We will generally hear about more life-experiences then we will actually experience in person, for better or worse. So most of us tend to have at least a basic idea of what most occurrences will look like. However, the human brain has a way of “protecting” itself, so topics like "traumatic events” are often hard to discuss and explain. Someone asked “What is something that is actually more traumatizing than most people realize?” and people shared some poignant examples. So get comfortable as you scroll through, upvote the ones that you agree with and add your own thoughts to the comments section below. #1 Losing a pet. People acknowledge it’s sad, but unless you’ve been through it, you don’t realize just how deeply it can break you. It’s losing a best friend, a daily companion, and a source of unconditional love all at once. © Photo: AlaricVass #2 Working under a toxic manager. I have work related ptsd. © Photo: RoamingGnome74 #3 Being poor/debt/financial instability. © Photo: casuallycruel420 #4 Functioning depression. People don’t realize how exhausting it is to put on a “happy” face every day when you’re out in the world when all you want to do is curl up in a ball and cry for a week straight. © Photo: CianGal13 #5 Growing up non diagnosed nurodivergence and never really fitting in and not knowing why while also not getting any support from the adults who should have noticed something. © Photo: Economy_Bathroom_156 #6 Being raised by parents with undiagnosed mental illness. © Photo: saltyt00th #7 Job searching! The fatigue of getting multiple rejections, being ghosted, while trying to pay bills can be crushing. © Photo: lobstersareforever #8 Feeling like no one loves you or understands you. © Photo: Naive_Traffic6522 #9 Not all, but a good amount of childbirth experiences. I regularly tell people it was the worst day of my life and they're shocked. Of course I was happy to meet my baby but that doesn't mean it wasn't a massively traumatic day getting there. © Photo: chocolate_turtles #10 Being bullied. On TV, people act like it's funny. But it can provide life long trauma. © Photo: Humble-Midnight4067 #11 Becoming disabled. Nobody treats it as the truly traumatic experience it really is. There is no psychological support for us, as it happens. We are left to figure it out on our own. © Photo: Luna7789 #12 Growing up as the “gifted” child, only to wind up the Family Disappointment. © Photo: MisterScrod1964 #13 Being cheated on can ruin your life. © Photo: BasedChristopher #14 Someone you trusted taking your deepest traumas and insecurities to ‘win’ an argument. © Photo: Flimsy_Tomatillo_334 #15 Being raised in Evangelical Christianity or other high-control religious environments. © Photo: Suspicious_Program99 #16 Growing up with parents who simply do not love each other, who scream at each other all the time, and never get divorced. Growing up in a household where you learn to be responsible for your parents’ feelings from a very young age. Edit to add: I didn’t think this would resonate with so many people. Thank you to everyone for sharing if this hit home for you. Just knowing that there are other hearts out there who know what it felt like, and feels like to carry into adulthood no matter how old you are, feels supportive. 🤎. © Photo: CheesecakeQuackery #17 Being ghosted for no reason by friends. Made me lose all respect I had for myself and made my anxiety 10× worse. © Photo: Thecrowfan #18 Feeling emotionally invisible. It’s a slow, quiet kind of trauma that builds over time. I think people often underestimate how much it affects your mental health when you constantly feel like no one truly sees or hears you. © Photo: nova_8 #19 Volunteering with animals. it’s not just playing with puppies and kitties. i work in animal welfare now and i have years of trauma and guilt from the terrible s**t people have done to these animals. © Photo: georgiabeanie #20 Growing up with a parent who goes silent when angry. I never knew if it was me she was mad at, and if so, what I did. I’m 70 years old, and while I consciously fight the feeling, if someone is quiet I assume they’re angry with me, even if there’s no reason they should be. © Photo: Yajahyaya #21 Being laid off through no fault of your own. © Photo: LongjumpingPath3069 #22 Close friend break ups. Just as bad if not worse than relationship breakups. © Photo: IdkJustMe123 #23 Having a verbally or physically a***ive sibling. © Photo: Pure_Wrongdoer_4714 #24 Taking care of a parent with dementia. It is soul draining. It's a full time job. It's dirty and embarrassing for all involved. It's heartbreaking watching your once competent, intelligent, funny parent regress until they are a husk of a person. You struggle with keeping them in their home and "honoring their wishes". Dealing with insurance, Medicaid, hospital stays, and affording any kind of respite care is mine-boggling complex and expensive. Cleaning up grown man pee and poop from every corner of the house is maddening. The tedium of repeating yourself a