Posted on Feb 3, 2022

19 Toxic Parents Who've Already Made 2022 A Living Nightmare For Their Kids, I'm Deeply Sorry To Say

Some parents out there are truly, truly horrible.

BuzzFeed Staff

Warning: This post contains topics of verbal abuse, domestic abuse, and anti-gay comments. Please proceed with caution.

1. This mother-in-law, who didn't tell any of her kids and in-laws that she tested positive for COVID, and ultimately gave all of them COVID:

My Mother-in-Law gave us all COVID. Tested positive and never told us. from insaneparents

"MIL deserves to lose any further relationship with these grandchildren."

—u/Johoski

"She has — my wife and I agree she's done seeing the kids (and the visit didn’t even go well, so it was an easy choice)."

—u/Stricky92

2. This mother, who decided to put her kid's bed up for sale online in order to "teach him a lesson" to clean his room:

Tough Love, For Sale from insaneparents

The text reads:

"Our son refuses to put clothes away, so we sold his dresser. He won't make his bed? Getting rid of the bed"

3. This dad, who threatened to bring their 23-year-old daughter to court if they refused to spend time with her:

My dad wants to take me to court because I havent seen her (yes her she's trans which Im fine with) in a while. from insaneparents

"What does court have to do with it? Are you a minor?"

—u/PennyLane_87

"No, I'm 23. She uses it as a threat, but I've had enough of her BS."

—u/eloyellow2

"Honestly, I just wouldn't respond to her anymore. If you've decided to remove her from your life, you should block any access she has to you, and if she does manage to message you, just ignore it. You're just feeding her narcissism by responding — take it from a 34-year-old who spent too much of her adult life feeding into a narcissistic mother's tirades."

—u/PennyLane_87

4. This stepmom, who went completely bananas on their step-kid when they went "missing" and texted them cruel and unforgivable things:

had half day at school, decided to go out with friends. asked dad for permission to go out he said yes but didn’t tell stepmom, she texted me pissed and demanding I come home now even though I had permission to go from insaneparents

Stepmom: "Where the fuck are you?? Get your ass home now"

Stepmom: "Excuse me? I'm not fucking playing with you"

Stepmom: "After you put your things in my room go to your room and you better not come out for the rest of the day"

5. This mom, who didn't support her daughter's decision to not have kids:

Millenials are so lazy but these babies still need to be born from insaneparents

"With a mother like that, no wonder she doesn’t want to have kids — I don’t know if I’d trust my mother around my kid if she believed that."

—u/unsavvylady

"I'm an 'older' Gen Xer, and had my daughter at 22. She's now 26, and has no intention on having children at this time, if ever — AND I AM PERFECTLY FINE WITH THAT. WTF is up with this 'I need grand-babies' stuff I constantly hear from my older friends with their own families? I cringe whenever I hear it. Good on you, darling daughter — make your own decisions about your own life and stick with them. I am proud of you!"

—u/Elena La Loca

6. This mom, who decided to ruin her daughter's New Year with a very cruel, anti-gay comment:

Happy New Year: I stood up to my homophobic mom 🎉 from insaneparents

Mom: "I'm sorry but this is nothing to flaunt"

Kid: "Yes it is something to flaunt because I'm the happiest I've ever been"

7. This mom, who wouldn't stop calling and threatening her kid when they wouldn't provide her money:

told my mother if i had anything leftover after moving i'd think about giving her some money. this was her response to me saying i don't think i want to from insaneparents

A screenshot of several missed calls from mom

Mother: "You're playing game by telling me that you don't know if you were going to help me or not when I asked you..."

Mom: "I don't care how mad you are...you still have responsibility that you have already stated"

Mom: "Calling me every day that you haven't got the money yet...giving me the clear suggestion and hope that as soon as I get my money I will help you"

8. This dad, who talked down to his daughter-in-law in the most demeaning way after she sent cute pictures of his grandson:

My absolute saint of a MIL asked me to send grandbaby pictures to FIL, and I told her I would make that effort for her. FIL and husband had a huge blowout while I was pregnant. The results of extending the olive branch: from insaneparents

Father-in-law: "Enjoy 'em while you can before they tell you're a POS for punishing them to hold them accountable"

Father-in-law: "I'm glad I'm old and dying because I don't want any part in what's coming that we r already starting to see with all the marches and rallies"

9. This mom, who slandered their kid for refusing to go into the military:

My mom when I said “no” on her idea for me to go to the military. (I have a job and am moving out, she knew this beforehand.) from insaneparents

Mom: "We're done. You no longer have access to car"

Mom: "Just more bad decisions. Go back to [your abuser], we will be here when you're ready"

10. This mom, who was anti-vaccine and wasn't afraid to lecture her kid about it:

my "mother" when I commented facts on her anti-vax posts from insaneparents

"Holy hell. 'I'm so stuck in my beliefs that I don't want to look bad in front of my friends, so I'd rather banish my own kid out of my life.' There, I translated it — what a (possible) narcissist."

