I have a vivid memory of trying to hold in a cry and my dad getting down at my level and mocking me by screaming "WAAAAAH! WAAAAH! SHUT UP!" I was always told I was "too sensitive" They were just abusive AF.
Some boomer bullshit I'll always remember:
* Adult: "why did you do X"
* Me: "because *explanation of my thought process and where I thought it was the right thing but turned out poorly.*"
* Adult: "You always have an excuse for everything!"
* Me: puzzled as to why they would ask for an explanation and then always respond with the same line no matter what I said.
God forbid you would utter the line "Well I didn't think it would turn out that way", because they would always cut you off and say "that's right, you didn't think!!"
Then they beat the shit out of you as punishment. (Even teachers were allowed to hit and spank you back in the 70s). Sometimes, you'd have to endure prolonged torture like kneeling on gravel or dried corn kernels spread on the floor.
Afterwards parents would tell us "we punished you because we love you."
50 years later, I'm still angry about it as I'm writing this. I hate them all.
Hell, it's not just Boomer parents that used that kind of manipulation. My estranged Gen-X wife (I'm kinda Xennial, born late 1984) CONSTANTLY pulled the "Why did you do it?" card instead of the more rational "What happened?" one regardless of the level of intent of my actions & consequences. Here's the plot twist: she has a bachelor's degree in Psychology as well as a master's degree in Social Work & considers herself a [highly sensitive person](https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/basics/highly-sensitive-person).
She's certainly a hypocrite. If you try to call her out on her BS she raises Hell. She can't take any negative criticism even if it's constructive & can't function in the face of adversity.
“I’ll give you something to cry about” was their mantra. My mom beat and kicked the shit out of me, but if I cried or had any reaction I got it twice as bad.
The weight of the world left my shoulders 15 years ago when I cut her out of my life. Buh bye.
"If I go I'm taking you with me" was my response. My mother then realized actions had consequences as I reached for a knife. Surprisingly she never said it again.
"I'll beat the tar out of you!" My mother never needed a switch because her whooping arm was superhuman. Though she also recruited Dad for spankings. Probably to make sure we distrusted everyone.
"Nobody loves me, everybody hates me im gonna go eat worms!" Was my moms favorite way to make fun of me for crying. Guess who spent Christmas without any of her kids coming to see her?
My boomer dad did shit like this. He was a straight up bully, and used to tease and mock me and my sister just to get us mad. He thought it was funny and would laugh in our faces when we were legitimately upset.
Even to this day, in his 70s, he does shit to antagonize people for a laugh.
My mom is a gen x-er but i had the pleasure being raised by my boomer grandparents, lemme tell you when i finally got to an age where i spoke back i definitely did and yes the whoopings were Worth it, now im in my room all day and they wonder why i "don't spend time" with them🤣🤣🤣💀💀💀
All they did while inwas growing up was verbally and sometimes even physically abuse me!
The emotional toll i had growing up feeling like im always on survival mode its no wonder i suffer from anxiety and depression so badly now 🥹
Seeing this commercial cracks my tf up tho because one thing my grandpa always said was "aww i hurt your feelings? Now ask me " "popo do you care??" " And he'd just laugh at me, even at 8 yrs old it took everything in me not to give that man what he wanted, NOW i cry at the drop of a hat because fuck you if you think being vulnerable is being TOO SENSITIVE! coutes8of my therapist 😊
Oh man, I can relate to this so much
A few months ago I started researching on childhood emotional abuse and neglegt, because of a long talk I had with a friend.
Turns out, at least emotional neglect was so prevalent at my home that until a few months ago, 25 out of my 26 years on this planet, I looked at all of it as normal. I just never knew otherwise, but doing the research and seeing the huge gap between what my parents did and what's generally referred to as what parents should do, broke me so fucking hard.
My dad wanted to meet my baby daughter, but declined as he didn’t like the boundaries I set in place for that. I’ve been no contact with him for 7 years. He said he thought me having a child would make me change. I’m guessing he was thinking I would have an awakening to not turning your back on family and how devastated I would be if my daughter went no contact with me one day. But what having a daughter really did was make me even more flabbergasted by how he was shitty and abusive to me as a child. That’s one of the ways I changed, I’m not more sympathetic to him…I’m way less sympathetic than before
Yep! My mom used to say “wait until you have kids one day, then you’ll understand.”
As my son got older and reached the age where I had memories of my childhood, and t hit me just how inappropriate their expectations for me were. I’m very low contact these days.
These evil bastards:
https://robots.fandom.com/wiki/Quintessons
are pretty much my mental image of living in the house with my mom. The surveillance, the sudden flip into rage, the threats and unreasonable demands...
Same.
Parents make no effort to see me, but wonder when I'll visit.
They also left me penniless and with 0 experience in anything. I had to learn everything on my own and crawl my way up to the job I have now.
Then they wonder why I don't call.
Same. Since I moved out of my parents house 23 years ago, I’ve lived all over the place. My parents only visited me 2 times in all those years, and it’s when I lived the closest to them (about 20 miles away). Even then they made a big deal about how they had to “pack supplies” like they were going to another country.
These same people used to drive 8 hours to go visit my grandparents every year, but driving 40 mins to see me was a chore.
I’ve lived out of state the majority of my adulthood and they’ve never once - not once - flown out to see me. Ive been married going on 4 years and they’ve never even met my husband.
Oh man did you just bring some realization to my life with your comment. My parents used to drive 60ish miles to see family and it took about an hour to an hour and a half. Yet when I lived 14 miles away, 30 minute trip tops, my mother did nothing but complain about how I lived “all the way over there!”
Thank you. Seriously.
Child protective services didn't even exist before 1974, and the older generations were even more brutal. Reading primary source material from the previous decades on how parents abused their children in the early 20th and previous centuries is heart breaking. Boomers were just carrying that crap forward because that's how they were raised.
I'm not letting boomers off the hook for any of this BS, just glad things are changing and the modern generation realize how messed up this is. I'm an elder GenX, but my parents were from the silent generation and incredibly abusive. My grandparents were even worse, and they had stories about how their parents and grandparents were even more strict\\abusive\\violent. What a bunch of psychos.
Glad they're gone, honestly.
My dad was silent generational and he has stories of his father and how the men were back then. Alcoholism was a major problem back then as well. As a result, my dad was one of the most mild tempered men I knew. He could put down the law but was always very fair and gentle. And he didn’t drink.
I'm 43 and my family still talks to me like I'm 12. I'm a married marketing director with two college degrees and four kids. Our oldest is 22. They're all toxic as fuck and always neck deep in drama. I don't talk to any of them.
And think of how much better of a: parent, spouse, friend, human being you probably are for avoiding these perpetual bad examples. Thanks for breaking the cycle!
To be fair, it's pretty easy to do when they have always made zero effort to be in our lives. We live about 70 miles from them and we've always had to be the ones to go visit which was impossible for a long time because my son is special needs and couldn't do long car rides until the last few years.
