I did not want to be friends with this one kid who had boogers and snot hanging out of his nose all the time and he didn’t know much english. One teacher at my school yelled at me for saying i do not want to be his friend.
I told my mom a man flashed me and I said “dick” and she slapped my face and said don’t ever say that word. That was the end of that situation later she took us to the movies.
I think I was in 6th grade 🫠
Decided I didn’t want to play football anymore. I started but just didn’t like it anymore and knew I wouldn’t make it in high school. I was too small for my position. Wanted to just do school hang with friends and work part time until wrestling season started up and I would do that instead. For this I was punished and made to do a bunch a crazy chores and belittled because dad wanted me to play football. Mom and grandma tried to comfort me but the bullshit chores never ended. Just me doing the chores. Not my other brothers.
So I once seen some graphiti on a wall at middle school. I found the penmanship to be amazing. I stopped, held my pencil in the air and and basically traced it never touching the surface. It was pen and I had a pencil. I was suspended from school, the suspension caused a huge fight with my mom. I took my dirt bike out on public streets T2 style and was chased by police, this time I could not shake em and ran out of gas. I lost my dirt bike. I got so fucking angry I went to the school and vandalized the principles car. I was then expelled from school and had to go to another further away. I never respected authority after that.
Had permission to go to a friend’s house as long as I left my mom a note. Once I left a note and she and the whole family randomly assumed it was from the day prior. Came home to a ton of screaming, was forbidden from leaving the house on my own anymore.
Had a substitute teacher in high school who had given us “busy work” to do for the class period, not worth any sort of grade or anything. I got grounded for a week for not finishing said busy work at home that evening
I wore ripped jeans to school and got sent to the office all the time for it. No adult ever thought to ask why I only had one pair of jeans I wore everyday instead they just focused on me getting in trouble. 🫠
my cousin broke his gamegear while i was living with them and he blamed it on me. I got beaten by his dad and ran away, got beaten more when they found me. Was told to beat up his bully to get out of being grounded and i got expelled for beating up his bully.
For not jumping in the water to save the kid in the lane in front of my who was having a seizure and died.
I was too scared and shocked to do anything, but the kids mom was shouting at me to get in the water and get him.
I was seven.
I stuffed a mailbox full of snow. I got in so much trouble with told that the police might come in arrest me cuz it was a federal offense then that’s with a mailbox. I think I was 10 I think it was the year that we had the blizzard the big lizard y’all remember that in 1978. Yep that’s snow in the mailboxes
Putting a hole in a wall with a vacuum, that wasn’t me. Oh, and for “twitching” during a haircut which made my father shave me bald… it was his fault not mine.
My 5th grade baseball team in trouble for stealing a road flare and setting it off in the bathroom. I was home sick but my parents said they knew I would have been involved if I could have been. So I was grounded.
My teacher told me off in front of the whole class cause I didn’t enjoy a mime show. I didn’t disturb anyone or talk during it, I was just bored as fuck and she could see I hated it. Which apparently justified her telling everyone how awful I was acting.
I stand by my 9 year old self’s reaction, mimes are fucking shit. Fuck you, Mrs Forrest
Someone at my “daycare” had a tape recorder recording us talking. On it, I (maybe 7 at the time) mentioned how one of the other kids hit his head on the table. It somehow sounded like I said “shit his head.”
Everyone made a big deal about it, and I was so worried. Turns out the dad came home and was just like “Don’t do that again.”
Not sure if he heard it or thought it was intentional or what. I wasn’t about to discuss it further.
There were two of us with the same first name in the first grade class. My parents came home from parent night and were mad at me the next morning because the teacher told them things …. of course back then the teacher was always right. But when my protests turned into real tears my parents knew I wasn’t lying to get out of trouble and we finally figured out it was the other girl the teacher was talking about not me. Teacher had the wrong parents!
Because my brother started a fight with me. My dad’s rule was, “Whoever started the fight, the OTHER one gets whooped.” It was an absolutely unhinged rule.
I routinely got in trouble for getting bullied at school, no matter what I did in response. Ask for help, I got yelled at and told to figure it out on my own or given similarly unhelpful advice. Fight back, I got yelled at and punished for fighting. Ignore it, it would never end and I’d eventually end up snapping and punished for it. Basically, the adults at that school who had the power to stop bullying didn’t give a rat’s ass about it.
I watched Malcolm In The Middle when I got home from school.
It came on right when I got off the bus. So it was always a rush to find a reason to get my mom out of the living room so I could watch it. And when we got a TV remote that had the “last” button. I’d turn to the news channel. Then flip to the channel playing Malcolm In The Middle. And hover my finger over the “last” button with the volume down.
Sure, I was raised in a very sheltered Christian home. So swearing was bad. But my mom never watched the show, and my dad went along with what she said. They didn’t realize that the show was actually very wholesome and validating when growing up in a nuclear family. Making me feel good about the shitty family dynamic we had. But I’d get grounded for a few days every time I got caught. So that kinda killed it.
Oh, also the time I was grounded for 2 weeks from TV/video games cause I was watching TMNT with my mom nearby. And Mikey said “What the Shell?” Ruined one of my favorite story arcs and episodes from the 03 series.
When I got my first pair of glasses in 2nd grade and was OVER THE MOON that I could finally see. First day I wear them to school the teacher orders me to take them off because I didn’t bring a note saying I’m “allowed to” girl my dad got these from Walmart….. couldn’t wear them to school till my dad changed jobs the next year and got insurance for me to go to the eye doctors for real !!!!
I was an athlete in HS and practice was after school with me getting home about 6pm. I was always ravenous but mom had strict rules: no snacks before dinner, and dinner time is 7:30.
See, dad got home at 5:10 and they needed those two cocktail hours in the adjoining living room, though to be fair mom had her last one in the kitchen while putting on dinner.
