We have clean hearts when we are kids, so everything seems perfect, dreamy, and pure. But as we get older and think back on our childhood, we may notice details and hints that lead us to much darker truths about our parents and families. The stories we’re telling today bring these realizations to light. People who lived through them say that learning about our past gives us the strength to make the future better.

“When I was seven, my mom told me she won tickets to “dance shows” for life.” She had stacks and made me give them to a big bald man at the door every time. She said it was good practice. It was dark there and the couches were red, but for some reason I don’t remember the shows. I would fall asleep at the beginning and wake up in the morning. After 20 years, I had a sudden memory flashback and realized those weren’t tickets. Mom was a dancer in the theater. She took me to work every night because she didn’t have anyone else to watch me. She made up a cute story to keep me from thinking about how late it was for bed. The more I understand this, the more I respect her. It must have been hard for her to raise me without any help or a good income now that I’m a mom.

I remember waiting in line for bread with my grandfather when I was very young. He bought me gum when they had it and let me carry the bread “vouchers.” I loved it because I was his favorite. When I was in college, I told my mom that I didn’t have any pictures of me as a baby. She laughed and told him, “Don’t worry about the pictures. I was just trying to keep you alive.” I would skip meals sometimes so you could. Not a known author/Reddit

My sister, mom, and I used to have “candle nights” as kids. We’d light candles all over the house and sit under the dining room table to talk and tell stories. I loved those nights with my sister. I didn’t understand why the lights would go out until I was older. It was because my mom couldn’t afford the electricity. Even though she had trouble with money, she worked so hard to make our childhood great. from damorgster on Reddit

My mom always had to work in different cities, taking any job she could get. She would leave me to live with my grandmother. It wasn’t weird for me to see her with a new baby every time we got back together. I thought, “Oh, a new sibling!” My grandmother died before meeting the last two because my mom was too ashamed to tell her. There are five of us, and my mom never sent any money from those jobs to my grandmother. Not a known author/Reddit

During the summer, my mom would take my brother and me to hotels close to our home. At the time, I didn’t know that it was her way of getting away from my dad since he had kicked her out. From ImNiceGuySmile on Reddit

For dinner as a child, I could always choose what I wanted until I moved in with my mom’s boyfriend around the fourth grade. I didn’t figure out it was because my mother was very allergic to food until my sophomore year of college. She didn’t care what was for dinner because she wasn’t going to eat it. By emzy996 on Reddit

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