Most kids absolutely idolize their parents. They’re the smartest, funniest, most loving superheroes in the world. And if a child is lucky, they’ll be raised in a home where Mom and Dad never let them down. But in reality, there comes a time where the vast majority of us realize that our parents are human too, which means they are far from perfect.
Bored Panda has scoured the internet to find the most egregious examples of fathers treating their children poorly, so we’ve gathered some heartbreaking examples below. From sending toxic text messages to making it clear that they don’t actually love their kids, these experiences would send anyone straight to therapy. So good luck making it through these painful images, and be sure to upvote the men that don’t deserve to be dads.
#1 How My Dad Informed Me He Got Married
No calls, no follow up since then.
Image source: portlandmack
#2 My Dad Has Grown Increasingly Paranoid Given The State Of Things
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#3 Taken From A Parenting Group I’m In
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#4 So I’ve Been Leaving Early For School Everyday To Beat The Traffic And Be Able To Back Up In My Spot Without Getting In Peoples Way And My Dad Said I Can Only Leave After 6:30 From Now On
I’ve been doing that except this one day I wanted to finish some homework in my car and vibe out before school, so I left a few minutes early. He sent this. This is the fifth grounding in the past two weeks.
Image source: com_pare
#5 Dad Smashed My Monitor
He’s thrown out some of my stuff in the past too, most of which for no reason, but straight up smashing something this expensive was something else.
Image source: __Delusion__
#6 Stood Up To My A**sive Dad For The First Time In My Life And This Was His Response
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#7 My Dad’s Comment On Me Requesting Him To No Longer Make Snarky Comments About My Mental Health
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#8 2 Years Ago After My 8th Concussion I Decided To Quit Football. This What My Dad Texted Me In Response To Me Quitting Because Of My Concern For My Future Health
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#9 My Little Sister Tried To Take Her Life. I Found Out Days Later, Then Asked My Dad For More Info
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#10 I Was Driving Around Los Angeles And Saw This Smart Parent Driving His Bike While Kid Was In The Back Im Guessing “Enjoying” A Ride In The Back With Dad With Absolutely Zero Protection
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#11 Dad Thinks I’m On A Date With A Guy
Image source: reddit.com
#12 Recently Gave My Dad Another Chance And This What I Got 2 Days Later
After 2 years no contact with my father, this was the message I got from him not even 3 days after I allowed him to have contact with me again. Bella is my younger half sister.
He wants me to send him a 2-4 page paper from something I have written in college to send to him for an interview he is having.
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#13 There’s A Word For Not Allowing Your Kids To Socialize Outside The Family. Starts With Letter G
Image source: derpwild, Matt Walsh
#14 My Dad
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#15 Got This Text Today, All Because I Prefer To Go By Jenny And Not Jacob
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#16 My Dad Texted Me This After Months Of Not Speaking
Me and my dad have never had a good relationship but when we were at our “best” he ended up trying to do very inappropriate things to me when he was extremely drunk. Instead of owning up to it and apologizing for his actions, he has blatantly denied it and called me a liar.
Today he had the audacity to text me this. My response was impulsive and emotionally charged, but I had never confronted him directly about it (only told my mom.. they’re separated now). So this was a huge relief for me to get off my chest. I would rather go no contact than to feel this bad when I get a message from him.
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#17 This Happened Within 2 Minutes Of Me Getting Home And Having To Pee
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#18 Here’s A Text Conversation With My Bio Dad After He Saw That My Mother Got Married
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#19 My Dad After I Told Him I’m Going To College
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#20 My Older Sibling Came Out To Our Parents And Our Dad Isn’t Taking It Too Well
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#21 My Dad, Everybody
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#22 My Dad Bans Me From Hanging Out With My Only Friend Over A Dr. Pepper
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#23 My Dad Is Back
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#24 My Dad Got Upset And Sent Me This After I Posted A NY Times Article On Facebook
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#25 What My Dad Sent Me After I (21) Slept Over At My Boyfriend’s (20) House – This Happened A Couple Months Before I Moved Out
Image source: LeeSaysHey
#26 Toxic Fathers Are The Worst
Image source: SnooChipmunks386
#27 Texted My Dad I Was The Victim Of A Minor Hit-And-Run. His Response 3 Days Later? AI-Generated Bigfoot Sightings
Older car, hit-and-runs happen, but dad’s response after ghosting me for 3 days absolutely k**led me. Thanks for the emotional support, King of the Cryptids.