Anyway one evening dad was out of town and Mom was watching the news with a wine glass and bottle of wine in the family room on the opposite side of the house, so I, quiet as a mouse, assembled a PBJ. Well of course that’s when she headed in to check the meatloaf.
The rage! She was furious. Grabbed that smammich out of my hand, slapped me across the face, and sent me to my room for the night.
The next day was the first time I spent money on food. A loaf of bread and jar of peanut butter were kept in my closet thereafter, and I almost always had a smammich after practice.
My younger sister is an anorexic/bulimic since her teens, my youngest sister is at least 100 pounds overweight.
In school suspension for forging my mums signature on my pink slip when I didn’t. School didn’t even call my mum to tell her what was going on so she could correct them. I never got an apology from the school.
My mum has 2 different signatures she likes to use. Her initials are P.W but the P can also be a T when she uses her short form first name. So sometimes her signature is P. W(last name) and sometimes she write Trish LastName. They assumed the P.W(last name) was a forgery.
The pink slip was just her signing that she understands I either did not do my homework or I didn’t bring it in to be graded when it was due.
Me and a buddy prank called a teacher, left a voicemail on there family phone. Well his daughter went to our school and me and the buddy said all kinds of messed up stuff we wanted to do to his daughter I was in 3rd grade I just remembered sitting in-front of the principal the teacher, my buddies parents and my parents listening to this voicemail. The buddy started laughing when me and him had said something about doing something sexually to the teachers daughter and the way his dad slapped the shit out of his face it seemed like the kid almost fell out of his seat. I’m sure he got the shit beat out of him when he got home. And I did as well pretty funny thinking about that now days though.
Taking a shit in my sisters old bedroom. Only problem was I was in the bathroom having a bath before school the following day. My brother who did it tried to blame me. Still got in trouble.
I spent the night at a friend’s house with some other girls. We all went to see a movie and I got in trouble because I didn’t call my step mother and ask permission to go with everyone else
I was known for being difficult and a bit literal. We had a singing lesson, I think with a substitute teacher, beforehand i was pulled aside by some other teachers and warned not to cause trouble, I was terrified and decided to do as told. The teacher asked us to sing loudly and open our mouths wide, she splayed her hand over her mouth to demonstrate. I splayed my hand out over my mouth and opened it to match, I started singing with my mouth wide and within a few minutes I was pulled aside and bellowed at for “being silly”. I was about 8 or 9 at the time.
Let’s say I was 9, is it fair to shout at a 9 year old for doing what they were told to do in the way they were told to do it? I was miserable for ages after that. The substitute teacher must’ve thought I was the worst behaved child imaginable for other teachers to pull me aside like that.
Sometimes my dad would take me to rent games at this local Blockbuster type place on weekends, and sometimes he’d just decide he wanted to sleep in instead of taking the game back on time. Then I’d be expected to pay the extra fees or lose privileges if I didn’t have the money.
“Sir, I am seven. I am not allowed to leave the house by myself. I have no way to return the game to the store. How is this my fault?”
If I didn’t clean the house good enough..seriously if the vacuume marks weren’t perfect in the carpet I was grounded confined to my room for a week no tv or anything and had to write a penance in cursive..usually 200 times
I was confused and mixed up my lower case b’s and d’s. Also wrote 5 and 2 backwards for some reason in the 1st grade. I got screamed at by the teacher and got red marks all over my paper. Even if the answers were correct. I gave up trying and started doodling on the work sheets and desk.
I got a D in a class in 5 or 6 grade. When my mom asked the teacher about it the teacher said I did all my work but she gave me a D because I spoke too loudy, not out of turn mind you- just loud. My dad is 70% deaf.
I got in trouble for speaking loudly enough for my dad to hear me
My stomach hurt terribly one day in grade 6. It was so bad I started to cry at my desk, and my teacher sent me to the office.
The principal was busy, but the secretary advised me to undo my belt and unbutton my jeans. Within minutes, the pain went away. My jeans were getting too tight from a growth spurt, she explained, and it happened to everyone. I left my button undone and buckled my belt back over it a tab looser, and went back to class.
My teacher asked me if my parents were coming, and I said no, I’m fine now, without explaining because I was embarrassed. She dressed me down hard for faking, and sent me back to the office.
I told the secretary what was up, and she went back to my classroom to get my things. She sent me to the library until the final bell.
My teacher called home that night, but the secretary was faster. My parents (both teachers) got on that call and let my teacher run her mouth until they chewed her out back. The next day was Saturday, and Mom and I went and got new jeans.
I was often punished with no TV or games for all kinds of different things (sometimes I didn’t even know what I was getting punished for). One time, my dad came home and questioned why the TV was off. When I reminded him I was grounded, he extended it by one week… for reasons?
Idk why but ky mom firmly believed 4×3 and 3×4 would give you different answers. I corrected her, she got upset and threw a TV control at my head and beat my ass 😭
Something I didn’t do. I had a friend who I was a little rough with in 1st grade, but it was all consensual and stuff. We were playing and having a good time. Anyways, other kids would see us fight and often be concerned but it never turned into too much trouble until someone made the false accusation that the two of us beat up a third innocent kid. We did no such thing (at least I didn’t). Parents believed the school over me. I got punished at school with whatever mark on my record, as far as I know nothing ever came of that. At home, I had to stand in a corner for like 2 hours and I couldn’t look away from the corner. Honestly pretty easy punishment for beating up a kid, but I never did that so it was cruel regardless.
