18+ Stories That Might Inspire You on Your Parenting Journey

Parenting styles vary from family to family. Some parents rely on conversations, while others lead by example. But in the end, the method matters less than the outcome — what truly counts is raising children to become kind, decent people. We're sharing stories that reflect this belief — moments that may spark insight, offer comfort, or simply remind you that you're not alone on this path.

1.

• “This isn’t amazing, but it was cute. I was at work (waitress) a couple weeks ago and one of my tables had a cute little 3-year-old girl. She had a little pack of stickers, and I said, ‘oh, cool stickers!’ She smiled and took one off to hand to me. I told her that it was okay, she could keep it, but she just held it out to me. Her mom leaned over and said, ‘She’s learning about sharing, so if you take it that would help us.’ So I took it and said thank you and both little girl and mom seemed very pleased. Active teaching.” © LaMalintzin / Reddit

2.

• "I was on the train and a woman and her toddler sat across from me. The little girl asked questions, was generally curious and imaginative. She seemed very smart for her age.
  Instead of her mother just ignoring her or getting frustrated, or even making up some bad answer just to quieten her down, she engaged her daughter and talked about the topic in great detail with her.
  I noticed, for her age, the young girl had amazing linguistic skills. It was so good to see a parent really encouraging curiosity and explaining how the world works." © Unknown author / Reddit

3.

• “My daughter was telling me about an event at her school. A girl in her class drew an apple, and when she was done, said out loud: ‘This drawing is garbage, utterly terrible!’ My daughter was confused: ‘But, mom, her apple looked so cool! It wasn’t terrible at all!’ This story was another opportunity for me as a mom to remind my daughter of something we spoke about since she was a toddler.
  It is something really simple but deeply beautiful and true, something we forget to remind ourselves of, and almost never teach our children. Whenever my children do something good, accomplish any little progress or victory, I remind them to congratulate themselves. I jokingly say: ‘Don’t forget to give yourself a high-five!’
  When my children fail at something, make a mistake, or are disappointed about something they didn’t do well, I encourage them to be kind and loving to themselves, and to continue on their way, accepting occasional defeat as a normal part of life.”
  © Iva Izabela Miholic / Quora

4.

• “I don’t even remember why, but I had an argument with my mom and I was very upset with tears on my eyes. I told her I was leaving home. I was crying and packing my stuff into my dad’s leather bag. When I was at the door, I suddenly realized that I had nowhere to go and it was almost dinner time. At that moment, my mom was passing by and I asked her, ‘Mom, do you think I have to leave you now or can I still stay for a little while?’ She said I could stay home. So, I was happy and went to unpack my bag.”
  © Leeo43 / Pikabu

5.

• "Boys, 12-year-old Victor and his 10-year-old friend Andrew wanted to help with the tiles. They worked the entire day with us. There are kids that really care about the life of their area, and they want to live in the real world instead of on their phones. They were raised right. And we, as adults, should encourage them instead of pushing them away and saying, "Go away." © Mishtyak / Pikabu

6.

• My mom worked nights at a nursing home, then came home, made us breakfast, and walked us to school before grabbing a few hours of sleep. I used to think she just liked pancakes a lot—she made them constantly. I didn’t realize until later she was using the same ingredients in different ways because we didn’t have money for much else. Now I can’t smell pancakes without thinking of how she somehow made it all feel normal. Happy, even.

7.

• "I was outside and I heard a mother talking to her daughter:
  — Let's buy a book.
  — But I want chocolate!
  — What's the point of chocolate? You eat it and it's gone, but a book can last for much longer.
  The kid agreed." © garrysmodbest / Pikabu

8.

• I found a note in my son’s backpack that said: “If I disappear, it’s not my mom’s fault.”
  I froze. My heart stopped. I asked him about it that night, trying not to freak out. He looked straight in my eyes and said, “It’s for my spy game at recess.” I’ve never cried from relief so hard in my life.

9.

• “I saw a young family: a mother, a father, a 9-year-old boy, and a younger girl. The boy runs, quickly throws a bag into a trash can. The bag flies over the can, lands on the ground, and all the trash gets spread around. The mother got into the car calmly and the children followed her. About 20 seconds later, the car door opens, the boy gets out, goes up to the bag, and throws it into the can. He looks back at his mother, she says something to him, and he starts to collect all the trash. He throws it all away and goes back to the car. The end.”
  © Zhuchelovo / Pikabu

10.

• "Yesterday, my daughter suggested that we collect the trash in the nearest forest. Today, we've collected 2 full bags of trash in less than an hour. Next time, we'll get bigger bags."
  © Staryidead / Pikabu

11.

• "At a backyard BBQ, at a neighbor's house, a little boy and a little girl are near each other when the little girl falls down and starts crying. The mother of the little boy goes over and squats down in front of the little girl and asks why she is crying.
  In between the sniffles the little girl says that "he won't let me play with one of the toys." The mother asks, "Did you ask him to play with one?" With tears trickling down her cheeks, she shakes her head "no." Mom says, "If you haven't asked him for a toy, do you think he knows why you are crying?" The little girl ponders it for a second and turns to the boy and says, "Can I play with one of the toys?" To which the boy replied by handing her one." © woo545 / Reddit

12.

