Adults Are Spilling The Childhood Secrets They've Kept From Their Parents This Whole Time, And Wow, My Jaw Is On The Floor
"It's lucky we didn't get murdered or kidnapped. I'm in my 30s now and have still never told my mom. To this day, she still thinks that I spent every weekend at that friend's place."
Most of us have kept secrets from our parents growing up. And while some of us have come clean since becoming adults, there are a few of us who haven't.
So we asked the BuzzFeed Community what secrets they're still keeping from their parents years and years later. Here's what they shared!
1."When I was around 16 years old, I arrived home in a cab, drunk, carrying my vomit-covered clothes in a bag. My parents were awesome about it and told me how I would feel the next day would be punishment enough. I then proceeded to pass out on the living room couch. I woke up the next morning, and I realize I'd lost my wallet. I called the cab company and they told me they turned in whatever they find to the police station."
2."When I was 17, I caught my mom cheating. I noticed she was wearing a heart necklace that I know my dad would not have gotten her, not something that tacky. Turns out that tacky necklace was worth $500. Since I couldn’t confront her about what she did, I stole the necklace and pawned it. To this day, she thinks my dad found it and threw it away. What did I do with the $500? Well, let’s just say my dad owns a $500 stereo system his awesome daughter bought for him for Father’s Day. True justice if you ask me."
3."I met a guy in a chatroom on AOL when I was 19. We met in person after chatting for a few weeks and I invited him back to my house to watch a movie while my mom was at work. A couple of weeks later, when I was back at school after winter break, I spent the night at his house about an hour away. Pretty sure his parents had no idea I was upstairs sleeping over either."
4."I was addicted to porn in my early teens but I didn't want to disappoint my parents so I never told them, and I had to get out of the addiction myself as a 15-year-old. They've already passed. May they rest in peace. They will never know."
5."I used to sneak out all the time at night. This was more so in high school. I’d go out to have sex, smoke weed, and drink. I’m 29 now, and I’ve since told my parents I would sometimes sneak out but I never told them what I was doing. My younger sister also revealed to me recently that she would watch me leave most nights through her window."
6."I was at a friend's house and drinking underage. We needed more alcohol, so we went to my house so I could grab some I had hidden in my closet. Because I was tipsy, I was trying to sneak in and the dog barked, so I hid in the yard and then ended up running away. My mother was convinced that someone was trying to break in."
7."That I’m trans. I've known since I was young; I've never felt like a girl in my heart. I know it’ll devastate them since I’ve always been their 'princess' (I only have brothers). But this year, I’ll start my senior year of high school so hopefully once I move into a dorm, I can start being the real me."
8."When I was 17, I was making out with my boyfriend in my car in his driveway. After he got out, I reversed and hit a car and cracked my back bumper (no damage to the other car, of course). I told them someone must’ve hit me at the mall. It went through insurance, and they had to pay the deductible. They still don’t know."
9."The biggest thing my parents don't know is that I've tried alcohol before turning 21. During the last two years of high school, I went to a vocational school for half the day and studied culinary skills. We had a box of Franzia wine in our fridge to use for cooking, but I snuck a sample of it my senior year of high school. To me, it was kind of a big deal because I was known to be a church-going, 'Goody-Two Shoes' type. My parents never found out, and now they’re dead."
10."When I was 13 years old, my mom and I were watching something on the TV, and she said to me, 'If you ever decide to be gay, you're not welcome in this house.' I finally 'came out' to her when I was 33, and she mellowed a bit. She will never know how much she hurt me with the statement she made over 20 years ago. Never."
11."I decided it would be a great idea to drive the car through the McDonald’s drive-thru...backward. I totally ripped off the passenger-side mirror. I told them I came out of Mcdonald's and it was just like that."
12."A bit before Mother's Day, when I was 13, my mom started dropping not-so-subtle hints that she was expecting a nice, thoughtful gift. Now, adult me wonders if this was a plan to have me pass this along to my stepdad or maybe ask him for some money to get something, but 13-year-old me went into a panic. I didn't get an allowance or have a job. So while I was hanging out at the local Kmart, I found a bear figurine with a little mom quote on it. This was totally up my teddy-obsessed mom's alley, but it was at least nine dollars (in the early '90s, this was a lot!) and there was no way I could buy it with the change I dug out of the couch."
13."I wasn’t quite young at the time, but I was still under my parents' influence, living with them. I was perhaps 19 or 20 years old. My parents were really strict and liked to control my life, setting my curfew at 9:30 p.m. on weekends. I told them there was an educational trip with my university for four days. They gave me some money for the bus and food and didn’t really question it. I was about 500km always from home at my older friend's house, partying, drinking, and having the time of my life. I missed an entire week of school. I don’t think I will ever tell them."
14."My parents are deceased but I’ll tell them now: Mom, Dad... in my twenties, instead of going to work, I drove with my boyfriend to South Bend, Indiana, where I realized he was the biggest jerk on the planet, and I spent the entire drive back alternating between crying and not speaking."
15."When I was 18 and in high school, my parents went on vacation by themselves, and I wanted to go on my own vacation. So I drove from Atlanta to Miami (which was ten hours) walked around, slept in the car in a parking garage, spent a little time the next day, and then drove all the way back. I was there in time for school the next day."
16."I, together with my younger brother and two family friends, accidentally dropped my cousin when she was approximately one. We were just playing with her and because of miscommunication, we let her fall on top of a toy truck. She hit hard, but she didn't cry and seemed okay, so we kept it quiet. We never told the adults, and I even doubt my brother and the other little boy remember."
17."I went to my very first Pride march with my first girlfriend without my mother realizing it. We returned covered in smeared rainbow-colored body paint and glitter in our hair. I told my mom we had been at a birthday party that was rainbow themed. She was none the wiser. Bigotry can give you blinkers!"
18."The car tire popped because we were doing ramps over the railroad tracks."
19."When I was 14 and dating my first real boyfriend, we used to stay over at my best friend's place a lot, where his mom mostly just stayed in her room and left the kids to themselves. I lost my virginity to him one night on an air mattress in the living room. We had a rift with that friend after a while (unrelated to the sex though, although he wasn't happy about that either), so we were no longer allowed to stay there. However, we didn't want to give up our nights together."
20."An old family story is that an uncle and his friends were playing with matches, dropping lit ones and stamping out the little fires they sparked — until one got away from them. The resulting fire burned the entire hillside behind my grandparents' house and the fire department barely managed to stop it before the house burned. The firefighters knew the boys caused the fire but couldn't get them to confess. It's been over fifty years, but to this day, no one has spilled the beans to my grandparents."
21."I never told my dad, but I freely admitted this to my mom as I got older. My dad was a bit overprotective of me and could sometimes go a bit overboard (i.e. not being allowed to watch a TV-14 program until I was AT LEAST 14). So while all my peers were 12 and 13 and watching the TV show 24, I wasn't allowed to, and I was shipped upstairs to watch something else while my parents watched 24 downstairs. Little did my dad know, I would turn the TV to 24 once I knew he was settled downstairs. Any time I would hear his footsteps as he came to check on me, I immediately changed the channel to the Food Network, which I knew he hated, so he wouldn't even think of getting too close. My dad never knew."
22."I’ve always had a small bladder — so every night, I had to get up to go to the bathroom. From about six to nine years old, I would get up at night but, because I was lazy, I would just pee in the stuffed animal pile in my room. My mom had to wash the stuffed animals almost every day and eventually removed them from my room. She always blamed our cat, and she almost gave him away because of this. I’m 39 now and still can’t bring myself to tell her!"
Now that you've read some, what secrets are you willing to share? Sound off in the comments!
