20 Bright Side Readers Who Grew Up Poor Share Bittersweet Memories

When we were kids, we might not have fully understood how much our parents did for us. But now that we’re older, we can look back and see all the hard work and sacrifices they made to give us a good life, which is pretty amazing when you think about it.

• My grandmother was widowed very young with 5 children, so she had to work very hard. Her youngest son cried a lot when she went to work and soon started asking her to bring cookies when she returned. Buying cookies for so many children was expensive, so, as a cheaper option, she decided to go to a factory and buy broken cookies sold by the kilo. When she returned home, her son asked her for the cookies; my grandmother said they were on the table. He ran to the package, opened it, and with a disappointed face and voice said to my grandmother: “They are all broken.” She, with a sorrowful face, replied: “Yes, I know they broke, I just fell down while carrying them.” © Maritza Aravena Norambuena / Facebook
• Almost every Sunday, my mother made soup with the leftover food from the week. It was a delicacy for us, and we didn’t realize what it was. © Laura Sotelo / Facebook
• Many years ago, I was broke, and working all the time. I had 2 cats though that I had custody of after my breakup. I couldn’t afford food for myself and them, so I only would buy food for them. I couldn’t dare eat anything if they didn’t have food too. © Raven A. Reeves / Facebook

• My parents were hard workers but, even so, there was a time when I was in elementary school, that we were pretty tight on money since they invested almost all of it into buying a house. I was about 8 years old and I was chosen as the grade candidate for school parties. Even though it was my dream, instead of trying to come up with explanations, I just told them in front of everyone that they should pick another girl. And even though I didn’t like her, I had heard in the bathroom that she wanted to be a candidate and I knew she had the financial means to do it. I felt calm and happy because I knew that I did not want my parents to have unnecessary expenses and that, if I could support that, it was not sacrifice, but love for my family. © Yane Rox / Facebook
• In my childhood, I never felt poor, my grandmother and my aunt made sure that we didn’t have to go without anything, the children of the neighbors were the ones who told us that we were poor because we had no luxuries. © Rubiela Montoya / Facebook
• My mother would eat the meat from the spine of the chicken, and I couldn’t understand why. She would also bring us snacks from her work that we all loved, while she didn’t seem to like them at all. © Lilia Betancourt Guilian / Facebook

• I remember we never bought sandwiches. My mother would buy sliced bread, butter, and white cheese — I didn’t even know about the existence of mozzarella or cheddar cheese. She would run the white cheese through boiling water to soften it and bring down the saltiness, add it to the bread, butter it, and then smash it in a pan using another metal pan. They were the best sandwiches of my life. © Eduards Amaris Barrios / Genial
• We were so poor that when I was growing up, my mother would reuse the coffee grounds until they turned white and then she served those used coffee grounds as grits. © William Robert Ralston / Facebook
• When I was little, I used to get sick a lot with my stomach and respiratory tract and I always had a dirty nose. One time there was a costume contest at school, I won for being a wicked witch and my gift was several boxes of tissues. My mom was very excited, as she made the costume with a lot of effort, while I was very embarrassed about my gift. © Merrie Islas / Facebook

• When I was a child, my mother cooked a delicious soup that she never made again. As an adult, I asked her why she never made that delicious soup again, and with tears in her eyes she confessed that she didn’t have anything for us to eat that day, so she gathered the leftovers from everything in the kitchen and that was the result. A kiss to all the mothers who work miracles for their children. © Franklin Fernando / Facebook
• We used to live in a small town. My father left us when I was 3, but fortunately, we were okay. My mother did everything to help us move forward: she sewed our clothes, washed them, took care of people who were hurt or had some ailment, and we even harvested coffee on our coffee plantation, among other things. She never stopped working, never complained, and never got tired. I would fall asleep, and she would be sewing clothes on her sewing machine. I would wake up in the middle of the night to the noise of the sewing machine. When I got up to do some chores around the house, my mother would still be sewing. © Juan de Dios A. Guatemala/ Facebook
• My parents did everything they could to give us a good life, my mother stayed at home so that my brother and I were never alone or unattended — we were always clean and well-fed. My dad didn’t take a single vacation day in 20 years, and thanks to that we always had a school uniform and supplies. © Ayk Muebles / Facebook

• When I was a little girl, we lived in a very humble little house that my mother called “Ranchita” (little ranch). The house had no wood or ceramic floors, it was just made of clay. However, I remember that the floor was always very clean, and with time, my mom got cardboard that she put all over the floor. She would wax it with red-colored clay so that our floor would shine. My mommy always worked hard when the 4 of us were very little, she gave us everything she could possibly give us. © Pia Peñaloza / Facebook
• My mum’s parents (my grandparents) would often say they weren’t hungry when my mum and her siblings were younger. My mum, being the oldest, understood it was because they couldn’t afford to feed the whole family 3 meals a day, and it would break her heart that her siblings would often leave food or throw it away because she knew her parents weren’t eating. © Gemma Buchan-Rule / Facebook
• I am, from oldest to youngest, the second of many siblings. I remember when I was between 10 and 12 years old, my dad bought us a complete outfit for Christmas. On December 24th, wearing everything, I was walking down the stairs to the second floor and I slipped. I fell but nothing serious happened because my dad was there. He took me in his arms and kept me from hitting the floor. © Wilfredo Wilches / Facebook

Money can sometimes cause tension within families. One guy who inherited a lot of money from his grandfather decided not to share it with his father and brother — find out why in this article.