Parenting is a weird thing in that it’s the most perfectly normal, even biological thing in the world, and yet it’s also exceptionally hard. How far into existence are we and we still don’t have it quite figured out yet? There’s just so much to juggle, and it’s a lot of stress and responsibility to make sure you not only keep that kid alive, but make raise them to be good, decent, exceptionally awesome adults. It would seem that some people have a knack for it, while others can’t even get the major things right. Like these people, whose lack of parenting skills were on display and were noticed and recalled on an Ask Reddit threat.
1. juggilinjnuggala:
Lady I knew drank her entire pregnancy, her excuse was it’s cool because it was just “hard sparkling water” she’d always down whole bottles of wine to herself. She then brought the baby to a outdoor cookout when it was about 4 days old, got drunk and drove herself, her newborn, and her other daughter home. I fucking hate her so much.
2. IFDRizz:
I’ve been a city firefighter for 20 years next month, and much of that time has been spent working in a district that is extremely low income and high crime, so unfortunately I have seen a lot of children being raised in horrible conditions (especially these last 5 years with the assault of the heroin epidemic that is currently plaguing us).
But the run that immediately came to mind happened about 10 years ago and wasn’t drug related, but was simply horrible decision making by a parent.
It was summer, late afternoon, and we were sent for a “person struck by a vehicle”. When we arrived, the patient, a 24ish year old male, was on the ground in the middle of a large apartment complex access road, and he was being restrained by the ambulance crew.
He had an altered level of consciousness (only responded to painful stimuli), his pupils were blown (or one was dilated and the other pinpoint, I can’t remember), and he was combative as hell. He also had blood coming out of both ears, and when we used a 4 X 4 bandage to collect the blood, it showed it contained cerebral spinal fluid. NOT GOOD SIGNS AT ALL.
As we jumped in to help the ambulance crew, I checked the car nearby for damage and found none. There was an older lady, maybe late 40’s, standing next to the vehicle while she was being questioned by a police officer on the scene. Long story short, the patient started crashing fast. He was rushed to the hospital where we later learned he died.
The police officer came over as we were cleaning up the scene and said “did you hear what happened”? Apparently the patient was the woman’s son. She was leaving to go to the liquor store and had refused to buy her son beer. He got upset and jumped on her car, laughing, and said something like “you’re taking me there even if I have to ride out here”.
Then, according to her statement, she took off, gradually building up speed. He managed to climb from the hood to the roof where he was laying on his belly, screaming for her to stop, while holding on to the front windshield. She estimated she was going 30 to 40 mph when she slammed on the brakes, shooting him headfirst into the road, killing her son.
3. okekai:
We offered to rent a room to a buddy of ours while he was going through his divorce. I walked into the kitchen to find his daughter (7 years old) asking me to feed her because she’s hungry. I was the only other person home, so I fed her and called him to see where the hell he was at. He was at the bar… He left his daughter at home, told no one.
Edit: Because so many were asking, I thought I’d fill you all in. The divorce was due to adultery, they’ve both caught each other a few times and I guess they finally decided to end it. I didn’t know the kind of guy he really was, I always had the impression that it was his wife who was holding his family back but it turns out it takes two to tango. He wasn’t at the bar getting drunk. He was there chasing the bartender who he later moved into the house without even asking while jobless and living rent free. The guy was a real POS, and the list of things could just go on and on.
While I do not believe their daughters well being is in jeopardy, she is not being raised in a structured environment and her education is very much on their back burner. Unfortunately giving your child little to no hope for their future is not a crime and there’s nothing we can do about that.