15 People Shared Childhood Traumas That Altered Their Lives

Even the tiniest events can leave lasting trauma in children, often surfacing later in life. These experiences can lead us to behave recklessly, stemming from unresolved childhood wounds. Whether it’s encountering a doppelgänger at a loved one’s funeral or a frightening encounter with a swan, explore how these childhood traumas have shaped lives indefinitely.

• «I was a very chatty kid. I remember my stepdad paying me $5 to sit still in a chair and not talk for a half hour. During that time, I reflected that I was getting paid $5 because he didn’t want to hear what I had to say, and didn’t like me. I came to the conclusion that nobody liked me or cared to hear anything I had to say.
  After that half hour of silence and collecting my $5, I stopped talking, and my internal dialogue constantly told me that nobody liked me or wanted to hear what I had to say. Now I’m a stepdad and I always give the little guy my undivided attention when he has something to say. I never want him to feel like I did.» Jaydeeem89 / Reddit
• «Following people at a festival or some other big place thinking they are your parents but when they turn around it’s not them, and you realize you lost them.» quinten04 / Reddit
• «Growing up in a rural beach town, I was in the ocean constantly, and there was a lifeguard present about 25% of the time. My parents always watched me, so I was safe, but I remember once I was boogie boarding with my dad and I caught this EPIC wave. I thought my dad had caught it too, but when I looked around, I was alone. The wave had just carried me way farther than I’d thought and way down to the left of where my mom was sitting.
  I was seven, so while I was maybe only 100 meters from my dad, I had an absolute meltdown because I was basically alone in the ocean (in my mind). I screamed, and my mom ran down the beach towards me and my dad caught up with the next couple of waves, so everything was fine, but the pure terror of looking around and seeing nothing but waves and an empty beach was one of the scariest things I’d experienced at that time.» juleslimes / Reddit

• «Being hyperaware of anyone experiencing negative emotions in the room. Feeling someone else’s anger or depression very severely and feeling as though I have to be the one to calm things down and keep the peace.» totoropengyou / Reddit
• «Eating very fast... I’m in my late 30s and I still have this problem. When we were given food, we usually had to fight siblings as there was never enough for us. At holidays, specifically around Thanksgiving, I lost track of how many times my stepdad would get angry and throw the entire turkey dinner away. For good measure, he would spray the entire garbage can with bleach so we couldn’t pick it out of the trash. So when you got food in my house, you would eat it as fast as you could before it was stolen from you.» Ranoko / Reddit
• «I try to answer questions and solve situations not based on what I think or want, but on what I think the person who asked them would expect or be more likely to appreciate. Sometimes because of the impossibility of satisfying everyone or not being discontent with anyone, my brain just crashes, and I freeze on the spot.» ggrrreeeeggggg / Reddit

• «Seeing my dad almost get crushed to death. We were at our ranch, and he got caught between a wooden post and a trailer, and I had to run up to the driver to tell him to stop as fast as I could, but I’ll never forget the look on my dad’s face right before I bolted. He’s fine now, but the memory randomly becomes super vivid at night and I lose sleep.» Unknown author / Reddit
• «Not sure if this is just really weird, but at work whenever I ask for a day off, in every job I’ve had, I have given a detailed description of why and the purpose of needing it off. Finally, at my current job, my direct supervisor would keep telling me: ’I don’t need to know why.’ I did some reflection and realized that, in my youth, if I didn’t explain things as far as being absent, feeling sick, or needing to go to the doctor; if I didn’t have a good enough explanation, I was completely disregarded. It got engrained in me to find the best possible reasoning behind nearly every choice I ever made.» hollowtheories / Reddit
• «Something I do that I recently learned other people don’t do is constantly pay attention to my surroundings. I listen for footsteps, doors opening and closing, people’s voices, water running in the pipes, cars pulling into the driveway, on and on. As a kid, I needed to know who was in my house and what they were doing.» PigWithAWoodenLeg / Reddit

• «I was about 5 and me and my dad went to the grocery store when I got out of the car I slammed my finger in the door on accident. It wasn’t that messed up of a situation but for some odd reason I remember this to this day, and I’m almost 30, I close car doors with my butt.» flwrgrlconnie / Reddit
• «Hit the corner of my wooden toy box in that gummy space just above my two front teeth. The memory is hazy, I remember using both hands to push off the toy box. I didn’t lose any teeth-it happened when I was a kid, but I do remember both my parents taking me to the doctors’ office and waiting there that morning while the verdict came in. Not a usual thing for them.
  No hard food for a couple of days, orders to see the dentist if any gum bleeding or random tooth pain started. Orders to see the doctor for headaches and dizziness. Jokes on me. Ended up having a serious overbite and buck teeth. Years of headgear, retainers, and braces fixed that, but the dental work left its own kind of trauma.» Br34th3r2 / Reddit
• «Getting nightmares about T. rex’s and velociraptors chasing me after watching Jurassic Park as a kid. Still haunts me to this day.» Normal-Mood / Reddit

Children often tell strange stories that leave parents both curious and uneasy. These tales can be mysterious, making everyone wonder if kids have special insight or if they’re just imagining things. But some stories seem too odd to be mere coincidences.