There’s no such thing as a perfect parent. Everyone does their best to ensure the safety and well-being of their children, but we can’t always protect them from everything. Not even ourselves. In these anonymous confessions, parents reveal the secret they’ve been keeping from their children.
All stories have been edited for clarity.
RIP
“I bought my teenager a milk snake for her birthday a few years back. The snake was almost four feet when we got it. The exotic pet store employee told us the snake was somewhere between two and three years old.
While I’m not one to freak out about them, snakes aren’t my ideal choice for a pet. Despite my mixed feelings, the snake I got for my daughter was actually pretty cool. I held it a few times and after a couple of eventful escapes after my kid forgot to freshen her water, the snake was well-behaved.
After my daughter graduated high school, my daughter went off to stay in a college dorm. I was tasked with caring for the snake because pets were not allowed.
One day, I was looking at places to move into and found a place where there was an aquarium in the wall. The snake had become my creepy new buddy after my kids left home.
A few weeks before I was scheduled to move, my daughter’s snake mysteriously died. I called my daughter to break the news. We were really bummed out. Per my daughter’s wishes, I sealed the snake in a Ziploc bag and placed the bag in Tupperware. I promised my daughter that once my forever house was closed on, I’d bury the snake somewhere nice for my daughter to visit.
Well, this is where things get crummy.
I got so preoccupied with moving that I accidentally left the snake’s body in the freezer. I swore to myself that I would put the Tupperware holding the snake on top of the cooler as I was packing. Instead, I ended up leaving it on the top shelf and never went back
Unfortunately, the landlord and I did NOT get along. There was no way to get the snake back. I felt so incredibly ashamed already about the untimely death of the poor thing.
I couldn’t bear to tell my daughter what happened. So I buried one of the hollow logs and her temperature monitor. I then told my daughter her snake was under the apple tree in the yard.
I wouldn’t think my daughter would dig up the grave. I put a wild lily on it, but it isn’t growing.
I feel like a bad mom. I don’t know if I can ever tell her. She’s eighteen.”
All For You
“I went grocery shopping at Walmart with $200 in my pocket. As I was scanning my items at the self-checkout, I helplessly watched the total get closer and closer to my max. As I reached the end of the pile of groceries in my cart, I remember looking at the Halloween costume I picked out for my son. The costume was $30.
Seeing that I wasn’t going to afford the costume, I did something awful.
I grabbed the costume in one hand and another random item in my other hand. Making sure no one was looking, I scanned the random item and then pretended to scan the costume. I then quickly put the costume in the bag and paid as if nothing happened.
I also lied on the check-out screen and said I didn’t use any of the plastic Walmart bags so I didn’t have to pay an extra couple of cents for each one.
I kept thinking about what I did. I hate it and wish I didn’t do it.
If I had just calculated the food items and budgeted the cost of the costume, I wouldn’t have had to do the most dishonest thing I’ve ever done in my life. But on that day, I was just grabbing stuff we needed and randomly remembered my son’s Halloween party that was coming up.
He wasn’t at Walmart with me that day, thank goodness. When I was walking out, my heart was pounding as I walked by the greeter. The woman had a friendly face and smiled as wished me a good night. Little did she know, she had just dismissed a thief.
I forced a smile and went on my way.
I know I suck but my son was happy.”
Fashionista
“My thirteen-year-old daughter has a significantly different sense of fashion compared to mine. Now, I’m not saying that’s wrong. The way she dresses isn’t too revealing or grown up for her age, I find my daughter’s style repulsive. My daughter likes bright colors and pattern mixing. Her outfits are constantly mismatched and I think is weird. However, I love who she is and I understand she’s just different. She has never felt the need to conform to societal norms and really doesn’t care what people think.
But, there is this one jacket she has that I just hate. It’s hideous.
My daughter got it as a hand-me-down from a friend. It’s a periwinkle blue satin material that looks like it’s from the 80s. It has puffy shoulders and a weird pattern of roses all over it. The jacket is also a bit short. It’s not short enough to be considered a shrug-type jacket, but it’s way too short to actually serve its purpose as a jacket. If I can describe it further, the jacket isn’t short like too small. It fits my daughter fine. The jacket is just cut short.
I’m sorry. It’s just super ugly.
We often donate our clothes to Goodwill. I tried putting the jacket in the donate box multiple times, but my daughter always catches on, freaks out, and rescues it. I’ve tried having heart-to-heart conversations to tell her it’s not a good-looking jacket, but my daughter doesn’t care.
One day when my daughter was at school, I was doing laundry and came across the jacket. After heavily contemplating, I ended up throwing it in the trash. I then took the trash out to the curb.
It’s gone forever.
My daughter has a lot of clothes and isn’t great at keeping her stuff organized, so it should be a while before she notices.
Ever since then, I’ve had a guilty conscience. However, I don’t guilty enough to go dig it out of the trash and keep it. I don’t even feel compelled to tell her about it unless she starts looking for it.”
Curiosity Killed The Cat
“Around five years ago I bought my two daughters a cat. They always wanted one and after months of constant begging, I finally gave in.
My wife surprisingly fell hard for the cat, but I still felt rather indifferent about it. However, it was nice to see my family happy.
A few days before Thanksgiving last year, I was in the driveway loading my truck. I was home alone at the time. I came out of the house carrying a box, so both of my hands were full. I left the door open for easy access as I went back and forth loading the rest of the items.
When I finished, I hopped in my truck and started backing out. I jumped when I heard the most horrific sound. I put the car in park and got out to investigate. That’s when I saw a tail peeking from underneath the tire.
Apparently, the cat got out and decided it would be smart to lie down under my truck. My tire flattened him instantly. I couldn’t believe what I had done. I was so sure I could leave the door open because that cat was always uneasy about coming outside. In fact, he wouldn’t come out even when my daughters tried to lure him out with toys and treats.
I’m ashamed to say, I buried the cat and told my daughters he ran away instead of telling the truth. I just couldn’t do it.
To make things worse, a few days ago on our way home, my daughters thought they saw their ‘lost’ cat while we were driving.
I feel terrible for lying to my own children.”