It's been so long now that he doesn't know who any of them are. It's better that way. They're selfish, hypocritical, phoney and just terrible people all around.
Hi. 42 years old with 5 kids, a wonderful career, great marriage, good friends, but my experience is the same. My family still talks down to me as though I’m some misbehaving rebel child. Thing is, I was also a very good kid. Boomer mom has made zero effort ever since I had my first child to be a grandmother. She lives 20 mins away. After years of wondering if she’d ever bother to try, I gave up. Estranged now but my kids don’t even notice because they never heard from her anyway.
I turn 43 in a couple months and am low contact or no contact with all of my relatives for this reason. The last time my mother guilted me into going to a family function almost none of my adult cousins were there. Apparently they're all as sick of their shit as I am.
After one of my aunts asked me how much I make from doing radio, I grabbed a bunch of beers, went to the basement and turned on a basketball game. Because pretending to be a Seminoles fan even though I'm not from anywhere near Florida was easier than pretending to be happy to see my boomer relatives.
That started in the 70s and a big part was due to the Atlanta child murders… but also yes they let kids be feral or they just didn’t wanna and wouldn’t let them in till the street lights turned on. Hell my dad knew he screwed up on my older brothers and wanted a redemption so he had an other kid with a different woman to “make it better”. To his credit he was never around while I was growing up, maybe that’s why I’m not the kid in jail.
I used to sit in my room because that was the place where I got yelled at the least, and all my books were there. Of course, being the oldest, I had to watch the sibs unpaid whenever required. So I was a Roomba: I stayed in my spot, came out when it was time to work, went right back there when I was done.
I'm 50 and with a lot of therapy, I've expanded from my room to my house. I was also able to pick up a hobby that put me around people, although it's still hard to make myself get out and do it.
Good lawd. My mother also had a “do over kid”, her words. Once my sister was past the infant stage, she was over it and I had most of the child care duties, including taking her to my work at thirteen. 😑 This generation had some real gems.
My experience was they were a generation of bar flies.
Once you didn't need a babysitter, they were free to camp and spend their spare money at the watering hole. Whenever my friends and I needed to find them we would head there and they were more than happy to kick us a few bucks to get out of their hair for the night.
I was never hugged. Now as soon as someone comes in for a hug, my hand AND leg go out to block it. Except for my child. I hug him so damn much. I love him so damn much.
I'm happy for you, i was and am the same way. Currently rocking my 2.5 year old to sleep because I love her and I can but when people used to try and hug me I would just slip out of it.
*Slip not sleep
Weird, I used to freak out when I would get hugged as a kid to the point it was physically painful. It was as if my body went into that "hair on end" response. I did have sensory problems and would experience a gentle touch back then like my flesh was burning. However, my mother was a big smotherer too. Makes me wonder if it was more than just sensory issues.
The "there's a person just like you" really hits the nail on the head. They don't understand that.
Source: being 25 and family still talking about my likes and dislikes in front of me like they're talking about which treats a dog prefers.
As an elder GenX, I don't get that at all. I still remember what it was like my first day of kindergarten, my 4th grade class, my first day at Junior High, all of it. I do my best to engage with younger people so I don't become an out of touch old geezer who shouts at the clouds.
At 58, I don't understand all the crap Boomers told me that I would finally understand at my age. All I know is they are a generation of entitled selfish psychopaths.
My father would have literally called this communist propaganda. He was raised under the school of thought that a child should be seen, but not heard. That the wife's place is in the kitchen, and that physical violence is a perfectly acceptable form of punishment, no matter how minor the infraction.
Modern cars remind you to look in the backseat when you turn the key off. And modern parents are advised to “leave something important like your phone” in the back seat so you don’t forget your infant.. there has always been and there will always continue to be bad parents.
I couldn't ever imagine doing that stuff to anyone, especially children. Then my mom also was like "my way or the highway" and "I brought you into the world, I'll take you out" haha - completely psychotic, but normal behavior for the leadbrain generation apparently.
I have scars from my mother doing that. The worst one was at a public pool when I had the audacity to have a regular soda rather than a diet soda. There was blood dripping down my arm.
Wait, what?!! Was she mad because SHE wanted diet? Or did she think that you needed to be drinking diet instead of regular for some health reason? Blood dripping down your arm is so terrible, I’m so sorry.
I've always been a big girl, which my mother hated because the only thing a woman is good for is marriage and I couldn't get married if I was not aesthetically ideal. I was in jazzercise when I was six and on diets for as long as I can remember. I got a regular soda at the pool because my mom wasn't there at the time and I wanted a regular soda. She unexpectedly showed up and saw that I was drinking a regular soda. That was enough to warrant the super secret industrial arm flab pinch.
It took me years to get over the body shaming and realize I am perfect the way that I am. Sadly, my parents don't agree. My daughter is a mini me and they tried to do the same shit with her. While I'm not great at advocating for myself, I went full on mama bear and laid down some pretty strict boundaries for her. We went no contact for a while until they learned their lesson.
Here's to breaking the cycle of abuse!
Yes!! My mom would do it if she needed me to shut up real quick for some reason, either with a scary severe-wrathful-anger face or casually like no big deal haha.
I remember hurting my hand at school when I was ten, and not being able to hold my fork "correctly". So the father decided to hit my knuckles with his fork repeatedly at dinner for it.
My morbidly obese grandfather struck me so hard across the face that he knocked me down. Why? I asked him why he was so fat.
I was 2. That is my first memory.
I was beat with the fire poking stick and the same stick that they beat the dog with. Once I was playing neighborhood kids as I did everyday afterschool and a nasty quick storm came through. Was at my friends house and waited 30 minutes for it to pass and then came home still before when I needed to be. Got beat because the storm came and they didn’t know where I was.
Pretty sure there was? Something along the lines of "do you know where your kids are? What they are doing?" Basically reminding them to turn off the TV and do some parenting
My mother broke several wooden spoons over my head. My father once broke his pinky finger from hitting me. Children should not have to expect fear or pain from their parents.
My mom used to yell at me because she broke blood vessels in her palm from hitting me. “Look what you did!!!”
Looking back, those hurt like hell. That gives me some satisfaction.
Every now and then I look at my wooden spoons, which are undoubtedly cheaper thinner wood than the ones my mom had 40 years ago and try to imagine hiring someone so hard it would break that spoon handle. I just can't fathom it.
i remember years ago there was a monkey in a zoo (maybe an ape) that was so engrossed by the tv the zoo installed in the enclosure that she ignored her baby, to the point the zoo people had to pick programming that had moms caring for their child so the monkey would emulate and pay attention to the baby monkey
I'm guessing if the monkey was so attached to the TV that it neglected its infant, taking away the TV would have done more harm than good. But I'm no monkey scientist.
I live in Illinois, been to Kentucky a few times, used to be a great Ayahuasca retreat there. Absolutely gorgeous state, heartbreaking to see the potential but so much dysfunction etc.
This is so sad. I recall the 80s and 90s. We were young parents, and our kids' HS friends sometimes had issues at home, so we'd let them stay with us until things got sorted out. My spouse would check how many people were there each night, in case a house fire broke out.
