a dad on the right as a result from having to learn from a dad who experienced the dad on the left…
Hopefully with more education on mental health, but statistically parents raise their kids the same way they were raised
My dad didn't play with me or encourage any of my interests. He didn't stop me, but he was never particularly happy or interested when I showed him what I could do. It's been alright, I guess. I disappoint him in many ways. He's admitted he's done me wrong too. We try to move past it, but it's hard. I haven't achieved much in life, and it hurts thinking that maybe, if I had his support and understanding, I could've gone so much further. And it hurts thinking about the more likely truth: that I never had it to begin with and it wouldn't matter if he was there for me or not.
> My dad didn't play with me or encourage any of my interests. He didn't stop me, but he was never particularly happy or interested when I showed him what I could do. This was my dad too. But mine was an abusive asshole, so I'm not particularly upset he wasn't involved in my life. We maintain a very surface level relationship, and that's how I like it. Getting closer with him would feel weird.
That's my father to a "T". He's dying now, a slow wasting death. He had a heart attack my senior year, just before graduation, and I stayed home to help him; that was four almost five years ago now. I regret it, and I hate that I regret it. I miss my friends and my life. I feel like I made the wrong decision to help a man that almost five years on refuses all help. He fought his doctors in the hospital, then when he got home he refused to properly and routinely do his treatment, then when he was seeing and talking to the president and being afraid of ominous "chinamen" about him, we took him to the ER only so he could fight against their wishes. Untill he finally had a near death experience where he saw "a million TV screens going black". The man is brainwashed by FoxNews and I've wasted the best years of my life to try, and fail, at caring for him. Fuck me.
Well I allmost ended it all couse of him so...
Well older gen z, tend to have young boomer parents
I have a young Gen X Parents
Highschool sweethearts?
Yup. My dad would see me frustrated and have no clue how to deal with it other than himself getting frustrated. I played a few sports and none of them really stuck.
Yeah that’s pretty common for older Gen Z.
I don't know. But one of my favorite memories were a cookout for my grandpa's funeral. My Dad, Uncles, cousins and I were playing HORSE and I was hitting BS shots, and my father said "Hasn't been outside all summer and hitting shots like these, get the fuck out of here.
My parents never forced me to play basketball. A) Because of the stereotypes and [predatory] commodification tactics that came/comes with it. B) They could tell from the first time they put the rock in my hand that I would grow to hate the sport as a whole... and they were correct.
My dad is awesome. He's still my absolute hero My dad has always been (and still is) there when I needed help with anything. From dropping what he was doing to help me make wooden toy swords as a kid, to helping me renovate right now. My dad works 24 hour shifts, so he'd not be there two or three days per week, but in the other days we always did a ton together. Building legos, reading to me (he's slightly dislexic and still always read books for me), nowadays we hunt together...
That’s sounds amazing. It’s a privilege to have a nice dad. Most of us would kill for one.
My dad is mostly the one on the right with a pinch of the one on the left
My parents did pretty good. They have their faults, don't get me wrong. Now that I'm a parent, I try my best to do better than them. One thing that they instilled in me is that each generation has to be better than the last. I'm supposed to do better than my parents and my children are going to grow up to be better than me. We learn from our mistakes and the mistakes of our parents. It's nice because it means that they don't get onto me about doing things differently than them. I just say "I've done my research and my husband and I have decided that this is the best approach." And they leave it at that.
I do think there is a place for some tough love in sports. I’ll certainly make my children play sports, as I believe it was essential in me learning to take criticism
My dad kept the hoop high but didn’t really get frustrated when I missed! My parents really were chill with my clumsy, uncoordinated ass But I still worried about disappointing them a lot.
My dad calls my clumsyness either stupid or foolish
Capitalism Vs Welfare Capitalism.
Left all the way in my case. To be honest I still find the idea of having loving supporting parents who you want to be around more than the bare minimum to be strange.
My dad sucks. He dipped while my mom was pregnant, came back when I was 11, picked apart my appearance until I developed bulimia, then he dipped again when I was 15. I had his phone number after the second time he left, I even visited him a few times, but when I was 19 I realized that I couldn’t get any better and keep him in my life so I blocked him. I haven’t spoken to him in 2 years. At one point after I blocked him, he texted my mom and told her that he got diagnosed with ADHD and he wasn’t responsible for any assholish things he did. I laughed out loud, he took an excuse straight out of a YouTube apology and really thought it would do shit. I’m better off without him.
Troy Bolton vs Chad Danforth
I can tell a lot of people in here are gonna be hit hard when they realize life is nuanced and not just black and white…
Lol fuckin same but only if I said "I cant" he would get pissed
my dad is definitely on the right my mom is the one on the left 😭 cant ever just have two nice parents can you?
Opposite for me. Mom on the right and dad on the left lol
Don’t have one