People Are Sharing Their 'It's Not A Phase, Mom' Moments Growing Up That Actually Were Not A Phase

Jane LaCroix
March 1, 2022 1.8k votes 264 voters
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Vote up the most fascinating stories.

Children are easily influenced every day, so it's only normal they'll pick up various hobbies or traits that may come and go throughout their adolescence. While some parents insisted their children were just going through "a phase", these Redditors are proving it was anything but!

  • 1
    211 VOTES

    Real Life Indiana Jones

    From Redditor u/claevyan

    Dressing up and acting like Indiana Jones. 12-14 year old me out there in the desert treasure hunting and pretending it's archaeology. Fast forward to 2013 and 24 year old me is on a dig in Jerusalem (in my Indiana Jones hat) helping uncover one of the largest gold hoards found in Jerusalem. 

  • 2
    173 VOTES

    You'll Never Get A Job With Computers

    From Redditor u/ThadisJones

    "Computers aren't a viable professional career path"- my parents in the mid-90s

  • 3
    144 VOTES

    Musical Dreams Come True

    From Redditor u/dtyler86

    My guitar playing. My mother would give my sisters each a $100 monthly clothing-specific allowance because they both were in high school. I started working at 14 so I could afford guitar strings and sheet music to teach myself guitar. My family just thought it was a phase, ended up getting into the Berklee College of music self-taught never having taken a single lesson, tested into the highest level of guitar class at my local high school, I’ve been an audio engineer and a musician my whole life since the age of about 11 years old. I am now about to sign a lease today for office space to create my first recording studio. It all started at that time in my life which was “just a phase".

  • 4
    198 VOTES

    Love To See It

    From Redditor u/Vegaman11998823

    I was dating a girl in high school that I was madly in love with. My mom was adamant it was just puppy love and the relationship wouldn't last long term.

    I married that girl and we've been together for 25 years. Still love her madly.

  • 5
    172 VOTES

    Turning A Passion Into A Career

    From Redditor u/jgorbeytattoos

    Drawing. Especially all the teachers that told me ‘stop doodling, you’ll never be able to make a living doing that.’

    Currently a successful tattoo artist of 11+ years. I make more in 3 months than that shi**y teacher does in a year.

  • 6
    125 VOTES

    Adventure Awaits

    From Redditor u/MasteringTheFlames

    The summer when I was 16, I pitched to my parents the idea of me loading a bunch of camping gear onto my bicycle and riding to a state park 40 miles (64 km) from our home. I ended up getting hopelessly lost and on the first day of the trip, I found my way back home by complete dumb luck. It was a disaster. My father thought that would be the end of that idea, but a week later, I went back out with a slightly improved navigation system, and successfully made it to the campground.

    Almost exactly four years later, I set off to spend the next seven months riding my bicycle 5,300 miles (8,500 km) around much of the US.