Secrets and lies from your parents!?

kibean

My mom moved in with this guy when I was in college. I found out 2 years later that they had gotten married (and had been married 2 years when I found out) because she slipped up and told me she was going to divorce him. She swore me to secrecy because she was still getting money from my dad that would go away if he knew she was married. I raked her over the coals for this, but couldn't squeal on her because I just didn't feel it was my place. 

To this day they are still married, live in different states, NEVER speak at all to each other, and no one else in my family knows but me and my DH. 

robbinrl

I just remembered I am accomplice to a secret in my family. My dad has bipolar disorder and has been arrested for shoplifting twice in the past few years including being sentenced to house arrest with an ankle bracelet. My mom didn't want my sister or me to tell our younger brother. At the time he was in college and gets stressed out/depressed very easily and we didn't want him to worry about.

I almost let the cat out of the bag this summer when my dad was in a manic stage. Luckily I covered it up, but I told my mom later that she really needs to tell him.

There is a lot of mental illness in both mine and DH's family which worries us...

Mrs_D_in_KY

My dad had a crazy upbringing. He spilled his guts after my grandma (his mom) died when I was 12. He basically told us (me and my brothers) that my grandma slept with one brother, and got pregnant with my dad at 18. Then starts dating said brother's older brother, marries him and has 3 more kids with him. My dad had my grandmas maiden name until he was 7 when his dad/uncle/grandmas husband adopted him. Confusing I know. My dad said they never had much interaction with his "dads" family as there was too much animosity.

colllydon

My parents are pretty honest and it wasn't always great but I think they told me everything then. Now however is a different story. One of my sisters is a drug addict. My parents have custody of her kids. She is in and out of rehab, living on the street etc. they don't tell me what's going on with her unless I ask. Even then they sugar coat it. I just think they want to keep me from hating her, but it's hard not to when I see my niece and nephew get upset over her.

nunzchucks

This thread has some juicy secrets! Good idea for a post @mommyp170!

ahastin1

My mom hid from me for awhile that she smoked (cigarettes). Then, when I found out she made me swear that I wouldn't tell my dad because he supposedly didn't know. Later I found out that he did in fact know but she didn't want him to know that I knew. Get me? What a tangled web we weave...

NoodleM

My mom got drunk and admitted to me when I was 15 that she wanted to abort me because my grandma said she would kick her out if she had a baby. (she was in high school)

But the doctors told her she wasn't pregnant and she most likely had a tumour growing in her stomach. She had x rays and everything. She didn't officially find out until she was more than halfway through her pregnancy and it was too late.

JulieSmiles

Santa is the only lie I know my parents told. I feel like my childhood was squeaky clean compared to some of the crap you all went through.

vixey

My mom recently told me that my sister was the result of an unplanned pregnancy.  After she found out she was pregnant, my dad got a vasectomy because whatever method of BC they were using apparently wasn't working.  TMI Mom, TMI.

My mom only recently told me about all of the mental health issues on her side of the family.  Apparently many of her aunts/uncles/cousins have committed suicide.

I had a pet bunny.  They told me it ran away, but actually somebody killed it and left it on our front porch.  They believe the same person who killed the bunny was leaving threats in our mailbox.  We moved shortly after that.

On a lighter note - when I was little my parents told me the ice cream truck was just a music truck.  That way I never begged for ice cream when it went around, I just thought it was a nice guy driving around playing music for everyone.

MrsBHM

@vixey My dad told me that when the ice cream truck was playing music it meant that they were all out of ice cream...you know, so you didn't waste your time running after it just to be disappointed. Ruined my childhood.

LindsayDesigner

I didn't find out that my grandmother had several plastic surgeries during my childhood until recently. My parents told us about all of them after she scared the hell out of the other grandkids on Thanksgiving after her partial face lift.

lest12

I can't think of anything... I feel like I know about all the messed up stuff in our family. And there's plenty! The only thing that remains a scandal is my step-aunt, or my dad's stepsister. They haven't been close since my grandfather died... My grandparents divorced, and then my grandfather remarried a woman with 3Daughters, but only legally adopted the third one, who was a baby. The rumor is that my grandfather is actually her father, and had cheated on my grandmother with this woman, got her knocked up, divorced my grandmother, etc, and the daughter is actually my dad's half-sister. She found us on Facebook semi-recently and really, she looks just like my dad and his other siblings.

ricecakes1216

Since living close to my oldest sister I have learned lots of family secrets. For the most part my parents were pretty honest growing up, but there were some "dark" secrets only my oldest sister knew because she is a few years older than the rest of us.