—u/Soleska

"My mother used to be hardcore anti-vax until one of our relatives died of COVID and I commented on one of her posts with actual information contradicting the ridiculous garbage she posted. She unfriended me and blocked me for two months."

—u/mobius153

11. This mom, who shamed their child for wanting a thriving life of their own, and took her anger out in all the wrong places:

Just discovered this sub. Enjoy the last conversation I had with my mentally ill mother. (Bonus dog pic at the end) from insaneparents

Kid telling their mom they're looking for an apartment

Mom responding: "Live like you are, good luck with the girlfriend experience, wait, you have too much shit in your 'area'"

Kid responding: "I'm tired of you taking your anger out on me"

12. This mom, who kept track of how much time their kid spent with them and used the numbers against them:

am i crazy or is this toxic !? i am 18 in highschool and my mother threatens not sending me to college if i don’t spend time with her. from insaneparents

"Why doesn't she say she misses you and wants to go see Spider-Man or something fun together? This just makes you not wanna hang out with her."

—u/beetelguese

"Because she doesn’t care about what you want or your feelings — if she asks, then you could say 'no.' So, instead, she uses guilt trips and threatens to coerce you into doing what she wants. However, the time spent with you is never really emotionally fulfilling for her because she knows she 'has to' coerce it — so, she does it more and more and more."

—u/demimondatron

13. This parent, who put their own urine in lemonade popsicles WITHOUT TELLING THEIR DAUGHTER AND HER FRIENDS_:_

I have several questions from insaneparents

"This isn’t just 'insane,' this is illegal. Who in their right minds would feed someone ELSE'S CHILD a pee popsicle?!?!?"

—u/stopaskinifimbleedin

"Do you know this person? I sincerely hope you've reported them to the police because there is SO much wrong with this. They seem to think they're extremely intelligent and that's why their urine is improving their daughter's performance, but they fail to understand that what they're doing is EXTREMELY illegal, unsanitary, and disgusting."

—u/Imfightingsleep

14. This parent, who sent a plethora of threatening texts to their kid when they didn't respond right away:

I was taking a nap from insaneparents

"Any parent who uses financial support and security as leverage is a shitty parent, regardless of the context."

—u/RandomThrowaway372

"Mood — I couldn’t go anywhere, including dates, without my mom expecting me to drop everything to text or call her back whenever she wanted. Also, is your mom's name really Karen? Lmao."

—u/dumbbinch99

"Born and raised by a Karen :)."

—u/ItsHappy_1

15. This dad, who didn't love the cutlery set his daughter thoughtfully bought him for Christmas, and sold it on Facebook Marketplace:

$80 Cutlery Set not good enough for this father. Proceeds to roast his own daughter. from ChoosingBeggars

Listing for cutlery set: "My dippy daughter bought this cutlery set for us for xmas. Apparently our 20-year-old set don't make the grade anymore"

Images of rainbow cutlery set from daughter

16. This mom, who ordered her kid to do chores in an extremely passive aggressive way:

My mom has been ordering me around to do hella tedious tasks via text, in person, and phone call. When I declined one task, she gets passive aggressive and “punishes me”. She went as far as sending my dog I had for 11 years to the shelter after I didn’t want to share my grades with her. from insaneparents

17. This mom, who randomly diagnosed herself with a disease just to avoid having a candid conversation with their kid:

Anyone else’s parent miraculously have a deathly illness during every argument? from insaneparents

"Every time I called my dad out on his BS, he'd cry about how sick he was and how I needed to just let him treat me like shit because 'that's what good daughters do.'"

—u/anoodleanon

"My mom's legitimately diabetic. When I was a teen, she'd fight with me and when I wouldn't immediately back down, she'd say it was giving her a diabetic episode or a heart attack. Mind you, I know diabetes affects blood pressure and all that, but she'd start the arguments — she got mad when I'd respond by calling 9-1-1 and telling them I needed an ambulance. Then she'd have to talk the operator out of it.

Do I know now that wasn't the right response? Of course, but teen me called her bluff until she stopped that shit — I don't know where all my fight went over the years."

—u/ValorousOwl

18. This dad, who was obsessive about getting in contact with their kid and called them over 350 times:

My dad called me almost 350 times, then decides to use a relative's recent death as leverage. This is over me packing for school. from insaneparents

Dad: "You successfully ignored three hours of my attempted contact"

19. And this mom, who manipulated their kid in the most disgusting way possible when they weren't available to drive their dad to work:

My mom blew up on me because I couldn’t pick up my father from work, while she was at home not doing anything from insaneparents

Mom: "You mean you can't drop off or pick up your father at work? Meanwhile you spend the entire day with Valentina? We have made endless modifications FOR YOU"

Mom: "Even daddy picking you up from the airport the other night. Something you've never done for us! The list is never-ending"

Mom: "Your constant 'I Cants' with your parents are very inconsiderate, not to mention ungrateful"

Mom: "Again, I will NOT be silenced anymore! What is wrong is wrong! Your actions are wrong!"

Note: Some posts have been edited for length and/or clarity.