hundred times a day, listening to the same questions, the same complaints and stories. The list is neverending. I wish there was assisted s****de in America that you could put into an advanced directive for circumstances like this. He wouldn't want to live like this and it is ruining lives. © Photo: EagleLize #25 Chronic illness. © Photo: Previous-Artist-9252 #26 Having a boss who criticizes every little thing you do, for literally hours at a time, until finally you start to wonder whether you actually ARE that stupid and incompetent. . © Photo: strawberry2801 #27 Being the black sheep of the family. © Photo: Sweet_Principle_2359 #28 Going through a divorce. Even though divorcing my ex was one of the best decisions I ever made , at the time it was so much more painful and stressful than I could have imagined. © Photo: akmhykes #29 Choking on food. It's literally life or death and it can stick with you if you survive that scenario. © Photo: DEFALTJ2C #30 Infestations. Bed bugs, roaches, fleas, mice, you name it. Absolutely corrodes your psyche. © Photo: SpecificAttempt9057 #31 Legitimate near death experiences. People will say "I thought I was going to die" but if you actually have a moment when you deeply and truly believe that, it can really mess you up. If you've had one of those moments then you understand what I mean. © Photo: WingZombie #32 Having a confrontation with neighbors. Having anger/fear/discord invade your living space is really upsetting on a basic subconscious level. #33 Allowing bad friends to stay in your life for too long. Do not waste your life , energy and time on people who only take. Seperate from them and watch how much better your life gets. #34 Getting paid late, bills don’t stop just because a company can’t plan ahead financially. . #35 A book I read on trauma listed immigration as one of the top 5. © Photo: MeteoricColdAndTall You might also like: 50 ‘Weird Facts’ About The World That Might Give You A Fresh Perspective 35 Experiences That Mess Up People More Than They Notice Reviewed by New Viral Feed on 12:53 Rating: 5

Parents and kids often don’t see eye to eye. They often seem to have disagreements about how to behave, what to believe in, and the right way to do things. This can lead to larger conflicts that end up making the children feel extremely disconnected from their elders. This is what many people have come to feel as they’ve grown up. It’s hard to realize that you’ve lost respect for your parents, but for many of the folks in this list, that’s exactly what happened, and they shared what led them to feel like that. More info: Reddit #1 Yep. In my case becoming a parent myself made me lose any lingering respect I had for my mother. Turns out it's actually shockingly easy to not be ab**ive trash and to not treat your kids like s**t. © Photo: ZodFrankNFurter #2 Nah, my folks are dope. Edit: I showed this comment, and some of your responses, to my mother when I visited her earlier. She got all teary-eyed and gave me a big hug. Thank you for the wholesome moment, random strangers on the internet ❤️. © Photo: thatguyyouknow89 #3 They are like teens now, anti vaccines, don’t believe in doctors, fights everything that moves, stop talking to you for the stupidest reasons… it started around their 50’s and its rapidly getting worse.. so yeah. © Photo: EscherichiAntisColi Respect is not given, it’s earned. This is exactly what many young people feel today. Rather than holding their parents in high regard just for being their caretakers, the youth seem to be questioning why they should give respect just for the sake of it. To understand more about this phenomenon, Bored Panda reached out to Camilla Miller. She’s a parenting expert at Keeping Your Cool Parenting, dedicated to helping people enjoy family life and build deep, connected relationships that last a lifetime. Camilla offers practical guidance on raising confident, independent children while fostering mutual respect and harmony at home. She said: “In recent years, I’ve noticed a shift in how young people perceive their parents, with respect not always being a given. Many parents grew up in a time when authority wasn’t questioned—you just did as you were told. But today’s kids are being raised in a world where questioning things is normal.” “Kids are growing up learning to think for themselves, so if parents expect blind obedience without explanation, it’s bound to cause friction. Respect goes both ways, and parenting today is about guiding, not just controlling,” Camilla added. #4 I’m not mad at them. I’m just disappointed. © Photo: kellermeyer14 #5 My dad hasn’t spoken to me in almost three months, after he screamed at me in a restaurant in front of my daughter, aunt (his sister), and my grandma (his mother). He was mad my aunt and I were discussing abortion laws, especially pertaining to MY PREGNANCY. I miss my dad. Or rather, I miss who I thought he was. © Photo: kcharlto #6 Everything bad they ever said about us was projection about them. The older I get I'm like you spoiled