Man Whose Adult Son Has 'Wreaked Havoc On His Life' & Caused Him To Lose 'The Love Of His Life' Regrets Bringing Him Into The World
The man blames his son for ruining his life.
Ariya J, Drazen Zigic / Shutterstock As parents, sometimes we don’t really like our kids but we still love them. It takes a lot for a parent to conclude that they no longer love their child, but that’s exactly what one distraught and frustrated father decided about his own son.
In a post that was originally shared on Reddit, then posted to the ‘Creeky Favorites’ TikTok channel, the question, “Parents, what did your child do that was so despicable that you will never forgive them?” was posed and the answer was jaw-dropping.
One man shared his answer, revealing, 'I regret giving birth to this devil every day.'
He explained that his son, who was 29 years old at the time, was coming up on 18 months of sobriety, got his GED, and was about to start college and move into his first apartment. His son also had a job and, according to his dad, it was the first time he got one on his own.
The young man was also in therapy and consistently making his scheduled appointments.
Though things were looking up, the man explained that his son had done everything a “precocious” 17-year-old would have done and fell under the influence of some misguided friends. Nevertheless, his mother and father supported him and gave him the best upbringing possible, showering him with love and introducing him to music, sports, and culture.
Despite having a stable and seemingly happy home life, his son started shoplifting at 15 years old. He and his wife dragged their deviant child back to the store to return the products, but he continued to steal. It became so bad that the parents decided they needed family therapy.
His son made false allegations against his mother and father.
Therapy was going well until the psychologist asked for one-on-one sessions with his son. Not long after, the police came knocking because the boy had told the therapist that his parents were part of a religious cult and that they attacked him routinely.
They were cleared of the accusations but fired the therapist and tried to find a new one but each quit, and within six months the worried parents could find no one to treat their son.
By 16, he was drinking, smoking marijuana, and leaving needles and pipes lying around for his parents to find. That led them to have an intervention that same year and he went into drug treatment but quickly relapsed.
He failed high school and had to repeat a grade at 17. That resulted in him becoming the “ringleader of a group of other young idiots who saw them as this totemic mentor/shaman who could hook them up with whatever they wanted.”
The man suspected that his son was also 'hooking up' with the 13-year-old sister of one of his gang member friends.
He couldn’t prove it but asked the girl’s parents to keep an eye on her. His son was livid at him for telling the parents, who quickly pulled both of their children out of school.
But he seemed to have turned a corner and was on his “best behavior” while his father was away for the evening. However, his sudden change in demeanor belied an evil that neither of his parents could have imagined.
As his mother slept, the boy crept into her room, straddled her, put a knife to her neck, and attacked her by brutally stabbing her several times. Fortunately, she was able to break free and barricade herself in the bathroom. The boy ran off and the ambulance arrived just in time to save her life.
He even bragged about the incident to his friends and was eventually arrested for the assault. “I know if I’d been home or if I’d have caught him, I would have killed him with my bare hands,” said his father.
The 17-year-old was tried as an adult and pleaded guilty, but smiled throughout the court proceedings and held his plea until he had made his mother testify on the witness stand, forcing her to recall the traumatic occurrence.
The man’s wife ended up divorcing him just one month after their son was sentenced, claiming he looked too much like the boy and she could no longer stand to be around him. She ended her life one year later and the man has since blamed his problematic son for the loss of his wife.
The man tried to make amends by visiting his son in prison.
Feeling obligated as a father, the man made his visit to his son in prison just after he was sentenced and while the boy’s mother was still alive. But the young man laughed in his father's face.
After his ex-wife died, the man made another attempt at seeing his son, who once again laughed in his face.
Photo: Fizkes / Shutterstock
After just three years, the troubled young man was back on the streets, homeless, “in and out of rehab,” sleeping couch to couch, and only reaching out to his father when he needed money.
Eventually, the dad stopped communicating and said he would only do so if the intention of the correspondence was to take his son back to rehab. And after a couple of years had passed, his son showed up on his front porch with his aunt to apologize, but his father was unwilling to accept his apology and slammed the door.
“His aunt barges in to try to shame me into forgiving the man who attacked my wife, caused her death, and laughed about it,” he wrote.
When he still did not budge, his son slashed his tires, threw a brick through his window, and sped off in his aunt’s car. She blamed his behavior on his dad’s rejection and was convinced to let her nephew stay in her home. Since then, it has been a cycle of rehab, relapses, and missing items from her home. Yet, she continues to be steadfast in her support of the young man.
The concerned father has tried to warn the aunt about his son’s history of taking things that don’t belong to him, hurting others for his own gain, and backsliding on his commitments, but she won't hear it. “When he hurts someone else with his ceaseless BS, I will not be there to pick up after him,” the man said of his son.
Parents are not an endless supply of forgiveness.
It is often expected that parents will tolerate an infinite amount of disrespect and disappointment from their children, but like other human beings, they do have a breaking point.
Normal misbehavior like staying out late, sneaking friends in, and talking back is expected. But when a person, child or not, tries to kill you or your spouse, it is definitely time to cut ties.
Abuse goes both ways. We often hear stories about kids who have been victimized, but it’s important to know that kids can emotionally abuse their parents. The father in this story has lost his wife and his son, but by breaking ties with the young man, he opens himself up to have a new family that is functional, loving, and healthy.
There are several options in case you or someone you know needs help to deal with an immediate crisis. Call 911 if you think a family member may harm themselves or others. The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is also available 24/7 at 1-800-273-TALK (8255).
NyRee Ausler is a writer from Seattle, Washington. She covers lifestyle, relationship, and human-interest stories that readers can relate to and that bring social issues to the forefront for discussion.