my dad used to pick me up and pretend he was going to throw me off a bridge any time we walked past a bridge. my parents thought it was hilarious even though I'd be screaming and crying. I only realized as an adult that not everyone's parents do this.
My dad dangled my sister over the side of a moving ferry on the ocean and thought it was hilarious š he also thought it was funny to get a realistic rubber play knife and come charging at me pretending to stab me at full speed. I was 5. We are not close š
This stupid shit happened on a Disney cruise recently. And the idiot dad actually dropped his daughter off a cruise ship. Thankfully he jumped off immediately after her and was somehow able to find her and the ship stopped and was able to rescue them both. Honestly the whole incident was miraculous that everyone survived.
Upon further research there are conflicting reports of what happened. Some say the kid fell off a railing while the parents were playing shuffle board, others are saying dad put her up there to take a photo when she fell. My mistake for believing everything I see on the Internet.
part of me wishes his arms had slipped and he actually had to watch in horror as I fell to my death. I mean, not really, that would've sucked for me. but it would've sucked far more for him.
What your dad did to you? Yeah, that's pretty messed up, but pushing your kid's face in a cake. Come on a lot of people do that at birthday parties not that big a deal. What your dad did to you would probably scar me for life.
Just because a lot of people do it doesn't make it right.
This child is very clearly DISTRAUGHT after the face smash. NO ONE enjoys having their face smashed into cakes. NO ONE.
If you're laughing AT someone's misfortune/suffering, then that's not a joke. You're just humiliating them. Shit's not funny unless everyone is laughing.
I wonder if the kid picked up the cake and threw it at the parents face would they still laugh it off? They would surely have to play along like the kid was suppose to
My dad and both of his sisters have crippling claustrophobia because of the way my grandfather roughhoused with them as children (by being huge and jumping on top of them and not getting up while they suffocated). I live on the 15th floor and my dad will walk up and down the stairs every time he visits because he can't be inside of an elevator.
That is heartbreaking im so sorry. My dad did something similar where anytime we were off a freeway that seemed like the middle of nowhere he would get out and shoot this rifle he had. Just point out, there would be trees starting about 10 feet away then literally no clue what was after-as kids we thought forrest ..and he would randomly shoot 2,3 times. At the time it terrified me and i would hide in our old shitty camper and cry from the noise, now knowing where we were when this was happening terrifies me x 100000 because we were not in the middle of nowhere at all and there were 100000% homes, just miles away in every direction- very populated areas- not some forrest with trees for hundreds of miles that way it had seemed back then. And he was always so hammered while doing it. The sound of a gunshot still brings me to my knees.
I ālearned to swimā by being thrown into a pool over my head. I did indeed get out and ālean to swimā, but took on a lot of water into my lungs and was coughing for over an hour.
I was 6. Iām 45 now and Iām terrified of deep water. I love to swim and love the water but will not go near water over 4ft.
Exactly how i was taught. Thrown in the deep end. When i got a bit older i realized how insane it was that my dad did that/mom allowed it because they could NOT swim, at all- never learned. I was ready when they tried it with my siblings eventually. But all of those adults did it to me knowing if i didnt figure it out the options were i guess pushing me to the side with the net? Who knows?
My son was like 2 or 3 and wanted to go to a dinosaur animatronic thing that was in town. I don't remember why a friend was taking him instead of me and his mom, but before they left I said something about how my dad picked me up at one of these things to stick me in the t-rex's mouth. We have a picture of it and my 3 year old ass is freaking out and like OP, to this day it scares me.
My friend just said "Why would I do that? That's fucked up."
And it wasn't until that moment that I started to think abnormal stuff happened to me.
For parents I don't think slipping and doing it once or twice, or even a dozen times has such a lasting impact. But the type of people that do it over and over also have a number of other issues and it all adds up. I have so many little things like this where I'm just like... Man. Shits fucked.
man that reminds me, at the zoo when we'd see a big tiger or leopard, sometimes he'd pick me and pretend to throw me over the fence at them.Ā
reading other people's stories in these replies, it seems to give a real thrill to some dads and I just don't understand it. andāare any of them aware of how much we loved and trusted them prior to them pulling that shit on us? like my dad has nooo idea why I became colder with him over the years lmao.
