If you get through childhood unscathed, good for you. But chances are, something will happen that will change your vision of the world as a place that is purely good and people as kind and helpful. Whether it’s witnessing violence or being bullied, some moments in your childhood stick with your forever.
On Reddit, people are sharing the childhood traumas that still haunt them today, so if you feel like crying this post is for you.
1. Mum tantrum
“I was 4. The supermarket lady gave me a chocolate egg so I asked if she wanted to be my mum. Not a word all the way home, when inside my mother had a fit screaming she regretted the day I was born.” — Kal4ntha
2. Cannot be unseen
“My grandparents having sex – nothing more to be said.” — Awkward_Intellectual
3. Bad boyfriend
“My mom’s boyfriend at the time decided a good punishment for me at about 7 was to lock me out of the house, in a super thin nightgown, at about 10pm in winter. Luckily my grandparents lived across the yard, so my barefooted self walked through the snow to ask if I could stay with them. Obviously my grandfather was outraged, so he went over there to ‘knock some sense into the guy.’ I was dumb and went back to the house to see my mom standing between my grandfather and her boyfriend holding a knife to her wrist and basically saying if my grandfather tried to do anything to him she’d kill herself. That’s just one of many fun stories I have of that ‘lovely man’ who is now my stepdad.” — tigress95
4. Supermarket sweep
“When I was around 7 or 8, I was in a grocery store during an armed robbery. My family was at the check out, when 2 people came in and started yelling and shooting. They told everyone to lay down on the ground and my mom laid on top of me, but I could see when they shot one of the grocery store employees just a few yards away from me. The robbers ran outside and were confronted by the police in the parking lot and arrested. I believe the man shot ended up dying in the store, but I’m not 100% sure of it. My parents acted like nothing happened and never talked to me about it.” — OwnBackground6676
5. Hearing problems
“When I was 9 years old, my mom had a hysterectomy, so my aunt came over to babysit me for a few days while she was in the hospital. The day my mom was supposed to come home, she called the house and asked to speak to my aunt. My aunt is hard of hearing, so she put the phone on speaker. As I was walking away, I heard my mom say ‘she can’t hear you, right?’ My aunt replied no, and my mom proceeded to tell her that there was complications with the surgery, and that the night before as she had gotten up to go to the bathroom, her stitches had come undone. She bled out onto the floor and a nurse found her on the ground. She was worried she wasn’t going to make it. I’m not sure why my aunt didn’t think I couldn’t hear all of this while the phone was on speaker. I pretended I didn’t hear anything, and ran up to my room, crying the entire night thinking my mom wouldn’t come home. Everything turned out fine and she was back home a week later. But at 9 years old, overhearing her describe that situation still haunts me.” — marmaladecat7
6. Suicide
“My cousin’s suicide. She was in the room with my sister who was a few months old and shot herself in front of me. I slammed the door so the other kids couldn’t see it. My face blanked over and I went numb called 911 and cleaned up my sister.” — possibleconfusedegg
7. Even worse boyfriend
“My mom has been with her abusive boyfriend for about 10 years. He’s not physically abusive anymore, but from ages 8-13 I watched him do so many things to my mom. I’ve watched the number of holes in the walls grow by the week. I’ve heard my mom scream my name, yelling at me to call the police. I’ve watched my mom try to burn the house down (I stopped her from doing so, she was drunk and high). But the one thing that still pops into my head is the night where she screamed my name, I came running out, and I watched him pick my tiny mother up, and throw her against a shelf and a microwave. The kind of s*it you see in movies where they make it look so easy, to just pick somebody up and throw them. I’ve moved on from my past, but that one memory really haunts me.” — zoelle17
8. Lost father
“My mom picked me and my sister up from elementary school and when we got home I ran upstairs to say hi to my dad who was usually at his pc in their room. He wasn’t there so I ran into their bathroom and apparently found my dad with his wrists cuts in a full bathtub of water. The only thing I can really remember about that day is the visual of blood spots on wet white tile.” — throwaway52919
9. Skid marks
“Don’t remember my age, but it was before I was old enough to ride a 10-speed. I lived on one of the busiest two lane US roads in my state when I was growing up, at the intersection of a county road, which had a stop sign. For context the US road had a 50MPH (~80kph) speed limit in that area back then. One day, a motorcyclist thought he was fast enough and could turn off the county road onto the busy US road in front of a loaded semi truck. I didn’t see it because I turned away but I heard the thud and crash. They had to wash the guy off the road with a fire hose.” — FrozeItOff
10. Abuse
“My dad beating my mom.” — pazuzusboss