“I will never forget the shame and fear in her eyes as she looked up at me and asked, ‘Am I?’ Those kind brown eyes searched my face for the truth. Kind of chubby… Those words reached down into my body, grabbed my heart with a fierce grip and punched me in the stomach.”
‘You know, short hair, glasses, chubby.’ I was literally jarred. I asked my daughter to repeat what she said.’: Mom ‘angry’ after daughter was called ‘chubby’ by classmate, ‘everyone giggled’
‘But mommy, it wasn’t someone else. It was him.’ She hurled herself into my arms, sobbing. She was broken.’: Mom defends daughter branded a ‘liar’ after preschool bully relentlessly torments her
“She was physically assaulted with a metal toy that cut her eye. The bully was ‘dealt’ with… it was ‘rambunctious play!’ My shell of a little girl thought this meant no one liked her. She talked about changing schools. My heart broke. It went on for years. She was defeated at 7 years old.”
‘Sure, my boys got a bad grade. Or two. But kindness is more important than the honor roll will EVER be.’: Mom claims school success is all about character, not grades
“I want to know if my kid saw the new boy sitting by himself at recess and looked the other way. Saw the little girl with worn-out, hand-me-down clothes and laughed. If he was rude to his teacher when she got her own math problem wrong. In the grand scheme of things, who they’re becoming will have greater lasting effects.”
‘Ding dong, my loans are dead.’ I was DONE. I made a decision. I’d become debt-free by 30.’: 28-year-old woman remarkably pays off $102K in student loans, ‘I finally killed them’
“I cut my budget and lived off of less than a third of my monthly salary. (Turns out, packing lunches and not taking Ubers can save you a ton.) I worked multiple jobs at once, my day job and then side hustles. I walked dogs until my feet literally bled. In the cold. In the rain. In the heat. Nothing was beneath me. I babysat. I cat sat. I stayed up for 24 hours straight.”
‘My son came home with a bite mark on his arm. Here’s what I did about it: Nothing.’: Mom is sick of placing blame, says ‘we’re on the same team, he’s fine’
“I signed an incident report which stated he didn’t even cry at the time. Do I need to be upset? Nah. I would’ve given anything to have just one mom look up at me and say, ‘I’ve been there too. It’s okay.’”
‘Oh my Gosh! I’m crying in Aldi’s! Please judgy cashier, keep walking past. Screw these bags.’: Mom caught off guard, brought to tears in grocery store after realizing she was ‘missing my partner’
“Clearly, I was not mentally prepared to grocery shop this morning. Something wasn’t right. The drive was short and quiet. I quickly got out of my car with everything I needed. Really, it was an Aldi shopping success…. until I reached the bagging counter. That’s when it struck me, why I was so off. For the first time in 9 years, I was missing my partner.”
‘You know mom, teachers should never be mean like that. It’s so bad.’: Mom shocked by young son’s ‘super tender heart’ after revealing her teacher bullied her
“I said, ‘You’re so lucky to have such a nice teacher. When I was in third grade my teacher didn’t like me. When my desk would get really messy, she would take my desk in front of the whole room and dump it upside down and make me clean it all back up.’ I thought he’d be shocked or mad on my behalf, but nope. ‘That’s just so sad mom.'”
‘Go visit your high school friends. The ones who make your southern accent come back with one conversation.’: Woman insists high school friends are the ones who ‘help guide you back to your roots’
“They’re the ones who hold your best-kept secrets, and swear they’ll take them to their grave.”
‘Eff the PTO!’ I wanted to throw my computer against the wall. I was DONE. AA meetings? I stopped going altogether.’: Mom quits PTO to focus on sobriety, now works on ‘being present with kids’ instead of ‘giving too much’ to make up for ‘past failures’
“For 20 years, I drank. I missed birthdays, sports, parent-teacher conferences. My kids never knew if they were getting the calm, sober mom or the angry-drunk mom. Guilt ate me alive and my sobriety turned me into a new person: the yes mom. Volunteer as a coach for my daughter’s softball team? Sure thing! Soccer team needs a manager? Oh, me, me. I’ll do it! I was in over my head. I thought this PTO gig would make it up to my kids, but I was DONE.”
‘How was school?’ He sobbed, ‘My best friend doesn’t want to hang out anymore because I’m gay.’: Mom to LGBT son ‘in tears’ after local family ‘plant seed of fear,’ ‘this is why moms like me lose their kids’
“I wanted to pull over, crawl in the back seat, and hug him. ‘She said her family doesn’t hang out with gay people.’ Tears dripped through his little fingers. When we got home, he climbed into my lap like a small child. ‘I love you so much. If I could take the pain away, I would,’ I whispered. ‘I know,’ he whispered back, ‘But you can’t take away the gay.’ My heart shattered.”