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#28 I’m Trying So Hard To Have Patience With My Dad But He Makes It So Damn Hard. He Complains When I Leave Him On Read But Then He Says Stuff Like This And I Just Get So Exhausted
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#29 I Come From Two Fathers And My Father Regularly Texts Me This. I’m Straight And Am Not Sure If I Should Tell Him This Isn’t Appropriate?
Image source: FunnyGamer97
#30 My Dad Disowned And Threatened Me Because I Did Not Tell My Mom Happy Mother’s Day
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#31 My Boyfriend’s Dad, Everyone
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#32 Almond Dad Is Almond Dadding. (First Text Was Sent To My Sister Who Is Recovering From An Ed, Second Text Was Sent To Us Both)
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#33 My Dad’s Been Blowing Up My Sister’s Phone These Last Couple Days So I Finally Blew Up On Him. I’ve Put Up With This For Two Years And It’s Finally Over. Saddening
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#34 This Is My Dad. He Makes Me Feel Guilty Saying I Am The Only Person On The Planet He Can Talk To. He’s A Mega Mental Exploiter And Ostracized Himself From Everyone
Image source: Charmien
#35 Text From My Alcoholic Dad. Wants Quality Time With My BF While He’s In Town (LDR). My BF’s Name Isn’t Randy. Don’t Know How To Deal Sometimes
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#36 Messages My “Dad” Sent Me
I have no relationship with my parents. Out of the blue, Dad messaged me today after not speaking to me for a year. I was always treated like the black sheep. I wish I had one normal parent.
Image source: Life-Contribution650
#37 I’ve Been Living With My Dad For Less Than A Month, Both Of Our Names Are On The Lease, We Both Pay Rent
Long story short, my dad kicked me out in 2019 and I’ve been low contact with him up until I was forced to move in with him. Both of our names are on the lease and we both pay equal rent which I struggle to do since I work at night and I’m full time. These are just a few of the problematic conversations we’ve had.
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#38 My Dad Wants To Take Me To Court Because I Haven’t Seen Her (Yes, Her, She’s Trans Which I’m Fine With) In A While
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#39 Asked Question About How I Should Approach Telling My Dad That I Am Pregnant. Apparently, This Is His Response Even Though I Was Unable To Tell Him
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#40 Apparently It’s Against God To Want To Know Your Ancestry
After doing AncestryDNA, my sister and I found out that we only have the same mother. After texting my mom about it in July, I never heard from her again. Never reached out to my dad. Then received these messages.
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#41 This Is My Dad… The Same Person Who Blamed My S**ual A**ault On Me. And Then Proceeded To Send Me Copies Of Songs From His Church
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#42 Text Out Of Nowhere From My Dad
I’m 8 months pregnant and this is what my dad said after asking how the baby is doing. No context, that’s the whole text string. Exhausting.
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#43 Guess My Dad Doesn’t Like Eye Of The Rah
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#44 My Dad After I Went To Live With Him And It Only Lasted A Week
Week was great, until I woke up one morning and told him I didn’t feel good and that I didn’t know if I’d make it to school, to which he responded with spraying me with a squirt bottle until I cried, mocked me crying, said my life wasn’t bad, refused to leave while I begged and screamed at him to leave me alone until my throat went raw, and told me he didn’t have long left to live (he has cancer), and then told me he was “sorry it didn’t work out” in a solemn voice like he wasn’t the problem when I went to pick up my stuff. I’m 17 by the way.
Image source: PepperedFlakes
#45 How My Dad Texts Me A Day After I Dropped Off Thanksgiving Goodies While He Was Out
Always blaming me for random things and he never says thank you for anything I do and yet I still do things.
Image source: Jedi_Bish
#46 Just My Dad’s Slightly Excessive Response To Me Sending A Package To Him That He Never Asked If He Could Have Delivered To My Address In The First Place
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#47 Cops Showed Up To My Wedding
My father is an alcoholic, him and i have a rough past ever since I came out as bi. Day of our wedding, he shows up drunk and decides to cause a scene because i forgot to have him walk with me during rehearsals. It was a dry wedding, so nobody else was drinking. He was yelling, trying to call the wedding off, cursing, and yelling threats. Heard all of it from up in the bridal suite.
Luckily my husband’s family are cops/ex-cops and military, so they knew how to handle the situation. And no, no one tried to attack him. Cops did end up coming to get him off-site. He sent that text after they came. Was blocked instantly.
