12 Awesome Ways Parents Showed Up for Their Kids to Show Their Love and Support
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There are a lot of stories out there about abusive parents or parents that did a bad job of showing their kids they loved them. Thankfully, many parents are on the opposite side of the spectrum, showing their kids how awesome they are with their actions.
A recent Reddit thread features stories people recall from childhood that made their parents totally awesome. See some of these fun stories below.
1. Best Birthday Ever
“My mother is terrible at gift-giving. Utterly terrible. I won’t list them out, it’s just important to establish that for the story.
Anyway, it’s my 17th birthday in 1997, and Aerosmith is in town. Tickets were way too expensive for my $5.15 at Taco Bell salary, so I was already bummed. I woke up that morning to a few extra-crappy gifts, which I figured was just Mom being Mom. I thanked her, but then just kinda hung out in my room all day. Later that night, I’m pouting away alternating between my two Aerosmith CDs and my mom comes into my room. She says, “Dang – you really wanted to go to that concert, huh?” I mutter something like, “Yeah, but you know how expensive it is. I was never expecting to go. It’s okay. Yada yada yada.” She just pauses for a second and was like, “Well, your dad’s in the car with your tickets. You better hurry up if you wanna make the opener.” Shares one Redditor.
2. The Most Resilient Mom
One user shares, “My mom somehow started homeless, alone, with 2 kids living in a car in Vegas. She’s built a life for herself from scratch to raise us, and gave us everything. 2 bankruptcies, breast cancer, a pandemic, 2 kidnappings (long story), and she’s come out of it all on top. I’ve never met- and likely will never meet a harder working individual in my entire life.”
3. Sharing a Prized Possession
We all show love differently, this dad had his own sweet way, His son shares, “My dad has the same level of emotion and expression as a brick wall. But he always lights up and gets passionate about cars, even more so his Ford Ranger. Treats it like his baby.
When I lost my job and was down in the dumps, he let me drive his Ranger to cheer me up. I never shared the same passion for cars with him, but it was so sweet that he helped support me by sharing with me something that makes him happy.”
4. Supermom
One Redditor shares hi mom’s inspiring motherhood experience: “My Mum single handedly raised 6 children (one of which has disabilities) while working 2-3 jobs at a time after she was abused and beaten for years. Then when we were all adults and moved out, one of my brothers and his ex had their daughter taken off them by social services (completely necessary) and the ex had another daughter who was only a year old at the time and my mum took both the girls in and is bringing them up. She never treats them differently, and they both adore her! They’ve been with her for 8 years now.”
A few users said to get that one some extra chocolates on Mother’s Day!
5. Loving With Everything
One user looks up to their mom in all regards. “Mom is basically a Saint. She loves nature, loves her children and grand children. She holds her family together after grandma passed away. Has a psychology degree in child development. Just retired from being a counselor of three schools on the Navajo reservation. If anyone deserves the best life it’s her.”
6. Standing Up Against Bullies
“There was this girl who was bullying me and my mom gave me the green light to go fight her. She showed me some moves and how to dodge a punch. She asked me what time was I going to fight her so she knew when to expect the call to come down to the school. She said you’ll get some vacation days and we’ll do something fun. Thanks mom!
Btw I ended up not fighting the girl. I went up to her and was all ready and said, “call me a b***h to my face.” She did and then I proceeded to push her and once she knew I was serious about fighting her she said she wasn’t going to fight me. She never bothered me after that.” Perhaps her mom knew this would be the result.
7. Literary Field Trips
“We hit the library all the time. Mom read to me and my brother all kinds of classics that were above our current reading level at the time. She knew how to really put the magic into a story. When I re-read The Hobbit or LtoR I hear her voice as Gollum, not the wonderful Andy Serkis. She planned ‘field trips’ to teach us things related to the books we were reading.”
He goes on to share other amazing ways she planned out road trips and story time to make it extra special. How cool.
8. Learning Invaluable Skills
There are some skills that will help save money and headaches. One user recalls, “Dad is a master mechanic. He made extra cash by flipping cars as he knew all the ins & outs of diesel engines, many European makes, etc. We had so many Volvos… He taught my brother & I everything about cars & how they work. I can and have done basic and somewhat advanced service on my own vehicle many times. I definitely know enough to not get ripped off by unscrupulous mechanics.
Dad also was/ is very handy around the house. I learned how to use all kinds of tools from traditional hand drills and planes to circular saws. Half my power tools were Christmas presents from my dad, and all good sturdy brands.”
9. Present for Every Game, No Matter What
“I was raised by a single dad who owned his own business. He worked 75+hrs a week.
He NEVER once missed a game. Every game, every sport, every season, for both my brother and I, we’d look in the crowd and his giant a** head would be grinning big rootin’ us on.” Now that is dedication.
10. Encouraging Artistic Expression
These parents let their daughter make her own choices. She recalls, “In the mid 90s, my parents allowed me to choose how to decorate my bedroom all by myself for the first time. I wanted dolphins and ocean theming. In order to look like water, my parents spent DAYS rag-rolling my entire room in blue and aqua. Rag-rolling is a textured paint effect where you put a thin layer of paint over another colour, then use a crumpled rag to roll over the paint and lift some of it off, showing the second colour underneath. And they did my whole f’ing room. It was terrible and glorious.
Also my dad introduced me to the music of David Bowie while working on it, so that was cool.”
11. Dad to the Rescue
“My rabbit had somehow escaped from its cage, and i found her dead and half-eaten by a fox. had my mother been home, she would probably have hugged me immediately and just let me cry. my dad, however, is not much for hugs. instead, he told me to go pick some flowers while he got a shovel, so that we could bury the rabbit under the apple tree. he didn’t say anything else, and neither did i. but it was exactly what i needed.” Thank goodness for dads that care.
12. No Holding Grudges
“My stepmother who was struggling to feed me and my sister when we were kids told me not to give up on life and not to be angry at my father when i grow up. True story Not angry at my dad now, just lil bit disappointed.” What an amazing skill for this mom to teach her kids to ditch toxic resentments that can affect mental health.
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