People are very quick to judge a “bad parent,” often using only the most barebones of methods. A kid using an iPad, or perhaps loudly scrolling TikTok in a public place. After all, the parent is generally responsible for how a child behaves, but it’s also worth exploring the cases where children do really have a mind of their own.
Someone asked “Parents, what was your oh god I’ve raised a monster moment?” and people shared their stories. Be warned, some are a bit disturbing. So get settled in as you scroll through, upvote your favorites and be sure to add your thoughts and reactions to the comments section down below.
#1
My 6 year old has always had weird interests. She asked me to show her pictures of what’s in our bodies. I showed her diagrams on Google, and she said, “no, I mean inside of a REAL body.” 😳 I showed her some random picture of an arm surgery and she was begging for more.
Also she always asks me to stop so she can look at animals that were hit on the road.
We’re really pushing for the medical field and not a serial criminal field.
Edit: I feel as though I need to add this to the original comment. She has never shown any signs of aggression or desire to hurt people/animals. She is a very sweet child and doesn’t even like it when we squish bugs or cut down the weeds in our yard! She shows respect for life, but is DEFINITELY interested in bodies. I am a science teacher and my wife is a nurse, so we definitely encourage her interest in science!
Image source: monsterisincorrect, Yan Krukau
#2
Years ago, my wife and I had a very heated argument. Our daughter overhears us and comes into the room just as things hit their peak. My wife rushes into the bathroom crying. I’m left sitting on the bed feeling low, listening to my wife sob on the other side of the door. Our daughter looks up at me with a smile and says “Mommy’s crying” and proceeds to laugh loud enough for mom to hear. And with that, I was in trouble for something entirely new.
Image source: PallidaCulus, Marko Tuokko
#3
My 11 yr old son recently called 911 and said I slapped him. CPS came, it was a cluster. It was so well orchestrated, he even took a picture of himself with a red mark on his face. I didn’t slap him and it eventually got debunked although he still won’t admit it. A couple months later, he told his dad I forced him to make the ol’ dirty 2 finger licking gesture, take a pic and send it to him.
He lives with his dad now, and isn’t allowed here until I can afford a camera system. Still unclear on a motive.
Image source: bluedyou, cottonbro studio
#4
Okay, this is not my kid. but my mom found out she was raising a jerk. When we were out baby clothes shopping with my pregnant aunt, whose first baby didn’t survive. A year or two earlier, and my brother says “what are you buying it clothes for when you don’t even know it’s going to live?”.
Image source: K1cked92, Pavel Danilyuk
#5
When my son blithely told me he wants to play the documentary Under the Curve for his classmates because he is trying to convince them the world is flat. He admits he knows it is not, but he is trying, actively, to CON them into thinking it IS.
Image source: AngryZen_Ingress, Karola G
#6
I have two sons. One is 11 and the other 7. The 7 year old is…special. Highly intelligent and very social. But also does a lot of deep thinking. Early one Sunday morning he came up to me, out of the blue, and said:
“Dad, how do ducks work?”
I was all “how to what? What? Ducks? Huh” in a half sleep state. Before I could work out what he wanted to know he said: “I guess if I open one up, I’ll find out?” and walked away.
Honestly spent a good hour looking for ducks and watched him carefully when he went near the kitchen utensils.
EDIT: Oh yeah, there was also the time when he learned how to float in a pool after watching a documentary about ship wrecks. He could swim but never relax and float on his back. He can now, he just pretends to be a body floating away. Thanks YouTube.
Image source: GaryGronk, Stephen Andrews
#7
When my son decided- in the grocery store parking lot- that it would be “fun” to scream “YOU’RE NOT MY MOMMY! WHERE’S MY MOMMY? YOU’RE NOT MY REAL MOM!” He had this evil smirk on his face as I panicked and tried to explain what could happen if someone heard that. He started yelling it louder.
Edit** Thank you for all the parenting tips, but we’re good 🙂
Trust me, he doesn’t get away with stuff.
No I’m not going to slap him across the face or beat him.
He *was* disciplined. He learned his lesson. I can laugh about it now.
He is a mini me and my parents often remind me that he is karma for all the troubles I put them through 😂.
Image source: Iceicemickey, Keira Burton
#8
Three year old daughter deliberately screaming to wake up her four month old sister.
For five hours. During a long car ride.