In 2nd grade. In the early 1980s I used to get my lower case b’s and d’s mixed up and wrote my 5 and 2s backwards for some reason. My teacher screamed at me and gave me big red marks on my paper instead of helping me. Even if answers were correct. I gave up and started doodling on my desk and work sheets. I was placed in a closet because I was deemed a distraction to the class. The whole school day I was locked in a dark school supply closet in the classroom. I was even given school work to do in the dark. I had to lay on the floor and do it by the light coming from under the door. I peed in a jar that was provided. I told my mom and the school refused to do anything. So she pulled me out of school for a year. She had to go all the way up to the board of education to get me another teacher. I have a learning disability from that experience. Anyways, that’s my story.
For scratching “I LOVE EVERYBODY” real big into the side of the family minivan with a rock. There was also the time I mutilated the antique bannister with a fork right after my parents had finished renovating and painting it. Straight forked it up
Hearing loss is hereditary on my dad’s side. I wear hearing aids as an adult. I have hearing loss, and also auditory processing issues. My brain can’t distinguish between certain letters, with out help ie. hearing aids.
I can pinpoint hearing issues that began while in 2nd grade. I got labeled as a liar for a long time (private Christian school) because of several interactions where is misunderstood what was being asked or said to me and I was “lying “. It sucked. I make sure to get my son’s hearing checked year.
My dogs ran away and my parents were so mad at me that they made me go look for them all alone in the middle of the night lol Turns out they had been digging a large hold under the fence behind the shed. Had nothing to do with me.
I read a lot as a kid, and I found out the correct term for a female dog was “bitch” when I was about 11yo.
Imagine my surprise when I got a smack in the head by my Uncle for telling his 8yo kids that interesting fact.
I even showed him in the dictionary that was the word, but no apology for his Ignorance of the English language ( although I did not phrase it like that, my head was still hurting at the time )
I didnt come home from a friends house by 10 am, she lived next door, when he never actually said it out loud. I got in trouble that night and in the midst of being chewed out by my mom he realized he never told me. He got chewed out after that.
Being honest. At the movie/game rental store and my mom was trying to check out a movie. They said we had a movie still out and a late fee and she told them something was wrong because she had returned that one, trying to get them to write it off. My little innocent and ignorant ass piped up and told her it was still in the VCR in front of the cashier. I took a beating for that one.
For not watching my 10 year old sister while my parents did yard work. I was 11 1/2 years at the time. I got grounded from the library (a block away) for a week. We also have two older siblings. Still confused about this over 50 years later.
Got grounded for 6 months because money went missing out of my mums purse it was either me or my brother who was need to drugs. But as they couldn’t prove if it was me or my drug addled brother we both got punished
For not taking my meds. They weren’t my meds. I told my step-dad that. Even went into the cabinet and showed him that they were my brothers after he was hospitalized. “They wouldn’t have hurt you”.
Grew up upper-middle class in a nice house, in center of town. Made a friend in middle school and had permission to go to her house after school. Her house was an apartment in subsidized housing (this was central ME so very safe and a nice area). I didn’t know anyone that lived in an apartment and thought it was so cool! My mother asked me where she lived when I got home and when I told her, I was immediately grounded and forbidden from hanging out with her ever again. Because she lived in apartment and therefore no way she could be “from a good family”. Still embarrasses me to this day how ignorant and close-minded she was (and still is).
I was in 3rd grade and I failed a test and at the school I went to, when you failed, you had to take it home to get it signed. Well my rear end was already a solid shade of red bc of other shenanigans so I erased my name and wrote the name “William” on it (there was nobody named William in the class) I got whooped AND grounded from recess until I fessed up that I lied and wrote the name. I held my ground for about 2 months and finally admitted it was me and back to recess I went.
For having the sheer audacity to laugh in my bedroom, and be heard over the incredibly exciting commentary on the tour dé France. Grounded for a week, no TV, confined to bedroom other than meals and bathroom requirements or school. Additional chores added to list. Silent treatment. Or shouted at. No in between. As an adult I see how incredibly over the top that is, but my step father was very much a believer in immediate and firm correction. Man quoted the bible and how you should read it twice a day, never saw a bible in the home. Never. Pointing out things such as this becomes a you problem not a him problem. As you have to respect your elders. Be seen, not heard. Do as they say, not as they do. Man never laid a finger on any of us. But he sure broke more than one of us. I did not shed tears when he left this mortal plain. Not one.
It set my mother free, but she still cannot see.
The damage he created, the control keeps her sedated.
Held in place by fears created, deep and strong
fed with self hatred.
Breath let free but grasped back quickly,
Outside world seems grey and sickly.
Held in place by being trained
Unconsciously, autonomy drained.
Beyond the grave with years gone by,
His grip still strong, not broken or shy.
Even gone he won’t let go, her life
Dictated by his shadow.
All that’s left is memory and fears
One to remember, the rare
and good Moments,
The other sustained with tears.
No letting go, when it’s grip is tight
I can’t let go, no will no fight.
Even gone he still dictates
The recollections filled with hate
You made the woman I know
As mother
But she is lost she is now some other
Some other being you created,
Still Held in place by fear, sedated.
Your force of will has taken much
What She gave, still not enough.
You won’t let go, she can’t break free
5 years gone and she still can’t see.
All you did and all you were
Is still Held tight controlling her.
Fuck you and all you believed in. You broke a good woman beyond repair. 5 long years and you still have her shattered. I will try and continue to try and find a glue to piece her together. Fuck you. Emphasis added on the first and last bits.
I was sleepwalking. I couldn’t explain to my parents why I was walking around my bedroom stumbling into things. They thought I was misbehaving and had me stand in the middle of the kitchen for awhile until I could explain why I was out of bed. Eventually I was allowed to go back to bed.
