Children need consistent love and care to have a happy childhood.

If you had a horrible childhood, would you be brutally honest about it when asked, or would you look for the bright side and share the good moments?

This man’s resentful and neglectful mother died when his brothers were still too young to remember her.

He’s honest with his brothers about his childhood memories of her, and none of them are good.

Now, he’s wondering if he should try to be more positive.

Read the full story below to find out more.

AITA for not having anything good to say to my brothers about our dead mom?

I (20sM) have four younger brothers, and there’s a 5+ years age gap between us. I also had an older brother who was disabled from birth, and he died age 7 (when I was 5).

My older brother was my mom’s favorite. She dedicated 7 years of her life to him, and he got all her energy and love. There was none for me or for my brothers when they were born.

My brothers don’t really remember mom. She died when the youngest was a few weeks old.

And she had shut herself away from everyone more and more after my brother died. Even when she had newborns in the house, she ignored them.

This man had a difficult childhood.

I remember her in part because of the years my older brother was alive. But I can also remember the way she shut everyone out afterward.

She was pregnant with my first younger brother when he died.

The time before my brother’s death I never felt loved by her.

There were times I felt like she hated me and I think looking back it was jealousy that my brother would reach for me and wanted me.

She wanted to be his whole world so bad.

And a few times she made comments about how unfair it was that I got smiles, I got him to light up, I was the one he cried for and she never got that experience.

Their dad was even worse.

I don’t think she loved any of the rest of us and she left us with a father who was emotionally and at times physically abusive.

He was controlling. He was unloving. He was all kinds of a jerk.

It was on me to step up and take care of my little brothers the best I could.

I became their guardian when I turned 20 after our dad died of a massive stroke that was followed by a massive heart attack.

I always thought all the anger he carried with him did it.

So he had nothing good to say about their mom to his younger brothers.

My brothers are great. I love them. They all remember how hard dad was and we’ve all got trauma from him. But we also have some from mom, too.

And I always knew they were curious about her but I hesitated to talk about her when they were actual kids. I never had anything positive or good to say about her.

It was easier when they were older and I wasn’t worried about sending them spiraling because of the reality of it.

It still upset my brothers to hear my thoughts on mom and for me to be open about not having one good or positive thing I can remember about her.

They talk to their therapists about it which helps but yeah, it still wasn’t what they wanted to hear.

Family friends have weighed in.

Now some friends of our dad who spoke up against him think I shouldn’t have said those things about mom.

They said there must be some good I can share with my brothers and how I surely see her in a different light now.

But I don’t. She may have been a victim of dad too. But she didn’t care about her other children. And I still believe she held a lot of resentment and hatred for me that was born from jealousy.

She didn’t even want me to grieve my brother. She got mad at me for it while being fine when my dad was like “good riddance” because he only saw my brother as a burden.

But back to the point at hand, AITA for not having anything good to say about mom to my brothers?

Some people just can’t handle brutal honesty.

Let’s read the reactions of other readers on Reddit to this story.

This person has something to share.

Her are some wise words.

Here’s another similar experience.

This person makes a valid point.

It’s okay to be honest, says this reader.

The truth may hurt, but it can set you free.

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