entitled old mfers. © Photo: Electronic_Map5978 Many of the posters in this list mentioned that they didn’t like the hypocrisy of their parents, and that’s what eventually affected their relationship. As they became older, they realized that kids were always told to listen to their elders’ words and not to follow their actions. This is because parents would end up doing the exact things they cautioned their children against doing. There are so many other reasons why kids might stop holding their parents in high regard. Camilla Miller said that things like “parents not listening to their children or dismissing their opinions can lead to a breakdown in respect. When [they] are unpredictable or don’t follow through on promises, it can undermine trust.” “Parents who aren’t emotionally present or supportive may cause children to feel neglected. Pressuring kids to meet high expectations without understanding their needs can breed resentment. Lastly, parents who are dishonest or betray their child’s trust can cause long-term damage to the relationship,” she added. #7 I'm actually really impressed with my parents. They've gotten more progressive as they've gotten older. Their siblings, otoh? Oh, no, those people are terrible. I hope they get their comeuppance. My cousins are 50/50 on the decency scale. © Photo: aoike_ #8 ‘Actions have consequences’ is what I heard constantly growing up. Which usually meant ‘do as I say or I will punish you’. Now that I am holding my parents to their own standards… it’s ’let’s just rug sweep this and pretend it didn’t happen because I don’t remember it, tee hee.’ So yeah… we don’t talk. © Photo: JuWoolfie #9 Cut all contact with my mother about a year ago. I have two kids of my own now, one is 6yo and the other is 6 months old. I hadn't put much thought into the way my mother treated me as a kid, until I had kids myself. Now, I look into my sons eyes and think about how much they mean to me... And then wonder how the hell she could have ever treated me that way. It all came flooding back and I just couldn't maintain the relationship. © Photo: TheViking1991 It might feel like all doom and gloom to see your parents in this new light. Nobody wants to lose respect for their mom or dad, especially because it can affect their relationship with them. That’s why it’s important to first understand that our parents are people too, and they tried their best with all the resources they had available. Camilla explained that “as we get older, we start to see our parents as real people, flaws and all. We realize they’re not perfect, and that’s a good thing. Over time, we’re bound to clash on opinions, beliefs, and even things like politics.”  “One of the best ways to handle it is to just agree to disagree. You can both be right in your own way! And as kids, we can also help our parents see that some things they did or said in the past might not fly in today’s world. It’s about creating a space where both sides can share, learn, and respect each other’s views,” she said. #10 Yeah my parents are trumpers and it’s extremely disappointing to see how their beliefs have shifted so much over the last few years. © Photo: Skye_bluexx #11 Both my parents are extremely high achievers and make it look easy. They are great people and do a lot for the local community. So my respect for them has only grown. The only problems I have is the daunting task of trying to step out from their shadow as they cast it quite long. © Photo: BusyBeeBridgette #12 I surpassed them in maturity in high school, surpassed them in political awareness by college, and now in my mid-30s i just keep growing and evolving and they’re still the same as they were ten years ago. I know it’s natural for each generation to go beyond their parents but it’s weird how they’ve just stagnated their whole lives. I don’t hate them, but I do resent them a little. I recently gave up on trying to get them to budge on things. They’re too stubborn and too good at avoiding confrontation. I have to accept them as they are. When they’re ready to ask questions, they’ll be ready for answers. © Photo: lollipopkaboom Parents and kids often clash on sensitive issues like politics, religion, their beliefs, and values. As many of the folks in this list shared, having such disagreements with their parents is exactly what pushed them to lose respect for them. Moms and dads might also feel this way, and wonder why their kids are out to cause so much trouble for them. That’s why Camilla explained that “parents need to remember that children aren’t extensions of them; they’re their own people with opinions, likes, and dreams that deserve to be heard and honored. Raising kids isn’t about control; it’s about guidance. When parents respect their child’s individuality, they create a foundation for mutual respect.” “Respect can’t be demanded—it’s earned. If a relationship is strained, the best way to rebuild it is by showing respect first. Listen without judgment, apologize when necessary, and treat your child’s feelings as