My teacher was walking me back from the bathroom or something and a light was flickering on the ceiling and I looked up at it in 2nd grade. My teacher interpreted this as clearly I was rolling my eyes (despite her not having said anything) and sent me to the principal’s. I asked the principal what “rolling my eyes” means. She had some insecurity issues
When i was in third grade i was super innocent. Didnt know what lifting your middle finger meant. So one day i scratch my nose with my middle finger, and one of my class mates goes “oooOoOo he lifted his middle finger!” I was like huh? I thought it was one of those hand gestures not every one can do like the spoc live long and prosper hand thing.
So i respond to my class mate with dual middle fingers and say, “what? You cant do this?” Then from behind me i hear the teach YELL my name. I turn to her dual middle fingers still up and pointing right at her and say “yes?”
teacher – “YOUR GOING TO THE PRINCIPLES OFFICE RIGHT NOW!!!.”
Me – “what!? why!?” D: ” all i did was lift my finger!?”
Teacher – RIGHT NOW!!
Proceed to me being dragged down the hall crying by a teachers aid to the principles office. And me legit not understanding what was happening. It was so sureal for me at the moment, like the world stopped makeing sense. On the way we passed by a friend and they asked what i did and through tears i said “i just lifted my finger!”
Anyways….thats how i learned what flipping the bird was. My mom still makes fun of me for it to this day….am 36 now…. sigh
Throwing sand in the air on the playground, first grade.
I specifically remember doing it when no one was around because I just wanted to see how it dispersed.
My teacher took me in to fill out a ‘think sheet’, which, understand that three of these things equates to a suspension.
I earned a second one in second grade for saying, “If I had super powers, I would kill people,” which is fucked in retrospect but two things are important here: 1) I said it off the cuff for no reason, and 2) I didn’t mean it.
The librarian, however, overheard and reprimanded me immediately.
The bonus part is that there’s a mandatory illustration you have to give on the think sheet— for the obvious— and I had no fucking clue how to fill it out.
I remember being TERRIFIED to have my parents sign these things, but looking back, I would’ve thrown that shit in the garbage and asked them if this is really how you help a kid that you suspect of being troublesome.
And they had kids really trying to kill each other at that school too, so that was fun.
Because my sneakers were too small for my feet. The problem is that my father gave it to me as a gift, he came home with the sneakers. But when I complained, he swore I had tried the sneakers on in the store, with him. It was enough to get me in trouble, but little me had to insist he was mistaken, I didn’t tried in the store because he bought it without me. “So, are you calling me a liar?” My father beat me so hard that night I don’t know how he didn’t make me swallow the sneakers…
My sister and I were staying with a family friend until the school year was up and they made Salmon patties that both smelled and tasted awful (I was 8, my sister 10). I nearly vomited from a bite of it. we were made to sit at the dinner table until it was all done.
It was past midnight and we still weren’t touching it. My sister and I were goofing around and she knocked my glass of milk over and it spilled on my plate. Which got me in even more trouble.
One of the other ones, I was 12 or 13 and staying with my best friend. He, his sister, and I went to their sitter’s house for the night and usually just hang out and color or do pearlers or whatever.
For whatever reason, his sitter’s husband came into the room and lowkey farted. (His name was Art)
I said “art art laid a fart and blew the whole room apart.” Everyone laughed except Art and he blew up and started screaming. It was so bizarre. We were maybe 4 blocks from our actual house, so I left to go home and next thing I know, they have the cops looking for me. It was so bizarre. I hid out for a few hours and then went home. Nobody said anything to me about it for a few days. It was surreal
Reading ahead after I was finished the assignment. “First graders don’t know how to read!” Bitch, I was the fourth kid in my family to come to that school and every single one of us was reading before we got there. My mother had WORDS with her.
Comments
For asking if I could do something. Very odd.
I did not want to be friends with this one kid who had boogers and snot hanging out of his nose all the time and he didn’t know much english. One teacher at my school yelled at me for saying i do not want to be his friend.
Gum.
For looking at them with a tone
I told my mom a man flashed me and I said “dick” and she slapped my face and said don’t ever say that word. That was the end of that situation later she took us to the movies.
I think I was in 6th grade 🫠
Correcting my (very authoritarian) teacher on how to say my name. I got detention for insubordination.
For doing the dishes “IN THE WRONG FUCKING ORDER!”.
I got in trouble because i threw away a paper that wasn’t even for a grade, it was just some sort of practice paper
Decided I didn’t want to play football anymore. I started but just didn’t like it anymore and knew I wouldn’t make it in high school. I was too small for my position. Wanted to just do school hang with friends and work part time until wrestling season started up and I would do that instead. For this I was punished and made to do a bunch a crazy chores and belittled because dad wanted me to play football. Mom and grandma tried to comfort me but the bullshit chores never ended. Just me doing the chores. Not my other brothers.
Crashed my bike, hurt myself, cried.
Note: they are not abusive (actually really great parents) I think that there was just a breakdown in communication somewhere
So I once seen some graphiti on a wall at middle school. I found the penmanship to be amazing. I stopped, held my pencil in the air and and basically traced it never touching the surface. It was pen and I had a pencil. I was suspended from school, the suspension caused a huge fight with my mom. I took my dirt bike out on public streets T2 style and was chased by police, this time I could not shake em and ran out of gas. I lost my dirt bike. I got so fucking angry I went to the school and vandalized the principles car. I was then expelled from school and had to go to another further away. I never respected authority after that.
Had permission to go to a friend’s house as long as I left my mom a note. Once I left a note and she and the whole family randomly assumed it was from the day prior. Came home to a ton of screaming, was forbidden from leaving the house on my own anymore.
I was 17 and had permission. 🙁
Had a substitute teacher in high school who had given us “busy work” to do for the class period, not worth any sort of grade or anything. I got grounded for a week for not finishing said busy work at home that evening
Answering the telephone
I wore ripped jeans to school and got sent to the office all the time for it. No adult ever thought to ask why I only had one pair of jeans I wore everyday instead they just focused on me getting in trouble. 🫠
my cousin broke his gamegear while i was living with them and he blamed it on me. I got beaten by his dad and ran away, got beaten more when they found me. Was told to beat up his bully to get out of being grounded and i got expelled for beating up his bully.
