Rate your childhood

[nene0182]

Maybe about a 5. I don’t have many great memories but things could have been a lot worse.

 

[macraven]

Maybe about a 5. I don’t have many great memories but things could have been a lot worse.

I was waiting for a non glorified response before I posted mine was between a 1 to 3

 

[low-key]

Maybe about a 5. I don’t have many great memories but things could have been a lot worse.

I was waiting for a non glorified response before I posted mine was between a 1 to 3

I was actually surpried how many responses were good, but how ever we got here, were all hear now

 

[leebee]

I was actually surpried how many responses were good, but how ever we got here, were all hear now

You're so positive, Jason, and you're correct; we are all here, and hopefully not carrying too much from childhood into our adult lives.

I would say my childhood was maybe a 4. There were parts of my childhood that were great (lots of unstructured playtime/roaming around, mom at home, etc) but mostly what I remember is the bad stuff. Now, I KNOW people had it way worse, and there was no physical or sexual abuse, but there was a lot of what we'd now call neglect. My parents were both drinkers- 'social drinkers' as 'alcoholic' wasn't a term used at the time, BUT... there was a lot of drinking in my home when I was a child. My dad died before I turned 13 so I'm the only child with clear memories of him, but a lot of them aren't great. He and my mom fought a lot, and she confided when I was older that if he hadn't died, they'd have gotten divorced. I remember him being so disappointed in me, yelling at me about my weight and the money he was wasting on dance classes, stuff like that. Having reconnected with my first cousins as an adult, it's nice to hear the glowing memories they have of my dad... his generosity, his kindness, his love of everything. They are right, but they didn't see or have to live with the other side.

My mom just had no backbone or experience in life. She went from her father's home to my father's home, never living independently or learning who she was or what she wanted. She was also a drinker, and after my father died, she pretty much crawled into a bottle and didn't come out. She was functional, held down part-time jobs and such, but was always buzzed, or more. It was hard for me, as the oldest, but my younger siblings had it worse; my mom became more and more of a drinker as the years wore on, and my sibs tell stories of not being picked up after school dances, of being driven places by my mom and not sure they'd get there alive, etc. As I've gotten older, after talking with aunts I've understood more and more how my mother became the person she was, but I will never understand how she could have forgotten about and neglected her children. I'd sacrifice my own life for my DD, and I just don't get how my mom could have ignored both her children and her grandkids.

SO... not a rosy childhood at all, but not as bad as it could have been. I am thankful that my siblings and I came out mostly unscarred (well... not my brother, but not my story to share publicly) and are close with one another. The best thing to come out of all this is that my siblings and I learned what kind of parents we did NOT want to be, and our children feel our love for them all the time.

 

[AustinTink]

I would say 8. My mom was an angel on earth and I miss her every day. My family life was good, no complaints, but I was bullied a lot in elementary school.

 

[Disney1fan2002]

Growing up with 11 siblings, one income as my mom was a SAHM, an alcoholic father, we didn't get spankings, we got beatings...we were poor...I would do it all over again! my rank 8

 

[DisneyMomx7]

10 - have great childhood memories and had wonderful parents. Sadly both are now gone, along with my brother and sister.

 

[Neesy228]

Maybe a 4 or a 5? I had a really good younger childhood, but then my grandmother passed away (she was my primary caregiver until I was 10) and my mother remarried and he was abusive...so it was downhill through my teens.

But as @leebee said, I learned what kind of parent I did NOT want to be through it all. So, some good came of it, and I hope my children will all rate me on the 9-10 scale when they're older.

 

[usnuzuloose]

-1

 

[Buckeye218]

Solid 6. Parents got divorced when I was 9 and my Mom married an alcoholic 3 years later. Never had a lot of money, so didn't always have the extras other kids had. And I really, above all else, just wanted my own room, but never had it.

But all-in-all, I never went without a meal and always had a warm bed to sleep in, even if I had to share a small bathroom with 2 sisters, 1 brother and 1 stepbrother. And because it was a large family, I had a lot of good memories with my siblings. Even had a few memorable family summer vacations. But things I remember the most were the simple pleasures. Playing kick-the-can in the summer until after dark. Watching fireworks from the roof top on the Fourth of July. Watching holiday tv shows like the Claymation specials and Charlie Brown. (I grew up in the 70's, so you had one shot to see the show each year...and there was no such thing as recording it or pausing it). Watching the NBC baseball game of the week on Saturday afternoon with Joe Garigiola and Tony Kubek (again, no ESPN, so there was exactly one baseball game to watch each week and that was it). My brother and I would spread all our baseball cards out on the floor and see if anyone we had was playing.

Sometimes, when you don't lead a life of plenty, you really appreciate all the small things just a little bit more.

 

[fla4fun]

Home life? A ten for sure. My sister and I are close, and my parents were great and didn’t really have any bad habits or fight or anything. School life? Maybe a seven. I was bullied some in school and didn’t have any close friends in my class. I had friends a couple years ahead so we would be together at school and then separated for a couple years, then back together As we moved from elementary to middle to high school. I was a good student and some of the kids in my class had issues with that.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

I'm going to say a 3-4 also. Especially later. I was the youngest and got stuck with some of the dysfunction that my older siblings didn't, as much. My father's PTSD from WWII worsened, and Mom struggled to deal with it, eventually shutting down herself. (You know things are bad when your therapist cries upon hearing some of the hurts and hardships.) But as others have said, some had it way worse, as I always had food, home and shelter as well as two parents that loved me very much and were awesome people in their own way, each just having their own traumas they had difficulty rising above. But anyway, all of it made me stronger and who I am today, and I learned what I did and didn't want in life, and in a marriage, and how I wanted to raise my own children, etc. My kids know and appreciate they've had a 10. One of the reasons I love dogs so much is because they were always a source of happiness for me in an othewise difficult household.

 

[ronandannette]

What would I say now, given hindsight, maturity and the experience of raising my own child? It’s a very different number than I would have given in my teens.

 

[Praying Colonel]

I'd say 9. There were some things we went without because my parents were what people now call "working poor." And my parents got married very young and they kind of grew up with us in a way, which meant they had a lot to learn about being adults and being married. But my parents worked at it, loved each other, loved us and made us believe we could do whatever we wanted to do if we worked hard enough for it. They taught us to care for one another and to care for people. They lived all these things, too.

Also, we lived in a place and time where kids got together and made their own fun. We rode bikes, explored forests around our streets, played in creeks, played pickup sports (whatever was in season), etc. Great fun and great experience in learning to get along with people.

 

[Kitty 34]

9 just because nothing is perfect.......I had a great childhood; oldest of five siblings; we had a wonderful time for the most part.

 

[Forevermarypoppins]

7-8.
I had a great childhood, but these 2 events changed things so dramatically
No ones fault but after my maternal grandmother died at 55 when I was 12 my mom's siblings and my grandpa kinda "fell apart from each other". it was really never resolved.
Only 1 or 2 yrs later my dad's sister committed suicide and again the falling apart from each other ( my cousins and their father) because my grandpa blamed his son in law. I cant imagine the pain the adults endured. I just remember not understanding why I didn't see those 4 cousin anymore. this was never resolved.

 

[Kathryn Merteuil]

I would give it a 9. I really have no complaints. I am an only child. Family life was fine, and for the most part school was too. I just felt a lot of pressure to perform well in school, which I did all the way through 8th grade. Seems like high school was a big adjustment for me though. Maybe I lacked the maturity necessary at the time. It was the first time I ever made below a B in anything. I honestly felt very intimidated by school like my entire freshman year. Maybe that is typical, I dunno.