• "My brother left his daughter at our place and she is a little bit spoiled, constantly asking someone to bring her some water or give her a toy. When she asked me for something again, I said, "Do you have arms and legs? Use them to get what you need." She took a moment to think, and then went to get some water for herself. She never asked me for anything at all, she did everything by herself. My brother later asked me if he could bring her to me more often — I had a positive influence on her." © Unknown author / Pikabu

13.

• "Not sure if it's the best, but I thought it was really sweet. I was at the bus and this lady was talking to her 5 year old. The little girl was talking about her day in school and was telling her mom that she had 5 drawings for Daddy and only 4 for Mommy because she didn't have time but that she would make her one at home to even it out.
  The mother was just so patient and thanked her daughter and said she didn't have to because she already knew how much she loved her and that it was fine if the number wasn't even. Then the lady told her daughter that she loved her so much and she was such a good girl.
  It was nice to see them together because they never stopped talking about different things and they seemed to enjoy each other company so much." © princesspea89 / Reddit

14.

• "My kid is 9 and he goes to school and all of his other classes by himself. His teachers often call me to tell me that my child is too small to travel to school alone. In winter, my kid wanted to live at a sports camp in a tent for one month. I let him but people criticized my decision. I think that I'm raising a future man and my job is to raise a loving and strong person, someone who can protect himself and his family." © greencloudlet / Livejournal

15.

• "This photo shows a small snapshot of a normal evening. My daughter was drawing (some Easter - egg — a bunny idea she had today), and there's the "magic box" for our cell phones."
  © Paul Bartlett / Quora

16.

• "My son is 14 years old. He doesn't like any cultural events. Museums, theaters, exhibitions — nothing. My husband and I decided to stop ruining our weekends with his sad face and enjoy the experience ourselves. We decided to choose the things we would like to see and left our kid at home. Of course, when we came back home, we were really impressed and happy and kept talking about what we saw. A month later, our son wanted to come with us. And then, he even started looking for events by himself and visiting them with his friends."
  © juliafeofanova / Livejournal

17.

• "Some teenagers outside were being very loud and they were using bad words. I was annoyed, so I wanted to yell at them through the window. But then I stopped. I was raised by professional teachers. I got dressed, went outside, and told them, "Guys, would you please not use those bad words? We'd like to use them too, but we're polite, so we don't." They apologized and stopped."
  © Kaurova / Pikabu

18.

• "My parents. I remember one time that I broke something and I didn't tell them, when they found out they didn't yelled at me, they just said something like: It's ok to break things, sometimes it happen. But I don't want you to lie to us.
  This happened too when I had a fight with someone in school, I didn't tell them and they get mad when they found out, my mom told me: It's ok to defend yourself, I know that you didn't started the fight, but I don't want you to lie to me, just say what happened.
  My parents always was like that, they never hit me and I never get grounded, beside some little bad things I did they educated me well." © I_Love_Fox / Reddit

19.

• "If my son has an argument with someone, I won't intervene — he has to deal with that himself. I let him climb trees, fences, run fast, pet animals, ride a bike, and swim deep. I will swim next to him but I won't stop him from swimming if he thinks he can do it. Many moms think I'm irresponsible, but my kid's health and development are extremely important. The more we protect our kids, the more harm we do. We often tell them, "Don't! Don't go! Don't argue." In the end, they stop thinking, they get used to following orders. I respect my son and his choices. He's 10 years old and I think he is a person that has the right to his own opinion."
  © elina_ellis / Livejournal

20.

• "My dad would always relived this story to his friends whenever he can. Back when we were young, my siblings and I would go to the mall to window shop. Whenever we want something, this would be our conversation (non-verbatim):
  Me: Dad, can we buy this?
  Dad: We don't have budget for that at the moment.
  Me: Okay. If we ever had the budget, let's buy that okay?
  He's very proud to say the least. He's always true with his promises, BTW."
  © AAA2017 / Reddit

21.

• "I went to my sister's place and had to look after my 6-year-old nephew. He's pretty spoiled and he kept asking me to bring him something or do something. I was tired after 20 minutes. And then I decided to teach him a little. We cleaned the place, collected the toys, and I set a schedule — we did the same thing every day. The kid had been transformed. Several years later, I found out that every time he misbehaved, they reminded him of me and then he would behave again. Now, he's a grown-up man, has 2 kids, and he's doing great." © AleksBoev / Pikabu

22.

• "I used to work with a guy who had two kids and he would make them work to earn money for things they wanted. For example, if his 12-year-old son wanted an Xbox for his birthday the guy would make a deal with him. He would give the kid half the money for the Xbox then they would devise a bunch of "jobs" the kid could do, working at minimum wage, to earn the rest. So the kid would paint the storage shed and clean out the attic, stuff like that. The kid learned a sense of accomplishment and cared more for his stuff because he had to work for it and the dad got to teach his kid about earning your way in the world." © kane55 / Reddit

23.

• "One of the things my husband complains about to my daughter is her messy room. And I tell him it's pointless to tell her that, because our bedroom is the same. Now, my daughter and I have an experiment — every day, she and I clean up our rooms. When I watch her, I realize that many of the bad qualities I see in her, she got from me or she got because I didn't pay enough attention to her." © marionnellita / Livejournal

Every family has its own rhythm, and every child their own path. As you navigate the ups and downs of parenting, may these stories serve as gentle reminders that there’s no perfect way — just the one that works for you and helps your child grow into a good human.