Were you proud or embarrassed of your home growing up?

[Pamlur]

Our house was fine, it was older but fairly spacious. But my mother made it very desirable for my brother and me to have friends over at any time. She would get bored, bake a very complicated cake and then invite the neighborhood kids in to eat it. I had a big room upstairs where my friends and I could hang out; we would drink ginger ale out of my mother's crystal goblets.

 

[ronandannette]

Growing up I lived in some less than desirable foster home situations, so when I was adopted and moved in with my parents it is truly one of the proudest moments of my life. I finally found a home. I could care less what it looked like or how big or small it was. I was home and loved. Couldn't ask for anything more.

Beautiful - thank you for this lovely post.

 

[momz]

My dad worked for the US Forest Service, so we moved around a lot as he moved up the Forest Service ladder. Some of the houses we lived in were Forest Service Compound houses (like military base housing). I lived in 8 different houses growing up. The first was a FS Compound house in Northern California on the Mendocino National Forest. Next was a rental house near the Angeles National Forest in Southern California; then my mom found a cute little cottage with a huge yard for sale in the next town over. My parents bought it and fixed it up. My mom was reallly good at decorating and gardening, so our houses, no matter what the size, were always beautiful. Then my dad got transferred again, and we lived in another FS Compound house on the Shasta Trinity National Forest in Northern California where my dad was the Ranger while my parents built their own larger house adjacent to the Compound. It was a mail order house from Cap Homes. It was a pretty neat ranch style house, and we were all super proud of it because every single one of us kids helped build it (even if we just painted or handed my dad shingles and nails). Then he got transferred again back to the Angeles National Forest. They bought a 1950s Brady Bunch like house that had pink stucco, an orangish rock roof and a totally pink kitchen (tile and appliances). By this time it was the early 80s, and I was in middle school/high school. They reroofed the house and painted it right away. It was much better after that. The yard and layout were really nice, and all the interior finishes the previous owners put in were really high end. After a few years, we moved again - this time back East to the Washington DC office. We built my family’s largest and all time favorite house in Virginia. It was a colonial, so different from the California style houses we were used to. We all loved the hard wood floors, the staircase and the huge deck my dad built. We were there for 3 years. Then my dad was transferred back to Southern California to the Cleveland National Forest as Forest Supervisor where they built the Spanish style house in San Diego where they still Iive today. He did get transferred one last time back to the Angeles as the Forest Supervisor, but he stayed at my grandmother’s house during the week and went home to San Diego on the weekends. He was 5 years away from retirement, and my parents wanted to retire in San Diego, so they kept their SD house.

Your post caught my eye. DS 16 is enamored with the idea of working for the forest service. I have zero knowledge regarding this career path. Sounds like being will you move is a necessity for advancement.

 

[low-key]

proud, I had a decent clean house that come along with the best Parents ever

 

[mrodgers]

I can see being embarrassed, but why would I be proud? I had nothing to do with where and what kind of home I grew up in.

 

[disneychrista]

I can see being embarrassed, but why would I be proud? I had nothing to do with where and what kind of home I grew up in.

One can’t be proud of what their parents accomplished?

 

[summerlyangel]

I was proud of our house growing up, even though it was nothing spectacular. I saw how friends and others lived in the community and it didn't take too long for me to realize how lucky I was. It wasn't big or fancy, far from it at 1000 sf and 3 kids, but it was clean, well cared for, and a loving home. My dad built the house himself with the help of local friends and family sharing their expertise. It took a while and he tore down old houses as a side job to get the materials to use in their house. It's mostly salvage and we had the coolest glass doorknobs! All furniture was used, I think the only thing they bought new when I was a child was a cheap, basic kitchen table and chairs. It was beside my mom's parents in very rural SC, and other family members owned land and lived on the same strip of road for several houses.

My parents still live in that very same house and family members still own all of that original land and their houses. It's lovely and I wish I could recreate that with my own children who are quickly coming of age.

 

[Boopuff]

Grew up in suburbia. Our house was one of the older homes, old farmhouse style. My mom was very clean and neat. We had a huge backyard, tire swing, treehouse everything that made childhood awesome! Most of my friends had similar homes. Sadly, our town became a huge tear-down mecca. My old house still stands, but I have a hard time going past it. (I lived my entire life in that house - at 25 I married and finally moved out)

 

[tink89]

I never really thought about it. My parents rented while i was in elementary. All kids would go outside and play sometimes we would play in my yard or inside but embarrassed wasn't even on my mind. We then moved when my parents purchased a home in a "nicer" part of town, but not many kids out playing like my old neighbor hood. Only had friends over for projects and stuff. But again not embarrassed.

 

[Mrs. Ciz]

Your post caught my eye. DS 16 is enamored with the idea of working for the forest service. I have zero knowledge regarding this career path. Sounds like being will you move is a necessity for advancement.

My dad started working for the Forest Service while still in high school. He was on summer Hot Shot crews (wild land fire fighter crews). He worked for the crews during his summers in late high school and college. My 3 siblings also worked on seasonal fire crews during their college summers (engine crew, hot shot crew, helitack crew, smoke jumper). None of my siblings made a career out of it (an architect, an attorney and a corporate event planner), but they wouldn’t have changed their experience for the world. They loved it! The job is hard and sometimes dangerous, but the pay when you are on a fire is really good, and the experience is incredible.

My dad originally went to college for a degree in art and advertising. After working in advertising for a year, he went back to school and got a degree in forestry. He spent his whole career in the Forest Service. You move where the promotions are. We almost moved to Colorado once; however, another opportunity came up and he didn’t leave California except for the 3.5 years he was back in the Washington DC headquarters. During his career, he became an expert in prescribed burns and spoke at universities and symposiums across the country. Before he retired, he was pretty high up in the FS as the Forest Supervisor of the Cleveland National Forest followed by Forest Supervisor of the Angeles National Forest. The Angeles is the biggest most heavily used urban forest in the country. He took a whole year off to travel after he retired, and then he started his own business as a fire consultant in California. He does comprehensive fire plans for communities, builders and local governments. He’s 81 and still working because he loves it!

 

[CmdrThor]

My childhood home until I was 14 was humble, but clean. 3 bedroom, 1.5 bath, ~1,800 sqft for our family of 4. We moved to a house that had 2.5 full baths and slightly newer and nicer but about the same size. It had a larger yard and my parents put in a pool as part of the purchase of the house. I don't feel like I was ever embarrassed by either home. Of course I knew some people had bigger homes, but I don't feel like I was envious of them. What I struggle with now with our children is did we buy too much house? We can comfortably afford what we purchased so it was definitely a sound decision, but I sometimes wonder what it is like for our kids growing up in a "nicer" place whereas my wife and I both grew up in smaller homes. Although we have definitely appreciated the space during the pandemic when the kids were home every day for over 2 months. In the end we just try extra hard to teach our kids to be proud of things that are important like having good character rather than material things like the size or quality of our house.

 

[chickapin parterre]

I grew up on a dude ranch in Joshua TRee, Californina, my landlord was a stand in actress for Ethel Merman, great place, no horses, but tons of fun in the middle of nowhere... working on a screen play now about Joshua tree