Image source: Azuaron, Getty Images
#9
He told me that pouring hot water on daddy would be so, so, sooooo funny.
when my daughter was much younger, she and my ex’s son talked at great length about how fun it would be to chop me up, cook my body, and throw me away**.
Image source: jame5180, Anna Shvets
#10
My son’s 13:
– Hates pizza.
– Likes Nickelback.
– Likes the Patriots
If he was on facebook Id unfriend him.
Image source: anon, cottonbro studio
#11
When my son was 13 or 14, we were chatting about how as kids get older, and parents become elderly, often the kids become a care-giver to some degree to the parent. My son offhandedly remarked that he’d be looking for the cheapest nursing home at which to park me.
Image source: anon, Anna Tarazevich
#12
My dad told me when we were driving once , I was in the back and was trying to climb through to the front , he pushed me back to my seat, I was maybe 6-7 and apparently said ‘when you’re all old and weak I’m going to chuck you about!’.
Image source: jon332, Ekaterina Belinskaya
#13
Not me but my parents. My brother was always the naughty one. Shoplifting as a kid, mouthing off at school etc. But I think when they realized he was a genuinely bad person was when he stole a bunch of stuff out of some old guys cabin and then burned it down so he wouldn’t get caught.
Spoiler alert: He got caught anyways because he pawned it all at our local pawn shop and they had his name and caught him on camera.
Image source: guntergunthergoonter, Getty Images
#14
When I watched my younger son walk out on the porch, pick up a plastic whiffle bat, look at it, look at his older brother sitting on the porch steps, look back at the bat, and then haul back and crack his brother’s head like Babe Ruth popping one out of the park.
I could watch his thought process in 5 seconds time: Bat. . .Brother. . .Bat. . .Hit. No hesitation.
Image source: Tyskeberget, Tim Mossholder
#15
Today my 3 year old dipped her cantaloupe in ketchup and ate a whole plate of it.
Image source: igivekidsdr**s, Fatemeh Rz
#16
My six yo daughter told me to shave that thing off, my goatee. Couple days later I did, I asked her, “do you like it?” She makes a bit of a face and says” no I didn’t know your chin was so small.”.
Image source: kurjadezi, cottonbro studio
#17
Oh man, too many to list. The most recent is when my son shot me with his Nerf gun directly in my eyeball. My eye still hurts a week later. A couple of weeks ago, my other son pooped on the floor (he’s 3) and put a donut on top of it to hide it.
Image source: Cz4rny, Addy Mae
#18
My husband has a habit of messing with me. As I was stepping into the shower, he threw ice cold water down my back and I let out a shriek. My 18 month old comes running in from her bedroom, looks me dead in the eye and screams “AAAAHHHHaaaaaahhhhhAAAAAAHHHHHaaaahhhhhhh!” in this overly dramatic whiney voice. Then she did it 3 more times.
She ran in from the other room to mock me.
Image source: endrju1992, DΛVΞ GΛRCIΛ
#19
My three year old was given a small fisher price trampoline for his birthday. It’s like three feet in diameter. A few months later, we got invited to take him to Sky Zone, which is a giant indoor warehouse that is wall to wall trampolines. It’s awesome. So my wife turns to my son and says, “Hey buddy, do you want to go to the trampoline place?”
Without missing a beat, my kid rolls his eyes at her, jerks his thumb towards the fisher price one, and says, in the most condescending tone a three year old could muster, “I have one.”.
Image source: somberleaves, freepik
#20
Before my son could crawl he learned how to climb the extra tall baby gate.
Before he could walk he climbed the window sill
Before he could run he climbed the bunk bed
Before he could open an applesauce container he learned how to unlock the front door
I’m not sure what moment made me think “yep. He’s a monster”
It might have been when I almost witnessed Harambe 2. I ducked down for ten seconds to tie his sister’s shoe and when I looked up he had one leg over the barrier ready to go say hello. He’s 2 by the way.
Or it might have been when I resigned myself to the leash. I brought it home, prepared for the protests. Instead he declared himself a puppy dog, made his siblings play police with him for two hours while he “sniffed out the bad guys” then gleefully showed me how easy it was for him to take the thing off.
I give up guys.
