Discussion Things that you thought were normal as a kid?

[d-tea]

What are some things about your home life that you later realised weren't normal?

I haven't had a bad upbringing, it was okay, although there are a couple of things I've only realised and still come to realise as an adult that are not quite normal. So I'll start:
- smoking in the house, car, with kids present
- no ability to lock your room or even the bathroom
- no trash bin in the bathroom (random, but how do female guests feel?)
- no guests apart from family
- having to report days in advance when I wanted to invite someone or they couldn't come
- ash tray in the dishwasher with everything we eat from
- not eating together
- being left alone in the house for a couple of hours at a time in grade school
- not talking to each other about our day or even stuff that is important, no serious discussions or setting of boundaries possible, only one sided "demands", where you had to sit still and listen and were not allowed to give input, or you were "arguing" (even as an adult)
- having to accept being screamed at and not being allowed to have feelings as a child and teenager (if I said something when I was mad or if I started crying, I'd be forced into my room or it would get physical)
- not being allowed to cry (In kindergarten and grade school, I would start crying angry tears when I felt unfairly treated, also hyperventilating which I could not stop, which would make my parents get even more mad and they'd accuse me of "pretending")
- having your door taken off when you misbehaved
- not being allowed to talk about family life and parents completely changing their behavior and attitude in front of other people
- physical touch apart from rough play was a no go in the family after grade school, no hugs, no kisses (I think I saw my parents kiss or hold hands like 5 times in my entire life, mainly in front of other people)
- no talking about money, even as an adult
- no habit or circumstance at home could be complained about, no matter how much it bothered me (if I tried to talk about it I would be made fun of and taunted about it for years to come)

I'm sure there's more but that's what I can think of, off the top of my head. If you find something you relate to, I hope it makes you feel better that you aren't alone or it helps you realize that something you experienced isn't actually normal.

 

[Macedonian1987]

What are some things about your home life that you later realised weren't normal?

I haven't had a bad upbringing, it was okay, although there are a couple of things I've only realised and still come to realise as an adult that are not quite normal. So I'll start:
- smoking in the house, car, with kids present
- no ability to lock your room or even the bathroom
- no trash bin in the bathroom (random, but how do female guests feel?)
- no guests apart from family
- having to report days in advance when I wanted to invite someone or they couldn't come
- ash tray in the dishwasher with everything we eat from
- not eating together
- being left alone in the house for a couple of hours at a time in grade school
- not talking to each other about our day or even stuff that is important, no serious discussions or setting of boundaries possible, only one sided "demands", where you had to sit still and listen and were not allowed to give input, or you were "arguing" (even as an adult)
- having to accept being screamed at and not being allowed to have feelings as a child and teenager (if I said something when I was mad or if I started crying, I'd be forced into my room or it would get physical)
- not being allowed to cry (In kindergarten and grade school, I would start crying angry tears when I felt unfairly treated, also hyperventilating which I could not stop, which would make my parents get even more mad and they'd accuse me of "pretending")
- having your door taken off when you misbehaved
- not being allowed to talk about family life and parents completely changing their behavior and attitude in front of other people
- physical touch apart from rough play was a no go in the family after grade school, no hugs, no kisses (I think I saw my parents kiss or hold hands like 5 times in my entire life, mainly in front of other people)
- no talking about money, even as an adult
- no habit or circumstance at home could be complained about, no matter how much it bothered me (if I tried to talk about it I would be made fun of and taunted about it for years to come)

I'm sure there's more but that's what I can think of, off the top of my head. If you find something you relate to, I hope it makes you feel better that you aren't alone or it helps you realize that something you experienced isn't actually normal.

Reading what you lived through makes my heart ache for the child and young adult who had to navigate such a cold, terrifying, and deeply unsafe environment all alone. What you experienced was not your fault, and it was absolutely a severe, systemic form of abuse and neglect, not just strict parenting or a bad dynamic. Please give yourself immense credit for surviving that level of control, and know that you deserved unconditional love, safety, gentleness, and a home where your voice and tears were honored.

