When talking to new parents, one of the biggest changes they would mention about becoming a parent is how they are no longer only living for their own sake. Having a kid means that your existence and purpose in life do not revolve around you anymore, but it revolves around this completely separate human being. This creates a firm distinction between good and bad parents – Good parents see this change as beautiful and meaningful, and bad parents teach themselves to resent their kids for it. It s…

A not-so-gentle approach to mitigate a lack of parenting

What advice would you give this teen?

Would you bankroll your father if you got a good enough paying job?

For context, this story takes place at an airport gate while passengers are waiting to board. There's nothing worse than taking your seat on a long flight, only to realize you're sitting by some rambunctious children whose parents could care less what they are doing. Sure, you can put in some headphones and turn them up full blast to try and tune them out, but the parents are the ones who should be controlling their children. But of course, as all parents know, sometimes you try your hardest, a…

“What could possibly be in their will of any value if they needed to run up debt in your name?”

People are strange as it is, and when we grow up and get our own homes and have our own kids in what is effectively our own world in which we can set our own rules things can get very strange indeed. Of course, this “strangeness” ranges from delightully weird takes on common household rules to things that are downright mistreatment of the people who are being forced to follow them.

Family is family, but sometimes family doesn't act so family…

When you become a father, you are now a father 24-7 for the rest of your life. Even if you choose to ignore those duties, that is still you affecting your child as a father, a bad father, but still a father. One of the biggest struggles parents tend to have is letting their child be free to do what they want. Parents want their kids to not make the mistakes they did growing up, so they forbid them from it. But the thing is, that isn't going to stop them, especially once they are grown…

A family is made up of parents, a few children, and sometimes one or more pets. It is the parents' responsibility to raise their children, and it is the children's responsibility to take care of their pets. But what happens when the parents don't know how to take care of their kids and instead rely on the kids to take care of and support them? Well, OP has to deal with a similar scenario in the story below. OP is a twenty-two-year-old young adult. OP successfully carries out all of his adult ob…

There's this growing sentiment in modern parenting that we should never lie to our children, that, if we do, they may one day grow up to resent us for giving them an unrealistic view of the world. Maybe, just maybe, that desire for a more realistic and grounded approach stems from the fact that we were raised being told that we could be whatever, whoever, and wherever we wanted to be when the reality is that all of those things cost money and if you don't have enough money to go, be and do ever…

Metal concerts are intense. For anyone who loves accidental punches to the face, getting their toes stomped, and eating the floor before having a 250lbs man help them back to their feet knows that a mosh pit is not a place for the weak. And it's certainly no place for a small child.

Parents with the means and foresight to set aside some money for their kiddo's education deserve a gold star in parenting. Although college funds almost never go as planned, the idea of a bank account full of cash that's devoted to your child's future well-being is a novel concept. However, entitled children who don't really know the meaning of their parent's sacrifices tend to look at their college account like it's a vault full of happy hour drinks and flashy festival outfits.

Some people simply refuse to maintain any control over their children in public, though the real problem comes from the fact that these same parents usually haven't bothered to teach their children how to behave in public either. Sure, if you want to do gentle parenting and all that newfangled jazz, be my guest, but just be sure you aren't just mistaking the word “gentle” for the word “lazy” and are actually putting in the hard yards to make sure you're kids learn the lessons they ought to and…

Mom-fluencers are objectively the worst. Half the time, they're the type of parents that film their child's tantrums to teach their 20,000 followers how to manage meltdowns, but in real life they're forgetting to give their kid any genuine attention, they're late to pick them up from school because they were live-streaming at Target, and they're the parent that would rather get those likes instead of putting a bandaid on their kiddo's scraped knee.

There's always that one kid who is extremely picky about eating their vegetables, refusing to touch anything green in color, or that has the remotest possibility of being somewhat healthy. This was not helped in our childhood by the sheer amount of media depicting kids refusing to touch vegetables like it was cool. Still, you would expect that at some point during all those years between eight and thirty, there would be some maturing and growth and that, even if vegetables still aren't your fav…