Parents Just Don't Understand | Reading Reddit Stories

24:54Once the kids are taken care of. You want to play Dress to Impress? Yeah. At 10 p.m.? Okay. I know so many parents who play tons of video games. Yeah. Like, there is a balance you can strike. If I was ever, like, had to stay late from something, it was, like, something that I knew was going to happen. It was, like, my parents, like, they were busy for whatever reason, and it's like, hey, like, we're going to be there, like, 30 minutes late to pick yours up or something. Like, that was communicated. But I feel like my parents were always, like, really on top of that stuff. And we played a lot of video games.

25:23I played a lot of video games with my parents. We all played RuneScape together. That's crazy. That's so fun. You know, a lot of people, I talk about RuneScape a lot. My dad is the one that made my RuneScape account. And so we would all do that together, but it never... And you'd wake him up and be like, what's the password? Yeah, yeah, and I'd wake him up, and then we would sit, you know, we'd all be in the living room killing RuneScape bosses. That's so fun. That's cute. But it never kept him from getting me from a practice. Right. So good for him. Yeah. I think my parents were pretty on it.

25:52Or they sent someone. It was like, I'm your mom's friend. It's like, okay. Whereas like now I would never let my son... I'd be like, mommy has no friends that you know that would never pick you up. No, that was the weirdest thing is getting, like someone being like, hey, I'm here to pick you up and being like an 11-year-old and being like, this car smells weird. I don't like the way this car smells. Many random people that, hey, I'm your mom's good friend. Get in. I'd be like, okay. My mom just, she was a teacher. She had a lot of random friends. Oh my God. Again, I know. I would never, as a kid, my parents were like, anyone we don't know is trying to kill you.

26:29I'm just like, all right, don't trust anyone. Well, yeah. The verdict is not the asshole. Comments, not the asshole. This isn't a chore she's blowing off. This is forgetting your own child. How could she not even notice the calls and texts from the coach? That's what I'm wondering about. Is something else going on here? OP said, I'm not entirely sure how she missed all of the messages and phone calls from the coach. We haven't spoken much since the argument. I haven't noticed anything different with her, but I could be missing things. Someone said, is this real? She needs therapy if she is so addicted to a silly kid's game with avatars that she is forgetting her own real child.

27:05This is a scary and serious event for your kid. And okay, maybe losing track of time, but missing the calls and texts too? That's insane. Not the asshole. Hope your kid is okay. He probably felt so scared and abandoned. Okay, this person's projecting. Yeah, don't. He's like, I was left for a date. Your child is going to be fucked up forever. I hope your child is well. Yeah, OP responded. Thanks for your concern. I'm planning on talking to her tomorrow morning because we'll have had a day to cool off and think it over. I talked to my son in the car after the original event and he seemed okay from my perspective.

27:38Obviously a little afraid and confused, but nothing that should impact him in the long run. I'll continue to be checking up on him and making sure though. Lastly, someone said, not the asshole, but I have questions. Does your wife work? What time does she get home? How does your kid get home when he doesn't have practice? How many kids do you have? Who normally makes dinner and when do you all eat? I'm struggling to understand what's your mother's maiden name what is your address hold on how are babies made what was your high school mascot are you available to hang out she works part time and usually gets home around 2pm we only have one kid he gets home on the school bus when there's no practice she in the past has been the one in charge of cooking and food but recently I have started to do this because of the events in the post we are usually eating around 6.30pm I was just going to say, places to get left at, basketball practice, one of the better ones because at least you can still get some shots.

28:33He's at another hour. He's basically LeBron. You can get some extra free throws up. For some reason was thinking soccer. He got one hour better at basketball. Like being outside on a field is a lot worse than being in a gym and being able to get some extra free throws up. Here's what I'm thinking. I just want to say I think that she must be going through some stuff and maybe she's sick of being the one to pick him up and do all the dinners. Maybe she wants to mow the lawn. I don't know. But she clearly is escaping from something. If we're to believe this post, though, he's saying he's been doing all the cooking now.

29:06Well, this is just him. I know. I know. With Reddit, we get one side of the story. But it is tough where it's like, I do tend to think like, oh, what's going on? I know a lot can be put on a person. And we have a lot of stories where it's like, oh, my partner. And then you hear that they're wrong. And here's what I will say. I think it's totally reasonable for him to be upset. As someone who has played video games my entire life, I've spent a lot of my life preparing and knowing that I get way too sucked into games. If you're just, if this is the first time she's ever gotten sucked into a game like that, I can understand not being prepared for how fast you lose track of time.

29:44Because I know, I can predict like, okay, I'm gonna start playing this game, I know I'm gonna lose track of time. That's a good point, Trevor. But if you've never played a game that sucks you in before, and like just being there and being like, oh my God. I had no idea. Like, I get it. I get it. It's true. That's actually a really good point. Update. Yes! Why are you saving that? That's insane! Amanda, we were having a conversation. Yeah, but... Hey, say it right now! Let's get to it. One and a half weeks later. Okay. Hi, everyone. Thanks for all your advice on my previous post. So I decided to have a conversation with my wife the day after I made the post about the time spent on video games.