For not jumping in the water to save the kid in the lane in front of my who was having a seizure and died.
I was too scared and shocked to do anything, but the kids mom was shouting at me to get in the water and get him.
I was seven.
I stuffed a mailbox full of snow. I got in so much trouble with told that the police might come in arrest me cuz it was a federal offense then that’s with a mailbox. I think I was 10 I think it was the year that we had the blizzard the big lizard y’all remember that in 1978. Yep that’s snow in the mailboxes
Putting a hole in a wall with a vacuum, that wasn’t me. Oh, and for “twitching” during a haircut which made my father shave me bald… it was his fault not mine.
My curfew was 10pm, and I got home at 9:55pm. Apparently that was cutting it too close and therefore disrespectful
Got grounded for having a wallpaper on my iPod that said “Live laugh fart”
My 5th grade baseball team in trouble for stealing a road flare and setting it off in the bathroom. I was home sick but my parents said they knew I would have been involved if I could have been. So I was grounded.
My teacher told me off in front of the whole class cause I didn’t enjoy a mime show. I didn’t disturb anyone or talk during it, I was just bored as fuck and she could see I hated it. Which apparently justified her telling everyone how awful I was acting.
I stand by my 9 year old self’s reaction, mimes are fucking shit. Fuck you, Mrs Forrest
I didn’t laugh at my dad’s jokes.
For calling my sister a bitch smh
Someone at my “daycare” had a tape recorder recording us talking. On it, I (maybe 7 at the time) mentioned how one of the other kids hit his head on the table. It somehow sounded like I said “shit his head.”
Everyone made a big deal about it, and I was so worried. Turns out the dad came home and was just like “Don’t do that again.”
Not sure if he heard it or thought it was intentional or what. I wasn’t about to discuss it further.
I got yelled at because I couldn’t pick seats to sit in at the theater. I was like 8 years old lol.
Me and a friend of mine decided we were going to be photographers for Playboy. Camera had no film. First girl, neighbor, told my mom. (14yo at time)
Grounded whole summer…
I shut (apparently slammed) the car door.
There were two of us with the same first name in the first grade class. My parents came home from parent night and were mad at me the next morning because the teacher told them things …. of course back then the teacher was always right. But when my protests turned into real tears my parents knew I wasn’t lying to get out of trouble and we finally figured out it was the other girl the teacher was talking about not me. Teacher had the wrong parents!
Because my brother started a fight with me. My dad’s rule was, “Whoever started the fight, the OTHER one gets whooped.” It was an absolutely unhinged rule.
I routinely got in trouble for getting bullied at school, no matter what I did in response. Ask for help, I got yelled at and told to figure it out on my own or given similarly unhelpful advice. Fight back, I got yelled at and punished for fighting. Ignore it, it would never end and I’d eventually end up snapping and punished for it. Basically, the adults at that school who had the power to stop bullying didn’t give a rat’s ass about it.
I watched Malcolm In The Middle when I got home from school.
It came on right when I got off the bus. So it was always a rush to find a reason to get my mom out of the living room so I could watch it. And when we got a TV remote that had the “last” button. I’d turn to the news channel. Then flip to the channel playing Malcolm In The Middle. And hover my finger over the “last” button with the volume down.
Sure, I was raised in a very sheltered Christian home. So swearing was bad. But my mom never watched the show, and my dad went along with what she said. They didn’t realize that the show was actually very wholesome and validating when growing up in a nuclear family. Making me feel good about the shitty family dynamic we had. But I’d get grounded for a few days every time I got caught. So that kinda killed it.
Oh, also the time I was grounded for 2 weeks from TV/video games cause I was watching TMNT with my mom nearby. And Mikey said “What the Shell?” Ruined one of my favorite story arcs and episodes from the 03 series.
bruh my mom slapped the shit out of me cuz i said i didn’t wanna go to walmart 💀
Pointing out all religion is made up and ridiculous (i come from a southern Baptist family, and am a PC -preachers kid)
When I got my first pair of glasses in 2nd grade and was OVER THE MOON that I could finally see. First day I wear them to school the teacher orders me to take them off because I didn’t bring a note saying I’m “allowed to” girl my dad got these from Walmart….. couldn’t wear them to school till my dad changed jobs the next year and got insurance for me to go to the eye doctors for real !!!!
For not waiving goodbye to a bully. My uncle picked me up from school that day, and said how rude I was. I was 7 and they were a bully.
My grandpa smacked me once for singing a song at the dinner table. Said i sounded like a lunatic. I was 2.
Fought back against a bully.
Because bullying? That’s whatever. But defending yourself is “fighting” and there are rules, darnit!
And people wonder why I have issues with authority…
For not matching my clothing. For not doing my hair the way mom wanted. For wanting my math teacher’s help instead of my father’s.
For choking 💀
Was interrogated by the teacher because, after my friend & I traded snacks at lunch, the factory sealed Twinkie she got had glass in it.
This was obviously the doing of 9 year old me, criminal mastermind/s
I was an athlete in HS and practice was after school with me getting home about 6pm. I was always ravenous but mom had strict rules: no snacks before dinner, and dinner time is 7:30.
See, dad got home at 5:10 and they needed those two cocktail hours in the adjoining living room, though to be fair mom had her last one in the kitchen while putting on dinner.
Anyway one evening dad was out of town and Mom was watching the news with a wine glass and bottle of wine in the family room on the opposite side of the house, so I, quiet as a mouse, assembled a PBJ. Well of course that’s when she headed in to check the meatloaf.