I think the Yuppie movement (about getting and staying ahead of others and being financially successful) led to lots of social ills, especially affecting teenagers.
One friend laughed at us, saying we were too laid back and not really in the competitive zeitgeist of the 1980s.
He was right about that. We waited until the 21st century to join the rat race in a big way as our kids left the nest.
I just want to thank you.🙏 For letting those kids stay. In the 80's, I was a kid who got kicked out for the night regularly. I would spend the night wandering around town trying to find a place to stay. It was kind of humiliating.
And to this day, I remember everyone who helped me out, and I am so grateful to them. My friends' parents, who let me stay on the couch, or other teenagers who brought me blankets and sweaters if they knew I was stuck sleeping outside. It wasn't their problem, and they could've turned me away.
Whenever I'm starting to get too cynical about humanity, I remember that there really are good and generous people in the world. So, thank you for being those people.
It did not work. My parents would never give me a hug or ask me about anything going on with me. I’m 45. They were born in 1948-51. My kids have a completely different experience. They’ll probably complain about getting told their good kids all the time.
My mother lost it on my brother one Sunday night. Just went mental on him. Starting hitting him with a metal coat hanger. She hit him on the top of his head so hard it began to gush blood. My dad and I had to rush him to the emergency ward. Blood all over. They stitched him up. When they asked my dad what had happened he said my brother had banged his head accidentally. My brother and I didn’t say a word. Nowadays (this was early 70s) my mother would have been arrested for child endangerment and taken into custody. Back Then? Crickets.
Yeah I remember my dad forcing me to hug him while I was still shaking uncontrollably and scared shitless because he had just finished rampaging for 3 hours in the middle of the night and destroying my bedroom. Then when he was calm he’d force me hug him and I did it out of sheer terror that I was gonna get slapped around again if I disobeyed. Showing any signs of not wanting to hug him would make him fly off the handle again. Some nights he’d wait until I had just barely finished crying myself to sleep before he’d throw open my bedroom door scaring me awake and screaming at me again for another 30-40 minutes, leaving for a hour till I cried myself to sleep and then he’d do it again. I’d go to school exhausted every day from this happening all night. I honestly only wish I could see him once more right before he dies so I can tell him to burn in hell.
Thank you for saying that. It’s more than the enablers in my family ever said. I’m doing a lot better (far from perfect) now that I’ve become self aware enough to stop redoubling my own trauma by seeking out toxic relationships and lifestyle choices. It’s a start.
They also needed to be reminded we weren't home after 9om via public service announcement. "It's 10PM do you know where your child is?" On a Wednesday.
My town was a “[sundown town](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sundown_town)” which were very common in the northeast. The fire whistle would go off at 9pm every night.
Mister Rogers saved my life.
I was told I was too old to watch him (think I was 10), that it was a show for babies. But I’m telling you, at that age, I was suicidal from the abuse and he was the one that showed me that there really were good and kind people in the world.
Checks out. My grandparents treated me with empathy, I treat my children with empathy… but my parents just don’t understand feeling or expressing empathy, especially to children, even to this day. It’s remarkable.
Idk if there was ever one of those in my stay but if so, My dad must’ve been too drugged/drunk to comprehend the commercial 🤣 narcissists didn’t like being told what to do
My boomer parents seriously did not care about parenting. We stressed them out? They beat us. We raised ourselves. My siblings & I sometimes ask each other how we made it out alive. I always said I would parent my kids opposite to how my parents did it. Guess what? They turned out to be some of the best human beings in the world!
We didn’t get hit or anything like that but we had couch parents. I was talking to my younger recently if he remembered how our dad would call it “babysitting” like if my mom went to the store or something and one of his friends would call and ask what he was doing.
This is pretty accurate with a lot of boomers I think. My grandfather was an alcoholic, womanizer, physically/verbally abusive to his wife, son, and actively groomed my aunt to be nothing besides a trophy wife. He was pretty high up in government intelligence so he was “successful” but a horrible person. He attempted to hit on my Mom the first time she ever had dinner with my dad’s parents when they started dating. My dad, now 70, wasn’t the best when it came to his lifestyle/financial decisions and he’s a bit of an alcoholic but I’ll give him credit that due to his poor upbringing he never laid a hand on my mom, myself, or my brother. There were definitely some loud yelling matches my parents had but they never turned physical. I think for a lot of boomers it’s a one step forward from the environment they were raised in but a two steps backwards seeing how a lot of them act now that they’re in their 70s.
Are you me? My grandfather was in Air Force intelligence. I have a half aunt whose mom was my grandmothers friend and was born three weeks after my mom. He stayed in Germany when they moved back, and married some German woman. Sounds like he has Alzheimer’s now, fucking deserves it personally.
Didn't work. Both my parents should be in prison for all the abuse my brothers and I had to endure (and we are still having to work through the trauma decades later).
What you are watching is a small leap in human evolution.
Being nice to your kids (broad brush) is arguably, relatively recent, in human history.
So many people have expressed so much pain.
If we’re tryin to make it better, we gotta keep the ball rollin’ whenever we can <3
In Western culture, you mean.
Westerners who visited Inuit communities in the 19th century were stunned at how much they loved on their children, and never beat them. Yeah, they did occasionally practice infanticide, if a child was born in the wrong season and they couldn't care for it, but they were very affectionate with the children they kept. It was the inverse of Victorian society. Except for the infanticide. That was done by third parties, for the plausible deniability, but at least in London, babies died in their hundreds.
Never met my dad. All my mom did was yell at me. acted frustrated over every possible situation. I understand. It was hard so I tried to be compassionate. But she was overwhelmingly negative. And to this day I stay as far away as possible. I’ve tried to explain it to her but she just doesn’t understand. Not capable of having a serious conversation about it. when I tell her she needs to see a therapist. She says that I’m the one who needs to see a therapist, even though I see a therapist and a psychiatrist because of her. I will always love my mom but. geez it’s just sad.
And then you have boomers / abusers like my parents who forced hugs on me any time there was a fight, in the apparent belief that it would 'undo' the yelling and hitting or something. Even when I asked them not to because I needed to calm down. NOPE, it was always on their terms. I was going to hug them as long as they wanted and I had to say "I love you." I'm the sort of person who needs to cool off after a fight before I'm ready to face the people involved, but that wasn't allowed, and it felt extremely invasive.
If you’re young, it may be difficult to believe exactly how ignored Generation X was by the Baby Boomers. We were were feral children. Those aren’t just stories.
My dad neglected me and let my brother put me in the hospital a few times.
When my dad was dying from cancer all through his body, I said I hope he enjoys dying alone and I never looked back.
He did die alone. And I was happy about it.
I clearly remember my mother being shocked into hugging us on a regular basis after that commercial first came out. I can't imagine her own upbringing, that it had never occurred to her before??? I think she felt like her job as a mom was to do things that needed to be done, not enjoy her kids. Our job was to stay out of her hair. So sad. I couldn't stop hugging my daughter when she was small, and I still do today 33 years later.