Image source: Auntie_Ahem, Keira Burton
#21
Not a parent, but an older brother of a young sibling. He poured paint thinner all over my moms flowers one summer after my dad accidentally left it on the deck (we were repainting the deck). More happy that he didn’t drink it but it was definitely an “oh my god” moment. She probably spends 100 hours+ and a lot of money gardening every spring/summer so it was a big deal.
Image source: O_P_S, Vika Glitter
#22
We had our young cat ‘fixed” and she just slept and rested all day after coming back from the vet’s. My 11 yr old son asked very concerned, after watching the cat lying around all day , ” do you think she is sad because she can’t have babies?” ( awww… so sweet). My 7 yr old son asked, “so, if she doesn’t recover, would we get a cash settlement?”.
Image source: loveandrubyshoes, Dmitry Egorov
#23
Every time my son is in his high chair and he gets cookies or candy, or really anything as a “treat” he will not eat it and throw it. proceeds to eat veggies, absolute monster.
Image source: ronburgandy123, Vanessa Loring
#24
While potty training my 2yo, she figured out she could pee a little, get a chocolate chip as a reward, then wait 2 minutes, go pee again and get more chocolate. She’s gaming my system at 2. Years. Old.
Image source: liftinglmp, Tatiana Syrikova
#25
My 5 and 10 year old were having an epic verbal war in the living room which ended abruptly after I shouted various generic parenting noises in their direction.
My 5 year old son then walked confidently into the kitchen, took a picture of his brother off the fridge proceeded to dispose of it in the bin.
Utterly jerk behaviour of course but honestly I was secretly extremely impressed with his top passive aggression.
Image source: ratb23, Kristyna Squared.one
#26
My son is autistic, and therefore lacks a strong filter for his internal thoughts. Anyhoo, we were getting ready to leave the house a couple of years ago and he looks at me and goes, “Are you really going to work without any makeup?”.
Image source: khaleesi1984, Andrea Piacquadio
#27
When I realized that she is most happy when she’s doing something that pisses someone else off like biting people, messing with electronics and playing with cat’s stuff.
Image source: wizardcerebellum, Brayan Espitia
#28
When my daughter was naughty as a pre- schooler we used to put her in the kitchen for a timeout. We had a safety gate on the doorway and as long as nothing was cooking in there it was like a holding pen for her. Well she started to ask to go to the toilet as soon as she was put in there. At first she was allowed to go but pretty soon it became clear she was just using the toilet excuse to get out of the timeout early. The first time I told her she could go to the toilet after timeout (which usually only last a few minutes) she proceeded to pee on the kitchen floor in retaliation. She has a terrible temper. She’s 15 now it’s still there.
Image source: thewestisawake, Ladislav Stercell
#29
My 5 year old son didn’t like the babysitter we got for him on our date night. So he hid the car keys and my husband’s wallet, only taking out some cash to pay the babysitter..
Also one of my shoe, but that was poorly hidden.
Image source: Bleakwind, Allef Vinicius
#30
Lovely little girl: “Daddy, you’re fat” me: “yes I do have a big tummy” lovely little girl: “daddy, you’re ugly”. How does one respond to that from a 4, nearly 5 year old? Also told my wife she wants to put her in the garbage bin and never see her again. We’re English and garbage isn’t a word we really use! All this while we enjoyed a family holiday last week.
Image source: ska_wars, Getty Images
#31
When I was born I had two teenage sisters and oodles of aunts and uncles to smother me with attention.
Three years later my little sister was born and all that went away. I went from being a very happy child to being fairly dark and moody.
There is a family story that a few months after my little sister was born my parents were out and my grandmother was babysitting. The story goes that she caught me going into the baby’s room with a claw-hammer. When she asked what I was doing I just stared silently at her for several seconds then answered sullenly “nothing” dropped the claw hammer to the floor and sulked off to my room.
Image source: varthalon, Alicia
#32
Many years ago I started working for a guy who was a single dad with two boys, then aged about 11 and 13. The older one was a nice kid, the younger one was a problem. Shoplifting, truancy, lying, etc. My boss actually warned me to keep my wallet on my person when he was around.
One day he told me that when the boys were 2 and 4 he and his then wife were delivering a couple of cars to a city that was a couple of days drive. They had pulled off the highway into the scrub to sleep for the night.
In the morning found that “someone” had turned on the headlights of one car during the night and the battery was flat.
He went out to the highway and eventually flagged down someone who had jumper leads and was willing to drive off into the scrub with a rough looking stranger.