I don't you, but I'm sending you a big warm virtual hug.

 

[endlesschatter]

What are some things about your home life that you later realised weren't normal?

I haven't had a bad upbringing, it was okay, although there are a couple of things I've only realised and still come to realise as an adult that are not quite normal. So I'll start:
- smoking in the house, car, with kids present
- no ability to lock your room or even the bathroom
- no trash bin in the bathroom (random, but how do female guests feel?)
- no guests apart from family
- having to report days in advance when I wanted to invite someone or they couldn't come
- ash tray in the dishwasher with everything we eat from
- not eating together
- being left alone in the house for a couple of hours at a time in grade school
- not talking to each other about our day or even stuff that is important, no serious discussions or setting of boundaries possible, only one sided "demands", where you had to sit still and listen and were not allowed to give input, or you were "arguing" (even as an adult)
- having to accept being screamed at and not being allowed to have feelings as a child and teenager (if I said something when I was mad or if I started crying, I'd be forced into my room or it would get physical)
- not being allowed to cry (In kindergarten and grade school, I would start crying angry tears when I felt unfairly treated, also hyperventilating which I could not stop, which would make my parents get even more mad and they'd accuse me of "pretending")
- having your door taken off when you misbehaved
- not being allowed to talk about family life and parents completely changing their behavior and attitude in front of other people
- physical touch apart from rough play was a no go in the family after grade school, no hugs, no kisses (I think I saw my parents kiss or hold hands like 5 times in my entire life, mainly in front of other people)
- no talking about money, even as an adult
- no habit or circumstance at home could be complained about, no matter how much it bothered me (if I tried to talk about it I would be made fun of and taunted about it for years to come)

I'm sure there's more but that's what I can think of, off the top of my head. If you find something you relate to, I hope it makes you feel better that you aren't alone or it helps you realize that something you experienced isn't actually normal.

Aww I'm so sorry that you've had to go through these. I hope life is kinder to you now.
We are with you dear.
I'm from 3rd world country, i.e. India, so Indian society is quite stringent.
It doesn't allows freedom. It doesn't Even let boys and girls marry someone of their choosing.

 

[dissociatedmess]

My memory's buggy but there's definitely a few.

• Being grounded meant being shut in your room from anywhere between hours and days (ages 5-10)
• Not being allowed to get my license (mom was too tired to deal with it)
• Not being allowed to have a job (because I didn't have a license and they'd have to drive me)
• Drunk driving both by itself and with kids in the car.
• Drinking multiple drinks, a bottle of wine or two every single day.
• Casually cutting off family members, isolating from family
• Homeschooling/Unschooling - a weird one to put on here, but it's because my family did it because my sister and I were having emotional problems and did everything except get us help. No therapy, no doctors, just pulled us out of school. Eventually I was "unschooled" which meant I was being taught nothing essentially because my mother had given up and didn't want to deal with it anymore. I used to think I had so much freedom but in hindsight it was educational neglect/abuse
• Wanting your kids to not attend any college
• Having a dad who screams, calls names, and threatens physical abuse or homicide
• Being mocked and made fun of for being suicidal, rolling eyes eyes, laughs, sneers, etc.
• Being met with nothing but total anger for the self injury
• Reckless driving both by itself and with kids/wife in the car, again homicidal threats
• Also watching horror movies and raunchy movies from a young age? My favourite movie at 5-6 years old was Stephen King's IT. And we were always watching things like the Shining, the Sixth Sense, Scream, Scary Movie, etc just really not age appropriate things, but my sister and I were little horror fanatics.
• Being spanked or punished for having emotions/crying

 

[cowlover1252]