30:24We talked for a while, and I tried to bring up important things people talked about in the comments. I saw a lot of people suggesting that I completely block and delete Roblox from her devices, and I brought that up. Obviously, she didn't take that well. I told her it's completely unacceptable what she has been doing, and there needs to be at least a time limit set on her device. I can't control her, but I made it clear it's a very important thing to me, and it would damage our relationship if she said no. After I said this, she agreed to the time limits. Another thing I saw a lot in the comments was concern for my wife's mental health.

30:55I appreciate people's insight into this because it's something I don't really have a lot of experience in. I asked her if she would consider seeing a therapist and she said she would think about it. People were also concerned about how my son is feeling after all this. I didn't realize that it was something that may have an impact on him. I had a conversation with him and made sure he understood his mom and I love and care for him and that nothing like this would ever happen again. I also have ordered him a cheap flip phone so he wouldn't be completely stranded alone if these events did end up repeating.

31:22If there's anything I should do or could do differently regarding my son, please let me know because I don't exactly know how to navigate this situation. I don't want to be too harsh on my wife. We love each other and it's been made more clear after our talk that this should not be marriage ending or cause any lasting damage. If anyone has any further advice or thoughts, I will be happy to read it. Thank you. I think that he also needs to go to a therapist and talk this out with a therapist and not go to his wife and go, hey, I shared our very private story with Reddit and I'm going to come and tell you what Redditor said about you and that you need to go to a therapist.

32:02It's also like, hey, why don't you guys go to a therapist together? I don't know. I'm a little bit like, I don't really appreciate his update to be completely honest. They need to get an outside expert opinion from a gamer because I feel like, yeah. We're going to send Trevor. I truly, I think that for two, If two people don't play video games and they've never been gamers in their life, this is a real issue and it's something that's solvable. And I can understand from an outside perspective, if someone plays a video game for a long time and gets sucked into it and forgets their responsibilities, someone being like, what's wrong with you?

32:35How could you do this? But it's pretty easy. So you need a therapist gamer. Yes, a gamer therapist. We need more of them. Yeah. This story kind of touches on it, but it makes me think of a lot of relationship stories that we read. And it's like, as you said, we only get one side of the story, but a lot of these stories are almost written in a way that it like, it almost is like you talk about your wife or your husband like they're a stranger. You know what I mean? Where I'm like. That's what I mean. Don't you guys know, like you should know more about each other. It seems like it's like you don't understand your partner at all.

33:07I agree with you. It's almost like they're not in tune with their partner. It's like go to your partner. And in that sense, I'm like, yeah, you guys go to a therapist so that you get those spaces to talk more and connect more. To connect more. That's why I'm like, oh, maybe they should go together. And it's like nothing against the Reddit community, but I don't think that that's going to bring you closer to say, hey, I shared this, you know, awful event online for everyone to see. And, of course, now we're reading it on the channel. But, like, I'm also just like the person is right in front of you.

33:41Talk to them. Again, I don't know their relationship, but like, I agree with you. What is this stranger? It's just something I pick up on in the way that it's written. Yeah, yeah. If I met them and we saw them in real life, we'd maybe be like, oh, you're fine. Oh, you're good. Yeah, you're right. But the way it's written, I'm just like, it just seems like, I don't know. There's just a lot going on. And I know it's really hard to navigate. Like, you have a kid. You're facing all these events for the first time ever, right? And you're doing it with your partner. And a lot of different emotions that you've never experienced can come up.

34:11I do know that. But it's also just like, that's why you chose to do it with them. You're doing it together. So like, talk to them. Anyways. All right, let's move on to our next story. Our next story comes from Today I Fucked Up. Posted in 2019. Today I fucked up by teaching my baby sign language. Classic case, man. Hey, what's wrong with that? Classic case. I go to this mommy and me thing every week with my daughter. Not because it's my kind of thing, but because my mother-in-law paid the membership for a year as a Christmas gift to my one-year-old, a.k.a. she doesn't think I am socializing her grandchild enough, and this was her way of passive-aggressively correcting my parenting.

34:54Anyways, we go to this thing every week for an hour, and all the Pinterest moms are planning themed birthday parties and discussing screen time and sharing gluten-free recipes while their kids stare at each other. But all these kids know sign language, and I thought that was pretty damn cool. So I start looking into this and try teaching my kids some basic signs for basic needs, and it's working. Suddenly, my tiny human who otherwise could not effectively communicate with me knows how to say more and all done and drink. She can call me mom and my husband dad. Holy shit. Thanks, Pinterest moms.

35:26I take back all the shit I talked about you to my kid on our weekly drives home. Well, today with my husband out of town, I didn't feel much like cooking. and since my daughter is pretty laid back at restaurants, I decided to go out for a quick dinner. The kid loves French fries and so do I. So we hit the local burger joint and I ordered a beer, a burger with fries, and a side of fruit. The server brings a little styrofoam cup with a lid and a straw filled with water for my daughter and I set it out of her reach so she doesn't Hulk smash the styrofoam and make a mess. So of course, every time she wants some, she signs drink.