Image source: FleurirGremlinx
#48 This Is My Dad. He Never Called Me Back
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#49 My Dad Calling While I’m Sleeping
I’m a nightshift nurse. I have repeatedly told my dad to please text before calling. I’m talking about at least five times I have asked him to just text first or call after 6 pm. On Friday, despite my requests, he called me twice. Once at 2pm and again at 3pm. Both times I sent him to voicemail, then texted him to tell him I was sleeping (shown in the photo).
I do put my phone on DND, however if anyone calls twice in 5 minutes, it will ring, as I have two children in daycare and need to be alerted for emergencies. I’m sure there’s a way I can mute his calls completely with certain settings, but I just wish he’d respect my boundaries. He even told me last week he doesn’t care that I work nights. I am so frustrated at the lack of respect.
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#50 Insane Dad Is Mad That I Didn’t Answer Him The First Time
So, I was hanging out with a friend and my dad called and I couldn’t answer him because my phone was messing up and being slow. And I got this text after. Real encouraging, dad. This definitely won’t make me fear you more than I do.
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#51 Be Good For Dad-God
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#52 My Dad After Him And I Had An Argument About God, Evolution, Sexuality And Anything Else That Can Get A Christian Child Banned From The Internet
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#53 Im 26 Years Old. I Was Partying With Friends Until 6 AM. This Is My Dad’s Response
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#54 Both Of My Parents Are Emotionally A**sive And Toxic. I Haven’t Heard From My Dad In 5 Years. He Reached Out To Argue With Me Because I Publicly Support Black Lives Matter
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#55 My Dad Screamed At Me On And Off For Six Hours Today. I Am Very, Very Tired
My rabbit accidentally chewed his shoes, and they are ruined. I apologized, explained that I didn’t see her do it, and offered to cover the expenses of a new pair. That wasn’t good enough and he brought up how she has chewed holes in other furniture that is thousands of dollars, apparently. He called me pathetic, ungrateful, lazy, rude, disrespectful, and a litany of other names. He followed me from room to room screaming insults at me as well as calling all his friends and telling them I’m a horrid, awful child.
Note: I lost my job because I had a panic attack at work. I was the only person working a 2-3 person job and was so worn thin I was vomiting from the stress of it and having panic attacks. The last one was too much apparently and I quit/was let go. I haven’t even been unemployed for two weeks and he’s already throwing out insults he knows would hurt. He said I’m a loser who can’t ‘respect authority’ and that’s why I will never succeed and can’t keep a job. I’m double majoring, was working full time, and plan on trying to be a lawyer.
I’m really tired.
Image source: Deevys
#56 Dad Tried To Call Me 2 Minutes Into An Important Phone Call So I Didn’t Answer
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#57 My Dad Sent Me A Text At 1 AM Because My Brother Accidently Mentioned I Was Talking To A Girl
He does this a lot where he’ll not talk to me for like a moth, then try and guilt me into coming home and seeing him. If it wasn’t a bit sad I’d probably just completely cut contact.
Oh and the thing about “my culture” is weird, my parents are Vietnamese but I was born in and have lived in the UK my entire life.
Image source: LittleMissTes
#58 Not Nearly The Most Disappointing Thing My Father Has Ever Done… But It’s Small Examples Like This That Just Let Me Down So Much. Do Boomers Not Know How To Engage With Their Children?
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#59 $80 Cutlery Set Not Good Enough For This Father. Proceeds To Roast His Own Daughter
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#60 My Father Who Now Has 5 Different Baby Mamas Is Having Another Child. All Of His Children Were Essentially Raised Separate From Him Due To Him Not Being A Good Partner
He doesn’t have a home or stable income and drinks way too much. My worry is that I and my siblings will have to step up to raise this child because I can’t see my father living past 75, and I don’t think that the mother will ever be in a financial position to care for this child and set them up to go to college and so on.
What would be the best course of action if I do need to raise my brother later down the line? Not to mention the baby mama is 5 years older than me. Then he says this. You have hella kids and can’t care for them. You were supposed to pay for my sister’s school, and now you have a whole child coming into the world, and you are old and tired.
The whole situation is whack. His grandchild is now older than one of his own.
