Many people, not without reason, believe that childhood is the happiest time in a person’s life. A period when you don’t have to solve a huge number of various everyday problems, when you constantly learn something new, when you meet new friends and literally every day is like a true holiday.
Of course, for some, all this is 100% true. And yet, for many people, childhood is far from being as bright as we would like – and as, of course, it should have been. There are many reasons for this, and the main one, alas, is problems in the family or the environment of the child. And then additional troubles are already strung on this rod, leaving people alone with a harsh and sometimes cruel world.
A popular thread appeared in the AskReddit community, the author of which asked only one formally simple, but in fact incredibly complex question: “What’s a subtle sign that someone had a rough childhood?” As of today, the thread has over 20.1K upvotes and around 5.6K comments. Behind many of these examples lies a difficult personal story, and many of them are literally woven from pain.
Bored Panda has put together a selection of the most popular comments from the original thread for you, so please feel free to scroll to the very end of this list, mark the submissions you think are the most accurate and just tell us your own ideas on how to spot a person with a rough childhood behind them (and how one could help such a person as well).
More info: Reddit
#1
Insanely independent. They’ve learned not to trust anyone to help them so do everything themselves.
Image credits: anon
#2
When things get tense, they move and breathe very silently and are hyper aware of everything that is happening and everyone else’s actions.
I find that they also read people very well, but still have poor judgement when it comes to close relationships.
Image credits: magpai
#3
Seeming like they have it all together and definitely don’t need any help from anyone. Oh something serious is happening, make a joke! Oh your anxiety is dibilitating? Better go isolate yourself because god forbid you let anyone know you’re struggling and that you could use some support!
Image credits: anon
#4
That they come off as “very mature” at a young age.
Image credits: catsareminerals
#5
Haphephobia, or the fear of being touched, is definitely one of them. Flinching at loud noises or quick movements. Wanting to be at work and doing good all the time. Inconsistent hobby practice- i.e. drawing, but only sometimes drawing, and then dismissing what you drew as “not good enough”.
Image credits: HelloMissMurphy
#6
They apologise habitually, compulsively, and for everything. Even for things that have nothing to do with them.
Image credits: Roarlando
#7
My sister in law adopted 3 siblings who are completely self-sustainable at a very young age. When they were visiting, I noticed a lot.
-If I gave anything to the oldest boy, he would pass it off to the youngest sister. Then I’d give him another and it went to the middle-sister. Then I’d give him another and he’d finally keep it for himself.
-I asked if they wanted water. He said “yes” and I asked if the girls wanted water too. “Oh, we can all share this one.” Obviously I gave them all water, but that one hit me pretty hard.
-He knew their eating schedules and would nag my sister in law.
-Offered to make them mac and cheese or noodles or whatever we have laying around. Promised to clean up after. He was 12 years old.
-When “normal” kids play videogames, they’re glued. This kid was constantly checking over his shoulder to make sure everyone was safe and if he felt one of his sisters was up to no good, he would put the controller down even if it meant dying or losing his progress in the game.
-To elaborate on “up to no good” what the oldest brother considered bad behavior was pretty innocuous. There were several instances of things I consider normal childish behavior that he would regularly put a stop to. The most outstanding one was being too loud. It wouldn’t even be yelling or screaming. Just typical 5 year old make-believe noises that would cause him to run over and tell the little one to keep it down.
Image credits: liquorlanche617
#8
low self esteem, feels obligated to deal with things all on their own to not ‘bother’, has severe trust issues, either pours all their love on something/someone and doesn’t know when to stop or doesn’t give a shoot.
Image credits: princessinsweatpants
#9
Either isolated or poor choices in friends, unhealthy romantic relationships, unhealthy use of substances, low self esteem, dependence on others for validation, poor self regulation of emotions and behaviour, easily heightened and/ or experience anxiety, no goals or lower than they could achieve and anything else and any combination of these
Image credits: BushElk
#10
They move extremely silently, as though they’ve been conditioned to not be heard or seen.
PS everyone that has ever worked on a kitchen line with me hate how they can’t hear me move around them.
Image credits: RandyTheB
#11
Being very calm and collected in serious/emergency situations. Having to deal with stressful stuff all my life has made me very capable in tense situations (This could go the complete opposite way too btw just my experience). Many of my friends have me listed as their emergency contacts instead of their parents because they’re like “I know that you can actually help instead of just flip out”.