35:56And every time she wants my attention, she signs dad because apparently the slightly different sign for mom isn't as fun for her. Okay, whatever. Well, I noticed a couple tables away. There are a couple of women who are also signing to each other, but they're looking over at us and snickering. I'm like, okay, I did like four quick Google searches. Maybe I botched some of what I taught her. It's fine. But then as the women are leaving, they stop by our table, and one of them lays her iPhone down with the message typed out for me to read. It says something to the effect of, she's calling you dumb and telling you she wants to drink alcohol.

36:30I'm like, wait, what? So she continues to show me that I have in fact taught my daughter the wrong signs, that there are different signs for drink, non-alcoholic beverage, and drink alcohol. And by balling her fist up instead of using a flat hand at her forehead, my daughter has been calling me dumb instead of dad, which was already wrong, obviously, since I am her mom. I can only imagine what the Pinterest moms would have done had I shown up next week with my kid asking to drink liquor. ETA, thanks, everyone. I'm glad you all enjoyed this post. Please understand that the conversation that took place with the deaf woman was totally lighthearted.

37:04They were not correcting our signing to be rude or in thinking that I was trying to teach my child proper ASL. They were not oblivious to the fact that baby signing is not the same as ASL. They just thought my baby was cute and used the coincidence to strike up conversation, and it was funny and welcome. Also, please note that I literally searched baby sign language and based the signs off of still frames from Google. I have no idea how close they were to the real signs. Additionally, this happened four years ago when my now five-year-old was 12 months. She speaks English well for all of you who are concerned for her development.

37:37We were always sure to say the words while signing them. She now has a baby sister who is 12 months old and is signing, which is what reminded me of this story that I decided to share with you all. I'm new to Reddit and did not realize it was obligatory to let you know that this did not happen today. You can take back your upvotes for this as necessary. Smiley face. Damn, this OP is... That's so funny. Do not fuck with this, LB. She's like, I'm telling the story, and I'm in the driver's seat. I don't want to hear it, but I want to hear it. Okay, sorry to let you know. It happened five fucking years ago.

38:08And by the way, this conversation with the deaf people was good. It was a good one. They were having a good time. They were having fun. My child called me dumb. The baby at the burger joint, hey, dumbass, give me a beer. Give me a beer. My conspiracy is that the baby was signing correctly, and they were literally saying, you're dumb. It was like, dumb. Give me your damn beer. I don't actually know drink for alcohol now because I know milk. I know daddy, mommy, more. All done. And then please. I don't know. Because I try to teach Cole and, you know, he does this. I go, yay, and he goes. That's awesome.

38:48But I try to do mommy, daddy. Teach him how to ask for a beer. I love that she was teaching her sign language. What I really want to dig into this relationship with her mother-in-law, that because her mom got her mommy and me, she thought that she couldn't be a good mom. I love that. I love that the main issues with this story have nothing to do with the story itself. It's like, oh, you and your mother-in-law, and you and the people replying to this story. Yeah. Are not. Thanks to you fuckers responding. This mom is, you know, she's feeling all the feels. Oh, she is. Also, mommy and me classes, yeah, sometimes they can be a little, uppity because you're like, oh, you have a lot of time on your hands.

39:28But also they can be really great too. I did a couple at the library for free. Nice. It was actually really fun. Moms were just like, what do I do? What do you do? What are you doing? What am I doing? Do you have clothes? I gave this mom a lot of clothes. That's awesome. Comments. Hey dummy, I want shots. As a child of deaf parents and being a certified ASL interpreter, I 100 % believe this happened. I've heard and seen far, far, far worse. Someone said, ha, ha, ha, ha, I love it. We had a girl in my sign language class I took in college who was so impressed because she had a sign language name from a deaf friend and she showed it to us and the teacher.

40:11The teacher very calmly and straight-faced said, your friend named you Bitch. You just introduced yourself as my name is Bitch. That's incredible. That's so good. Lastly, someone said, as a deaf person, I love this. Too funny. I frequently see little kids signing, fuck you, accidentally when they mean thank you. The signs are super similar. I've definitely had to hold back laughter a few times. I think if I'm the mom, I'm not fixing it. I think it's funny as hell that every time my baby wants to drink, they just ask for alcohol. I don't think you can fix it. Honestly, I think once that baby has been like, this is what's happening.

40:47It's a reflex now. You're done. You're done. Can't change it. I'm trying to teach, bye-bye. And so he just goes. That's kind of what I do. I feel like sometimes I'm leaving and I'm going, bye. When people leave and I just go like this. Enough. Yeah. I love it when kids wave like that. I love it when kids go like, bye-bye. Like, that's so funny. I don't think that's what they're doing, guys. They're going, boobie. I'm talking about like a six-year-old, dude. You're gross. Anyways, as a gross person, as a gross mom, hey as a gross mom all moms are gross you know what I love is that this is her like first post so she's like she's navigating the world I think her voice is this I think her voice I'm navigating the world in reddit figuring it out enough with the up votes god damn you redditors take back your damn up votes damn alright okay chain's done no I'm kidding no I'm not done I'm moving on to the next story reddit boy next story let's go reddit boy oh my god that's so mean and it's so crazy.

