People Share The Best Childhood Memories They Have Of Their Parents

CLASSIC

"When we took a walk, I grab their hands, pulled myself up and swing." -- VePe000

"I love doing this with my niece. It's so cool to have fun with her and wonder if any will be memories she'll look back on in the far future." -- Andromeda321

"I can't describe to you the nostalgia I get from reading that." -- blackbirdsix

When It Hits You in the Face

"I had a cat who had a litter of kittens and when they were a little over two weeks old we would take them outside and let them walk around some."

"Well one evening, as the sun was setting, I was out there while me parents were working on building a bench and I was sitting on the ground near them with these kittens."

"And I heard my dad say to my mom, 'We have an good life' with his arm wrapped around her watching me and the kittens."

-- Sissonater

Must've Been the Swag

"When my dad took me to work with him for take your kid to work day. He was a director of technology at the time and he showed me some of the stuff he did in his day to day, let me play with markers in his office and gave me company swag."

"I told him I wanted to be like him when I grow up so I could have my own office."

"I'm now beginning my career as a woman in technology, and I don't know if I would have had the courage to go down this path without his constant encouragement and support."

-- ijustlovecostco

Have Some Questions About this Spare Room

"Dad came back from work and locked himself up in the spare room of the house, wouldn't let my younger brother and I in. When he finally opened the door, a big (and I mean biiiig) bouncy castle was waiting for us."

"It wasn't neither of our birthdays or near Christmas, just a random day. One of the best surprises and memories ever."

-- pingudumbo2012

Full Circle

"Seeing Kiss in concert with my dad. My dad saw Kiss in '78. 32 years later when I was 10 years old I randomly became a huge fan of them. Big enough to convince my dad to take me to see them in concert."

"My dad told me he never imagined he'd be taking his son to a concert for a band he saw himself over 30 years ago. I could tell he was really touched that I had the same taste in music as him."

-- xcadesterx

A Revelation

"My stepdads happy and smiley reaction when I called him 'daddy' instead of 'mister' for the first time when I was a kid." -- threadingthreader

"I got my step-dad (who I consider my main dad) when I was five. The divorce wasn't painful for me but it WAS confusing."

"It took me about a year to warm up to my step dad. I remember just walking up to him where he sat at the dining room table in our tiny apartment and matter-of-fact-ly saying, 'I love you. You're good.' "

"He got the biggest, shyest smile." -- the_littlest_blep

Only Possible Solution

"My dad getting mad that his football team lost a game and decorating the room in underwear and socks after he threw them around in anger."

"I remember walking by, seeing him standing there with the room covered in underwear and socks, and him turning to look at me and saying, 'I need to get this cleaned up before your mom gets home.' "

"I still think it's pretty hilarious."

-- Surrealism94

First Things First

"We were going to go see a movie (don't remember which one, but I was pretty young) and he was taking forever to come downstairs so we could leave."

"We kept yelling at the house from the alley asking him what was taking him so long, and he opens the bathroom window (facing the alley) and yells back at us, 'I'm taking a f*ckin sh*t' and slams the window shut."

-- Xiaxs

20/20 Hindsight

"When I was a kid my dad and I had a tradition every week of going to the video store and renting a movie or two to watch together. I remember I used to get really upset at him because every single time we'd actually start to watch the movie he would fall asleep."

"It wasn't until I was older that I realized that the reason he would fall asleep was because he was exhausted from working two very physically demanding jobs to try and give me the best life he possibly could."

"On top of that, even though he was tired he still made an effort to try and start a little tradition with me and spend time with me."

"Those memories of me having to nudge my dad awake are so great in my eyes, because they made me realize what a caring and hard working man he is."

-- -edGAR-

Do Not Underestimate the Significance of Giving Time

"My dad was in the military, and used to work away a lot. But whenever he was home, Friday's were our day."

"He'd knock off work early, pick me up from school, and we'd go fishing or crabbing."

"Then he'd cook whatever we'd caught, and we'd watch a couple of movies while we hauled all my toys out into the lounge room and played with LEGO or building blocks, or barbie dolls and ponies, or we'd build railway tracks and race trains, or build villages and re-enact scenes from the movie we'd watched."

-- FormalMango

Comfortable Silence

"I used to sit in the living room and read. He would sit across the room and play solitaire on the computer and listed to the oldies station that he liked."

"Eventually he would say, 'Well I think I'll turn in. Don't stay up too late.' and I'd say, 'I won't,' and then he said, 'Good night, son,' and I'd say, 'Good night, Dad.' "

"I hope he knew that I could have read in my room. I hope he knew that those silences were important to me. I really wish I told him that no one else in my life made me feel like I could just be near them without putting on some sort of show."

-- Whatawaist

Parents Against Traffic Laws

"When I was little me and my parents would go to the beach on those late afternoons during summer, to watch the sunset and the fisherman return, and my dad would put me on his lap and let me command the steering wheel of the car, in an empty sand road (not a road with normal traffic). I loved it!"

-- anaclaudiaaa91

When You Remember They're a Couple

"This happened only recently, I saw my normally stoic mom tapping to a song playing on spotify, then my dad jumped in and they started swing dancing."

"It was so sweet and funny, especially when my dad tried to do a dip with my mom and then my mom laughingly screamed, "No, my back! My back!' ".

"I felt like a third wheel at that moment."

-- Firi123

Smart Kid

"I remember when [my mom] was pregnant with my brother (half-brother if you want to be technical) and me and my sister could knock on her stomach and my brother would knock back the same amount of times. He could count even in there."

-- Killerbunny00

"Playing Possum," Where I Come From

"Whenever they'd carry me to bed even though I pretended to be asleep sometimes just because I felt so loved when they did." -- EmGray13

"Wow, I totally forgot until now that I used to do that too. Thank you for reminding me of such sweet memories!" -- pange93

Reliable Jokes

"Every morning from Pre-K through the third grade as I left to go to school my mom would say, 'Go to school. Go directly to school. Do not pass Go do not collect $200.' "

"Every day." -- YeahIprobablydidit

"Did you grow up focusing mainly on education?" -- Oink2019

Topsy Turvy

"My learning how to read with my dad. We always read Donald Duck. I read one bubble and he the next. Since he got a stroke and now has to learn to read again, we do the same. Love him so much." -- tuemley

Noticing a Theme Here...

"My dad was always kind of a jerk to us. He had little patience for bullsh*t and we got on his nerves often. But there were a few times we brought out the kid in him and it was great."

"He'd give us left over pieces of wood from projects and a handful of nails and a hammer and let us go to town until we hammered some wood into the floor."

"We told him our idea of a zip-line between two trees and amazingly he went for it. He shuttled us all off to the hardware store and bought all the supplies and helped us build a zip-line. It was the craziest day ever and pretty freaking epic. Till one of us fell and landed really hard on the ground from about 10 feet up."

"He built a homemade go-kart out of a lawnmower engine and spare parts. Till one of us crashed it into a bunch of bushes."

-- checkmate3001

Different Approaches to Ice

"My dad would take an extra long time making snowballs so we could throw our snowballs at his butt."

"One summer I got sick with a really high fever and my mom bought my favorite popsicles and had me eat a whole bunch of them."

-- zygote_harlot

For Kids, Grand Things Aren't Hard to Come By

"I remember LOVING ladybugs as a kid, and one day my mom surprised me with one of those containers full of ladybugs that you can buy. We went out to the backyard and my mom and I opened the container, and I just remember being in awe as I watched them all fly away."

-- ettoire