Door stayed wide open
not able to stand without getting intentionally pushed or bumped into
Not getting my possesions stolen or destroyed
Watching my father beat up my mother, destroy doors, holes in wall, smashing lights and bottles on a regular basis.
Flies swarming throughout the whole house and maggots in the kitchen and living room
Big long lines of ants all throughout the kitchen and going for the cat food/water
Litter boxes that never got scooped. Cat puke on the floor. Cat pee smell.
Rotting food and 5 foot tall piles of trash throughout the house. Some rooms ankle deep in trash.
Cameras/some motion cameras in the house and outside and being stalked on life360
Regularly searching and digging through my belongings
Screaming at me and pulling me out of my bed onto the floor by my ankles every single morning for school as a kid.
father Hiding or holding onto dishes/silverware and constantly scolding for me "throwing" away all his dishes. Hiding/ taking/making a mess/destroying things in general to blame others for fun and being believed by my mother was common
Making an even bigger mess in the kitchen then blaming it on me
Punching/choking/slapping etc, then convnce people im lying
Yelling/screaming then saying he's not when I ask him to stop and I don't understand what I did
Throwing/breaking things at me then blaming me for breaking it
My whole body being covered in bug bites.
Bruises, cuts, scratches
No friends
Not being allowed to do pretty much anything
Lying to CPS about my family being normal, having to put on clothes that hid the marks on my body, and listening in from the other room to hear what they're saying so I could stick to the story
Being in a school where kids go when their behavior is so bad there is no where else to go. There were only about 100 students. They did unspeakable things to us and the only time they EVER taught us anything was when there was someone in there observing. The "teachers" threatened us severely if we didnt go along with the planned out lesson and rewarded us with chips and candy for behaving during it. The school is still open but hopefully not the same.... I could go on forever on what they did to us. They humiliated us in front of everyone. They even stole my shoes and everything I had and had everyone choose what they wanted. One of the older class rooms had almost entirely black students. I was in 2nd grade they were high schoolers, this was an all age school. They lied to all of them how I am racist and tell them all the things they claim I said. They left me in that class for the whole day, I got beat up, spit on, and the teachers let it happen. They commonly made us fight even giving prizes to winner, they did explicit things to us and forcing us to do them to each other that I don't think i can even say on here, locking us in cold dark closet sized rooms with bugs, taking all our clothes, and sometimes leaving us in there for the whole day. Even banging on the door or going in to scare or hurt us. I could give an unbelievable amount of information of the hell that was happening in that place. If you were bad, you got no food, they'd even force feed us gross things. You werent allowed to bring outside food or any belongings in or out, they checked your pockets and shoes everyday. I couldn't even convince my parents that they insulted and called us names. I asked my mother to fix my necklace because it broken. She asked how it happened. I told her the teacher grabbed me by it and choked me by the necklace until it broke, slapping me in the face, while calling me swears. She didnt believe me. The school provided daily reports for students that give to parents where they detail behavior throughout the day and it was all lies they just wrote down a bunch of half-truth bs to make us look bad. Yeah we're not gonna be star students when we're getting abused 6h a day. I got to that school because I was bullied in public school, starting in kingergarten actually, all I wanted was to keep to myself and actually enjoyed doing work, but the other students in every grade and school made me act out. My parents never taught me to handle emotions and used violence and anger as a solution for everything, so I did bad things and hated myself for it, and got sent to a bad school. There is so much more to add to this list both from home and at school but if you asked my parents I am loved. I had a great childhood. I am lucky. I should be grateful. I dream every single night of home and school. I still live at my parents house and it is disgusting, hateful, stressful, but they are not as bad as they used to be. I will still feel horribly guilty for ctb... I hate to give them any blame for bringing to the point of wanting to end it, but I think they had at least some responsibility in it. What I detailed here is mild of what I truly happened as a kid, especially the school... it would sound like a horror movie

My life at home is significantly better now. It's still disgusting, loud, moderate amount of flies, constant verbal fights, but I am desensitized. I wonder how much of my will to CTB is attributed to my parents. How much is the school. How much is from circumstances that were a result of either. How much of this is unrelated and simply the will not to live for a multitude of reasons, because there are others

 

[Forveleth]

• Bottling emotions is how to deal with them
• Working 60 hours/week and taking out resulting stress on family
• Related, work always has the highest priority and if you do not have time for fun/relaxation/self-care too bad
• Attending funerals for relatives on a yearly basis
• Unquestioning obedience to all adults
• Making any noise while anyone is sleeping is absolutely unacceptable

 

[valar_morghulis21]

What are some things about your home life that you later realised weren't normal?