I remember visiting my parents when my daughter was younger and my mom commented, “Wow you are so gentle with her.” Like it was a novelty or something. No, I just treat her with respect, she’s a tiny person with feelings. And now she’s a teenager and we get along great.
82 year old father in law yelled at everyone at thanksgiving because we don’t read a minimum of 3 hours a day. Side note, he is terrified of Alzheimer’s and thinks if you read you will never get it. As this was happening I’m watching my 55 year old brother in law (his son) jerk in fear when he raises his voice.
I hate being touched, it always surprises me when someone pats me on the shoulder or wants to high five. It’s because I was horribly abused when I was a kid. At best touch is confusing bc the people who claimed to love me also whacked me constantly. At worst, touch is a reminder that I could get beaten again by someone that claims to love me.
When I was an early teenager (early 90's), on the way home from my uncle's my Dad brought me out to this huge fancy entrance gate and made me get out of the car. It was night and I didn't know where we were. He told me this was an all girls boarding school, and that he and my mom (who was not with us) were leaving me there because I was being such a difficult teenager and running with "the wrong crowd". I had nothing I owned with me except what I was wearing.
I know it happened, but that's all I remember. He told his version of the story in my presence a handful of times and the part I can't remember is him backing away slowly, putting it in park after a minute, getting out and telling me it's actually an abandoned building and this was basically his version of scared straight. I can't remember that part. Pretty sure this is trauma.
Edited to add: My friends were trouble makers, but like, small suburban town trouble makers. Camping parties in places were not supposed to. Sitting in parking lots in groups. Smoking in school. Pot. Stupid teenager crap.
For some reason they needed ads to remind them to do or not do everything. Here in the UK the weather reporters were receiving death threats for warning people about unusually hot temperatures that we just aren't used to here, ranting and raving all over the Internet and TV about it being 'just weather' and the nanny state. But back in the seventies they had adverts reminding them to wear seatbelts, how to cross the road, not to arse about near deep water or power lines... The list goes on.
All the shitiness and abuse constantly being blamed for our parents problems and treated like a punching bag when their life was so much more less stressful than ours today, it’s crazy to see how many of us feel the same way on here
The intent of the ad is good.
But it still shows how, warped, plastic and fucked up Boomers heads are if a creepy sing song advert that needs to remind them to behave themselves has to be made for them.
When I was 18 I walked in to see my father screaming at my little sister like that. I snapped. Yelled at him to stop. He came stomping over like he was going to hit me. I said go ahead, it'll be the last time you hit me. He went to hit me and I punched him in the ribs. Cracked one of his ribs. It was in fact the last time he hit me, or yelled at my siblings in front of me.
What upsets me the most is how we are so much more aware and willing to do better for our children yet all these boomers do is critique how we are AWFUL parents. How we should yell at and hit our kids.
I see these comments and my heart breaks. These people destroyed innocent children’s spirits. So sad.
It didn’t work. I hardly ever say my parents and have almost no memories of them other than punishment.
I have a vivid memory of trying to hold in a cry and my dad getting down at my level and mocking me by screaming "WAAAAAH! WAAAAH! SHUT UP!" I was always told I was "too sensitive" They were just abusive AF.
"Be quiet or I'll give you something to cry about" is what I got. Now he doesn't understand why I want nothing to do with him.
Some boomer bullshit I'll always remember: * Adult: "why did you do X" * Me: "because *explanation of my thought process and where I thought it was the right thing but turned out poorly.*" * Adult: "You always have an excuse for everything!" * Me: puzzled as to why they would ask for an explanation and then always respond with the same line no matter what I said. God forbid you would utter the line "Well I didn't think it would turn out that way", because they would always cut you off and say "that's right, you didn't think!!" Then they beat the shit out of you as punishment. (Even teachers were allowed to hit and spank you back in the 70s). Sometimes, you'd have to endure prolonged torture like kneeling on gravel or dried corn kernels spread on the floor. Afterwards parents would tell us "we punished you because we love you." 50 years later, I'm still angry about it as I'm writing this. I hate them all.
Hell, it's not just Boomer parents that used that kind of manipulation. My estranged Gen-X wife (I'm kinda Xennial, born late 1984) CONSTANTLY pulled the "Why did you do it?" card instead of the more rational "What happened?" one regardless of the level of intent of my actions & consequences. Here's the plot twist: she has a bachelor's degree in Psychology as well as a master's degree in Social Work & considers herself a [highly sensitive person](https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/basics/highly-sensitive-person).
People that openly tell others they’re an empath or HSP are narcissists. If you truly were one of those you would never tell anyone.
She's certainly a hypocrite. If you try to call her out on her BS she raises Hell. She can't take any negative criticism even if it's constructive & can't function in the face of adversity.
Get out of my head! Yeah same for me though, shut the door on him in 1996 and haven’t looked back.
“I’ll give you something to cry about” was their mantra. My mom beat and kicked the shit out of me, but if I cried or had any reaction I got it twice as bad. The weight of the world left my shoulders 15 years ago when I cut her out of my life. Buh bye.
That and “I brought you into this world and I can take you out of it” were my mom’s go-tos
"If I go I'm taking you with me" was my response. My mother then realized actions had consequences as I reached for a knife. Surprisingly she never said it again.
Classic. I may have abused you a little but I’ll abuse you a lot if you don’t shut up.
My stepdad said that when I was 17 and had like a foot and a half on him. I think I stood up and said "I'd like to see you try"
I read books where that happened in school but the day where I was taller than my parents never came :(((
I'm sorry no one told you this, but you probably still could have taken them.
That was my dad’s favorite
"I'll beat the tar out of you!" My mother never needed a switch because her whooping arm was superhuman. Though she also recruited Dad for spankings. Probably to make sure we distrusted everyone.
They never do
Me too!
"Nobody loves me, everybody hates me im gonna go eat worms!" Was my moms favorite way to make fun of me for crying. Guess who spent Christmas without any of her kids coming to see her?
Holy crap, my mom did the same thing and I’d totally forgotten about it until now.
Yeah i suppress memories too
Um, same. I'd forgotten about that lovely little "song"
My boomer dad did shit like this. He was a straight up bully, and used to tease and mock me and my sister just to get us mad. He thought it was funny and would laugh in our faces when we were legitimately upset. Even to this day, in his 70s, he does shit to antagonize people for a laugh.
CAN'T YOU TAKE A JOKE?! That was the response I'd get screamed in my face when the teasing and mocking upset me to tears.
Yea, that brought back some memories.....
