“A miracle came just days before he passed away. At just 20 months old, our son had only verbalized one word. Dog. Yet, he responded to my wife and I as we laid over his crib, tears falling from our cheeks, expressing our love for him. With absolute perfect clarity, our little boy looked up at us. I held him for the last time. I crave his smile. I miss seeing his eyes light up.”
‘With perfect clarity, our 20-month-old looked up at us. ‘I love you.’ It was a miracle days before he passed.’: Father recalls tender moment son diagnosed with childhood cancer shocked parents, ‘Those words are forever etched in my memory’
‘I told him to stop! He pushed him again. So, I punched him, hard,’ my son said. I took him for ice cream.’: Mom proud of son for sticking up for bullied classmate, ‘My child has full permission to rock your kid’s world if they’re bullying them’
“I walked in to pick my son up from kindergarten. There was a crying child, holding his face, looking embarrassed. On the other side of the room, my child, arms folded across his chest, eyebrows touching in the middle, a teacher squatting down to talk to him. ‘There’s been an incident’. The teacher was asking him the wrong questions: ‘Did you hit him?’ I watched the teacher’s expression change.”
‘How’s your son?’ ‘He’s a homeless heroin addict. I don’t know if he’s alive.’ I left the nail salon in tears.’: Mom’s son ‘missing’ due to opioid addiction, ‘until we meet again, I love you to the moon and back’
“Last week, I ran into an old friend at the nail salon. I hadn’t seen her in 18 years. ‘Kerry, is that YOUUU?!’ She gestured to sit next to me. I obliged. With every question, she tried to one-up me. ‘My son is studying at YALE. The other is on the honor roll again! Isn’t that just WONDERFUL?’ Then, she asked about my son. I completely froze up. Half my brain wanted to lie, the other half wanted to say ‘Shame on you.’”
‘Hey, Luke. You owe me some money. Remember??’ He realized he had to fork over the money.’: Mom shows son ‘tough love’ lesson because ‘I’m a MOM. I follow through.’
“His cheeks were streaked with tears. ‘But it’s my tooth fairy money.’ I almost caved. I almost handed it back to him and smiled and said something like, ‘Don’t worry about it, Buddy.’ But I didn’t.”
‘He never even looked for me. Not when he fell. Not when he stood back up. It stunned me, to be honest.’: 6-year-old doesn’t need mom after falling hard, ‘I watched and I watched, and I waited’
“My little boy was knocked off his feet by a bigger kid during a soccer game. My hands were clinched on the sidelines as I watched him limp toward the goal. I watched and I watched, and I waited. And he never even looked for me. He fell hard. And he didn’t even look for me.”
‘Call my mom,’ he’d written on his shirt. He just hung himself off a bridge. I did not believe it.’: Mother urges ‘you are not a burden’ after losing ‘beautiful, smiling-faced’ son to suicide
“We woke up to find him gone. We’d just gotten into an argument because he was caught sneaking out. We couldn’t call him because he had his phone taken away. Panic set in. Was he running away? Or just hiding out for a bit? We turned the corner to police cars, fire trucks, and road closures. ‘Are you Jennifer Chappell?,’ the police officer asked me. ‘Yes.’ I was too late.”
‘How is he? Does he have 10 fingers and toes?’ He replied, ‘Actually, no he doesn’t.’ They looked concerned.’: Mom surprised by son’s cleft hands diagnosis, ‘None of these ‘extra’ ultrasounds noticed my child’s hands’
“I’ve always known the ‘middle finger’ could cause a stir, but I never knew the lack of one could cause a bigger stir. When I got back to my room, they all looked concerned. The nurses ‘had never seen anything like this,’ and thought he’d be a good excuse for show and tell. I saw a beautiful, perfect baby boy, but the nurses and doctors saw something ‘different.’”
‘He was terrified he’d watch her leap off the bridge. He pushed forward, to ‘catch her feet’ if she went over the rails.’: Son saves stranger from near suicide attempt, ‘if you hear someone calling out for help, you can’t turn away’
“We couldn’t find our son anywhere. We were stunned to hear what happened in the time he’d been ‘missing.’ As he came upon the bridge, he saw an outline of a person perched on the railing with her body leaning over the top, looking down toward the raging river. Eventually, she looked back at him with a terrifying look in her eyes. ‘How can I help?,’ he asked.”
‘Our 12-year-old son might as well have been looking at a car accident, his mouth open aghast. We didn’t explain ourselves.’: Parents proud of PDA in front of their kids, ‘I want them to feel comfortable showing their affection’
“I came up from behind, put my arms around my wife, turned her around, and did one of those dramatic dip kisses. She laughed as I pulled her back up. It was then that I could feel someone watching us.”
‘HOW OLD ARE YOU?’ The man yelled. ‘Five,’ the boy mumbled. ‘THEN ACT LIKE IT,’ he growled.’: Mom appalled by father’s rude behavior at Disney World, ‘I was livid. Kids are freaking kids’
“His father walked up to the ramp and yelled his name. It surprised me. The kid was legitimately 4 feet away. This was all for dramatic effect, and it worked. ‘Cade, get your butt over here! HOW OLD ARE YOU?!’ My son and daughter froze in place, thinking they were in trouble, also. I didn’t know how to respond.”