I haven't had a bad upbringing, it was okay, although there are a couple of things I've only realised and still come to realise as an adult that are not quite normal. So I'll start:
- smoking in the house, car, with kids present
- no ability to lock your room or even the bathroom
- no trash bin in the bathroom (random, but how do female guests feel?)
- no guests apart from family
- having to report days in advance when I wanted to invite someone or they couldn't come
- ash tray in the dishwasher with everything we eat from
- not eating together
- being left alone in the house for a couple of hours at a time in grade school
- not talking to each other about our day or even stuff that is important, no serious discussions or setting of boundaries possible, only one sided "demands", where you had to sit still and listen and were not allowed to give input, or you were "arguing" (even as an adult)
- having to accept being screamed at and not being allowed to have feelings as a child and teenager (if I said something when I was mad or if I started crying, I'd be forced into my room or it would get physical)
- not being allowed to cry (In kindergarten and grade school, I would start crying angry tears when I felt unfairly treated, also hyperventilating which I could not stop, which would make my parents get even more mad and they'd accuse me of "pretending")
- having your door taken off when you misbehaved
- not being allowed to talk about family life and parents completely changing their behavior and attitude in front of other people
- physical touch apart from rough play was a no go in the family after grade school, no hugs, no kisses (I think I saw my parents kiss or hold hands like 5 times in my entire life, mainly in front of other people)
- no talking about money, even as an adult
- no habit or circumstance at home could be complained about, no matter how much it bothered me (if I tried to talk about it I would be made fun of and taunted about it for years to come)

I'm sure there's more but that's what I can think of, off the top of my head. If you find something you relate to, I hope it makes you feel better that you aren't alone or it helps you realize that something you experienced isn't actually normal.

Having constant existential crisis and dread LOL. Turn out not every 5 years old wanting to forever disappear like me

 

[Preh1storic_Rib]

Being locked inside your room for days. I read about it offhand in a book and just went 'ah' mentally.

 

[GodzillasBiggestFan]

-parents who never show affection to each other or even hold hands
-parents not sleeping in the same room
-constant worry around one parent's health
-walking around alone at recess instead of being social
-constant anxiety attacks and feeling like im burning
-suicidal thoughts, self harm, and suicide attempts
-anxiety over everything
-not feeling connected to the gender i was 'supposed' to be

 

[dragonofenvy]

Don't feel like going into massive detail but there was a lot.
-No affection towards me or physical touch. I still yearn for it to this day.
-Certain areas of the house smelling of piss and shit.
-Mom being passed out on the floor from drinking.
-Mom stomping around the house yelling in the middle of the night. Sometimes she'd take her anger out on me.
-Hiding in my closet clinging to my pillow for comfort hoping mom wouldn't find me.
-Sleeping with a knife under my pillow to make myself feel safer.
-Having to secretly play video games behind my parent's back because they were causing problems at school. It certainly couldn't have been anything else...
-Being treated as problem whenever I cried, even at school from a young age. That's just how it is being a boy I suppose though. Oh, and also being yelled or screamed at whenever I was sad/crying.
-Eating undercooked, stale, or moldy food because I was hungry. Honestly, if anything, I have an iron gut because of it now.
-Never brushing my teeth or showering. Why would I?
-Rarely going to the doctor's or dentist.
-Mental health not existing.
-Dad taking me out late at night, which at the time I thought was weird but then I realized later he was protecting me from my mom.
-My mom snapping and me thinking I was going to die. At first I was scared. Then after the millionth time I stopped caring.
-Being alone. Being the weird SPED kid. Being the other. The only friends I had were very bad influences. One of them, for example, would pressure me into drawing swastikas on school posters during 5th and 6th grade. I did it because he was my only friend.
-Having large batteries placed on my tongue to shock me. Being compelled to drink even though I didn't want to.
-Being left at home alone for ages (I actually enjoyed this time. I learned to take care of myself at a pretty young age despite having severe developmental delays).
-Going to school with ragged clothes with holes. My teacher even joked that they were my Church clothes because they were "hole-y". I thought it was funny. There were even jokes about injuries I had which I also laughed off.
-The knowledge that the only person who I could ever rely on or trust, were me, myself, and I. There was nobody out there that would be in my corner. There would be nobody that would be proud of me. There would be nobody to push me to be the best I could be. It was just me. Gee, I wonder why my self-esteem sucks so much.