Image source: ReplacementSoggy4416
#61 I Had To Pick My Parents Up From The Airport Today, My Dad Insists On Driving Any Time He Can. It Doesn’t Matter How Many Times I Offer, He Will Be The One Driving If We Are Going Somewhere
He speeds, weaves, and curses at anyone in front of him. He also has started glancing at his phone from time to time which makes me want to scream. It gets me clenching the door handle and closing my eyes at times just to try and calm myself down. And all of this nonsense just to get home roughly 2-6 minutes faster than we would have.
I have some genuine anxiety attatched to driving, thanks to a rather traumatizing high school driver’s Ed program put on at our local hospital. We got to learn all about the ways that reckless driving and speeding can destroy lives and cripple futures.
Trying to mention that his driving makes me unsafe or asking him to slow down never goes well. He also drives this way with his kids and wife in the car, so I’m sure he also does it when he drives his grandson. It’s all so infuriating, and I can’t really do anything about it.
Image source: RusserBusser
#62 Stranded At Train Station
Caught the bus somewhere the other day, as I don’t have a car. The only train back to near my home was delayed. I had previously called my step dad asking “hey, my train will be there soon, can you pick me up then? He said ok. I then notice that my train was delayed and the next bus would be in an hour, so I texted him that. He then callled me and screamed at me through the phone for not being at the station, before going back home and telling me to get home myself. I live half an hour walk from the station.
Image source: Altruistic-Ball-572
#63 My Dad Facetimed Me Upset, But The Connection Was So Bad, The Video Wouldn’t Work And I Could Only Hear Every 3rd Syllable. I Asked If We Could Talk Over The Phone Instead So I Could Hear
Instead he called my stepmom, boyfriend, grandma, and friend to ask them to “talk to me about being respectful.”
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#64 My Dad Only Talks To Me When He’s Drunk
My dad is an alcoholic/binge drinker. He calls them his “drinking days” and it depends on the week but sometimes up to four days a week in a row. He’ll go on a complete rampage and get so obliterated he’s not even forming complete sentences. I’m so lucky we live in different states now and I can keep him at arms-length. Doesn’t mean that this vulgarity doesnt get to me sometimes tho.
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#65 That Time My Dad Was Fighting With His Girlfriend And Sent Me This Nonsense At Work
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#66 My Little Sister Was Too Scared Of Our Verbally And Emotionally A**sive Dad To Get The Rest Of Her Stuff From His House. I Made Up An Excuse For Why I Was There Instead Of Her
It ended with me leaving in tears as he screamed “You’re the worst daughter ever.” Got this lovely text an hour later.
Image source: I_lied_I_am_fine
#67 My Dad Has Been Literally Bullying My Sister For Not Sharing Her Edible Arrangements With The Family. The EA That Was A Reward From Our Mother To Her For Getting A Scholarship
My younger sister won a JROTC scholarship to get her private pilots license over the summer and our dad has been bullying her for “not being grateful” for everyone’s help. She has been the exact opposite and specifically thanked her friends, flight and family at the ceremony. Our parents are divorced and have split custody, the EA was delivered by my mother specifically for her as a congratulations present.
Image source: PeanutJellyButterIII
#68 Dad Tries To Blackmail Me Into Visiting Him By Withholding Medication
I’ve been dealing with depression for 4 years due to his emotional abuse and finally turned old enough to refuse to visit my dad’s house on the scheduled weeks. I’ve been living with my mom full-time and am trying to seek treatment, but my dad (and his girlfriend) have decided they would prefer to go to court to prevent me from getting treatment. He tells anyone who will listen that my mom left him for a woman and is sleeping around, and that I have NPD inherited from her. Meanwhile, in reality, she left him because he abused her so badly that she’s been sick— vertigo, chronic pain and MCAS— for years. He only types this nicely because he’s trying to get screenshots to show in court.
Image source: force_0f_chaos
#69 Dad Got Angry At Me For Going Out
For context, my mum was sick all week and I’d been home looking after her. I left my seventeen year old brother alone with my eleven year old sister and my mum for few hours. My sister went to bed about an hour after I went out. She’s an easy kid. My mum was in bed. My brother is capable, it’s not like he has any issues that could possibly make it hard for him to put an eleven year old to bed and then sit around on his Xbox. This conversation with my dad happened, and then a phone conversation that lead to me going NC with him. He’s insane and he’s been like this my entire life. I just wanted a few hours to breathe.
Image source: Spiderman2099bf
#70 My Dad Takes Me To School In The Mornings, On Fridays I Have Late Start Meaning It Starts An Hour After
Yesterday I had told him to pick me up at 8:20, he texts me and says he had arrived at 8:08. I told him that I will be down at 8:20 considering that is the designated time I set. I get outside at exactly 8:20 and he is gone. He left me.