Got the car started and the guy drove off. He left the car to take a leak and the younger son reached over and turned off the key.
He said that was the moment when he realized that he had a problem child.
I worked for him for a couple of years and moved on.
Image source: Partly_Dave, August de Richelieu
#33
I have three sons. 8, 23 and 26.
The middle one, Andrew, boasted to me that he slept with “over 30 chicks” on Tinder. And with some of them in my bed.
Image source: wisp009, Tima Miroshnichenko
#34
Shopping in Publix and my 4 year old looks at an employee and calmy says “Your lips are ugly.”.
Image source: Naiikee, Andrea Piacquadio
#35
He keeps saying ‘hamburg’ instead of hamburger.
Image source: anon, Kindel Media
#36
I firmly believe my oldest is a sociopath. There’s lots and lots of things that make me believe it, but since there’s not exactly a black/white test, there’s no way to prove it. He has no conscience and hasn’t since he was old enough to feel guilt, near as I can tell. He is 30, twice divorced for beating his wives and totally ignores his daughters whilst giving everything possible to his son.
I blamed myself for years but my younger two are so different than my oldest, I just don’t know if it’s my fault or not.
Image source: cpbaby1968, Crypto Crow
#37
I’m not a parent but I remember when I was 6 and my brother was 4.5 we took a watermelon from the kitchen whilst our mum was on the phone and we managed to drag it up the stairs and then rolled it down. It smashed all over the CARPET at the bottom of the stairs. Our mum was so mad.
Image source: anon, Gheorghe Fetita
#38
I was picking my son up from daycare the other day. I’ve always known he’s a bit of a flirt, but I got to see it in full action. One of his teachers came to give him a hug, and he brushed her off at first than gave her such a big hug after she worked for it a bit. She was all happy about getting her hug and escalated it into swinging him around and tickling him. He was going for just that though, I could tell. He knew exactly how to get what he wanted from her. He’s 3. I was watching and just realizing this kid knows he’s cute, likes attention from girls, and he isn’t afraid to use his looks to get it. I’m in trouble when he hits his teen years. . .
Image source: Orcas_are_badass, Anna Shvets
#39
I used my kid’s bathroom because my wife was in ours. The toilet paper was on the roll backwards. I asked them which kid did it, they responded it didn’t really matter which way it’s on the roll. I recoiled in horror.
Image source: RideAndShoot, Richard REVEL
#40
My 8 year old son had gotten a plastic baseball bat from me and my wife, this plastic baseball bat wasn’t just some weak plastic it actually was pretty hard. Well one day I walk outside to see my younger 5 year old daughter screaming and running from my 8 year old son who is holding the baseball bat and wacking her wherever he can, he was wearing my jeans, had a bandana on and a baseball cap on backwards. He kept calling himself a cool kid and wouldn’t stop wacking her. I ran over and stopped him and my Wife took our daughter inside to get an ice pack. I took the bat away and asked him why he was hitting her, and I repeat exactly what he said “because I’m a cool kid and cool kids show there siblings who’s the leader, daddy”. He got grounded for a week and after he was done with the grounding he told me he was very sorry, he wasn’t finished… A month later I find him running around with a plastic sword in a ninja costume from last Halloween and wacking my daughter again! I ran over, stopped him, my daughter ran off, and when I asked him why he hit her this time he said “because it’s fun”. He got grounded for a very long time, and I realized then he needed counseling. He is now 20 and my daughter is 17, my son had come over for dinner one night and some how that was brought up, he denied the entire thing even though before that he said he remembered counseling! I just hope he doesn’t raise his newborn son to be a karate master
Image source: AdUdEiNaMoOoD, Gustavo Fring
#41
My 6 year old daughter punched my 4 year old son in the face and gave him a bloody nose. When I asked her why she punched him in the face, she looked at me and said. ‘I didn’t punch him in the face, I punched him in the nose’.
Image source: KsizzleM, Getty Images
#42
My 1.5 yo is a biter. Her literally runs at me baring his teeth trying to bite me.
Image source: PippyLongSausage, RDNE Stock project
#43
When my daughter played Half-Life 2 for the first time, she immediately figured out you can pick up just about anything, exclaimed how filthy city 17 is and proceeded to pick up all the rubbish and put it in the bins before getting on with the game.
Image source: SalmonSlamminWrites, Tima Miroshnichenko