For example. My parents lied to us about where my grandma was for about a year. She was in jail for embezzlement. My mom finally told me about it a few weeks ago and I had to pretend that I didn't know! 

pcourtade

Mine's a downer. My uncle was my dad's best friend. One morning, when I was in grade school, my mom sat me down and told me that my uncle had fallen down the stairs, broken his neck and died. My dad was, understandabley, crushed. It wasn't until last year I got the full story. Let's just say that he did fall down the stairs but there was way more to it. I fully understand why they kept what they did from me, I was too young to know everything, but it was such a shock to find out the truth.

Puka99

my parents were a little too honest with us. The biggest lie the told us was that there was a Santa, Easter Bunny and the tooth fairy. Oh and that they never smoked weed. Well my mom said she never smoked weed. My dad just conviently changed the topic. 

Danischn

Wow! Juicy stories in here. My mom had a secret name for my step dad that she refused to share the meaning of. We played Yatzhee all the time and she would write DDD on his score cards, as well as on his Christmas gifts (and other times she would refer to him verbally as triple D). Years later in college she let me know it meant Donkey D*ck Dave. I wish I had never asked, my step dad is disgusting, and I already disliked him very much which made this news even harder to swallow. This made me want to puke when I found out! No one wants to know their parents are being sexual right in front of you!!!

elsa1688

Danischn said:

Wow! Juicy stories in here. My mom had a secret name for my step dad that she refused to share the meaning of. We played Yatzhee all the time and she would write DDD on his score cards, as well as on his Christmas gifts (and other times she would refer to him verbally as triple D). Years later in college she let me know it meant Donkey D*ck Dave. I wish I had never asked, my step dad is disgusting, and I already disliked him very much which made this news even harder to swallow. This made me want to puke when I found out! No one wants to know their parents are being sexual right in front of you!!!

eeeewwwwww!! That's so gross, I'm sorry!!

diagonalley

LilNunz1 said:

This thread has some juicy secrets! Good idea for a post @mommyp170!

Thanks!  Didn't realize it would be this scandalous, lol!

Kinipela7

Also this wasn't from childhood, but my dad was diagnosed with prostate cancer a few years ago.  My mom didn't want us to worry so she told him not to tell my sisters and I (we are all grown adults).  My mom went to visit her mom in NY one weekend (3 months after he was diagnosed) and he used that time to tell all of us.  He is fine and cancer free now, but it was really devastating that they would hide such important news from us.  Now I worry even more that they are not telling us things!

JujuB22

I don't really having anything exciting. When I was little I really wanted green eyes like my mom. My mom told me that if I ate enough green vegetables my eyes would turn green. I ate all the green vegetables including weird ones like artichokes and brussel sprouts, and my eyes are still brown. 

Lakirat

My parents have been a little too honest with me because I'm the oldest but always kept things from my younger brothers. Here's a little story of one of their worse secrets:

My parents split up when I was 4, at the time I was an only child. I lived with my mom and didn't have any contact with my dad. My mom later remarried and had two boys. Through the family grapevine we heard that dad had done the same (I have 4 half brothers). I always knew the truth and I was told about my second pair of brothers that I had never met on my dad's side. My mom never bad mouthed my dad, to her credit, and always said that I would like him. Fast forward to when I'm 20 years old and I finally reconnect with my dad. We met in person on Mother's day and I went to his house for a BBQ. We walked into the house and my step-mom, grandma, aunt and brothers (ages 15 and 13) were all in the front room. My dad made a big deal announcing his "daughter" and my brothers freaked out. Apparently, they didn't know that dad had been married before or that I existed. They had been told that all my baby pictures were really of the older brother or my cousins. How mortifying for me and horrible for them!

gregsgurl81304

 

katekat8721 said:

My parents were always pretty truthful with us. Or else they're still lying their asses off.... who knows lol.

But I do know that they had my convinced for YEARS that the car wouldn't start unless your seat belt was fastened. It took me awhile to connect empty seats + no seat belt fastened still made the car drive just fine. 

My parents told me the same thing, but I was a pain in the ass and test it out when they weren't looking. The car still ran when you took your belt off while moving. 

allrightmeow

MrsBHM said:

@vixey My dad told me that when the ice cream truck was playing music it meant that they were all out of ice cream...you know, so you didn't waste your time running after it just to be disappointed. Ruined my childhood.

@vixey GASP!!!! Your father is awful! When you are a kid you feel like God invented loose change just so you could get a push pop from the ice cream man!