25 True Stories of Badass Mums

Mums are cool. No exemptions.

Except those who abandon or neglect their kids. They don’t even deserve to be called mums. So yeah, there are exceptions but I’d like to think great mums (whether they know it or not) are still the majority. Let’s discover more stories of fantastically awesome mothers from this uplifting Reddit thread. Here are 25 people talking about the things that make their badass mums, well, badass!

(Some stories edited for spelling, length, and grammar.)

1. She’s the kindest!

“My parents were teenagers when I was born. It was hard and they didn’t have any support but my mother never, ever let us feel like we were a burden to her and she made sure we all knew how much she loved us.

“She’s just also the kindest person I have ever known. When I was four, my father’s cousin went to prison, leaving two sons without a home. My mother, at the ripe old age of 21, didn’t hesitate a moment in taking over care.

“She is the embodiment of her favourite phrase: “Help as much as you can, as often at you can” – PM_ME_ARMADILLOS

2. She’s hilarious.

“My dad and his friend thought they saw a UFO so they went outside to look at the sky. They were outside for maybe 10 minutes.

“During that time, my mum set the clocks forward a few hours. When they came back inside, she acted upset and said they had been gone for hours! My dad and his friend totally freaked out, thought they got abducted and shit.” – jilliefish

3. She’s everyone’s mum.

“My mum was like Kitty from that 70’s show except without the drinking problem. All the neighbourhood kids called her mum and my mum’s house was the fuckin’ place to be.” – Irate_Hobo

4. She is Batman.

“My mum is 74 years old. About five years ago, a big, big mugger put a knife to her throat while she was in a self-serve car wash. She told him her purse was in the car. He reached in and she slammed the door close on his leg. Then she hit him on the head with the wash wand, screamed and ran like hell. Cops caught him a few minutes later limping down the street.” – sqlderp

5. She’s invincible.

“My mum’s first husband (not my dad) tried to kill her twice. He wound up in the hospital both times. The first time, he tried to push her out a window, she broke his arm and forced him out of the apartment. The second time, he attacked her with a knife in the kitchen, but she had been boiling water for noodles. She tossed the pot of boiling water on him and called him an ambulance. She served him divorce papers while he was still in the hospital.” – kecou

6. Her mother’s instinct is strong.

“She grew up without a mum. Her father neglected her. She met my dad while he was in college, got pregnant & was married. She had 3 children before 21.

“She winged our whole childhood & always doubted if she was doing the right thing, loving us too much or not enough, being too lenient or being too strict. The coolest thing is despite not having any female role model, she mothered us & our friends. All of her children are fully grown & adore her. Our friends adore her. She’s mothered anyone who needs mothering despite not having a mother of her own.” – northshore21

7. She’s totally smart.

“My mum speaks 4 languages. She’s super smart and incredibly absent-minded, which is pretty funny. Today, I called to ask her if there were any Mexican surnames starting with the letter W, and she gave me a very detailed lesson about the lack of W in the Spanish language.

“Also, she takes care of my dad. He’s terminally ill and he requires a shit ton of attention and care. She is truly an angel and I’m lucky to be hers.” – ihatemandymoore

8. She loves being fit.

“My mum is 50 years of age and took up pole dancing. Not stripping though, more acrobatic work. She’s incredibly good at it and is in the best shape of her life. I admire her so much! – thefaith1029

9. She’s really good at what she does.

“She was a certified opthalmologist in China during the last years of true Chinese communism. She was cutting people’s eyeballs using no electronic devices whatsoever, knitting sutures with borderline microscopic wires, etc. and constantly doing this with very little free time all for the same salary as the janitor that sweeps the same hospital.” – amphoe

10. She takes care of sick people even if it could cost her her life.

“My mum was an RN back in the day when HIV/AIDS was a new, unknown, deadly epidemic. She chose to work with these patients, even though it was considered a death sentence back then. Also, she makes bitchin’ Swedish pancakes and will always make sure your glass is half full.” – gasoline-rainbows

11. She’s headstrong.

“My mum is kind of a bad-ass. Her village headmaster would not let her leave the village to go to a school out of district, so she sold everything, then poured water all over the headmaster’s electronics, slabbed some money on his desk, then took the train and travelled China for months. It’s very complicated, but basically, without his sign-off she can never leave the village. She met a hospital executive on the train during the journey, just before her money was to run out, this lady took care of my mum’s transfer documentation, and she went to work for her hospital, never to return to her village again.

“Then she taught herself English, scored the highest on her exams, got the opportunity to work in the UAE and USA. Now she works at a top hospital here. She’s faced many hardships and always came on top. I’m very proud of her.” – economics_bitch

12. Best person to go camping with, hands down.

“This lady gets her hair and nails done regularly, shops like no other, and does her makeup perfectly. She can also start a fire, pitch a tent, and cook a three-course meal out in the middle of nowhere. If we’re on a campsite and she sees people struggling or not making bacon, eggs, and potatoes for breakfast with coffee or tea, she’ll go help them out. 10/10 mum.” – capnbloo

13. She’s mighty.

“She’s done 5 Ironman races. She also runs an art education program in the very impoverished Pontiac, Michigan. She’s pretty cool.” – ConnorDubya

14. She is an incredible woman.

“She grew up in a family that would have been grateful to meet the poverty line. The day she turned 18, she joined the Army. After boot camp, she was shipped off to Germany where she met my dad (also in the Army) the day she landed. They were married a year and a half later, and had me the next year.