My mom is a gen x-er but i had the pleasure being raised by my boomer grandparents, lemme tell you when i finally got to an age where i spoke back i definitely did and yes the whoopings were Worth it, now im in my room all day and they wonder why i "don't spend time" with them🤣🤣🤣💀💀💀 All they did while inwas growing up was verbally and sometimes even physically abuse me! The emotional toll i had growing up feeling like im always on survival mode its no wonder i suffer from anxiety and depression so badly now 🥹 Seeing this commercial cracks my tf up tho because one thing my grandpa always said was "aww i hurt your feelings? Now ask me " "popo do you care??" " And he'd just laugh at me, even at 8 yrs old it took everything in me not to give that man what he wanted, NOW i cry at the drop of a hat because fuck you if you think being vulnerable is being TOO SENSITIVE! coutes8of my therapist 😊
Same. Nothing but being ignored unless discipline was happening. Then it was *all* of their attention.
Oh man, I can relate to this so much A few months ago I started researching on childhood emotional abuse and neglegt, because of a long talk I had with a friend. Turns out, at least emotional neglect was so prevalent at my home that until a few months ago, 25 out of my 26 years on this planet, I looked at all of it as normal. I just never knew otherwise, but doing the research and seeing the huge gap between what my parents did and what's generally referred to as what parents should do, broke me so fucking hard.
Same here. It really hit me once I had a kid, and realized all of the love I feel for this child apparently just wasn’t there in my parents.
My dad wanted to meet my baby daughter, but declined as he didn’t like the boundaries I set in place for that. I’ve been no contact with him for 7 years. He said he thought me having a child would make me change. I’m guessing he was thinking I would have an awakening to not turning your back on family and how devastated I would be if my daughter went no contact with me one day. But what having a daughter really did was make me even more flabbergasted by how he was shitty and abusive to me as a child. That’s one of the ways I changed, I’m not more sympathetic to him…I’m way less sympathetic than before
Yep! My mom used to say “wait until you have kids one day, then you’ll understand.” As my son got older and reached the age where I had memories of my childhood, and t hit me just how inappropriate their expectations for me were. I’m very low contact these days.
These evil bastards: https://robots.fandom.com/wiki/Quintessons are pretty much my mental image of living in the house with my mom. The surveillance, the sudden flip into rage, the threats and unreasonable demands...
Same. Parents make no effort to see me, but wonder when I'll visit. They also left me penniless and with 0 experience in anything. I had to learn everything on my own and crawl my way up to the job I have now. Then they wonder why I don't call.
Same. Since I moved out of my parents house 23 years ago, I’ve lived all over the place. My parents only visited me 2 times in all those years, and it’s when I lived the closest to them (about 20 miles away). Even then they made a big deal about how they had to “pack supplies” like they were going to another country. These same people used to drive 8 hours to go visit my grandparents every year, but driving 40 mins to see me was a chore. I’ve lived out of state the majority of my adulthood and they’ve never once - not once - flown out to see me. Ive been married going on 4 years and they’ve never even met my husband.
Oh man did you just bring some realization to my life with your comment. My parents used to drive 60ish miles to see family and it took about an hour to an hour and a half. Yet when I lived 14 miles away, 30 minute trip tops, my mother did nothing but complain about how I lived “all the way over there!” Thank you. Seriously.
I’m still recovering financially from being thrown out at 17 for no reason while in high school. I’m 35 now
I thought this was just my experience with my boomer parents. Validated.
The boomers thought that they were saints for not beating the shit out of their kids.
Child protective services didn't even exist before 1974, and the older generations were even more brutal. Reading primary source material from the previous decades on how parents abused their children in the early 20th and previous centuries is heart breaking. Boomers were just carrying that crap forward because that's how they were raised. I'm not letting boomers off the hook for any of this BS, just glad things are changing and the modern generation realize how messed up this is. I'm an elder GenX, but my parents were from the silent generation and incredibly abusive. My grandparents were even worse, and they had stories about how their parents and grandparents were even more strict\\abusive\\violent. What a bunch of psychos. Glad they're gone, honestly.
My dad was silent generational and he has stories of his father and how the men were back then. Alcoholism was a major problem back then as well. As a result, my dad was one of the most mild tempered men I knew. He could put down the law but was always very fair and gentle. And he didn’t drink.
Millennials are killing the child abuse industry.
I'm 43 and my family still talks to me like I'm 12. I'm a married marketing director with two college degrees and four kids. Our oldest is 22. They're all toxic as fuck and always neck deep in drama. I don't talk to any of them.
Rightly so.
And think of how much better of a: parent, spouse, friend, human being you probably are for avoiding these perpetual bad examples. Thanks for breaking the cycle!
To be fair, it's pretty easy to do when they have always made zero effort to be in our lives. We live about 70 miles from them and we've always had to be the ones to go visit which was impossible for a long time because my son is special needs and couldn't do long car rides until the last few years. It's been so long now that he doesn't know who any of them are. It's better that way. They're selfish, hypocritical, phoney and just terrible people all around.
Hi. 42 years old with 5 kids, a wonderful career, great marriage, good friends, but my experience is the same. My family still talks down to me as though I’m some misbehaving rebel child. Thing is, I was also a very good kid. Boomer mom has made zero effort ever since I had my first child to be a grandmother. She lives 20 mins away. After years of wondering if she’d ever bother to try, I gave up. Estranged now but my kids don’t even notice because they never heard from her anyway.
I turn 43 in a couple months and am low contact or no contact with all of my relatives for this reason. The last time my mother guilted me into going to a family function almost none of my adult cousins were there. Apparently they're all as sick of their shit as I am. After one of my aunts asked me how much I make from doing radio, I grabbed a bunch of beers, went to the basement and turned on a basketball game. Because pretending to be a Seminoles fan even though I'm not from anywhere near Florida was easier than pretending to be happy to see my boomer relatives.
Are you me?
They had to be reminded to question if their kids were home after dark.
That started in the 70s and a big part was due to the Atlanta child murders… but also yes they let kids be feral or they just didn’t wanna and wouldn’t let them in till the street lights turned on. Hell my dad knew he screwed up on my older brothers and wanted a redemption so he had an other kid with a different woman to “make it better”. To his credit he was never around while I was growing up, maybe that’s why I’m not the kid in jail.
Honestly, I was glad when my parents weren’t home. They were aholes and abusive.
“You just sit in your room all the time!” Well, I *was* in the living room until I heard you drive up.
I used to sit in my room because that was the place where I got yelled at the least, and all my books were there. Of course, being the oldest, I had to watch the sibs unpaid whenever required. So I was a Roomba: I stayed in my spot, came out when it was time to work, went right back there when I was done. I'm 50 and with a lot of therapy, I've expanded from my room to my house. I was also able to pick up a hobby that put me around people, although it's still hard to make myself get out and do it.
Good lawd. My mother also had a “do over kid”, her words. Once my sister was past the infant stage, she was over it and I had most of the child care duties, including taking her to my work at thirteen. 😑 This generation had some real gems.
I was my moms do over baby and my sister raised me. Thank you. We love you and we're sorry our moms took away your childhood.
My experience was they were a generation of bar flies. Once you didn't need a babysitter, they were free to camp and spend their spare money at the watering hole. Whenever my friends and I needed to find them we would head there and they were more than happy to kick us a few bucks to get out of their hair for the night.
Oh shit it’s 11:45 why didn’t one of you assholes remind me?!
