STILL THINK ALL PARENTS LOVE THEIR CHILDREN?

I don’t usually use trigger warnings, but this article is going to need one. I have worked in prisons and profiling, to courts and crime scenes. I have seen what the dregs of society has to offer. But I have never seen anything like this. There is a subforum on Reddit entitled “Regretful Parents: A safe place for parents who think they shouldn't have become parents”. This is NOT a forum for parents whose adult children have gone No Contact. This is a forum for parents of babies to teens. What you are about to read, are posts by parents who despise their children.

I have not edited any of these posts or comments. I have cropped many, but I have not removed the handles should you want to brave a look at what has been omitted. But nothing has been taken out of context, and trust me, there was nothing I could do to make this look any worse than it already is.

Proceed with caution.

*start of quotes

PsychologicalCod1253: Is this what life is about?

This is what everyone looks forward to? This is it? I feel like I’ve been fucked over completely. I hate motherhood. God I wish I could back in time and rip my uterus out and throw it away.

Specific-Hour-5333: Children are older but I still hate it

My son is 11 and I still regret it every day. He is boring, annoying, rude and I can't stand to be around him. I am counting down the days when he finally leaves my home. Parenting is basically spending your days doing things you don't want to for someone else.

LifeCress4064:

Stop saying that having kids is rewarding because it isn't.

*REPLY FROM Breizh87:

It's as rewarding as cancer.

*REPLY FROM PALEMOONLIGHTDANCER:

It’s a sham. I’ve yet to find anything rewarding. It’s a serenity-destroying, freedom-robbing, migraine-inducing, culinary-limiting, financially-draining, joy-sucking, unrewarding sham.

Uhloomanati: I hate my teen

He ONLY wants to be around me to suck the fun out of my day. I’m at the point where I want to ship him to a boarding school for a few years and only hear from him once a month. He’s gone to sleep away camps for a few days but he calls every single day and sometimes every hour when he’s away just to hear me breathe.

*REPLY FROM desocupad0:

Since he's 15yo, you can leave him alone in the house while you are out, no? Just do your own stuff in private or alone. Maybe you need to set some clear cellphone boundaries.

*REPLY FROM ShiddyShiddyBangBang:

This reminds me of when I had a little dog and when I was single and the dog was in my lap 24/7 it was great but then when I was in a relationship it wanted to sit at the bottom of the bed and watch me have sex and leap at and attack whoever I was dating.?

Wise-Raisin-791: The only reason I don’t leave is bc I don’t want to see my husband with another woman.

I hate my child, hate him most of the time. But I’m possessive. I don’t want to see some stupid bitch do everything I couldn’t do. If I did leave, I’d never talk to any of them again because I can’t stand the thought of my husband with someone else.

desocupad0: How does loving a child work?

I really don't get this. My overall feeling is that raising a child is like dealing with a parasite or deficiency. Even if it is occasionally interesting to see some features mirroring yourself, it's mostly costs and boredom.

Upbeat_Internet_3809: I regret everything

I hate this, I regret him everyday, and the resentment is really getting to me. I fantasize about going inpatient and getting a diagnosis that forces the state to take him away.

Ok-Key7926: None of that helps

Therapy makes me angry, because no matter what is suggested, I just think to myself 'yes, but that doesn't work because I have a child and that's the core of the problem'

Open-Bid85: I hate them.

There. I finally said it out loud. I hate my children, both of them.

*REPLY FROM konabonah:

It’s clear why you feel the way you do, and there is absolutely nothing wrong with you.

*REPLY FROM Chasing_blissfulness:

Unfortunately it is a permanent commitment. Plan to suffer for decades and if you’re lucky they’ll be independent and leave you a few years of elderhood in peace.

Imjustvibintbfh: Over it

What the fuck was I thinking?! I wish I could go back in time and smack some sense into my 23 year old self. We weren't even on good terms when I got pregnant, we just made up after a fight, she's literally the product of our make-up sex.

nikkypikky: I hate this life so much

This is not what i wanted, If i have to hear “mommyyyyyyy” one more time, i will rip off my own ears.

[deleted]: Does it ever get better? If so, when?

And then what? What I do when they hit 18? I can't just cut them off (maybe I'll get lucky and they'll cut me off). Does it ever fucking end?

*end of quotes

Well, there it is. Confession. And not just a few or even a few hundred. This forum has 135?000 members who admit that there is something drastically wrong, but instead of finding a way to fix it, have found a way to validate it. I’m not even sure what I find more despicable – the posts themselves, or the support, encouragement, and praise, broadcast in each reply.

This is probably going to shock you even further: I find the existence of this forum utterly despicable. But I find its content freeing. To the parents who are still trying to co-parent with a monster: Take your babies and go. If you don’t, the only ones who will be sorry, are your children. To the adult children who are struggling with the guilt of No Contact: Put down that guilt. It doesn’t belong to you. Now you know it never did. And to anyone who has ever said “All parents love their children” to silence a victim through the horrors of parental abuse: Be careful. There is nothing that will drown out your words, quite like a confession will.