41:49It's not true. Wouldn't you like to know Reddit boy? Reddit boy. Kid seems sketchy. Back to you.

42:00Kid seems sketchy. Classic. Back to you. You guys, you know what I'm referencing. Yes. Wouldn't you like to know Weather boy? Would you like to know Weather boy? I don't know. It's an incredible sketch. It's a really good video. Anyways. Our next story comes from Am I the Asshole? Ooh. This was posted 2025, like July of 2025. 2025. So, you know. Cool. Am I the asshole for putting a stop to my 12-year-old daughter's period party? What? Let me set the stage. My wife and I, 43 male, 42 female, have two daughters, seven years apart. 19-year-old was at college in a different state when this happened.

42:40Girls are very different. 19-year-old is outgoing, extroverted, loves meeting new people, trying new things, etc. 12-year-old is shy, a homebody, finds things she's comfortable with and sticks with them. In fairness, 19-year-old was kind of like this until she was 16 or so. Maybe it's genetic. A couple months ago, a 12-year-old came to me in my home office, obviously upset. She stammers a bit, then manages to tell me that she just got her first period. I play the supportive dad, comfort her, and get her a box of sanitary pads my wife had bought earlier in the year, guessing this was going to happen sooner or later, and go over the instructions with her.

43:12She goes into her bathroom, does what she has to do, thanks me for my help. I got her some ice cream in my doll, told her there was nothing to be embarrassed about, and she could always come to me for anything. Wife gets home later that day. 12-year-old tells her what happened. Wife starts crying. My little girl is growing up, etc., then asks who should be invited to the period party, which I only knew of from listening to Bert Kreischer. If they were a thing when our 19-year-old started, she never asked for one. 12-year-old immediately closes off, says she doesn't want a period party, doesn't want anyone to know.

43:46Wife tries to talk to her some more, but 12-year-old ignores her and goes to her room. Wife tries to enlist my aid in changing her mind, but I tell her, she said she didn't want one, don't worry about it. Two days later, I get home from running errands and before I can even make it to the stairs, 12-year-old runs up to me and asks if she can do her homework in my office. I'm confused, but say sure, and she bolts upstairs. At this point, I started to suspect what was going on and walked into the living room to find that my wife had not only decorated it like something which wouldn't have looked out of place on my super sweet 16, but there were several family friends, all women, and a few I recognized as neighborhood mothers.

44:25I beckon wife into the hall. She asks where 12-year-old is, and I tell her she wanted to do her homework in my office. She rolls her eyes and starts to move past me, but I step in front of her. I say, what are you doing? She says, going to get our daughter. It's her party. I say, she told you specifically she didn't want one of these. And she replies, oh, she didn't mean that. This is an important time for a girl. She needs to know not to be ashamed of her body. I say, she's not. I already explained things to her. She just doesn't want to talk about it anymore. She says, I don't expect you to understand.

44:59This is just for us women. She actually tried to push past me, but I stepped into the doorway and completely blocked her. She said, what's wrong with you? What's wrong with you? You know how shy she is. You knew she didn't want you to do something like this, and you did it anyway. My wife said, I told you, it's for her own good. We can't let her grow up with a negative attitude towards something so natural. To which I say, and we're not. I told you, she knows what's going on. She's getting a handle on it. She just doesn't want to talk about it with anyone else for right now. She says, well, it wasn't your business to tell her about it anyway.

45:33I say, you were at work. was I supposed to ignore her for four hours until you got home? She says, you could have called me. I would have come home. I say, it still would have taken you an hour. She was upset. I knew what was going on. I talked her through it. My wife said, you don't know anything about it. It's never happened to you. At this point, I gave up. Point to my wife, no, I've never had a period, but I had three older sisters and a live-in girlfriend before my wife and I met. Plus, we've been married almost 21 years. I'm pretty well versed. She again tries to move past me, but I don't move.

46:05No, she doesn't want this. I'm not letting you make her do it. My wife says, fine, have it your way. She goes back to the living room and tells the other ladies the period party is off because I'm being a jackass. I lose it, follow her in, and let the women know calmly but in no uncertain terms that I appreciate what they wanted to do, but our daughter made it explicitly clear that she did not want this party, and my wife is trying to pressure her into it. Several of the moms frown at her. my wife starts to backpedal, talking about how she didn't think our daughter was being serious, but I ignore her and begin taking down the decorations.

46:36Everyone clears out shortly, and once the coast is clear, our daughter comes back downstairs. My wife gives her a half-assed, in my opinion, apology, again saying she didn't think she was serious, but our daughter also ignores her and just starts doing her homework in her usual place at the table. My wife was pissed at me for a week, claiming I undermined her authority as a parent, apparently by not helping her force our daughter into doing something she didn't want to do and made her look bad in front of the neighborhood moms by telling them she'd been doing this against our daughter's wishes.