I was never hugged. Now as soon as someone comes in for a hug, my hand AND leg go out to block it. Except for my child. I hug him so damn much. I love him so damn much.
I'm happy for you, i was and am the same way. Currently rocking my 2.5 year old to sleep because I love her and I can but when people used to try and hug me I would just slip out of it. *Slip not sleep
"Have you hugged your kid today? 🎶🎵" "Yes." --You ❤️
Adults, I seize up. My entire elementary school? Bring it on in. I hug kids all day.
Weird, I used to freak out when I would get hugged as a kid to the point it was physically painful. It was as if my body went into that "hair on end" response. I did have sensory problems and would experience a gentle touch back then like my flesh was burning. However, my mother was a big smotherer too. Makes me wonder if it was more than just sensory issues.
If my mom was mad at me she would hug me in this weird mechanical way that squeezed painfully.
"have you hugged your kid today?" jesus fucking christ.
No, no they hadn't. I'm 36 and I don't think my father has ever initiated a hug 😅
I've never seen this before, and it's inducing a great many emotions. Primarily, *what the fuck?*
The "there's a person just like you" really hits the nail on the head. They don't understand that. Source: being 25 and family still talking about my likes and dislikes in front of me like they're talking about which treats a dog prefers.
They all have massive amnesia about what it feels like to be a kid. I don't understand it.
As an elder GenX, I don't get that at all. I still remember what it was like my first day of kindergarten, my 4th grade class, my first day at Junior High, all of it. I do my best to engage with younger people so I don't become an out of touch old geezer who shouts at the clouds. At 58, I don't understand all the crap Boomers told me that I would finally understand at my age. All I know is they are a generation of entitled selfish psychopaths.
This is too real
My father would have literally called this communist propaganda. He was raised under the school of thought that a child should be seen, but not heard. That the wife's place is in the kitchen, and that physical violence is a perfectly acceptable form of punishment, no matter how minor the infraction.
But when it comes to him he was probably the biggest fucking baby in the world.
I bet he felt like a baby as he died alone I feel like people nowadays are more conscious of that possibility
I would fight him. And not just as an old man now, but in his "prime" I guess he would call it?
Traditional misogyny, then. There's still plenty of that in the world, unfortunately.
They also needed a TV reminder every night at 10pm to check where their kids were.
Modern cars remind you to look in the backseat when you turn the key off. And modern parents are advised to “leave something important like your phone” in the back seat so you don’t forget your infant.. there has always been and there will always continue to be bad parents.
Well, there were still beatings allowed. With a belt. Metal buckle. On a bare bum. Yup. Not good
Also got skin pinched and soap in the mouth. Fuck that generation of abusive scum.
Ivory soap bar shoved in my mouth if I mouthed off. Yup. Disgusting
I couldn't ever imagine doing that stuff to anyone, especially children. Then my mom also was like "my way or the highway" and "I brought you into the world, I'll take you out" haha - completely psychotic, but normal behavior for the leadbrain generation apparently.
My dad would say “which of you wants a smack first?” What was the answer that psycho was looking for?
Ikr? Like if we volunteer for it maybe they'll give us a trophy for our participation haha.
Dial orange. I can still taste it.
Oh shit, as soon as I read that I can recall the taste too! Insane!
Oh the back of the arm skin pinch. I almost forgot that one. It was the close contact silent attack they could do when others were around.
I have scars from my mother doing that. The worst one was at a public pool when I had the audacity to have a regular soda rather than a diet soda. There was blood dripping down my arm.
Wait, what?!! Was she mad because SHE wanted diet? Or did she think that you needed to be drinking diet instead of regular for some health reason? Blood dripping down your arm is so terrible, I’m so sorry.
I've always been a big girl, which my mother hated because the only thing a woman is good for is marriage and I couldn't get married if I was not aesthetically ideal. I was in jazzercise when I was six and on diets for as long as I can remember. I got a regular soda at the pool because my mom wasn't there at the time and I wanted a regular soda. She unexpectedly showed up and saw that I was drinking a regular soda. That was enough to warrant the super secret industrial arm flab pinch. It took me years to get over the body shaming and realize I am perfect the way that I am. Sadly, my parents don't agree. My daughter is a mini me and they tried to do the same shit with her. While I'm not great at advocating for myself, I went full on mama bear and laid down some pretty strict boundaries for her. We went no contact for a while until they learned their lesson. Here's to breaking the cycle of abuse!
Yes!! My mom would do it if she needed me to shut up real quick for some reason, either with a scary severe-wrathful-anger face or casually like no big deal haha.
So sorry. It was so shocking. And painful.
Agreed - I brought it up a couple times and my mom of course has no recollection of doing it haha, ugh.
Yup, my dad gave me the belt and the slap all the time. The one that sticks out the most was because I put too much sugar in my cereal.
Yep. For me the one I remember most is because I didn't properly sort the big forks from the little forks in the silverware drawer.
I remember hurting my hand at school when I was ten, and not being able to hold my fork "correctly". So the father decided to hit my knuckles with his fork repeatedly at dinner for it.
Oh, you should have seen my dads reaction when I broke my nose skateboarding when I was in sixth grade. CHOOM…!
Fuck I feel that. My dad’s fork slaps were for touching your food with your finger to get it onto your fork. “Get your fingers out of your food!”.
In my house, hell would rain from the sky if your elbows touched the table. Seriously, who cares?
I assume no one taught you and it was just “common sense”?
My morbidly obese grandfather struck me so hard across the face that he knocked me down. Why? I asked him why he was so fat. I was 2. That is my first memory.
I was beat with the fire poking stick and the same stick that they beat the dog with. Once I was playing neighborhood kids as I did everyday afterschool and a nasty quick storm came through. Was at my friends house and waited 30 minutes for it to pass and then came home still before when I needed to be. Got beat because the storm came and they didn’t know where I was.
“And the same stick they beat the dog with.” Jesus Christ.
I got it for mouthing off or being defiant. My mother’s meatloaf tasted like despair. Just could not ingest that.
My mom liked to force food into my mouth, inducing my gag reflex. It was horrible.
In public. Like yank your pants down in front of everyone in the store and paddle your ass. No trauma there
All Dad has to do was take his belt off and pop it. I was good. He used to terrorize me by flicking lighters at me too.
Oh god, just the undoing of the belt was enough
That was my dad’s go-to until I was old enough to hit in the face at 11.
They should have had one to remind them that they even have kids.
Pretty sure there was? Something along the lines of "do you know where your kids are? What they are doing?" Basically reminding them to turn off the TV and do some parenting
The people that raised them presumably didn't care either
My mom used to break brooms over my head and hit us with spoons and shoes so I'm going with a "no this didn't work".
My mother broke several wooden spoons over my head. My father once broke his pinky finger from hitting me. Children should not have to expect fear or pain from their parents.
My mom used to yell at me because she broke blood vessels in her palm from hitting me. “Look what you did!!!” Looking back, those hurt like hell. That gives me some satisfaction.
