These Horror Stories About Meeting The Parents Will Make You Want To Stay Single

Meeting your significant other's parents can be incredibly awkward. It was especially bad for me when I was dating in early high school, because one of our parents always had to drive us to the mall or the movies or wherever we wanted to go, and then come back to pick us up. Meeting the parents is one thing, but being trapped in a car with them in Northern Virginia traffic is another.

For my first real date, I went to see Paranormal Activity in theaters, which was rated R. We were both only 15, so my date's mom bought the tickets — and went in to watch the movie with us. She sat a bunch of rows behind us, so as not to be conspicuous. But the whole time I was supposed to be watching the movie, I felt like I was the one being watched. The guy tried to hold my hand and I was so self conscious that I wouldn't let him.

On a different occasion, also at the beginning of high school, my then-boyfriend's mom and brother picked us up from our date. The ride was awkward enough, but then her car ended up breaking down on the way home. My mom had to come pick us up, so we both met each other's moms on the same stressful night. I could unfortunately go on and on with uncomfortable experiences of meeting guys' parents, but I will spare you the details and let these four individuals share their stories.

This guy's dad met the girl he was seeing under unfortunate circumstances.

I was seeing this girl, and one night we went to the movies together. She didn't drive, so I was going to take her home. After the movie we were fooling around in my car. I guess I was distracted afterward, because when I got back in the front seat to pull out of the parking spot, I hit the car next to mine. I freaked out because nothing like that had ever happened to me, so I called my dad and he came to meet us. He kept asking how this had happened, and all I could say was that I was backing out of the spot. I obviously didn't mention what was going on before. That was the first and only time she ever met my dad.

— Scott, 21*

This guy made the mistake of taking his mom and his girlfriend to a college bar.

I invited my girlfriend, my mom, my sister, and my two aunts to my band concert. It got out late, so afterward we all got dinner at a local bar that the college kids go to. It was after 9:30. There was a hypnotist there and everyone was drinking, so when it was done everyone was wasted. There was a woman who passed out on the table behind us with vomit everywhere. The bouncers came over to wake her up and she got up and fell down — with the table. My mom didn’t know what to do.

— Andrew, 21

This girl was accused of deliberately disobeying her boyfriend's parents' wishes.

I was visiting my boyfriend at the time at his house in Philadelphia — after he refused to let his parents meet me for eight months, which I thought was strange. When I finally visited, we had to sleep in separate rooms at his parents' request (which was totally fine and I get it). But I went into his room in the morning because he would sleep until like 2 p.m. and I wanted to be able to get up early and do fun stuff, so I went to say hi. I came out and saw his dad waiting outside his room. His dad then went to talk to him and basically accused me of sleeping in the same room with my boyfriend all night and breaking his parents' trust, which wasn't at all what happened.

— Michelle, 22

This girl's parents basically ignored her boyfriend after meeting him.

The first time my boyfriend met my family was on New Year's Day. I was on winter break from college so I was at home with my parents. My boyfriend drove to my parents' house which was an hour away from his apartment to hang out with me for the day. When he showed up, both my parents literally said, 'Hi, I'm Alex's mom/dad.' That was the only interaction they attempted to have with him all day. I was so mad because I wanted them to try to get to know him and they made no effort at all for the rest of the day.

— Alex, 23

Meeting your partner's parents can feel intimidating. Just be yourself and pray that you don't end up with a horror story of your own.

*Name and age have been changed.

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