 

[NickyKymJelly]

This one is funny, but smoking weed. I know it is a normal thing, but this was back when it was still illegal in my state and taboo. I used to ask my teachers if they smoked weed or ate edibles. Whenever our class had sweet treats I also always asked them if there was "beer" in it. I would also talk about and explain the concept to other kids whose parents didn't do that. Let's just say my mom had to come up with quite a few awkward explanations to all my teachers.

 

[hihi2027]

Having low self esteem directly caused by your 'guardian' that makes you have years of suicide ideation and multiple suicide attempts. They still say they care though.... Fuck off you piece of human trash

Last part is for the 'guardian' not you

 

[GardenGirl089]

Mine was a childhood of hard labor and mental abuse. I feel my dad thought by paying us after hard labor that it was okay. We didnt have a choice couldnt say no or that we werent feeling well or was sick and didnt matter if it was pouring rain or snowing and freezing outside. Thanks to that i found in my early twenties that i have spinal stenosis in multiple sections of my spine. Cause of my back pain then and of course add multiple back injuries since im doomed with back pain for life. My dad was verbally abusive and a physically aggressive person when angered and of course an alcoholic. When he would get into fights with my mom, i never knew if i would be put in the middle or if me and my sisters would be dropped at a strangers house for days. But the worst was when inhad health issues at 17. My mom didnt believe me and doctors were trying to say it was just asthma. I was self harming to deal with pain and no one believing me. I spoke with school social worker since i couldnt take swim class so had to be open with someone who could help me. I became suicidal with a plan and thats when my parents were told and were forced to take me for a psych eval. Thank goodness im good at making it like im okay and that it was a one time thing and cleared. My parents both threatened me for talking to a stranger about feelings and family life. And my dad had never laid a hand on me until that day when i came back from the psych eval. They have messed me up so bad that going thru new medical issues this year counseling has showed me how much of my thinking is from my childhood and what i had to endure. The oushing thru anything and never speaking about how i feel and pleasing people. I was put in the middle of my parents fights with my dad breaking or busting things up and telling me to clean it up and then my mom telling me he made the mess dont dare clean it up. Back then, i thought the physically violent person was the one to listen to. Now i see the emotional abuse dished out by my mother is way worse. Plus feel my mom has always had issues with me and all i can think is because i didnt listen to her back in those days. Im so screwed up but somehow never wanted to be anythinf like them and was successful at that. Im the most non judgemental person who listens to anyone who needs someone to listen. Its the reason i make a great nurse. I think we all have childhood trauma just at different variations and severities. Sucks we had to endure bad childhoods.

