Woman Calls Out Her Mom About Her Gift Giving Methods And Causes Some Bad Old Memories To Resurface

Every family has its quirks. You might think your family is weird until you get to know other families.

However, there is a significant difference between odd rules and outright emotional abuse. Small children depend on their parents to teach them the ways of the world and the rules that apply within it.

Sometimes, though, parents create their own rules that serve no purpose other than to alleviate their own frustrations and insecurities. This behavior is disturbing, appalling, and frankly, should be punishable by law.

Most of these parents eventually face consequences—when their kids grow up, they often choose not to maintain contact, which is the harshest punishment for any parent. Perhaps they regret being so strict; who knows...

But that doesn't absolve them of their guilt. Transforming their children's happy childhoods into a constant fear of parental disapproval is a terrible, terrible thing.

Of course, some might argue that this is not a big deal and that one should simply get over it. Well, that's exactly what the OP of this story attempted to do.

She decided that the past should remain in the past and would not let it affect her life. But occasionally, some old wounds resurface...

OP asks:

Reddit

OP had a family gathering for the gift opening. Her kids loved their presents, and her mom stated that she always bought her whatever she wanted when she was a kid.

Reddit

And that wasn't exactly how OP remembers it.

Reddit

They got into an argument in front of the rest of the family.

Reddit

Mom later approached OP and was upset because she had embarrassed her in front of others. OP now wonders if she did something wrong.

Reddit

Good question. Why?

Reddit

OP responded, and frankly, this is the worst possible reason to apologize.

Reddit

This is an interesting explanation.

Reddit

Some Redditors were a bit extreme.

Reddit

They even suggested therapy.

Reddit

This perfectly depicts a narcissistic person.

Reddit

This too.

Reddit

Yes, it was pure emotional abuse.

Reddit

The truth will set you free...

Reddit

Some Redditors share their experiences:

Reddit

And they are disturbing, to say the least...

Reddit

What can we say to this...

Reddit

That's a good point. Worth looking into :)

Reddit

One Redditor asked OP:

Reddit

And the reply was disturbing.

Reddit

After reading some of the many questions that came in, OP posted an update:

Reddit

You can’t change the past, but you can move forward.

Reddit

Edit 2: Grandma is being carefully observed.

Reddit

What OP's mom was doing to her was pure mental abuse. She was inventing reasons to punish her.

We can’t say what was going on in this woman’s mind at the time. We noticed that there is no mention of Dad in this story.

Perhaps Dad left, and OP’s mom was subconsciously trying to hurt OP’s dad. Maybe that was her way of getting even.

Or perhaps she was resentful of the fact that a child was preventing her from enjoying her life, going out, dating, etc.

We can’t be sure about the reasons, but we are confident that her actions were terrible and cannot be justified.