Our childhoods can have a significant impact on the type of adults we grow up to be. The following AskReddit thread asked users to open up about some their childhoods and any experiences that may have been considered disturbing. From stranger danger to repressed memories, there's no arguing that childhood trauma is something that stays with someone for a significant amount of time.
(Content has been edited for clarity).
Rad Arm Socks
“I had a friend when I was about 5 years old who would always wear what I thought were bright socks on her arms. I thought they were rad. I remember being confused when she called her parents by their names instead of ‘mom’ and ‘dad.’ I found out much later that it was because they were her foster parents after her biological father had held her in a bathtub of boiling water. Her rad socks were bandages that her foster parents tried to make a little more fun.”
Life And Death
“I grew up in a small, quiet town. When I was about 8 or 9 years old, I was riding my bike around the block while my mom and her friend visited. About three houses down from mine was a great big house that was remodeled into a few apartments. One of the residents was a disabled man, and as I made another lap around, I saw him staggering through the front lawn of the building muttering. His whole body was wet and shiny with something red.
I remember thinking that it looked like blood, but at the same time, I didn’t believe that it was. I bicycled straight home just in case and told my mom and her friend that either the man down the block was bleeding, or maybe (more likely in my mind) was covered in ketchup. My mom’s friend looked over the fence and said, ‘My gosh, it IS blood!’
My mom called an ambulance, but later that night she told me that he had died at the hospital because he had a disorder that didn’t allow his blood to clot. It turned out he had been stabbed multiple times by another resident. If I remember correctly, my mom didn’t use the word ‘murder,’ and we didn’t have a TV. So, it wasn’t a concept that I understood.
Our cat had kittens that same night, and I remember my mom talking about a balance of new lives being born versus people dying. I remember thinking it was ‘interesting’ as a kid, but now as an adult, it seems pretty terrifying. I would be a lot more disturbed if I were to ever see something like that now with a more full-on understanding of mortality and homicide, etc.”
Hearing An Abusive Relationship
“I was 6 years old. My mom and I lived on the second floor of an apartment complex. My mom and I just got out of an abusive household, and we were low on money. I got bored often so to cure that I would put my ear to the floor and hear what was going on downstairs. My mom didn’t mind. She was usually swamped with work, and so as long as I didn’t end up hurting myself, it was fine.
One day, I did this and heard two people yelling and screaming at each other. It was a man and a woman. The man sounded very angry, and the woman was crying and screaming. I got up and told my mom that people were fighting. She looked up from her work and asked me some more questions. She eventually got up and told me that she would be right back and to stay put.
A while later, my mom came back with the sobbing woman. My mom called the cops, and they questioned all of us. They told us to have a good day and offered places for the woman to stay. I didn’t understand until much later that the woman was in an abusive relationship, and my mom told me that I had saved her life that day. The man had a knife and was cornering her.”
Lady, The German Shepherd
“When I was around 6 years old, my family rented a smaller house on a farm. The farm was way out of the way and had a long road that led to the main street. The owner of the land had a smart, large German Shepherd named ‘Lady.’ I would hang out with her a lot.
One day, Lady took off running all the way down the road, and I ran after her. As I was convincing her to follow me back, a blue truck pulled up, and a woman hopped out. She went on about Lady, and how she used to own her when she was younger before putting her up for adoption.
I don’t remember what else she had said, but I responded here and there. However, I do remember her offering to give me a ride back to the house. The entire time Lady stayed right in front of me while staring the woman down and not moving. The lady took a step forward, and Lady just growled at her and stayed her ground. Eventually, the woman gave up trying to coerce me and left.
That night, I mentioned it to my brother how I had met Lady’s previous owner (because at 6, I had no idea). He said, ‘Uhm, you know she was probably trying to kidnap you, right? Mrs. Anderson has had Lady since she was a young puppy.’
It didn’t hit me until I thought about it again a few years later, but when a dog knows someone (especially someone who was supposed to be a previous owner), they should usually be pretty excited to greet them. But for her to protect me the way that she did, the truth hadn’t even crossed my mind.”