Image source: FaithlessnessFar1821
#71 After 4 Years Of Almost No Contact With My Dad, I Wrote A Letter To Reach Out Through Email Since I Freeze Up When I Try To Talk In Person. This Was His Response
My initial letter was to reach out and say I’m doing much better than I was when I first went low contact, and that I’m working on trying to find words to explain why, but it’ll take a little more time on my end. I also explained that it takes time to process my emotions and words so I’m writing an email instead of talking in person, as the last couple times we tried to talk in person it didn’t go well and I was mostly silent.
My mom sent a response that was basically “I’m sorry, I wish we’d have done things differently raising you, I’m glad you’re ok and if this is how you need to talk to us, that’s perfectly fine”
But my dad sent a very long response full of deflections and telling me to list all the things he’s done wrong as a parent, while asking 6 different times to talk in person.
I responded going paragraph by paragraph to his letter, and stood my ground saying I’ll only discuss everything through messages since I don’t think I’ll be able to do it in person yet.
He responded with this, and I responded “then there will be no conversation” and left it there.
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#72 This Text My Dad (For Lack Of A Better Word) Sent My Brother About A Month Ago. And He Wonders Why We Don’t Talk To Him
Image source: Dynamite227
#73 Dad Sent Me (23f) These Messages On Christmas Morning, As Him And My Stepmother Felt Disrespected That I Used A “Black Heart” In My Merry Christmas Text To Her
On Christmas morning I sent both my father and stepmother, both of which I don’t have much of a relationship with, and in my stepmothers text I included a “♥︎” which in black text appears black and in white text appears white. Like I said, it is the only heart I use. Am I overreacting or was this uncalled for to begin with and handled improperly? Especially for it being Christmas morning.
Image source: MagicalFairyBunny
#74 I Won’t Go To My Dad’s Wedding Ceremony
My dad and I have always had a rocky relationship. He was physically and emotionally abusive to me for years before I finally cut him off, however, we were rolling towards maybe having a relationship again around the time I graduated college, and I invited him to come. Not only did he not come to my graduation, but he told me he was going to. I helped him pick out and book a hotel, and we made a plan for the time we were going to spend together that weekend. However, he got my hopes up only to not show up.
After that, I made the decision that I’m not going to allow him back in my life. Graduating was a really big deal for me as I’m the first person in my family to graduate and get a degree but he didn’t care enough to come. But he never offered me an explanation or apologized to me for getting my hopes up only to not show up.
Fast forward two years, he got married to his fifth wife and didn’t tell anybody. Not me or my siblings. We had to find out on Facebook. Then he sends me this text asking if I’ll “put everything behind us” and be there for him. Honestly, I was angry that he even asked me.
Image source: Same-Mammoth-218
#75 Finally Standing Up To My Dad After Years Of Trauma
So for context, I got into an argument with my father because I told him he was a horrible father when I was growing up. I was raised mainly by a single mother all my life. I was visiting my brother and his kids by my dad, and the topic of us growing up came into conversation, and I told him, “You basically neglected me my whole life. I’ve seen you maybe 15 times my whole life. I invited you to my graduation because I only had ten tickets, and you did not attend simply because I didn’t count a ticket for your wife. She never once supported me growing up. She is not a part of my family either, so there was no reason for me to give her a ticket”. And this led to it becoming physical and him trying to drag me out of the house and fracturing my radius (arm). My brother intervened and didn’t allow him to put his hands on me, but my dad did call me all out of my name.
Image source: ObjectNo-007
#76 Insane Father-In-Law Messages To My BF
Okay so this is a goofy one right here. I literally do nothing. I am quiet and reserved and clean and I’ve even done his laundry and cleaned his house for free multiple times. He randomly starts coming at me like this for no reason whatsoever just because he’s butthurt we had plans yesterday and couldn’t help fix up his rental house for free that day. I actually do cook and clean for my man every single day and make sure his clothes are ready for work and plan dates for us because he’s horrible at that. His dad just comes in like this with no information and c**p talks me like this. We’re currently planning on moving as soon as we can to get over all this, but it sucks bc he wanted to have a relationship with his dad, but he treats the people he loves this way.
Image source: Rian_P077erHead
#77 I Wake Up Nearly Everyday To My Dad Still Not Knowing How To Throw Garbage In The Garbage Bin
Image source: Succrative
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