The rage! She was furious. Grabbed that smammich out of my hand, slapped me across the face, and sent me to my room for the night.
The next day was the first time I spent money on food. A loaf of bread and jar of peanut butter were kept in my closet thereafter, and I almost always had a smammich after practice.
My younger sister is an anorexic/bulimic since her teens, my youngest sister is at least 100 pounds overweight.
I continue to keep a well-stocked pantry.
In school suspension for forging my mums signature on my pink slip when I didn’t. School didn’t even call my mum to tell her what was going on so she could correct them. I never got an apology from the school.
My mum has 2 different signatures she likes to use. Her initials are P.W but the P can also be a T when she uses her short form first name. So sometimes her signature is P. W(last name) and sometimes she write Trish LastName. They assumed the P.W(last name) was a forgery.
The pink slip was just her signing that she understands I either did not do my homework or I didn’t bring it in to be graded when it was due.
Literally anything bad happened it’s my fault.
Me and a buddy prank called a teacher, left a voicemail on there family phone. Well his daughter went to our school and me and the buddy said all kinds of messed up stuff we wanted to do to his daughter I was in 3rd grade I just remembered sitting in-front of the principal the teacher, my buddies parents and my parents listening to this voicemail. The buddy started laughing when me and him had said something about doing something sexually to the teachers daughter and the way his dad slapped the shit out of his face it seemed like the kid almost fell out of his seat. I’m sure he got the shit beat out of him when he got home. And I did as well pretty funny thinking about that now days though.
I brought pics of Madonna that I tore out of some magazines and had to go down to the principal’s office crying.
For fighting back to bullies in school
Taking a shit in my sisters old bedroom. Only problem was I was in the bathroom having a bath before school the following day. My brother who did it tried to blame me. Still got in trouble.
I got my phone taken away until I turned 18 because I refused to go to church. (I had the flu and was actively throwing up 😭)
Just being there.
I spent the night at a friend’s house with some other girls. We all went to see a movie and I got in trouble because I didn’t call my step mother and ask permission to go with everyone else
I was known for being difficult and a bit literal. We had a singing lesson, I think with a substitute teacher, beforehand i was pulled aside by some other teachers and warned not to cause trouble, I was terrified and decided to do as told. The teacher asked us to sing loudly and open our mouths wide, she splayed her hand over her mouth to demonstrate. I splayed my hand out over my mouth and opened it to match, I started singing with my mouth wide and within a few minutes I was pulled aside and bellowed at for “being silly”. I was about 8 or 9 at the time.
Let’s say I was 9, is it fair to shout at a 9 year old for doing what they were told to do in the way they were told to do it? I was miserable for ages after that. The substitute teacher must’ve thought I was the worst behaved child imaginable for other teachers to pull me aside like that.
Wore a Nike t shirt that said “losing teaches you only one thing” on the front … and the back said “it sucks”
My dad set me to polishing my shoes. I was about 6. He said to put the polish on with one brush, then use the other brush to buff them.
I was putting the polish on when he was called away. He was gone a few minutes, so after I polished, I changed brushes and started buffing.
When he came back, the thought i was using the buffing brush to apply polish still, so he hit me around the head with the brush.
Sometimes my dad would take me to rent games at this local Blockbuster type place on weekends, and sometimes he’d just decide he wanted to sleep in instead of taking the game back on time. Then I’d be expected to pay the extra fees or lose privileges if I didn’t have the money.
“Sir, I am seven. I am not allowed to leave the house by myself. I have no way to return the game to the store. How is this my fault?”
For smiling. Literally thought I was lying all the time bc I was smiling but I smile when I’m nervous
If I didn’t clean the house good enough..seriously if the vacuume marks weren’t perfect in the carpet I was grounded confined to my room for a week no tv or anything and had to write a penance in cursive..usually 200 times
Got screamed at the entire way home from a baseball game because I struck out twice. I was 13-14
I was confused and mixed up my lower case b’s and d’s. Also wrote 5 and 2 backwards for some reason in the 1st grade. I got screamed at by the teacher and got red marks all over my paper. Even if the answers were correct. I gave up trying and started doodling on the work sheets and desk.
I got a D in a class in 5 or 6 grade. When my mom asked the teacher about it the teacher said I did all my work but she gave me a D because I spoke too loudy, not out of turn mind you- just loud. My dad is 70% deaf.
I got in trouble for speaking loudly enough for my dad to hear me
For tipping seeds into every tin of paint at my school then blaming it on a mermaid.
Getting a cold at school
My stomach hurt terribly one day in grade 6. It was so bad I started to cry at my desk, and my teacher sent me to the office.
The principal was busy, but the secretary advised me to undo my belt and unbutton my jeans. Within minutes, the pain went away. My jeans were getting too tight from a growth spurt, she explained, and it happened to everyone. I left my button undone and buckled my belt back over it a tab looser, and went back to class.
My teacher asked me if my parents were coming, and I said no, I’m fine now, without explaining because I was embarrassed. She dressed me down hard for faking, and sent me back to the office.
I told the secretary what was up, and she went back to my classroom to get my things. She sent me to the library until the final bell.
My teacher called home that night, but the secretary was faster. My parents (both teachers) got on that call and let my teacher run her mouth until they chewed her out back. The next day was Saturday, and Mom and I went and got new jeans.
I was often punished with no TV or games for all kinds of different things (sometimes I didn’t even know what I was getting punished for). One time, my dad came home and questioned why the TV was off. When I reminded him I was grounded, he extended it by one week… for reasons?
Gunpowder in the pellet form.