Stopped My Mom’s Suicide Attempt
“When I was 7 years old, I had to pee bad one time, but my mom was in the bathroom. After waiting and knocking (and complaining), I just went in without waiting for a response. I found my mom sitting on the toilet. She was slumped over and completely pale.
As calm as possible, I called my aunt over, who freaked out and called an ambulance. My mom was gone for over a couple of months. The rest of the family just told me that she was traveling whenever I asked them about her.
Years later, I learned that I had messed up my mom’s suicide attempt, and she had been in a psych ward for months.”
Secret Snow Hill
“When I was around 9 years old, I went snow sledding with family and friends. It was a popular sledding area with a few different hills and some woods. This older guy in his 40s had an awesome toboggan with a flashlight rigged up on the front. He was flying down the hills 10 times faster than anyone else. He was there by himself, and it was getting dark out.
He came up to me and started telling me about this ‘secret hill’ in the woods that was huge. He told me that I could use his sled, so I followed him for about two minutes until I realized that I couldn’t see my family or friends anymore. I was maybe 20 feet into the woods before I was overcome with a horrible gutwrenching feeling.
I dropped my sled and ran back towards my family. I remember hearing his footsteps behind me moving as quickly as mine. By the time I got to my family and told them what had happened, he had disappeared.”
Booster Seat
“When I was 3 or 4 years old, my dad’s coworker tried to kidnap me. I was in a booster seat, and he was telling me about how he had a different and cooler booster seat and if I would like to ride in his truck. I was all concerned about the booster seat not being right, and then my dad walked out and asked what was going on and decked the guy. I’m not even sure why he bothered to try something like this in the parking lot of my dad’s work, but I remember the incident happening vividly.”
Driving Under The Influence
“Adults used to drive under the influence with us in the car. I always thought that they were just trying to have a good time or act funny/cool.”
Gut Feeling
“I was at a store with my mom when I was about 8 years old. I was wandering around on my own when I noticed that these two guys were staring at and following me. Every corner I turned, it seemed like one of them was there. I followed my gut and ran to my mom. She thought I was dramatic, but it was fine after that.
A few hours later, my dad (a police dispatcher) called and said there were two guys caught trying to kidnap a little girl at that same store just a little bit after we had left. My mom didn’t tell me that part until about 18 years later. Thank god I had followed my gut even as a kid.”
Puppy Protection
“My black lab named ‘Caine’ protected me from a blue truck that had pulled down my driveway and asked me to drive to McDonald’s with them. The person inside said that he would buy me ice cream. Luckily, my neighbor, who lived across the street, would usually watch out for me and was coming out of his house and called the cops.
The guy got out and tried to come near me, and my dog’s hair stood up as he growled. I remember being scared and asked him to go away. Caine was the sweetest dog you could ever meet. He was a big baby, but he knew that I was in danger.
My neighbor came to sit with me and told my mom when she got off work. At the time, I was probably only about 6 or 7.”
Creepy Comments
“In the fourth grade, my teacher’s husband started coming to class to visit her almost every day. Eventually, it turned into him singling me out in the class, coming over to my desk and whispering in my ear. He would ask ‘if I had done my homework’ and was ‘being good.’
It progressed to him calling my teacher when he wasn’t there and asking to speak to me over the phone where he’d continue to tell me to ‘do good work.’ I eventually realized that it was weird because I wasn’t close with my teacher at all, and he wouldn’t do this with any of the other students.
I told my parents, and they contacted the principal. I’m not sure what happened, but after I told my parents, I never saw or heard from him again.”
Grandpa’s Alzheimer’s
“When I was young, my grandpa moved in with us so my parents could take care of him (He had Alzheimer’s). They put an addition on the house with a family room that had a carpeted step into the kitchen for some reason, and the door to my grandpa’s room on the opposite side.
There were several times he would get up in the middle of the night and pound on the door while screaming for help because he didn’t know where he was. I opened the door for him once because I didn’t understand and wanted to help him, but after that, my mom forbade me from opening it. After, I would come out and sit on the step. I would listen to him and get anxious.
