35 ‘Cool’ Parents Who Maybe Should Have Slowed Their Roll

‘Got dropped off at Lollapalooza when I was 12’
35 ‘Cool’ Parents Who Maybe Should Have Slowed Their Roll

We’ve all met adults who definitely weren’t told “no” enough times when they were children. One Redditor, for instance, had a childhood friend named Patrick who was allowed to do pretty much anything, even if “anything” was lighting a fake plant on fire “to see how flammable it was,” allowing it to fully erupt into flames and then throwing the fiery plant outside in the snow. His mother watched the entire scene play out, only to say, “Don’t do that again,” without any real authority in her voice. You gotta wonder what workplace Patrick is out there terrorizing right now. 

Redditors have taken a trip down memory lane and recalled the jaw-dropping things laidback parents allowed their kids to do, and while helicopter parents are bad, there are times when being a Cool Mom™ is much worse.

-TracerBullet 6y I didn't do anything terrible, I don't think. Mostly I just stayed up way too late and skipped school a lot. Still did all the homework and graduated on time. Probably the worst thing I did on a school night was sneak into my church around 2am. It wasn't technically a B&E because as a Youth Leader I had my own key. We played the pipe organ and made coke floats and nachos in the kitchen. I think the next morning I told my parents I went out and would go to school late. They called in sick
 6y I started smoking weed in the house at 15. Tried to keep it hidden and only did it in the middle of the night when parents were fast asleep. But this one time my parents were going away for a weekend and they missed their flight and they came home without texting me and walked in on a few friends and I smoking in the living room and watching Netflix. Dad walks in and immediately smells it, he looks at me and tells me Open the window jackass you're going to stink up the house.. They found a
PesantCheese 6y I used to get online on the family computer in the living room when I got home from school about 5pm. Would be on it until about 5am then sleep until my alarm went off at 6:30am. From age 13-16 I didn't sleep more than 2 hours on school nights. 2 litres of red bull, 8 proplus (caffeine pills), 16 paracetamol and 16 ibuprofen a day for energy/ headaches. On weekends I would catch up on sleep. Went to bed at 7am when my mother woke up and got up to get online around midnight once everybody else
 6y From the age of 15 I didnt have a time that I had to be in at on the weekends. I would stay out until 3 or 4am drinking on the streets with my mates, come home and go to bed. Not a word would be said to me the next day by my parents. When I was 16 myself and a group of my mates decided to get the boat from Ireland to Wales and get a train up to manchester to see if we could score some football tickets. We left on the friday morning and
a_fleeting_being 6y My mom was worried I was not getting drunk with my teenage friends (we're talking age 15-16). So she would gently соах me into drinking, offer wines to taste and to make me cocktails to get used to the taste of alcohol, and so forth. I never took up drinking, despite all her efforts. I grew up as a straightedge designated driver. Also, starting Junior High she told me you can skip school if you don't feel like going. But only a couple days a year. I ask her can I carry those days from year to year?
 . 6y Me and my best friend used to be into art during high school, so we would break into old buildings around town and make cool graffiti. We had the whole setup with black clothes and headlamps and would load up spray paint in a backpack at my house before heading out. Both my parents knew as I frequently showed them pictures of our work. ... 2
Minomusic 6y I wanted to try mushrooms when I was about 16, I told my mom and she agreed to trip sit me- basically, let me and my friends do mushrooms in the living room. She helped us steep it into tea, and then once we were all gone, she carefully timed her steps and ordered a pizza, baked cookies and watched movies with us, making sure everyone was having a happy hippie trip. To this day, my mom advocates her happy hippie trips of doing drugs with a sober babysitter. I've now moved out, I do smoke cannabis with
PluggerOfButts 6y My friends mother was an extremely relaxed parent, he could do pretty much anything and she would say Patrick, Stop. Well one fine December day my friend thought it would be funny to see how flammable the fake trees are, he lit a match and held it to the plant, we were still in his house at this point when the plant caught fire. Не picked it up and tried to put in to the sink to spray water on it, but the faucet didn't reach the plant. My brother picked up the plant, now this thing is
 . 6y I was allowed to saddle up my horse, take my Savage 22/20 gauge over/under gun, some beef jerky, a canteen, a sleeping bag and bed roll tied to my saddle and ride up into the Ochoco Mountains and camp over night. Then ride back the next day. Also did the same with my motorcycle. I was about 13 or 14 at the time. ... 3.8k
Blimpy8792.6y My mom is a gambling addict & was super lax. I had groups of 10 kids over all boys except one spending the night sleeping in the same room at age 14. I'd give her any money I had & she would leave us alone, we smoked weed all the time broke into the community center close to my house. Went into abandoned homes & broke all the windows. The cops even came to the house to ask about it & my mom acted like she knew nothing. We smoked weed in the house all the time, I constantly
brad-corp 6y Not my story, but in grade 11 at school (second last year) a kid in my class just stopped showing up. It went on for about a fortnight and it got weird. Teachers were really strange about it, all these rumours. Then finally, after about 2 months - boom he's back! It turns out his dad took a job overseas and his step-mother didn't speak English. So this kid told her it was school holidays and then intercepted calls from the school when they started and pretended to be his dad and told the school he'd enrolled his son in