47:05So am I the asshole? Jesus Christ. I just went through my whole middle school, teenage years, like, oh, I'm back. I'm an adult. What? First of all, I've never heard of a period party. Second of all, he is not the asshole. This mom infuriated me. Thirdly, like she 100 % made her daughter's period about her. Absolutely. I'm like, hey, yes, having a period is natural. Is it fun? No! Does it hurt? Yes! Do I want to hide away and wear a bag? Yeah! Go fuck off! It's so annoying. I really respect, I mean this is clearly like a very awesome dad. I respect him for standing his ground and being like, hey, this isn't what she wanted.

47:56And trying to respect his daughter's wishes. I think that's really awesome. I think there's a lot of dads that wouldn't give a shit or would be like, okay, whatever, go ahead. Also, wouldn't it make you proud that your husband stood up and took a stand and was like, I got you. I know exactly what to do. You can come to me any time. I would be like, wow, I wasn't here. I'm sad I missed it, but thanks for taking over. Like, I don't understand this. Why are you in competition with your husband? And I get it. Tale as old as time to be like, you don't understand. You don't know what we're going through.

48:32Trust me, I've said it. But it's also just like, the man is doing his best. No, he doesn't experience a period. But he's doing his best to try to figure out how to communicate that with his daughter. Weird territory. It's just clearly this. yeah because because he doesn't he doesn't understand what it's like to have a period but he does understand what it's like to not want a party thrown for you and then people are going to do it anyway like that's they're not respecting the daughter's boundaries it's like the daughter's like hey I don't want this and she's gathering the whole entire neighborhood for what she feels embarrassed about I wouldn't even want to be invited to that I'd be like I'm I feel like I'd be like watch a movie with her and have her in a heated blanket I guarantee you I guarantee you I guarantee you the whole neighborhood everyone was invited on the premise of like She's so excited about this.

49:18She wants to do this. I know what my daughter wants, and she wants this. I want to ask this mom, did she have a period party? Did her mom put on a period party for her? I literally have never heard of a period party. Well, and he's saying he hasn't heard about it, but if it's a thing that's thrown around on podcasts, it might be a thing she heard about that she's like, oh, this is going to be really cool, and I'll look cool if I do this. To be honest, it reads as like vlog parent, but I don't think they're vlog parents, but this sounds like things vlog parents do. I think first getting your period, it's such a weird thing because it's a very weird timeline because you may be getting it late.

49:56A lot of your friends already have it so you feel like, what's wrong with me? Or you might get it early and be like, what's wrong with me? It's actually kind of a scary time. Yeah, totally. When I read the title, the premise of like, we threw a party for this thing that you're unsure of and scared of. Celebrate, it's natural. That's fine. it's because the daughter has so clearly communicated that she does not want this and they're pushing this they're making it worse in the process also to like keep it private if the daughter is like okay it finally came yay then it's just like yeah do your thing that works for your family yeah the show I feel like also being that age it's already kind of weird to be like a preteen teen whatever and there's just like a bunch of adults like at a party like when my parents had adults over the house It was like fine, but I wasn't like, yeah, this is lit.

50:44And then the party is for something that you're really uncomfortable about and don't want. Like that just makes it exponentially worse. What are the neighbors gonna talk about? Like I got so bloated, I couldn't bend my jeans until you get 40. And that was the 70s kid. Things were different then. I lost my period completely. I got hot flashes. All I did when I got a period was smoke a whole pack of cigarettes. I eat nonstop on my period. Just you wait. Idea of the cigarette filter is a tampon one time. Jesus Christ. My tampon got stuck for two days. You're in for it, honey. Cool party, kid. You want to come to my menopause party next week?

51:25I can't sleep because I'm dripping sweat. I'm hot flashes right now. Let's cut the cake. I want to kill my husband. You want to come over? My husband died and then I got my period again. I got to be honest. You guys are making this party sound pretty awesome. Honestly, as a kid, she probably would have learned a lot. She should have learned. It would have been valuable. She just didn't want to do it. Get in the minivan. We'll have a beer on the way over. To be clear, I did go to Six Flags when I got my first boners. I was... You did? No. I'm a dick. Wait. Wait. Let's dive into this. No, everybody knows.

52:05When you get your first boner, you got to go on Tatsu. You're on Tatsu? You gotta do the flip. Go away. There's a picture. It's just of the kid who's like. I literally was thinking, just sitting here quietly being like, what would be the equivalent like if someone threw a kid a boner party? Boner party. He was so nervous about getting it, but it's natural. Oh my God. Go on Superman. No. That's crazy. No, I'm stuck on the bar. The inertia's making the boner crazier. Change, you gotta put your boner away. There's no way we can get that safety bar up. Hey, the safety, hey, car two, we can't get the safety bar up because he's got a big boner.

52:56Stuck on the safety bar. Oh my God. Guys, we got unstuck from the ride. Do you wanna go get a churro? Churro! Churro!