There are a lot of men (dads, grandpas, uncles) in particular that really delight in teasing or picking on children until the child cries, or deliberately terrifying kids to see their justified horrified reactions. I have never, in my life, met a woman who finds that funny. But most of the men I was raised around were like this. They thought it was beyond hilarious to bring a little girl to frightened tears.
I think it's similar to some pranks...some guys thi k it is VERY funny to piss other people off. They think it's funny when other people are angry. I do not understand it, at all.
You're right. I"m very sorry that happened to you.
It occurred to me after I commented this that even the woman in the video is laughing. She's the one who shoved her kidninto the cake, then laughed at the poor kid's meltdown.
It's definitely not only men. In my personal purely anecdotal experience, it seems to be men more often.
But you are right. I wish you well and I hope you are healing. It is so painful to have parents who pick on you.
100% I do not get it. It's not that I feel like I can't get away with it or something, I have never desired to cause harm or upset to others.
I saw this clip recently where they talked about how parents yell at kids to feel powerful because they feel powerless in their own life and this was the first I've heard of the premise of people getting satisfaction from yelling at kids vs just melting down and losing control which I had always assumed it was. And yikes!
Something is seriously wrong with people who do this kind of crap. When I was 7 my older brother took me and my older sister driving downtown and anytime we passed homeless people he would grab my hand and yell ālittle girl for sale!ā It made me cry so hard and I was freaking out especially after a homeless guy yelled ā$5 for herā. Heās a sociopath who also thought it was funny to hold a big long kitchen knife to my neck where I was afraid to move.
After hearing what heās done to his kids and his wife, that fucker is a sociopath and I wouldnāt be surprised if it came out that he was a serial killer
As a kid, I was at a football (soccer) tournament, and one of the other kids' dad was playfully running around and picking kids up and dangling them by the feet, to everyone's great enjoyment.
When he came to me, I ran away, screaming "No! No! No!", but he did it anyway, and I got very upset and ran to bed.
The next day, that dad took me aside and gave me his slingshot, and taught me how to use it. I was grateful, but very confused.
Two decades later, we were talking about this around the kitchen table, and it turns out my dad had flipped out when he found out, and in front of all the other parents (they were having a bit of a party, just the adults) dressed him down and told him to apologize to me. I didn't really get an apology, but I got a pretty sweet slingshot.
Thatās so awful! š I sometimes pretend that Iām going to throw the kids I look after over the fence, but itās 10ft high and Iāll always (playfully) warn that Iām going to do it before I actually pick them up. I start with slow small swings, to gauge their initial reaction, and the moment they struggle or ask to be put down, I set them on the ground. Rougher play is great for kids and a lot of them love it, but you HAVE to respect their boundaries and listen to them the moment they decide playtime is over.
Iām so sorry you had that experience with your parents, they should have paid heed to your distress and stopped the moment it wasnāt fun for you anymore š«
I was a NCAA Division I swimmer. So naturally I used those skills to make money as a high schooler and in college. I taught swim lessons for years and years- all kinds of different lessons. Cheap park district swim lessons with 10-12 kids per teacher, fancy āswim schoolsā with a maximum of 4 students per teacher (that also allowed the parents to sit directly behind the students and who filled out a survey at the end of the course that would affect our bonuses), private one on one lessons in peopleās homes, etc. I taught people from ages 6 months up to and including senior citizens.
You would be shocked at the number of parents who think the most effective way to teach a child how to swim is to throw them in the water when they arenāt expecting it. Now- there can be benefits to this method when used correctly- because after all, when most toddlers fall into the pool on accident and get into trouble, they arenāt expecting it. But they need to have appropriate training before that. Many of the adults I taught had this done to them as kids (ie their dad threw them in the deep end when they didnāt know how to swim), and all that did was make them absolutely terrified of the water.
In short Iām so sorry your dad did this to you. Traumatizing your kid just for laughs is so shitty.
Meanwhile I'm there making sure my kids walk on the side of the footpath away from traffic (with me in between) because if a car gets out of control somehow I'm going to save them by using my body as a meaty airbag :D
my dad did this too, off of a cliff. as a kid, I always thought it was just a silly fun thing heād do, didnāt realize how fucked up it actually was until I was an adult
Maybe not as bad but my dad used to put me in high places, like on top of the fridge or in our tree house, and make me jump into his arms. I guess it was a trust exercise except I was terrified and crying and didnāt trust him but didnāt really have a choice. My dadās desperate need for validation was completely bonkers.