samuelma . 6y My parents bought me over £500 of stuff to grow weed, then let me set it up in the corner of my bedroom. I still have no idea why the fuck that was allowed, i barely smoked then and i i think i was possibly just trying to find the boundaries. Turns out there were none. ... 150
Katamaklo . 6y At 16, my mom got my bf and I a hotel and bought me several pairs of sexy panties which she slipped into my bag. We are happily married now, so maybe she just trusted my husband and I were responsible kids. ... 1
sircaseyjames 6y I had an older brother who went to Penn State. At the time, it was at its peak in being a huge party school and was a top contender in those infamous rankings. We lived two hours away, and I was only a junior in high school who had just gotten his license not too long ago. I would often tell my parents I was taking the car to drive and visit my brother at psu for the weekend. They were just like, okay have fun be safe! no questions asked. Also if you bring your little bother
snow_cones32.66 Allowing me to go to Cancun Mexico for spring break with 3 other friends. I was 16 years old. What were they thinking? Edit: to clarify I was a 16 year old girl. My other 3 friends were girls as well. This was 1991 before social media and cell phones. It really hit me when I had teenagers of my own. I asked my parents when I got older why they let me do whatever I wanted. The response I got was you were going to do what you wanted anyway?. Seriously, what were they thinking!! ... 7.2k
Kiefus_reefus . 6y Probably letting me have a keg party at 16 with nearly 100+ kids from my school, we lived out a canyon at the time, also when I was 17 she let me fly to Boston to meet up with friends I met online from video games. ... 1
 . 6y In middle school one of my friend's Mom signed a group of us out of class midday so we could go see 8 Mile when it came out. That's tragically where my coolness peaked. ... 2
all4hurricanes . 6y My dad had lax parents, he would ride bikes off ramps (that snapped in half when he landed). His sister dug up a grave .. 458
TheaterPirate . 6y Late to the party on this one, but what the hell. My mom forged my birth certificate so I could get my belly button pierced at 14. ... 2
 . 6y Upper middle class upbringing here. My parents got me a car and didn't give a shit about what I did as soon as I got my license. I once drove 150 miles to Baltimore after high school one day to get some crab cakes. ... 10.3k
IHateCreatingSNs . 6 6y When I was 14 I spent a year in the Ukraine. Just me and my sister (18) We didn't go to school, and we pretty much did whatever we wanted. (My parents lived in the US)
handle-b . 6y My mom let me fly to Detroit by myself at age 14 or 15 to stay with my internet girlfriend and her family for about a week. I can't remember for sure but I'm thinking she must have paid for the ticket as well. She told me later that she felt more comfortable with me dating other girls than boys because there was no chance of me getting pregnant. Which I guess is fair...? ... 3
FRANKFIETSig . 6y My Friends father is like that, one time we where throwing water balloons at cars and hé shouted tot us: guys, are you throwing water balloons at people . We thought he was mad and we said : yes we are and hé said: make sure you aim for The heads ... 2
 . 6y My mom had no issue whatsoever with me hanging with 'the punks'. I slept in parks, public park-houses, under bridges, would drink and sometimes first come home at 2-3am (this was when I was ~14-16), if at all, etc...as long as I went to school, she was ok with it. Same later on when I (17) moved in with my former boyfriend (21)...she was okay with it as long as I had my phone with me. ... 97
deaddaughterconfetti .6 6y They allowed me to get a tattoo when I was 13 (rainbow butterfly on my shoulder), then 15 (crow on my chest), and 16 (large black piece on my chest). I regret every single one, especially the chest piece, which I had modified over the years, and will need continual touch ups because my skin doesn't really like ink. ... 271
jerm311b 6y Got dropped off at Lollapalooza when I was 12 back in 96. ... 2
placebo92.6 6y Drop out of school in grade 7 to play WoW all year. ... 2.1k
BookOfNopes . 6 6y I think I posted it before here... I was a 15 yo girl, we had a vacation in Turkey. A 40-something dude asked my mom to take me on a date. She said: yeah I think so. What the fuck. Of course I didn't go and thankfully nobody forced me. ... 2
JBan6 . . 6y Not me, but one of my white friends said he left his house for 3 days straight and nobody noticed. ... 1
bridge88. 6y Late to the party. But i i live in texas an my mom let me go to mexico for the weekend with my friends for a party.. When i was 15. ... 1
 . 6y I once made a crossbow when I was about 10 and shot it inside the house through our sliding glass door. ... 1
Des98 . 6y Just last week, my little brother was allowed to get a tongue piercing which reads FUCK on the stud. I can't believe it was allowed. Не is 14. ... 1
 . 6y My mum let me travel to another city at 15 to meet a guy I met on yahoo chat. 15 years later we're married with three kids... but wtf mum. ... 7.3k
NotMyThrowawayNope . 6y Stay out until 10pm or later. For a teenager, that's okay I suppose. For a nine year old it is not. ... 5.1k
ChuckFinli . 6y As a kid my parents were perfectly ok with me flipping the golf cart in to the ditch, towing people behind ATVs on plywood, making pipe bombs, and shooting each other with Roman candles. However they didn't let me watch Harry Potter because they didn't want my faith to be in witches and wizards. ... 5.4k

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