53:09Jesus. Now I have no idea what that would feel like. You wouldn't understand. I wouldn't get it. Walk on like I'm so excited about the ride. It's just a massive. Or small. Hey, whatever you got. It's like your hands. It's doing the wave with your hands. It's going the same direction. Puberty I feel like is the first example of just like things being so unfair. Like what women have to deal with when they go through puberty. and then like boys, it's just like, oh yeah, you just better hope you don't get called up to go to the front of the class to talk about something. That's the only difficult thing.

53:43That would suck. Yeah. Also, women getting buried in their pants. That's terrible. Because you can't see it. That's the worst. You're walking and you have a red butt. Yeah, at least I can see my huge boner. Hey, you wish. All right. Okay. Burdick is not the asshole. Comments. Not the asshole. Puberty is an awkward, embarrassing time. Having your parents shine a spotlight on every confusing milestone would be a nightmare. Imagine a first pube party or a wet dream dinner. Ew. Whoa. God. Jesus. All right. Who is this person? Come on. At least come up with boner party. Someone said, not only are you not the asshole, but you're a goddamn gem for the way you stuck up for your daughter and communicated clearly, even to the party goers, chef's kiss.

54:32update a lot of updates today my wife tried to throw us on a boner party and we went to Six Flags update in the comments OP wrote hey everyone thought I'd post an update yes it's quick but it's just a further explanation plus some commentary had to split it into two because it was too long next part is in the reply to this reply first I'd like to thank everyone who supported my decision second to those who decided I'm AI or use chat GPT to write this nothing I can say will convince you one way or the other. So do your thing, man. There's a little emoji there. Third, I'm not going to divorce my wife or anything like that.

55:09She's an incredible woman, and as corny as it sounds, my one true love. She's been an amazing mom, never done anything like this before, wasn't planning on posting it to social media. She barely even uses Facebook. She just made a misstep here for reasons which I will get into shortly. I can't respond to every comment, but I'll expand on some which caught my attention. 12-year-old did, in fact, get the talk from wife when she turned 12. So she knew what was happening, but it was still something she hadn't experienced before. So it threw her a little bit. I emailed my two closest sisters and they both said in their opinions, her reaction was normal.

55:41As one of them put it, even at best, it can be a shock regardless of whether or not you're prepared for it because it just happens. And even if you felt PMS style symptoms without ever having felt them before, you might not guess what they are until afterward. No, I did not notice the decorations being put up. I had to go out and run some errands related to my work, so I was gone about three to four hours, more than enough time for my wife to decorate. Before we had kids, my wife and I agreed we would treat boys or girls the same when it came to bodily functions. For example, we'd make sure the boys would be comfortable going to her with questions or problems if I wasn't around, and vice versa.

56:17And over the years, we would keep up with age-appropriate literature so we'd be equally informed. Just so happened we only had girls. Around 10 or so, when they started wanting more detailed explanations of where babies come from and such, we always conducted such conversations as a team, making it clear to each of them they could count on either of us. That being said, there have been some things which I never took part in. For example, the 19-year-old never asked me to take her bra shopping. That was all my wife. She did, however, occasionally ask me to pick up tampons or such in the years before she went to college.

56:49No, our daughter did not wait to tell me. It happened right after she got home from school on a half day. Wife works 10 hour shifts So she wouldn't have been there As I said in my original post For another four hours Our daughter has always been Closer to my wife than me 19 year old was closer to me Than my wife But I was who was available I'm sure that if we'd both been around Our 12 year old would have gone to her mom I wasn't trying to claim The dialogue was verbatim What was said My memory isn't that good But the general tone is there And some of it I did in fact Remember word for word So after a few days Things around the house Went back to normal My wife cooled off.

57:24Our daughter began talking to her again, and they didn't appear to have any issues, except that our daughter began coming to me more often about things instead of her mom. My wife obviously noticed, as they'd been very close before this, and was hurt but said nothing. I guess she figured she deserved it. Finally, one day after I got back from taking our daughter to school, my wife asked if she was still angry with her. I said I didn't think so. My wife just kind of deflated. She looked so miserable that I actually got worried, and I asked her if she was still angry. Wife said no, then admitted that she'd fucked up and gotten too into the concept of what others here have called menstruation celebration, which is a great phrase.

58:01It even rhymes. She said she'd been so focused on making sure our daughter had a positive experience that she brushed aside her reluctance to take part. And in my wife's defense, our daughter regularly does this. She'll say she isn't looking forward to doing something, but if she pushes past her shyness and takes part, nearly always has a good time. So my wife had thought this was just another example of our daughter doing that and didn't take it seriously. Then my wife said something which threw me for a loop. She asked me if I thought our daughter hated her now. I was stunned and automatically replied, of course not.