Idk why but ky mom firmly believed 4×3 and 3×4 would give you different answers. I corrected her, she got upset and threw a TV control at my head and beat my ass 😭
Something I didn’t do. I had a friend who I was a little rough with in 1st grade, but it was all consensual and stuff. We were playing and having a good time. Anyways, other kids would see us fight and often be concerned but it never turned into too much trouble until someone made the false accusation that the two of us beat up a third innocent kid. We did no such thing (at least I didn’t). Parents believed the school over me. I got punished at school with whatever mark on my record, as far as I know nothing ever came of that. At home, I had to stand in a corner for like 2 hours and I couldn’t look away from the corner. Honestly pretty easy punishment for beating up a kid, but I never did that so it was cruel regardless.
In 2nd grade. In the early 1980s I used to get my lower case b’s and d’s mixed up and wrote my 5 and 2s backwards for some reason. My teacher screamed at me and gave me big red marks on my paper instead of helping me. Even if answers were correct. I gave up and started doodling on my desk and work sheets. I was placed in a closet because I was deemed a distraction to the class. The whole school day I was locked in a dark school supply closet in the classroom. I was even given school work to do in the dark. I had to lay on the floor and do it by the light coming from under the door. I peed in a jar that was provided. I told my mom and the school refused to do anything. So she pulled me out of school for a year. She had to go all the way up to the board of education to get me another teacher. I have a learning disability from that experience. Anyways, that’s my story.
For scratching “I LOVE EVERYBODY” real big into the side of the family minivan with a rock. There was also the time I mutilated the antique bannister with a fork right after my parents had finished renovating and painting it. Straight forked it up
For being overweight
Hearing loss is hereditary on my dad’s side. I wear hearing aids as an adult. I have hearing loss, and also auditory processing issues. My brain can’t distinguish between certain letters, with out help ie. hearing aids.
I can pinpoint hearing issues that began while in 2nd grade. I got labeled as a liar for a long time (private Christian school) because of several interactions where is misunderstood what was being asked or said to me and I was “lying “. It sucked. I make sure to get my son’s hearing checked year.
My dogs ran away and my parents were so mad at me that they made me go look for them all alone in the middle of the night lol Turns out they had been digging a large hold under the fence behind the shed. Had nothing to do with me.
I read a lot as a kid, and I found out the correct term for a female dog was “bitch” when I was about 11yo.
Imagine my surprise when I got a smack in the head by my Uncle for telling his 8yo kids that interesting fact.
I even showed him in the dictionary that was the word, but no apology for his Ignorance of the English language ( although I did not phrase it like that, my head was still hurting at the time )
Eating a specific ingredient without knowing it was supposed to be used for dinner later.
I didnt come home from a friends house by 10 am, she lived next door, when he never actually said it out loud. I got in trouble that night and in the midst of being chewed out by my mom he realized he never told me. He got chewed out after that.
Being honest. At the movie/game rental store and my mom was trying to check out a movie. They said we had a movie still out and a late fee and she told them something was wrong because she had returned that one, trying to get them to write it off. My little innocent and ignorant ass piped up and told her it was still in the VCR in front of the cashier. I took a beating for that one.
Saying the word “Fart”
For not watching my 10 year old sister while my parents did yard work. I was 11 1/2 years at the time. I got grounded from the library (a block away) for a week. We also have two older siblings. Still confused about this over 50 years later.
Mom was in a bad mood
I was once grounded for falling off the porch.
A nun slapped my hand with a ruler for using Chapstick.
Asking a question of a teacher while she was talking to another teacher.
Also I got suspended for putting snow down someone’s back.
Singing Christmas carols too loud. We didn’t know our dad had come home early and was napping upstairs
Got grounded for 6 months because money went missing out of my mums purse it was either me or my brother who was need to drugs. But as they couldn’t prove if it was me or my drug addled brother we both got punished
My dad used to get mad at me if I didn’t mow the lawn exactly the way he wanted and it was a different way every time.
For not taking my meds. They weren’t my meds. I told my step-dad that. Even went into the cabinet and showed him that they were my brothers after he was hospitalized. “They wouldn’t have hurt you”.
Grew up upper-middle class in a nice house, in center of town. Made a friend in middle school and had permission to go to her house after school. Her house was an apartment in subsidized housing (this was central ME so very safe and a nice area). I didn’t know anyone that lived in an apartment and thought it was so cool! My mother asked me where she lived when I got home and when I told her, I was immediately grounded and forbidden from hanging out with her ever again. Because she lived in apartment and therefore no way she could be “from a good family”. Still embarrasses me to this day how ignorant and close-minded she was (and still is).
I was in 3rd grade and I failed a test and at the school I went to, when you failed, you had to take it home to get it signed. Well my rear end was already a solid shade of red bc of other shenanigans so I erased my name and wrote the name “William” on it (there was nobody named William in the class) I got whooped AND grounded from recess until I fessed up that I lied and wrote the name. I held my ground for about 2 months and finally admitted it was me and back to recess I went.
For having the sheer audacity to laugh in my bedroom, and be heard over the incredibly exciting commentary on the tour dé France. Grounded for a week, no TV, confined to bedroom other than meals and bathroom requirements or school. Additional chores added to list. Silent treatment. Or shouted at. No in between. As an adult I see how incredibly over the top that is, but my step father was very much a believer in immediate and firm correction. Man quoted the bible and how you should read it twice a day, never saw a bible in the home. Never. Pointing out things such as this becomes a you problem not a him problem. As you have to respect your elders. Be seen, not heard. Do as they say, not as they do. Man never laid a finger on any of us. But he sure broke more than one of us. I did not shed tears when he left this mortal plain. Not one.
It set my mother free, but she still cannot see.
The damage he created, the control keeps her sedated.
Held in place by fears created, deep and strong
fed with self hatred.
Breath let free but grasped back quickly,
Outside world seems grey and sickly.
Held in place by being trained
Unconsciously, autonomy drained.