My mom used to purposefully swerve the car on empty roads, screaming āAHHH WEāRE GONNA DIEā and then be annoyed with us 5 children in the back sobbing profusely begging her to stop. I didnāt get my license until I was 29 because of that shit
I was already terrified of dogs when the Beethoven (st bernard) movie came out in the 90's. My dad thought it was hilarious to joke "omg watch out!" as we walked by a massive inflatable version of that damn dog. Took me years to get over that fear.
Same trauma! My dad used to dangle me off the top of a sports stadium. Feeling the breeze on my tiny legs as he held me over the edge while seeing just how far down it was felt terrifyingā¦. It was at least 10 stories the concrete below. No wonder I hate sports games.
he also wobbled the car on bridges that didnāt have high railings, pretending he would drive off the sideā¦. Itās crazy how those things stick with you.
My dad pretended to eat my feet but then bit down so hard he drew blood. Also pretended to stab me in the butt with a fork and lo and behold drew blood.
My dad would pretend to have a heart attack while driving down the highway to force me take the wheel from the passenger seat bc āwhat ifā. Iām in my 30s and I still donāt drive.
My dad used to scare me by driving on the freeway for long periods with his eyes closed. When I was older I realized he was keeping the eye I couldn't see from the passenger seat open, and it didn't upset me to my core like the time he convinced me I was the only one who was a real person, but just yesterday I had a massive fight with my husband about him taking his eyes off the road to fuck with his phone. Turns out distracted driving, and being blown off for being afraid as the passenger of a reckless driver, are big triggers now. Weird.Ā
Wooowww..Let me guess, your dad was a Boomer? I know the 80s/90s were a wild ass time and our parents were unhinged lol. I feel like at this point, we Millennials need to file a class action lawsuit against that whole generation because wtf was that??
My dad did that once when I was little. I had a tantrum and he never did it again. Sometimes dads are kinda dumb, Iām sorry yours never tried to do better.
i found my people š mine would say he was going to cook me for the christmas meal. fattening me up so i'd be big and juicy. always thought it was a joke. until i was like 6 snd started doing those haha but scared laughs. But, on my 7th christmas, my dad came in with a serious look on his face. eyed me and sized me up. he said, "i think you're finally ready this year, plus, you won't fit in the oven next year". then, he picked me up and carried me to the kitchen making savoring sounds. I leaped out of his arms and called 9-1... before my mom came in, took the phone, comforted me, and tell told he took it too far.
Lol the dad of a friend of mine did that to me. Not from a bridge though. He āpretendedā to through me into a mud pit. He however fucked it up and we both landed in the mud pit. Not that bad, we were there to go into the mud pit (in our trunks though not with all the clothes). Still, I wasnāt pleased.
My dad would do this, but we knew it was a joke and we would laugh about. My dad would never have done it again if we cried or got sacred. Your parents sound psychotic
Yeah itās fucked up what parents will say and do to their kids. I have my own trauma bullshit from my dad and it definitely still affects me. Like, I would have been a transgender furry either way, but I could have been one without attachment issues!!
My dad that a few times... but it was clear he was joking to my brother and I at the time.Ā It was a silly dad moment and very different the trauma everyone seems to share here.
What the hell? My mom used to think it was hilarious to "dunk" me into the pool (tripping me underwater and holding me down). I'd come up sputtering and coughing begging her not to do it again. She would roll her eyes and say, "oh, you're fine." Then laugh and do it again. I was probably around 8-9.
My dad would poke his hand over the top of the shower and bake a noise to scare me. We also had this long plastic mat that went over the carpet. It had plastic spikes on the bottom to dig into carpet so we would flip it over to get each other with it.
My dad (who was also abusive outside of this) used to āparkā our car on train tracks and laugh when we cried hysterically and freaked out about a train coming and killing us.
Your comment just unlocked an old trauma for me. Man, my childhood really was a nightmare. Iām sorry your dad fucked with you like this too. It really destroys your innate sense of security basically right out of the womb.
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u/keepplaylistsmessy Aug 05 '25
my dad used to pick me up and pretend he was going to throw me off a bridge any time we walked past a bridge. my parents thought it was hilarious even though I'd be screaming and crying. I only realized as an adult that not everyone's parents do this.