58:32She's just, and then I kind of trailed off because I didn't really know what to say. Upset was what I finally settled on. My wife was quiet. Then I asked her why she'd been so insistent since she hadn't tried to do this with our 19-year-old. No drama there. Our 19-year-old got hers at 13 while they were out shopping. It was handled before they even left the mall. She said when our 19-year-old started, it was just such a busy day that she didn't really have any time to think about it beyond, quick, let's go to the bathroom so I can help. And it wasn't until after this that my wife really thought about her own first period, which basically consisted of her being told virtually nothing beforehand by her emotionally manipulative mother.

59:06They've been no contact for 15 years, barely being 12 when it happened. and once she did go to her mom, only being handed a box of pads and warned not to get pregnant. Nothing more was ever said about that between them. My wife had to learn nearly everything from her friend's mother. Yeah, that old woman is a piece of work. My wife was determined she wouldn't behave like that toward our 12-year-old when it happened, but as events show, she basically went too far in the other direction. Then she asked me what I thought she could do to fix this. I told her the truth. Our daughter probably wasn't going to feel comfortable confiding in her again for a while, But if she really wanted to apologize, she should tell her what she just told me.

59:43And so she did. My wife went to pick our daughter up from school. And when they got home, I saw they'd both been crying, but also seemed happier. Turned out I wasn't quite right, and our daughter had still been harboring some resentment towards my wife for trying to push her into the period party. But after hearing my wife's story, she decided to forgive her, only asking that she promised not to do something like that again. And two months later, this happened in May, things between them seemed to be back to normal. Maybe not the most exciting resolution, but I don't think our daughter is going to hold a grudge over this or has permanently damaged their relationship.

1:00:16That was an update. Yay. Woo! Let me tell you, daughters harbor resentment, okay? I come from three sisters. We harbor resentment. We hold on to it for years unless there is that interception of a conversation. like I think it was really good that the mom went to her and said hey this is what my mom did and I just never wanted to be that way and I went in the other direction like kids are kids are resilient they're smart they they can be like oh okay I understand I think just like going back to the grief story like it's really good to start these conversations early because there were so many times that my mom would just like do things or be mad and then my dad was like well you know she's And I'm like, why didn't she just tell me that?

1:01:00I know it's a lot, but it's like, I think it's better to just, you know, be honest. And I'm glad that she like cut right to the point of it because she probably would have been mad at her for years. I'm sorry to say that, but it's real. I think that's a real thing with like between parents and their children. And I'd say even siblings. Especially daughters, man. Do you, I mean, it's okay if you don't have an example. This is a crazy thing to pull. But it's like, do you have examples of like a conversation that was had about something that had happened like 10 years prior? Like, I feel like that does like plenty of like I've heard plenty of stories of people being like, oh, my, my, I had a conversation with my dad or my mom about something that happened when I was a kid 20 years ago.

1:01:41To finally get resolution about it. All the time. Literally all the time. My mom and I just went through like a major breakthrough of something that happened when I was a teenager. Whoa. And she was like, you know, I never apologized, but this is how I was feeling. And I was like, I never knew that you felt that way. And now that makes so much more sense. And what's funny is it made me think about other things that I've done to, like, my sister and been like, oh, I fucked that up. And I once, like, went to my sister and told her, like, I was sorry. And she broke down. And that was, like, 15 years ago.

1:02:16I'm telling you. I'm not even just going to say women, but, like, families. you hold on to so much stuff and it's weird that it just going to the source and being like this is where i was actually at in that moment can solve years of pain totally i'm still working on it totally but like i i have so many examples of that with my mom and you know with with sisters too i don't know my family's just a lot of women and it's like we do we hold on to stuff we move forward. We'll have like a great time together. Totally. But it's still there. Yeah. Yeah. So I'm glad that she did that because that must have been really painful for her to be like, wow, does my daughter hate me?

1:03:00Yeah. Anyways, you gotta talk about periods. I'm always saying that. Trevor is saying it all the time. Trevor, you said that to me this morning like you gotta talk about periods. I was like, totally. It's like, I'll do this episode if you talk about periods. What can I say? It's time for our final story. This comes from Today I Fucked Up. This was posted in February of 2021. Today I fucked up by putting my head in a fishbowl before my daughter was born. They write, there's really not much backstory apart from the fact that my daughter was a breech baby and wouldn't turn. Due to various complications, we had opted for a planned C-section.

1:03:39The whole thing in general was just really bizarre. Like, you pick your kid's birthday just like that. Anyway, my wife and I tend to be goofy, fun-loving folk that are always up for a laugh. We do a lot of silly things together to make each other laugh, though as with most men, I tend to meander into the dumber territory more often as you will soon hear. On the day of the birth, just as we were about to leave for the hospital, I pick up this fishbowl-style lampshade. We have a photo of it here. It's a fishbowl-style lampshade. Oh, no, no, no. We put it up onto my head because we are boldly going where neither of us have gone before.

1:04:14I just saw it on my way to the door and didn't really think it through, so I immediately regretted this decision when my giant ears, my nose, and hair, I have down-to-my-ass length hair that was in a loose bun, ended up blocking my head in this thing, and I couldn't get it off. Oh, my God. We tried for a bit, and my wife was understandably over it pretty quick because we were going to be late for our baby appointment. so I made the executive decision to not make the situation any more stressful than it should have been, too late, and to just drive to the hospital with this on my head and hope that someone at the hospital might have some idea what I should do.

