12 Stories That Prove Fatherhood Is an Unpredictable Rollercoaster Ride

Fatherhood is full of surprises, some heartwarming, some hilarious, and some downright unpredictable. Although Father’s Day has passed, you will want to pat these dads on the back for trying their best. These 12 stories capture the rollercoaster ride that dads know all too well. Get ready to laugh, relate, and maybe even shed a tear at the wild journey of being a father.

• “My sister was maybe 10 or 11. My dad was very worried and had been waiting all day for us to come home from school.
  When we got home he pulled her aside saying he needed to have a serious talk with her. He said to her, ‘I was looking for a pencil, and found this in your desk’ and pulled out a plastic baggie filled with some dried plant material. She said, ‘Oh, catnip?’ He thought it was something bad.
  We would make little cat toys with catnip and the bag had ripped, so she put it in a ziplock bag. He sighed a huge sigh of relief, laughed and asked her not to tell our mom. He was so embarrassed.” ©lilarose8 / Reddit

• “My son randomly walked to the kitchen, 3am (was finishing up some Call of Duty) and he saw me eating ice cream. So I got him a bowl, and we were whispering like nerds (he was 4) and I said, ‘Don’t tell mom’ and he said, ‘Don’t tell mom!’
  Didn’t do the dishes the following morning, and my wife asked who had ice cream, and my son pointed right at me.” ©conejo454 / Reddit

• “This last Christmas, my four-year-old helped my wife wrap one of my gifts. It was late, so I was working. The next day, while my wife was at work, she came running through from her bedroom first thing and yelled excitedly, ‘Daddy! Daddy! I helped wrap your gift, it’s a surprise, it’s a slushie maker!’
  ‘Honey, that’s awesome, but you aren’t supposed to tell me that.’
  ‘I know, I know, but it’s a slushie maker!’
  ‘If you know not to tell me then why did you tell me?’
  ‘Because I’m just so excited to make slushies with you!’
  I was crying with laughter at this point and told her that it’s an awesome gift but to keep gifts secret, and I told her we wouldn’t tell mummy so she wouldn’t be disappointed that I knew what it was. I ended up telling her that evening because it was just too funny and cute.” ©RancidLemons / Reddit

• “I was with my dad, and we thought it was a good idea to start a small fire, on the porch, the wooden porch. It was made of mostly paper, and we made sure to scatter the embers and everything. But after we went inside and to bed, the wind must’ve kicked up because we came outside the next day and there was a giant hole burned into the porch.
  My dad just told me, ‘Hey, don’t tell your mom, I’ll get it fixed.’ He then proceeded to cover it with a small table. She found out anyway, and we’re pretty lucky that the house didn’t burn down.” ©who_is_this- / Reddit

• “In high school, everybody was always busy at work or clubs, so I was the first one in my household to get home nearly every single day. Dad was having money troubles that he didn’t want to disclose to anyone, so he paid me $5 a month to take the bank statement letter from the mailbox and hide it from my stepmom until he got home. It was the closest thing I got to an allowance.
  P.S. I had no idea what the ‘money trouble’ was, BTW. I was always the ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ person, so that’s why he trusted me the most about this.” ©Treeflower77 / Reddit

• “One day I decided to pull a sick day at school and came downstairs and saw that my dad was making a coffee. I asked him what he was doing and why he wasn’t at work, and he said I could ask you the same question.
  We stood in silence for a moment, and he said, I won’t tell your mum if you won’t. We had a good laugh about it, and he let me have the day off.” ©Unknown author / Reddit

• “One night when I was about 8, after I had gone to bed, my Dad was playing a Nintendo game, Legend of Zelda I think. We had both been playing it, but we were stuck. He finally found a secret passage, paused the game, and came upstairs to wake me up.
  He told me he figured out where we were stuck, ‘snuck’ me downstairs in a blanket (I’m sure my mom knew), and I got to stay up after midnight on a school night, hiding under a blanket, to see where the hidden passage went. It was a silly little incident, but very memorable.” ©Strongdar / Reddit

• “Story about my father. When I was about 6 or 7 we were really hard up for money at the time, so we cut down on all expenses, saving change, etc. My mom would go out of town for work every other weekend.
  My dad would save up a few dollars over the weeks, take me to Waffle House for breakfast, go on a walk on the beach, then take me home and let me play the I Spy computer game on his work computer.
  He would always teasingly tell me not to tell mom about Waffle House, I don’t think she would have been mad, but it was fun to have something just the 2 of us would do together. I love my dad.” ©TwentyandTired / Reddit

• “When I was in middle school I was the only one willing to go shopping groceries with my dad, he didn’t want to go alone, and my mom was at school studying her master’s. None of my siblings wanted to go with him. We used to go to Carl’s Jr., have a big breakfast, and then we went grocery shopping.
  Nobody knew, not even my mom, until years later. He would also let me buy any cereal I wanted. That’s actually how I learned how to buy good fruit and veggies, how to order meat and fish, etc.
  When my siblings found out, they were angry, bc ‘they would’ve gone if a big breakfast was on the menu.’ My mom just laughed. Nowadays, they sneak to have breakfast together before going grocery shopping, since we’re all grown up.” ©vickyaage / Reddit

• “One night, I was enjoying a small bit of ice cream after my four-year-old daughter went to bed. She came downstairs and ‘caught’ me.
  So I offered her a small bite, but since she was supposed to be in bed, I said, ‘Don’t tell mom.’ She assured me she wouldn’t. My wife wouldn’t have cared anyway, but it was a fun little game to play.
  After she went up to bed, and I was down on the couch, she snuck in to the master bedroom, where mom was resting. She told mom that I had let her have some ice cream, and she was afraid of ‘sugar bugs’ so could she please brush her teeth again. My wife just laughed at me the next day.” ©optimaloutcome / Reddit

• “Granddaughter speaking on grandfather’s behalf. When my mom was young, her mother would always bake a bunch of sugar cookies and store them in the pantry until Christmas. After she baked them, my mom and her dad would sneak into the pantry one at a time and eat the cookies.
  After about 2 months, they had finished the whole batch. My grandmother went to fetch the cookies on Christmas, only to find crumbs left.” ©currybackpack / Reddit

• “Took my 2-year-old to the donut shop the other day. The lady working there said, ‘Oh, how cute is this, the baby’s first donut?’
  ‘Sadly, no. And if you ever see her here with her mother, if you could please pretend you’ve never seen her before, that would help me out.’” ©PRNmeds / Reddit

Before you go, be sure to dive into these 17 real-life stories that are even stranger and more surprising than any surprise toy you’ve ever opened. Some of these tales will totally blow your mind and leave you questioning what’s real!