I’ve always been interested in the human mind and mental illness, and I wonder a lot if that’s because of that one specific experience.”
Brought To An Affair
“When I was about 6 years old, my dad began having an affair with a much younger woman. She ended up moving pretty close by to us after breaking up with her boyfriend.
Cut to Halloween; we go around my small neighborhood to trick-or-treat. After we finished up, my dad decided to take me to ‘more houses.’ We ended up driving to his girl’s house. She gave me a full-size Snickers and then they disappeared for a while. I still remember the blue light flickering from the TV as I sat alone in her living room.
I never said anything to my mom until much later. I knew what was going on and didn’t want to hurt her. My dad has been married to this girl for almost 20 years now. She’s my stepmom. My mom was six months pregnant when all of this was happening.”
That’s Not A Toy
“I found an unloaded weapon in the street behind our apartment when I was a kid. I put it with my other toy cowboy weapons and played with it. I didn’t like it much. The real weapon was heavy and too hard for me to pull the trigger. The plastic ones were much more fun. Eventually, my mom found it, and (in retrospect) she surprisingly didn’t freak out. She just made it disappear.”
Disappearing Act
“My brother and I would be at my dad’s house for weekend visits. it would be like 9 or 10 at night. We were 6 and 10 years old. All of a sudden, he would be like, ‘Let’s go for a ride!’ So, we would load into the Jeep, drive to some house that I didn’t recognize, and turn the Jeep off. He would tell my brother and me not to move or make any noises and that he would be back. Then, he would just disappear for like 30 minutes to an hour.”
Special Treatment
“In 1984 when I was in the sixth grade, my social studies teacher would reward students with trips to the movies with him, or going out to eat, or coming to his apartment to hang out. The cutest boys in class would always win, and it was always for weird reasons like: ‘doing his best’ or ‘being extra helpful.’ I was jealous because none of the girls ever got to win.
Years later, I realized it was sketchy. I even tried to find him in case he was still giving good boys ‘special treatment,’ but he had died from lung cancer years before.”
Repressed Memories
“Growing up, I was a pretty quiet shy kid, but I’ve always had these vague memories of me getting screamed at and being forced to take some medication from a very early age. I also had reoccurring, intense nightmares about being kidnapped.
It wasn’t until last year (I’m 27 now) that my mom revealed a piece of my past that made everything click into place. When I was 4 years old, a man lured me away during recess at my daycare, and I was missing for about six hours. Nobody knows what exactly happened during that time, except that he eventually dropped me off down the street from the daycare and sped off.
After that, I started having severe episodes/fits that required sedatives to calm me down. They stopped with time because I think I repressed the incident. I still don’t know what happened while I was missing, but the nightmares make sense now.”
Knife Games
“While babysitting us, my older brother, who was 10 years older than me, would play the ‘knife game’ where he would chase my other siblings and me around the house with a butcher knife until he caught one of us and held us down trying to push the knife into our throats or stomach while we pushed it away with all of our strength.
My parents brushed it off, and it wasn’t until he did it with an electric drill that ripped a hole in my shirt that they disciplined him over it. However, he still did it every time that he’d babysit us.
I remember being a kid and worrying when my parents left us if it was just going to be a normal night where we would just eat pizza and watch a movie, or a terrifying night because where my brother could get bored and want to torment us.”
Keep Him Away
“When I was 17 years old, my family moved to another state. My mom found out that someone we knew from when I was younger also lived there. She brought us with her to pick him up. From the moment that I saw him, I just hated him. I didn’t remember him, but I knew that I hated him. My mom kept telling me that there was no reason to hate him, but I still kept telling her to stop bringing him to our home.
Years later, after I had moved away, my sister had a daughter, and we found out that he had been doing inappropriate things to my niece for years.
I didn’t remember him, but I also don’t remember huge chunks of my childhood. I do remember my mom asking me if someone was doing something to me. Maybe there were some memories locked away that I was afraid to access, but I realized at that moment why I hated him so much.”