Beyond the grave with years gone by,
His grip still strong, not broken or shy.
Even gone he won’t let go, her life
Dictated by his shadow.
All that’s left is memory and fears
One to remember, the rare
and good Moments,
The other sustained with tears.
No letting go, when it’s grip is tight
I can’t let go, no will no fight.
Even gone he still dictates
The recollections filled with hate
You made the woman I know
As mother
But she is lost she is now some other
Some other being you created,
Still Held in place by fear, sedated.
Your force of will has taken much
What She gave, still not enough.
You won’t let go, she can’t break free
5 years gone and she still can’t see.
All you did and all you were
Is still Held tight controlling her.
Fuck you and all you believed in. You broke a good woman beyond repair. 5 long years and you still have her shattered. I will try and continue to try and find a glue to piece her together. Fuck you. Emphasis added on the first and last bits.
For correcting a teacher when he said my name wrong.
Asking in the new house where my room was so I could sit the boxes down in the room
My fiancé would get in trouble for not doing his chores which involved mowing the lawn as a teenager.
The reason? He was in school 8.30-3, then worked 4-10.
He would literally bus from school to work. He wasn’t home at all during the day.
I was sleepwalking. I couldn’t explain to my parents why I was walking around my bedroom stumbling into things. They thought I was misbehaving and had me stand in the middle of the kitchen for awhile until I could explain why I was out of bed. Eventually I was allowed to go back to bed.
My teacher was walking me back from the bathroom or something and a light was flickering on the ceiling and I looked up at it in 2nd grade. My teacher interpreted this as clearly I was rolling my eyes (despite her not having said anything) and sent me to the principal’s. I asked the principal what “rolling my eyes” means. She had some insecurity issues
I got an after-school detention for disruptive behavior in grade 10 for putting a Kleenex on my head.
For telling the old biddy down the street I was an atheist
i was getting bullied so they said i was making it up
When i was in third grade i was super innocent. Didnt know what lifting your middle finger meant. So one day i scratch my nose with my middle finger, and one of my class mates goes “oooOoOo he lifted his middle finger!” I was like huh? I thought it was one of those hand gestures not every one can do like the spoc live long and prosper hand thing.
So i respond to my class mate with dual middle fingers and say, “what? You cant do this?” Then from behind me i hear the teach YELL my name. I turn to her dual middle fingers still up and pointing right at her and say “yes?”
teacher – “YOUR GOING TO THE PRINCIPLES OFFICE RIGHT NOW!!!.”
Me – “what!? why!?” D: ” all i did was lift my finger!?”
Teacher – RIGHT NOW!!
Proceed to me being dragged down the hall crying by a teachers aid to the principles office. And me legit not understanding what was happening. It was so sureal for me at the moment, like the world stopped makeing sense. On the way we passed by a friend and they asked what i did and through tears i said “i just lifted my finger!”
Anyways….thats how i learned what flipping the bird was. My mom still makes fun of me for it to this day….am 36 now…. sigh
When I got home from school, I didn’t know where my dad left HIS stuff during the day and I asked a simple questions.
Throwing sand in the air on the playground, first grade.
I specifically remember doing it when no one was around because I just wanted to see how it dispersed.
My teacher took me in to fill out a ‘think sheet’, which, understand that three of these things equates to a suspension.
I earned a second one in second grade for saying, “If I had super powers, I would kill people,” which is fucked in retrospect but two things are important here: 1) I said it off the cuff for no reason, and 2) I didn’t mean it.
The librarian, however, overheard and reprimanded me immediately.
The bonus part is that there’s a mandatory illustration you have to give on the think sheet— for the obvious— and I had no fucking clue how to fill it out.
I remember being TERRIFIED to have my parents sign these things, but looking back, I would’ve thrown that shit in the garbage and asked them if this is really how you help a kid that you suspect of being troublesome.
And they had kids really trying to kill each other at that school too, so that was fun.
Because my sneakers were too small for my feet. The problem is that my father gave it to me as a gift, he came home with the sneakers. But when I complained, he swore I had tried the sneakers on in the store, with him. It was enough to get me in trouble, but little me had to insist he was mistaken, I didn’t tried in the store because he bought it without me. “So, are you calling me a liar?” My father beat me so hard that night I don’t know how he didn’t make me swallow the sneakers…
Threatened with suspension from school for having cornrows- I’m black.
My sister and I were staying with a family friend until the school year was up and they made Salmon patties that both smelled and tasted awful (I was 8, my sister 10). I nearly vomited from a bite of it. we were made to sit at the dinner table until it was all done.
It was past midnight and we still weren’t touching it. My sister and I were goofing around and she knocked my glass of milk over and it spilled on my plate. Which got me in even more trouble.
One of the other ones, I was 12 or 13 and staying with my best friend. He, his sister, and I went to their sitter’s house for the night and usually just hang out and color or do pearlers or whatever.
For whatever reason, his sitter’s husband came into the room and lowkey farted. (His name was Art)
I said “art art laid a fart and blew the whole room apart.” Everyone laughed except Art and he blew up and started screaming. It was so bizarre. We were maybe 4 blocks from our actual house, so I left to go home and next thing I know, they have the cops looking for me. It was so bizarre. I hid out for a few hours and then went home. Nobody said anything to me about it for a few days. It was surreal
Reading ahead after I was finished the assignment. “First graders don’t know how to read!” Bitch, I was the fourth kid in my family to come to that school and every single one of us was reading before we got there. My mother had WORDS with her.
We were playing at first
Kid shoved me,
I told him to stop.
He shoved me again.
I told him to stop.
He shoved me again.
I said STOP!
I shoved him so hard he flew
I went to the Principals office.
IMO we both should have gone.
When we were in high-school he got arrested for rape.
I still think about it sometimes.