 

[hihi2027]

Mine was a childhood of hard labor and mental abuse. I feel my dad thought by paying us after hard labor that it was okay. We didnt have a choice couldnt say no or that we werent feeling well or was sick and didnt matter if it was pouring rain or snowing and freezing outside. Thanks to that i found in my early twenties that i have spinal stenosis in multiple sections of my spine. Cause of my back pain then and of course add multiple back injuries since im doomed with back pain for life. My dad was verbally abusive and a physically aggressive person when angered and of course an alcoholic. When he would get into fights with my mom, i never knew if i would be put in the middle or if me and my sisters would be dropped at a strangers house for days. But the worst was when inhad health issues at 17. My mom didnt believe me and doctors were trying to say it was just asthma. I was self harming to deal with pain and no one believing me. I spoke with school social worker since i couldnt take swim class so had to be open with someone who could help me. I became suicidal with a plan and thats when my parents were told and were forced to take me for a psych eval. Thank goodness im good at making it like im okay and that it was a one time thing and cleared. My parents both threatened me for talking to a stranger about feelings and family life. And my dad had never laid a hand on me until that day when i came back from the psych eval. They have messed me up so bad that going thru new medical issues this year counseling has showed me how much of my thinking is from my childhood and what i had to endure. The oushing thru anything and never speaking about how i feel and pleasing people. I was put in the middle of my parents fights with my dad breaking or busting things up and telling me to clean it up and then my mom telling me he made the mess dont dare clean it up. Back then, i thought the physically violent person was the one to listen to. Now i see the emotional abuse dished out by my mother is way worse. Plus feel my mom has always had issues with me and all i can think is because i didnt listen to her back in those days. Im so screwed up but somehow never wanted to be anythinf like them and was successful at that. Im the most non judgemental person who listens to anyone who needs someone to listen. Its the reason i make a great nurse. I think we all have childhood trauma just at different variations and severities. Sucks we had to endure bad childhoods.

I'm so sorry you had to deal with all that but it's awesome that you managed to rise above in the end. I don't think mine was as bad as yours but I am weak so I will still ctb in the end even if it makes me ungrateful. You are right that pretty much everyone has some childhood trauma, in fact, I'll bet 100000000 grams of SN that a large amount of the userbase here wants to kill themselves because of shitty upbringing :(

 

[never mind me]

Reading some of your posts makes me realize how lucky I was that my Mum at least stepped in and took action against my father's bad behaviour. Although she couldn't fully protect me, at least I realized that it wasn't normal what was happening at home.
Therefore I can't add much to the list.

The one thing that comes to mind is that I didn't realize as a small child that it isn't normal to have sex or masturbate in front of others.

What are some things about your home life that you later realised weren't normal?

I haven't had a bad upbringing, it was okay, although there are a couple of things I've only realised and still come to realise as an adult that are not quite normal. So I'll start:
- smoking in the house, car, with kids present
- no ability to lock your room or even the bathroom
- no trash bin in the bathroom (random, but how do female guests feel?)
- no guests apart from family
- having to report days in advance when I wanted to invite someone or they couldn't come
- ash tray in the dishwasher with everything we eat from
- not eating together
- being left alone in the house for a couple of hours at a time in grade school
- not talking to each other about our day or even stuff that is important, no serious discussions or setting of boundaries possible, only one sided "demands", where you had to sit still and listen and were not allowed to give input, or you were "arguing" (even as an adult)
- having to accept being screamed at and not being allowed to have feelings as a child and teenager (if I said something when I was mad or if I started crying, I'd be forced into my room or it would get physical)
- not being allowed to cry (In kindergarten and grade school, I would start crying angry tears when I felt unfairly treated, also hyperventilating which I could not stop, which would make my parents get even more mad and they'd accuse me of "pretending")
- having your door taken off when you misbehaved
- not being allowed to talk about family life and parents completely changing their behavior and attitude in front of other people
- physical touch apart from rough play was a no go in the family after grade school, no hugs, no kisses (I think I saw my parents kiss or hold hands like 5 times in my entire life, mainly in front of other people)
- no talking about money, even as an adult
- no habit or circumstance at home could be complained about, no matter how much it bothered me (if I tried to talk about it I would be made fun of and taunted about it for years to come)

I'm sure there's more but that's what I can think of, off the top of my head. If you find something you relate to, I hope it makes you feel better that you aren't alone or it helps you realize that something you experienced isn't actually normal.