“She kept up with an infant and a career while using the GI bill (or something similar) to put my dad through law school. She’s worked her way up, going through a deployment to Afghanistan and being stationed away from her family a few times. She went back to school and got her master’s degree four or so years ago. She’s retiring next year as a Lieutenant Colonel, and she’s only in her early 50s. She taught me how to use power tools, how to run a household, and how to be a woman. Her strength is something I look up to every day, and she is my best friend.” – ovariantesticles

15. She loves everyone.

“My mum grew up in the 60s and one day, when she was in a public pool, a black family got in and every single white person got out except for my mum. My mum went over to the family and introduced herself and played with their daughter.” – SharkHunter110

16. She will do everything to give me the best.

“My mum raised me on her single, hourly income. We tried to get braces for me but my government kids insurance wouldn’t cover it. I knew that was that and I would have to just deal with my ugly smile. I knew I would be privileged to get braces anyway.

“So months later, my mum told me she couldn’t wait any longer because she had seen me laughing with my friends and every time, I would cover my mouth with my hand. It broke her heart that I didn’t have much confidence.

“She took me to the orthodontist shortly after and I wore braces for three years. During those three years, she made No Bake Cookies and sold them three for a dollar to pay for my braces. Roughly 15,000 cookies… I got so sick of the smell of chocolate, peanut butter, and oats. She still has the saucepan and spoon she used, the pan with a ring around the bottom from stirring the cookies and the spoon completely worn flat on one side.

“She made two to three batches every night and it has always meant so much to me.” – secretsarenofunnn

17. She never gets tired of learning something new.

“She has this huge thirst for knowledge, despite family responsibilities and health constantly coming in the way of pursuing knowledge. She is a homemaker in India, and suddenly decided to learn Japanese. Now she’s fluent and I buy her tons of manga. Then she somehow got it in her head that she wanted to teach English in Japan. So at age 45, she went and got a teaching degree, scoring better grades than her classmates half her age. She was the oldest in her class, and somehow was also the coolest.” – sensitiveinfomax

18. She’s determined.

“My mum did a 60-mile bike ride in her 12th and final week of chemo treatment.” – aburm9113

19. No one messes with her.

“She’s a gritty woman police sergeant from the Bronx and also she’s fucking hilarious. Her alcoholic ex tried to get physical with her one night when I was a kid. He cocked back his fist, and she just said: “Do it mothafucka, do it so I can show everyone what you did tomorrow at work.” – papeipou

20. Success is her game.

“Mum was the first person in her family to go to college, even though she literally walked a mile through the snow to get to her one-room schoolhouse as a young girl. She defied the bishop and went to a non-catholic college when she graduated. There was no stopping her from there.” – Sadiebb

21. She’s f*ckin’ cool!

“When I was in my rebellious goth chick phase, she dyed my hair hot pink. When my grandmother saw it, she hit the roof. My mum said to her, “I pick my battles. It’s not hurting anyone, it will wash out eventually, and I think she looks cool. Now lay off!” – Ms_ChokelyCarmichael

22. My friends love her.

“My mum is super social, the type who can be best friends with you in under an hour. She has this warm, amazing aura around her that draws people to her. All my exes tell me that the only thing they regret is not being able to meet my mum every day. So much so that every time I invite a friend over to my place, the first question they ask is “Is your mum home?”

“I think it’s because she’s kept up with the generation.” – rahulkulhalli

23. She’s sorta better than my dad.

“When I was young, I answered the phone and they asked to speak to “Captain Lastname”.

“And I thought, “huh, I didn’t think dad was an officer in Vietnam…whatever…” “Dad, I think the phone’s for you.”

“Who’re they asking for?”

“Captain Lastname”

“Mum grabs phone “That’s for me”

“My jaw drops.

“My mum out ranked my dad during Vietnam. Blew my mind.” – Fossilhog

24. She knows the universe.

“She has her Doctorate in Space Physics.

“I have had mornings where I was playing with my dog, and she yelled from the other room, “Hey, can you keep it quiet? I’m on a phone conference with NASA.”

“She was one of the many who wrote code for Cassini.” – HardOff

25. She knows Hapkido, Jujitsu and Judo.

“About 17 years ago, we were walking home from one of her classes. She was a single mother at the time so I would go with her and play with the other kids. Her Sensei (or what have you) had given her some Nunchuks a couple weeks prior and she had always brought them to class with her to stay an hour late with him and practice.

“So here we are, 10 yr old me and 34 yr old mother, roughly the same height, walking down the street after dark. 2 guys cross the street to come our way and ask my mother for a cigarette. She doesn’t smoke. One of the guys pulls a knife and asks for her purse instead. I’ll never forget what happened.

“Cool as a fucking cucumber in an ice bucket, she gently pushes me back. She proceeds to grab the guys wrist and twist the absolute fuck out of it, causing him to drop the knife. As she kicks it away, the other guy starts to reach for her and she knocks his hand away and open palms him right in the mouth-parts.

“She snatches the nunchucks out from behind her Gi and in the span of about 6 seconds, both dudes are on the ground, trying desperately to crawl away. She bangs on the door of a nearby bar (friend was a bouncer and always hangs within 5-10 feet of the door) and tells him to call the police. My 5’2 mum beat the shit out of 2 wannabe thugs and then made me a grilled cheese. – TouchyJoFeely

What’s your badass mum story? Share it with us!