valid. When children feel seen and valued, they naturally reflect that same respect back. It’s a two-way street, and it starts with us as parents,” she shared. #13 My parents are peak boomers, and honestly, pretty aware of how good they had it. I've made sure they understand how things are different for our generation and possibly even worse for the younger generations coming up. If you ever want to talk to your parents about how stuff is different, do what I did. Look up the current rental price of your parents first apartment. Then look up the current wage for the job they had at the time. I'm not mad that boomers had it good. I just want to make sure they understand that pulling on bootstraps doesn't fix the housing crisis and cost of living. © Photo: robinson217 #14 Yep, and it has made it harder to accept my kids positive views of me. Whenever they tell me they think I'm awesome or "the best ever" I think about how I used to feel that way about my mom, and it makes me worry I'll make them feel as disappointed in me as I am in her now. © Photo: Murda981 #15 Yeah, my relationship with my dad was never great but now it's gone. But he has dementia now too so it's not like he notices how disappointed I am in his positions and ideals later in life 🙃. © Photo: Donzul Every person would love to have a good relationship with their parents, and that can be possible with a little bit of effort from both sides. Parents need to realize that their kids can have their own opinions and thoughts, and children need to recognize that their parents are also capable of making mistakes.  It’s not easy to forgive, forget, and move on, but if the bond is precious, then maybe it’s all worth doing. What do you think? #16 Yes, my parents have become increasingly obnoxious and egotistical in their old age. . © Photo: ExtremeIndependent99 #17 They set high standards for us but then failed to meet those standards as they aged. So yes they lost much of my respect. © Photo: Beneficial-Honeydew5 #18 Yeah my logical and responsible mom for the most part is wildly maga now and it's really sad. © Photo: neaveeh #19 I feel like I’ve given up on my dad. After a lifetime of criticism and blatant favoritism towards my sibling I’ve had enough. Having my own child brings back memories and makes me rethink stuff he did not only back then but more recent as well. So yeah some loss of respect. © Photo: White_eagle32rep #20 I would somewhat say its more like disappointment. My parents seem to still view the kids as "kids" and don't respect us as adults and parents. I can understand its difficult for them to make the transition from parents to grandparents may be difficult but they try to do too much parenting. Same thing with our professional lives. They don't seem to lend any respect to the fact that we're growing, learning, and evolving in our careers the same ways they did. © Photo: LGC_70 #21 My parents do not take care of themselves or their house and don’t hold themselves accountable for…..anything. They are only getting worse with age. And I can’t even bring up with my mom how she has negatively impacted me. All she does is cry and say “you just had the WORST childhood didn’t you!?”. My dad just had a heart attack and had to get a valve replaced but still drinks a s**t ton of Carlo Rossi sangria because it’s the color red and he thinks red wine is good for your heart. 🤦‍♀️…..so yes I have no respect for them. Do I love them and try to accept that they did the best they could?? Yes. I’m honestly the most patient with them out of me and my brothers. Do I visit often? No. And I feel very very guilty about it. © Photo: hellogooday92 #22 My in-laws are exactly this. It’s hard on my husband. Many of my friends are struggling with the same situation. Thankfully, my parents are not this and I feel extremely fortunate. © Photo: DixyLee14 #23 Yep. They’re not the same sane, reasonable people that raised me to be sane and reasonable. © Photo: One-Permission1917 #24 I love them, but I don't *like* them. I can thank them for introducing me to that line, though. © Photo: Everylemontree #25 They should be renamed the “Lead Pipe” Generation because their brains are degrading so much in old age. © Photo: deucetastic #26 I’m disappointed and mad, but not surprised. My dad has always displayed the kind of behavior stereotypical of a boomer, and it’s just gotten more concentrated the closer to death he gets. They were bathed in an idealism that said it’d serve them, and then they can’t sunk cost their way out because it feels like it’s too late and the only option is to double down hoping it works out so their kids stop hating them. © Photo: vociferoushomebody #27 Yep! No contact with everyone, grandparents and parent siblings included. © Photo: timetopordy You might also like: Someone Asked “A Girl Approaches You And Says, ‘Pretend We’re Friends. I’m Being Followed,’ What Would You Do?”, 17 Men Gave Honest Responses 27 Reasons People Have Lost All Respect For Their Parents Reviewed by New Viral Feed on 14:53 Rating: 5