I once got bitched out by my family doc when I was around 16 and turned up in his waiting room without my mom’s permission, because I had horrible strep throat. His opening line was “does your mother know you’re here?”

That would have been a cute cover story! Money was super tight when I was a kid (like EVERY dollar was strictly accounted for), so I have a feeling my mom just panicked.

I am also confused by the choice of lady...

My mom usually handled toothfairy duty. Once, she left it up to my dad. He couldn’t find any quarters (I think I usually got $0.50?), so he left a 5 DOLLAR BILL! I was elated when I found it in the morning.

I think it said that she fought for the championship title at 12 weeks, but didn’t actually find out she was pregnant until 24 weeks (but apparently did not have any other fights during that 12 week period)

In addition to the reasons others have given, sometimes it has to do with how you are raised. When I was growing up, money was tight, and my parent had hourly jobs with no paid time off, so going to the doctor was not only costly in the sense of paying the bill, but also in lost wages. Also, my mom’s job in particular…

My BFF from high school got back in contact with her high school crush a few years ago. She was already married, but communicating with him on Facebook and stuff (her husband knew) and old high school crush started confiding in her about how sick he was. Apparently, he had some sort of terminal illness and was…

I think this article didn’t cover the dehydration bit well, from the linked article, it seems that it relates to one particular incident involving carry large quantities of clothing around outside in 100 degree weather.

Actually, the hospitalization seems to be related to 1 particular incident. Jez didn’t explain it well, but from the linked article:

I’m sure those pictures are wonderful!

Darn, I knew I should have looked it up before I posted! I remember when it first happened that there was a hubbub about the quick turn around time, but I didn’t realize it was that quick!

Yes! And also, that was a picture of her leaving the hospital (if I remember correctly, it was only 1 or 2 days later, but still). There is a big difference in 1 minute post-push and 24 hours later.

YES! I’ve had to explain this so many times. There’s always some idiot who’s like “well, that’s the way it’s always been” when they talk about gendered marketing for little kids. I’ll believe it’s always been around to a certain extent, but I think the level it’s at now is unprecedented.

Even the PTO bit is sketchy. According the the article, the judge wouldn’t let him call his boss before carting him off to jail. Everywhere I’ve worked at least has some sort of guidelines on PTO use (max number of days used together, having to let supervisor know in advance, not allowed to use on days that X number…

waitwaitwait - hes only 19?! what job does he have that at 19 he cant come back to in 2 weeks??

According to the book Millennials Rising, which coined the term, it starts with people born in 1982, which means a 33 year old would be right at the cusp.

She definitely deserves kudos for doing so much. It’s too bad her family doesn’t recognize her for it.

I mean, I think a lot of the bitterness exists because this initial quote of yours:

My dad was not as involved as your dad was (I don’t mean to bad mouth him, we were close, but he got a lot of the “fun” stuff, and my mom did the boring stuff) but at some point my parents decided my hair was his responsibility.

I’m glad I read your response before typing out one of my own, because you said it so much better. Especially this sentiment: