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man_in_ict@reddit

Yep her thumb when i was pretty young. Usually when we were in the car and about to go into some place

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LavenderSpaceRain@reddit

Nope. My Mum definitely has OCD tendencies and that would gross her out no end. So I never had that happen to me. 😮‍💨

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SnorkinOrkin@reddit

Omg, she'd take her thumb, lick it, then wipe it downwards from my cheek/smile line, down to my chin.

I HAAAAAATED that! 👹

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tictacksmuggler@reddit

Omg. Trauma. I’m triggered. I hated it!

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Wldchld73@reddit

No, she wet the bottom of her shirt with spit and wiped dirt off my face with that.

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allaboutaphie@reddit

No, she knew I would throw a fit if that happenned.

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Upset_Addendum1480@reddit

yup, with cigarette and sour coffee breath. disgusting. I only did that once with my son because absolutely no other options at that moment and I apologized profusely.

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Jew-zilla@reddit

Nope. You mean your parents were around? 🤣

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bizoticallyyours83@reddit

I hated that shit. I refused to ever do something so gross to my daughter. I also remember when you'd get your nose cleaned out with a bobby pin. Why?

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Head_Trick_9932@reddit

Ears with bobby-pin in my family!🤦‍♀️

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Head_Trick_9932@reddit

Ugh yes. And my aunt would try and pop zits which is disgusting to me as well.

My teen boys would be mortifying if I tried either lol.

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ONROSREPUS@reddit

That is why my mom used but I would rather have that then spit. At least the dishrag has soap on/in it.

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Bleakravenloft69@reddit

Lmao I do this to my wife and she loses her shit

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ONROSREPUS@reddit

I tired this a couple weeks ago and she looked at me like WTF and then asked me if this was something sexual? I laughed my ass off.

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ONROSREPUS@reddit

Nope used a wet wash cloth. Out in public she would tell us to clean our own faces.

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No but my step mom did. Mostly at church that way I had to walk around with Marlboro 100 slobber on my face. She did quit smoking but she still grosses me out. I remember thinking at church “thank you god it’s Sunday and I get to go back to moms soon”

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W0gg0@reddit

That’s gross. She used a handkerchief.

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MaiBoo18@reddit

No

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Princess_Jade1974@reddit

Mum would rub at my face like she was trying to tear it off, I learnt that lesson quick I always pulled away, to this day I cant stand people touching my face.

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hocfutuis@reddit

Yes, usually with a spitty bit of tissue from out of her sleeve. Grandma doing it was worse though, because she was a heavy smoker. Ugh. I vowed I'd never do that to my own child, but she claimed the other day that I had. The shame!

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dadsgoingtoprison@reddit

I can still smell her breath and my dad did it too. 🤢

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FloydianSlip212@reddit

She still does but she used to, too

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Poneke365@reddit

Yip :/

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CK_CoffeeCat@reddit

I got the perpetual sleeve tissue. Wrinkled, wadded up tissue came out of her sleeve, wiped whatever, went back into her sleeve. There was never not a tissue up her sleeve, and it was never unused. 😰

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Organic_Tradition_94@reddit

Mum and Nanna. It was always the thumb and they always got me, no matter how hard I tried to fight it.

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lurky_lurker_lurking@reddit

Somehow I'd completely forgotten about it until now, but yes. 🤢

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jdewith@reddit

Mom would do that until I was old enough to hate it. After that, she would have ME lick her finger so she could clean my face.

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NashvilleTypewriter@reddit

God damnit. Yes... 🥲

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Mydreamsource@reddit

Ah, the ole spit bath.

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BraveLittleFrog@reddit

And I do it to mine. He’s going to be in a tux, ready to meet his bride, and I’ll still clean that smudge off. 🤣

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JudgeJuryEx78@reddit

Gross.

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JudgeJuryEx78@reddit

I have visceral memories of this.

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NomadicPurple@reddit

Ew, no. Too germy. My mom was a nurse. She would get a tissue or alcohol swab.

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Komaisnotsalty@reddit

No, but she'd lick a kleenex she pulled out of somewhere and do it that way.

Gross.

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Iron_Chic@reddit

At least you might get a piece of Trident gum since she was in her purse already...

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Komaisnotsalty@reddit

She had what I called 'squirt gum', which has been discontinued for decades. It was a puffy square of gum with a liquid filling.

And yeah, that could show up in a kleenex

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Iron_Chic@reddit

Was it Freshen-Up?

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Komaisnotsalty@reddit

The gum itself looks familiar, but the packaging not quite. Then again, it depends on when the image I am looking at is from.

The period of time I am talking about is when I was little, so this would be the early 1970s to no later than 1979 in Canada.

So very well could be. I do remember that the package was blue and likely peppermint not spearmint, and that I really didn't like it all that much. I just liked the sensation of biting down and the squirt, so I would do that and chew it for a very short time and then spit it out the window. 😆

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CompetitivePirate251@reddit

Ugh, I hated the spit on the nasty Kleenex from the bottom of her purse.

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Komaisnotsalty@reddit

Me too. To this day, it still grosses me out.

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Woody402@reddit

You're not alone there

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MorningBrewNumberTwo@reddit

Nope, she used a facecloth soaked in Dettol 😬

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LayerNo3634@reddit

Yes...and I have to convince to doing this once or twice with my own kids.

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LittleBig324@reddit

No, but she spit on a napkin and wiped my face. In hindsight, gross.

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Emotional_Mess261@reddit

Worse. My Dad’s handkerchief with his spit. Men carried handkerchiefs to blow their nose

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DtchGrl@reddit

Lol, my dad always had a handkerchief, but never used it to blow his nose. It was for cleaning us up or his/our glasses.

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Aromatic_Location@reddit

Of course. Momma bear took good care of me.

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Butterfly_Cat777@reddit

I'll have to say with confidence that my mom never, ever did that. She always thought that was disgusting lol.

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Stigger32@reddit

No. Nope. Nein.

Wipe dirt? Probably.

Lick fingers? Never.

Twist my ear? Often.

Whack my butt? Always.

Yell at me from close range? Daily.

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AutisticMom69@reddit

Gross. Yes. A spit bath I called it. I still cringe.

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JuJu_Wirehead@reddit

Better than licking her finger and sticking it in your ear, amirite?

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makeup1508@reddit

Thumb, she used her thumb

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First-Ad-7960@reddit

She licked a piece of Kleenex and then used that which was a double yuck.

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pixietulip@reddit

No, fortunately! She would grab a moldy washcloth though!

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KindaKrayz222@reddit

No. MY DAD DID 🤢.

gif

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christa_json@reddit

Yes. It's called "mom spit". It's very powerful.

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RebaKitt3n@reddit

Cleans your face and your soul

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UnusualHoneydew1625@reddit

Most potent cleaner on earth!

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RebaKitt3n@reddit

Of course.

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Plane_Sport_3465@reddit

YES!! It's so gross.

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Revolutionary_Buy943@reddit

I don't want to think about it. 😨

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Hopfrogg@reddit

I'm convinced they all saw Hazel doing it and thought that's what you're supposed to do. Hazel was certainly more competent than most Boomer parents.

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TheVioletEmpire@reddit

Yes. And she would say, "don't worry my hands are clean."

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skwigi@reddit

Nope. If through some bizarre circumstance she actually noticed me enough to see I had dirt on my face, she would have told me to go wash myself, and made sure she said it such a way that I knew I was so unacceptably unkempt that I qualified as sub-human.

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automator3000@reddit

Yes. And moms still do this. So do dads. Why is this a GenX question? Do you think this was an era specific action?

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Ray_The_Engineer@reddit

I was a father to 2 daughters, now grown. I NEVER did that to them.

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Ray_The_Engineer@reddit

Yep, and there was a nasty smell that went with it.

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MienaLovesCats@reddit

Yes 🤢

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Coyotesandwhutnot@reddit

Yes and I could smell her spit on my cheek 🤢

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Bobby_Globule@reddit

❤️

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Total_Diet_5274@reddit

My husband licks his fingers and fixes my hair. Someday I will make the headlines.

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Imverystupidgenx@reddit

…and my aunts and every grandma (paternal, maternal, and steps).

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Justasadgrandma@reddit

Most definitely!

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Conscious-Phone3209@reddit

Ahhh...yes, the spit shine !

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ClassicOutrageous447@reddit

She would spit on a hanky or tissue and come at my face. So gross.

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Kicktoria@reddit

I did that to my husband two days ago

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Embarrassed-Lake3785@reddit

My daughter complained about my wife doing that and then I caught her doing that to my youngest once. The deer in the headlights look she gave me when I called her out on it still warms my heart

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Voodoo330@reddit

Mine would spit on her handkerchief, then wipe the dirt of my face.

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4158264146@reddit

Full on loogie?

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Voodoo330@reddit

Snotless at least.

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Chibi-Skyler@reddit

Yep. Or if your glasses were dirty, she'd spit on them and dry them with the hem of her shirt.🤢

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allbsallthetime@reddit

My mom? No

My grandma? Yup

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cl0ckw0rkman@reddit

Hell she will do it now!

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Colibri918@reddit

Of course, she wasn't a barbarian

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Oddfool@reddit

Mother's Saliva. Nature's solvent.

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very_sad_dad_666@reddit

Geriatric millennial entering the chat.....spell check!!!

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Plane_Experience_271@reddit (OP)

Sorry. Reddit won't let you edit a title.

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very_sad_dad_666@reddit

Well, I really hatted to criticize.