1:04:50As you can imagine, the car ride is a real mixed bag of emotions for us all. We arrive, I do the walk of shame into the maternity ward with this bubble on my head. I'm dying. Holding my wife's hand and there's this older nurse who greeted us and I could see her dinner plate eyes just screaming, what the fuck? And my wife jokingly said, yep, I'm having his baby, to which literally all the midwives in the maternity ward that could see us walk up the corridor just started howling with laughter. And whoever was not visible poked their heads around the corner to see this fucking spectacle. My wife was then ushered into a room where they monitored the baby and her.

1:05:24A nurse, who was this massive buff tattooed dude, by the way, so imagine that, took me to another one of those inspection rooms and got the thing off with some sort of lube slash gel. Anyway, uh-huh. He's like, I got this, buddy. Anyway, four hours later, we had a healthy baby, and I got hazed by some of the older midwives. It was really good fun in the end. Wouldn't recommend, but it definitely beats any other birth story I've heard and broke the ice with most of the staff. P.S., for those of you wondering how I got it on in the first place, here's some handy-dandy instructions in case you wanted to give it a go.

1:05:58Get the bun in first, then move downwards over the ears, then the nose, and then push down until the ears get into the rim. The bun will smush up inside and move downwards a bit, and voila, you're a jackass. Damn. I am dying. He was fully stuck. I would be in the car like, I can't believe we're walking in there. And he just turns around and he's like, it's a girl, girl. Like, she's so, she's probably so overwhelmed about a C-section. She wants to get a C-section. Do you guys know what that is? Can I? Yes. Can I? This is the wrong move, but can I tell you what popped into my head? Is if I was in his situation, I would have just like smashed my head against a wall.

1:06:44So I'd have been like, yeah, I've got to break it off. Then you would have been knocked out. No, I'm protected by the glass. Glass all up in your man's eye. I would probably just cut my jugulars and die. What is wrong with you? You're just like head off. Imagine he didn't get it off before the birth, and then his wife gets done. Oh, my God. And he's crying, and the bowl steams up. He can't. It all fogs up. He can't see. It's like Mysterio. No, if we want to really Mr. Bean this, on the drive there, a bee flies in and flies into the thing. He's just like, oh! Or he actually gets it. It fills with water and a goldfish.

1:07:22Like, no, those are the answers. That's where I thought this story was going. It's like Spongebob in the tree doll. Yeah, by the end of this story, he should have been on a skateboard rolling down. Comments. Someone said, voila, you're a jackass, best part. Someone said, please tell us you will be getting newborn photos with the fishbowl involved somehow. Lastly, someone said, you're going to be an urban legend in that ward forever now. Oh, my God. Those midwives were probably so happy. To have a legendary story at a hospital that isn't depressing is impressive. Yeah. And they probably really needed that laugh.

1:07:55Oh, yeah. You know what I mean? What a tough job. Good for him. Hey, he's kind of a hero. Hey, you know what? He's our legend today. I don't know. It is such a tough job, but I feel like what a joy. They get to see all these new babies. Like all the nurses. I had like five nurses, and they were so, right when Cole was about to be born, they were going like, it's his birthday, birthday party, birthday. And they brought out all these like, whatever those celebration things. They were like, birthday party, birthday party. And I was like, birthday party, birthday party, birthday party. And H had like music.

1:08:30Like they were just, I don't know. They are the most incredible people in the entire world. Like I don't know how they, I don't know how they do it. I don't. Hours. What time of day was it? 6.20 in the morning. Wow. Early morning. Yeah, it was 21. It's crazy. You had an 8 a.m. call time that day too. 21 hours. I got to write a story. it's like fishbowl on head that would be awful we had to give Napkin a fake birthday we gave him a birthday because we were lied to about what age he actually was so we don't know his actual birthday so based on how old he was his birthday we decided to make him an April Fool's baby fun because he's just you guys are so goofy and silly you guys are so fucking silly hey talk about you want to know who's silly he's Napkin that guy keeps me on my toes.

1:09:22You know what I mean? You know what I mean? He keeps you on my toes. Right when you said this couple was like a silly, like, I was like, I'm sorry. And then you hated them. You know, those couples were like, we try to pick each other a lot. They're both the assholes. Yeah. We're a little quirky. Everyone sucks here. We like to do a couple gags every day. I can't. Well, that's all our stories. Oh my God. Oh. The gift of life. Yeah, truly. Yeah, no, I was thinking about, like, myself, honestly, silently, in the things that I probably put my parents through. And I'm like, damn, they really were very patient with me.

1:09:56What's the RuneScape password, Dad? You're not mining enough mithril. Yeah, exactly. In RuneScape. Thank you. Wow, that was so fun. That was fun. Thank you both for being here. Thank you for having us. And thank you for watching. And hey, we'll see you next Saturday. Goodbye. Goodbye. Goodbye. So when are we going to have that boner party?