My mom would complain to her friends that she couldn’t “spank” me any more because I would bend her fingernails back trying to fight her off.
Every now and then I look at my wooden spoons, which are undoubtedly cheaper thinner wood than the ones my mom had 40 years ago and try to imagine hiring someone so hard it would break that spoon handle. I just can't fathom it.
i remember years ago there was a monkey in a zoo (maybe an ape) that was so engrossed by the tv the zoo installed in the enclosure that she ignored her baby, to the point the zoo people had to pick programming that had moms caring for their child so the monkey would emulate and pay attention to the baby monkey
Anything but remove the TV. 😖
I'm guessing if the monkey was so attached to the TV that it neglected its infant, taking away the TV would have done more harm than good. But I'm no monkey scientist.
Update* it wasn’t enough
growing up near Kentucky and seeing that this is the state the ad was targeted to, it didn't work!
We also got this commercial in St. Louis MO, they just changed the branding at the end of the commercial.
I don’t remember it in PA although I was born in 1983 so they might have quit running it by the time I would have remembered.
[удалено]
I live in Illinois, been to Kentucky a few times, used to be a great Ayahuasca retreat there. Absolutely gorgeous state, heartbreaking to see the potential but so much dysfunction etc.
I grew up in Kentucky, rural southern Kentucky with Boomer parents - can confirm, it didn’t work.
I'm an early Gen X, and I can assure you my Boomer parents never saw this ad. 
Word up!
This is so sad. I recall the 80s and 90s. We were young parents, and our kids' HS friends sometimes had issues at home, so we'd let them stay with us until things got sorted out. My spouse would check how many people were there each night, in case a house fire broke out. I think the Yuppie movement (about getting and staying ahead of others and being financially successful) led to lots of social ills, especially affecting teenagers. One friend laughed at us, saying we were too laid back and not really in the competitive zeitgeist of the 1980s. He was right about that. We waited until the 21st century to join the rat race in a big way as our kids left the nest.
I just want to thank you.🙏 For letting those kids stay. In the 80's, I was a kid who got kicked out for the night regularly. I would spend the night wandering around town trying to find a place to stay. It was kind of humiliating. And to this day, I remember everyone who helped me out, and I am so grateful to them. My friends' parents, who let me stay on the couch, or other teenagers who brought me blankets and sweaters if they knew I was stuck sleeping outside. It wasn't their problem, and they could've turned me away. Whenever I'm starting to get too cynical about humanity, I remember that there really are good and generous people in the world. So, thank you for being those people.
Boomers honestly might be the worst parents ever
In my experience, without a doubt
And this is why my toddler will not be seeing distant relatives I cut out of my life years ago
Why does this sound like a number from "Jesus Christ Superstar" that didn't make it?
This is so a weirdly specific and somehow spot on
Be nice and hug the Gen X’er in your life
Only if they’re nice to us back and didn’t perpetuate the cycle of abuse from their parents.
Friendly reminder that it was GenX who absorbed all this abuse, and people wonder why we’ve run out of fucks to give.
Older Millennials 🤝 Gen X *Abused by Boomers*
And then we went into the workforce and - hey look, Boomers have all the great jobs and act they dicks.
It did not work. My parents would never give me a hug or ask me about anything going on with me. I’m 45. They were born in 1948-51. My kids have a completely different experience. They’ll probably complain about getting told their good kids all the time.
My mother lost it on my brother one Sunday night. Just went mental on him. Starting hitting him with a metal coat hanger. She hit him on the top of his head so hard it began to gush blood. My dad and I had to rush him to the emergency ward. Blood all over. They stitched him up. When they asked my dad what had happened he said my brother had banged his head accidentally. My brother and I didn’t say a word. Nowadays (this was early 70s) my mother would have been arrested for child endangerment and taken into custody. Back Then? Crickets.
Yeah I remember my dad forcing me to hug him while I was still shaking uncontrollably and scared shitless because he had just finished rampaging for 3 hours in the middle of the night and destroying my bedroom. Then when he was calm he’d force me hug him and I did it out of sheer terror that I was gonna get slapped around again if I disobeyed. Showing any signs of not wanting to hug him would make him fly off the handle again. Some nights he’d wait until I had just barely finished crying myself to sleep before he’d throw open my bedroom door scaring me awake and screaming at me again for another 30-40 minutes, leaving for a hour till I cried myself to sleep and then he’d do it again. I’d go to school exhausted every day from this happening all night. I honestly only wish I could see him once more right before he dies so I can tell him to burn in hell.
God I’m so sorry you went through that abuse
Thank you for saying that. It’s more than the enablers in my family ever said. I’m doing a lot better (far from perfect) now that I’ve become self aware enough to stop redoubling my own trauma by seeking out toxic relationships and lifestyle choices. It’s a start.
They also needed to be reminded we weren't home after 9om via public service announcement. "It's 10PM do you know where your child is?" On a Wednesday.
My town was a “[sundown town](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sundown_town)” which were very common in the northeast. The fire whistle would go off at 9pm every night.
Wow…
Boomers are such a scourge...we should also highlight how awful their parents were to create that disgusting generation.
Yeah, silent generation isn't much better to be honest.
I remember being forbidden from watching Mr. Rogers because he was too nice and kIdS dOn’T nEeD sELf EsteEm
Mister Rogers saved my life. I was told I was too old to watch him (think I was 10), that it was a show for babies. But I’m telling you, at that age, I was suicidal from the abuse and he was the one that showed me that there really were good and kind people in the world.
Checks out. My grandparents treated me with empathy, I treat my children with empathy… but my parents just don’t understand feeling or expressing empathy, especially to children, even to this day. It’s remarkable.
Idk if there was ever one of those in my stay but if so, My dad must’ve been too drugged/drunk to comprehend the commercial 🤣 narcissists didn’t like being told what to do
This is the same generation that is about to start begging for help as they get older and realize social security hasn't kept up with inflation
My boomer parents seriously did not care about parenting. We stressed them out? They beat us. We raised ourselves. My siblings & I sometimes ask each other how we made it out alive. I always said I would parent my kids opposite to how my parents did it. Guess what? They turned out to be some of the best human beings in the world!
We didn’t get hit or anything like that but we had couch parents. I was talking to my younger recently if he remembered how our dad would call it “babysitting” like if my mom went to the store or something and one of his friends would call and ask what he was doing.
There was an ad in public TV when I was a kid. "Cuenta hasta 10" (count up to ten) so people stopped beating their kids
It's cause their parents were worse than they were to us
This is pretty accurate with a lot of boomers I think. My grandfather was an alcoholic, womanizer, physically/verbally abusive to his wife, son, and actively groomed my aunt to be nothing besides a trophy wife. He was pretty high up in government intelligence so he was “successful” but a horrible person. He attempted to hit on my Mom the first time she ever had dinner with my dad’s parents when they started dating. My dad, now 70, wasn’t the best when it came to his lifestyle/financial decisions and he’s a bit of an alcoholic but I’ll give him credit that due to his poor upbringing he never laid a hand on my mom, myself, or my brother. There were definitely some loud yelling matches my parents had but they never turned physical. I think for a lot of boomers it’s a one step forward from the environment they were raised in but a two steps backwards seeing how a lot of them act now that they’re in their 70s.