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Plane_Experience_271@reddit (OP)

No problem. I wish I had caught it before I posted it.

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metengrinwi@reddit

How else would she do it?

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Alovingcynic@reddit

Worse, she had only one dishcloth she washed the dishes with, that always stank of mildew, and she used that on my face.

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StereotypicallBarbie@reddit

Yes.. or even worse.. spit on a hanky to wipe something off my face!

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tez_zer55@reddit

Absolutely traumatizing! Mom did the same thing!

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StereotypicallBarbie@reddit

Traumatising enough to not do it to my own kids…

But my mother did! Nana’s ever present hanky in her sleeve.. I’m pretty sure traumatised my kids too!

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favoritefinch@reddit

Yes. Ugh.

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First_Pirate_3811@reddit

No, but my mom wet a q-tip in her mouth to clean my ears.

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Oldman_Dick@reddit

Jesus Christ yes. Thank you for reminding me.

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FrankParkerNSA@reddit

Pretty corrosive stuff

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DalbergTheKing@reddit

Into my early 20s.

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DPlebo@reddit

Mom spit and a 300 year old wad of kleenex she found in the bottom of her purse. If you were lucky, she'd clean the Tic Tacs, cough drops and lip balm out of it first.

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DalbergTheKing@reddit

I was never lucky.

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NoGood2154@reddit

Isn't that "mom 409" cleaner...

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natedogjulian@reddit

I don’t mom lick anyone

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gmoreschi@reddit

or use it to neaten up my eyebrows with a few moist swipes of her finger!

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Hylebos75@reddit

No, but my grandma used to lick or spit on the corner of her ever present wrist handkerchief, and then grind the first few layers of epidermis off the face.

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DreamTheaterGuy@reddit

Spit washing? Yes, I hated it.

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boobsincalifornia@reddit

Yep - spitshine!

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BIGscott250@reddit

She always used a stinky dish towel !

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Ok-Produce8376@reddit

I did this to my own kid just last week. My mom used to dip a napkin in her beer to clean us up.

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Lopsided_Antelope868@reddit

No. She would lick a tissue and use it to wipe my face. 🤮

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basscat474@reddit

Yes or a tissue

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tekfunkdub@reddit

Yea and I did it to my kid

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Otney@reddit

No she got a napkin wet and used the napkin.

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Balrog71@reddit

Mine would pull a damn wadded up kleenex from her damn purse, lick THAT and wipe my nasty boogery face with it

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Smile_Terrible@reddit

Yep. She said she had to get the crying dirt off my face. When my face got dirty from playing outside and crying. Tears left streaks in the dirt on my face.

She only did when we were out somewhere and she didn't have a place to wash my face.

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DoookieMaxx@reddit

gif

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Turtlegirlh@reddit

Mom ate spiders off the walls...I kept my distance haha

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bonitaappetita@reddit

My grandmother did. She called it a spit bath

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stanley_leverlock@reddit

Also, "let me brush your hair" then proceeds to drag a wire brush across your scalp like they're polishing steel.

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Seadub8@reddit

My mom would wipe dirt off my face, then lick her finger.

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DrySession9968@reddit

I'm gen x so no, my mom used her whole palm to smack it off between pulls of wisers.

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arioandy@reddit

Yup

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KieferMcNaughty@reddit

Constantly.

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whyyoutwofour@reddit

I do it to my kids. They hate it.

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2cats18@reddit

Nothing more magical than mom spit.

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yellowlinedpaper@reddit

I did it to my own kid!

Me: Is that ketchup in your hair??? (As I lick my finger to then rub it off)

Him: I don’t know, but there’s definitely slobber in it now.

So yeah, last time I did that!

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erinmadrian@reddit

No. She told me to stick my tongue out, wiped her finger on my tongue, and then cleaned my face with my own spit.

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Total_Employment_146@reddit

Yes, and I'm still getting therapy over it.

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Peas_Are_Upsidedown@reddit

My mom did and my did did like twice. THAT was weird.

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truupe@reddit

My mom, no. But my grandmother did.

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DominisDruid@reddit

Yup and dad dipped his handkerchief in my cup of ice water to do the same.

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Curlytoes18@reddit

Nah, she had a better sense of hygiene. She'd lick a Kleenex and wipe my face with that.

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infinitynull@reddit

Yep. Bad breath spit every time. So gross.

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penandpad5@reddit

forget using the finger, she spat on my face

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74011_White_Guy@reddit

I wish. Spit on my face then wipe it off with her finger. And torturing my scrapes with mercurichrome was the worst.

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Miss-Asshole@reddit

Nope. She did however leave us outside all day in the summer with a single bologna sandwich to survive off. When it was time to come back in, she would do this thing with her fingers inside her own mouth to create a super loud whistle. That’s how we knew it was okay to go back inside.

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