I wouldn't consider this an ok upbringing to be honest. It sounds really sad.

 

[GardenGirl089]

I'm so sorry you had to deal with all that but it's awesome that you managed to rise above in the end. I don't think mine was as bad as yours but I am weak so I will still ctb in the end even if it makes me ungrateful. You are right that pretty much everyone has some childhood trauma, in fact, I'll bet 100000000 grams of SN that a large amount of the userbase here wants to kill themselves because of shitty upbringing :(

I imagine that is so. Most peoples upbringings mess them up and are embedded in them. In my case when i end my life it will be due to my health and not wanting to keep suffering which is not living.

 

[notreallybored]

ב''ה,

Figures I got a few off OP's list, though it's potentially religiously gauche to dunk on parents Freud-style for anything that ultimately was consistent with Torah. Nonetheless because growing up is weird generally, what sticks out is:

Chain-smoking, it was the era for it, did eventually see the appeal myself and figures that restarted it for someone who'd quit for a while

Ashtray in the dishwasher, from experience, isn't particularly weird for the habits of the time, it's going to stink and make hands stink worse if you wash it indoors, the bleach in the dishwasher will blast it and it was sorta considered a dish, but if it's leaving everything else stinking and the memo wasn't gotten or well received that's a meh

The door thing, once I got to my f'd up teen years. Certainly a sign of parents at the end of their ropes, perhaps some of what I was up to wasn't consistent with Torah not that they were specifically studying at the time so dunno if I can complain now but, whew at the time of course

No money conversations - y'know, for the Jewish side this is somewhat the PTSD we all have for being affiliated, but when it got to serious stuff like tuition costs and I was old enough to understand and trying to learn the actual costs of the world and maybe motivate myself from that, it went from being eased into getting a sense of reality to being stonewalled 'because you've been kinda depressed so never worry about any of that like we had to.' My dumb ass kind of had no choice but to go with that because it was important to them that I not think about it, but that overruled that I was kind of requesting that kind of fire under my ass to get out of bed at the time, and so it just didn't happen that way and letting 'college' waste away to try to teach myself 'tech' to a useful point never got a gig before AI blasted it aside from immediate family's needs.

Reckless paggro driving (but at actually a milquetoast controlled but unpleasant level) during family arguments kept it plenty Simpsons-y.

Folks weren't very social and between a career that required regular professional legal confidentiality and everyone not actually being very social, blaming back and forth for not entertaining more while probably enjoying not having to was a classic tension.

It took a while to notice but as far as 'bad parenting habits,' more from the side stuck with me more often and of quietly opposing religion compared to 'how they chose to raise me' and thus taking the brunt of having taken hearsay to chase a Jew for the money and life and less Church malarkey and all that, was run ragged but that further brought out the inner schoolkid 'complaints aren't valid'/'never hear the end of it,' and that's kind of a weird and tragic vibe but probably wasn't really fun for anyone at the time yet the most fun that could be had while the realities of parenting dragged on into the school years.

Anyway, saw a few of others' experiences as snuck in there past OP's but didn't exhaustively go through all of them so not sure if I've left out an occasional blast of what someone else might relate on.

No siblings so the constant reality of being both the best and worst kid in the house is what that is.

In this modern era I'll also say, a fairly normal 1980s within hundreds of miles of Woodstock level of clothes being fairly optional at home f's us up more in the modern era where that's just not as often a thing because nobody got through that without some awkward feelings and moments, but that's just one of those things. The more certainly ridiculous part is that point around the 1990s when everyone just kinda realized maybe putting some damn pants on was part of being acculturated and that maybe some other folks had figured that out a couple years earlier.. is what it is, but that's half an American thing but parenting sure probably goes smoother when not trying to cram in the casual naturism the '60s and '70s and most of human history promised even if everyone's seen it all at some point anyway.

 

[Scenegirlshooter]

Being suicidal, fantasizing about gore and sex 24/7 and also self absorbed parents.