My childhood wasn’t tough in the “my parents hated me/treated me badly” sense, but they are just basically children, completely unreliable, unable to plan, spiteful(in the way teens are). I had to take care of everything so now I’m just good at keeping it together.
Good people don’t always make good parents.
Edit: seems like many other people had similar experiences. Please remember to love yourselves and to still process all that stuff even tho you were calm at the time! (I say even tho I most certainly do NOT do that)
Image credits: killerrainbows
#12
Defensiveness.
If you’re one of those people who gets super defensive about even the slightest error, it’s usually a good sign that they grew up in an environment where it was definitely not okay to make mistakes.
Image credits: MadameBurner
#13
If they subconsciously memorize the sound of everyone’s footsteps. You can tell that someone has done this when they know you’re nearby to ask for something without looking, or even around a corner, or what have you.
Not just “identify family members” footsteps, that’s pretty easy to do if you live with them a long time, but if they can readily identify *everyone* around them, even just coworkers, based on their footsteps? At a minimum they’ve got some serious anxiety running in their brain 24/7 making them worry about who might
Image credits: Valatros
#14
I am overly sensitive to people’s emotions or feelings. If someone is quiet for too long I get nervous and think they’re angry with me. I also flinch when people come at me from behind or unexpectedly, both of these are difficult to explain in friendships with people with different childhoods because it’s easy to misinterpret anxiety as insecurity and downplay disproportionate reactions. I still have a hard time explaining that I actually hate being tickled/grabbed and I laugh and scream out of instinct and not fun.
Image credits: w33dbaby
#15
Insecurity.
My Psychology professor used to joke that, “Psychology is the study of common sense.” When someone is Insecure, it is generally because they lacked security as a child. Parental love was typically conditional and varied depending on the caretaker’s mood. The child becomes insecure due to love not being guaranteed, so to ‘earn’ this basic need, they will go throughout life trying to ‘solve social puzzles’ that don’t exist. solving imaginary puzzles all the time can prove to be fatiguing, so these individuals tend to isolate themselves.
Image credits: squeeeeenis
#16
My now boyfriend always used to say jokes like;
Nah you dont hurt me its way worse at home.
But he had a look on his face after saying those type of jokes and nooobody saw it i guesse? So one night when we where on a call I asked him if every thing was alright and if those joke were really a joke. He was quiete for 5 second and told me everything, after that i learned that some people knew but just ignored it. He was so relieve that someone could see his pain and was willing to talk about it. After 3-4 months after that, we where together and are still together. He is the nicest person i have ever met.
#17
Someone who is really uncertain in decision making and never wants to put anyone out of their way. They may also be really loving, but are really scared to be hurt
Image credits: lukerpatrick
#18
Someone who is very good at staying calm. Like, creepy calm. The room could be on fire and they’d walk out like nothing was wrong.
Image credits: korebean
#19
Boundary issues are common, but reactions still are an individual thing. What helps to keep in mind is the 4F model of trauma responses: Fight, flight, fawn and freeze. When you notice somebody’s reactions are easily categorized as one of those and it is a very persistent pattern, adverse childhood circumstances of some sort are a pretty safe bet.
Edit: to fawn = to court favor by a cringing or flattering manner, so basically the stuff pathological people pleasers are made of.
Image credits: felis_magnetus
#20
I remember going to summer camp as a kid and meeting Milo. Milo was big on attention seeking and validation, and would take food from the cafeteria back to his bunk, like eggs and toast. I remember thinking he was just weird, but I think looking back and knowing what I know now, he was probably being neglected at home. Thin as a rail and probably malnourished, so he wanted as much food as he could get, and just wanted someone to acknowledge him. Pretty sad stuff.
Image credits: anon
#21
Jumping at every loud noise, apologizing too much, difficulty maintaing eye contact in stressful situations, if the person suffers from insomnia or severe migraines (this is in my case, the stress from my childhood gave me chronic migraines) and there are many more. These are just from my perspective Edit: i know that these are also symptoms of anxiety, some are for people/children on the spectrum, these are purely my reactions after suffering a very weird childhood.
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Image credits: luxxy847
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