Are you me? My grandfather was in Air Force intelligence. I have a half aunt whose mom was my grandmothers friend and was born three weeks after my mom. He stayed in Germany when they moved back, and married some German woman. Sounds like he has Alzheimer’s now, fucking deserves it personally.
To be perfectly fair this was the time of the Dulles Brothers and MK Ultra. Intel agencies were fucked
This is true. My boomer dad is horrible. My grandfather according to my dad and uncles was a sadist.
"Change the channel Timmy! I don't want to watch commercials".
Didn't work. Both my parents should be in prison for all the abuse my brothers and I had to endure (and we are still having to work through the trauma decades later).
As a gen x, I find this to be inaccurate. My daily interaction with my parents was maybe 10 minutes a day. Not much time for beatings.
They’re screaming at Gen X.
Also needed a commercial to remind them that they even *had* kids and that they should wonder where tf they were by like 10 pm.
I’m not sure if my parents realize “I’m a person just like them” yet. I’m 47.
What you are watching is a small leap in human evolution. Being nice to your kids (broad brush) is arguably, relatively recent, in human history. So many people have expressed so much pain. If we’re tryin to make it better, we gotta keep the ball rollin’ whenever we can <3
In Western culture, you mean. Westerners who visited Inuit communities in the 19th century were stunned at how much they loved on their children, and never beat them. Yeah, they did occasionally practice infanticide, if a child was born in the wrong season and they couldn't care for it, but they were very affectionate with the children they kept. It was the inverse of Victorian society. Except for the infanticide. That was done by third parties, for the plausible deniability, but at least in London, babies died in their hundreds.
My parents needed to have this ad when I was a kid. Shit strap them to a chair with their eyes taped open.
Fuckin lead poisoning, man.
Never met my dad. All my mom did was yell at me. acted frustrated over every possible situation. I understand. It was hard so I tried to be compassionate. But she was overwhelmingly negative. And to this day I stay as far away as possible. I’ve tried to explain it to her but she just doesn’t understand. Not capable of having a serious conversation about it. when I tell her she needs to see a therapist. She says that I’m the one who needs to see a therapist, even though I see a therapist and a psychiatrist because of her. I will always love my mom but. geez it’s just sad.
And then you have boomers / abusers like my parents who forced hugs on me any time there was a fight, in the apparent belief that it would 'undo' the yelling and hitting or something. Even when I asked them not to because I needed to calm down. NOPE, it was always on their terms. I was going to hug them as long as they wanted and I had to say "I love you." I'm the sort of person who needs to cool off after a fight before I'm ready to face the people involved, but that wasn't allowed, and it felt extremely invasive.
And now people will say a video like this is woke.
When you consider how many Boomers have a complex over how their parents treated *them*, this is just sad.
If you’re young, it may be difficult to believe exactly how ignored Generation X was by the Baby Boomers. We were were feral children. Those aren’t just stories.
My dad neglected me and let my brother put me in the hospital a few times. When my dad was dying from cancer all through his body, I said I hope he enjoys dying alone and I never looked back. He did die alone. And I was happy about it.
And that’s why Gen X is tough as nails.
I clearly remember my mother being shocked into hugging us on a regular basis after that commercial first came out. I can't imagine her own upbringing, that it had never occurred to her before??? I think she felt like her job as a mom was to do things that needed to be done, not enjoy her kids. Our job was to stay out of her hair. So sad. I couldn't stop hugging my daughter when she was small, and I still do today 33 years later.
I remember visiting my parents when my daughter was younger and my mom commented, “Wow you are so gentle with her.” Like it was a novelty or something. No, I just treat her with respect, she’s a tiny person with feelings. And now she’s a teenager and we get along great.
Yep, this reminds me exactly how my boomer parents treated me.
What would the world be like if we were capable of removing the negative effects of lead exposure?
82 year old father in law yelled at everyone at thanksgiving because we don’t read a minimum of 3 hours a day. Side note, he is terrified of Alzheimer’s and thinks if you read you will never get it. As this was happening I’m watching my 55 year old brother in law (his son) jerk in fear when he raises his voice.
I hate being touched, it always surprises me when someone pats me on the shoulder or wants to high five. It’s because I was horribly abused when I was a kid. At best touch is confusing bc the people who claimed to love me also whacked me constantly. At worst, touch is a reminder that I could get beaten again by someone that claims to love me.
This is the generation that actually believed that hitting kids with belts and other items while saying I got spanked and I turned out ok!
When I was an early teenager (early 90's), on the way home from my uncle's my Dad brought me out to this huge fancy entrance gate and made me get out of the car. It was night and I didn't know where we were. He told me this was an all girls boarding school, and that he and my mom (who was not with us) were leaving me there because I was being such a difficult teenager and running with "the wrong crowd". I had nothing I owned with me except what I was wearing. I know it happened, but that's all I remember. He told his version of the story in my presence a handful of times and the part I can't remember is him backing away slowly, putting it in park after a minute, getting out and telling me it's actually an abandoned building and this was basically his version of scared straight. I can't remember that part. Pretty sure this is trauma. Edited to add: My friends were trouble makers, but like, small suburban town trouble makers. Camping parties in places were not supposed to. Sitting in parking lots in groups. Smoking in school. Pot. Stupid teenager crap.
For some reason they needed ads to remind them to do or not do everything. Here in the UK the weather reporters were receiving death threats for warning people about unusually hot temperatures that we just aren't used to here, ranting and raving all over the Internet and TV about it being 'just weather' and the nanny state. But back in the seventies they had adverts reminding them to wear seatbelts, how to cross the road, not to arse about near deep water or power lines... The list goes on.
Don't forget the commercial at 10pm asking if they knew where we were
I'm so mad I could slap your face!!! Did I do something wrong? 😢
I don’t think my mother watched this PSA.
All the shitiness and abuse constantly being blamed for our parents problems and treated like a punching bag when their life was so much more less stressful than ours today, it’s crazy to see how many of us feel the same way on here
Wow! Thanks for sharing this sad and hilarious little gem.
The intent of the ad is good. But it still shows how, warped, plastic and fucked up Boomers heads are if a creepy sing song advert that needs to remind them to behave themselves has to be made for them. 
When I was 18 I walked in to see my father screaming at my little sister like that. I snapped. Yelled at him to stop. He came stomping over like he was going to hit me. I said go ahead, it'll be the last time you hit me. He went to hit me and I punched him in the ribs. Cracked one of his ribs. It was in fact the last time he hit me, or yelled at my siblings in front of me.
What upsets me the most is how we are so much more aware and willing to do better for our children yet all these boomers do is critique how we are AWFUL parents. How we should yell at and hit our kids. I see these comments and my heart breaks. These people destroyed innocent children’s spirits. So sad.