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CHILDHOOD
Posts
kentona
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CloseI keep reading these new reports, articles and editorials about how children "these days" are leading sheltered, confined and scripted lives, with helicopter parents always hovering nearby. Kids are never allowed to roam free and just have fun.
You also hear about how all of the child's freetime is scheduled for hockey, soccer, ballet, tap, jazz, piano, band, homework, art class, and playdates. Redonkulous!
Is that perception accurate?
Seems kind of exaggerated to me. I have a tough time imagining such rampant hyper-parenting across the board (as seems to be the assumption).
What was your childhood like?
I had the benefit of growing up in a small city (pop. 15,000) in the middle of Saskatchewan. Other than mosquitos and rampant religiosity, my childhood was rather unthreatened.
I played hockey, track & field (indoor & outdoor), took swimming lessons, played soccer and volleyball, so I did have plenty of scheduled activities. But I also spent a ton of time playing street hockey, minihockey, in the park, out in the fields on the edge of town (with my trusty wooden sword to keep me safe from all the demons and ninjas), building forts, swimming at the lake, and generally just wandering around the neighbourhood for hours on end. I'd be gone at 6 in the morning on a Saturday, come home for lunch, and then take off again til supper.
You also hear about how all of the child's freetime is scheduled for hockey, soccer, ballet, tap, jazz, piano, band, homework, art class, and playdates. Redonkulous!
Is that perception accurate?
Seems kind of exaggerated to me. I have a tough time imagining such rampant hyper-parenting across the board (as seems to be the assumption).
What was your childhood like?
I had the benefit of growing up in a small city (pop. 15,000) in the middle of Saskatchewan. Other than mosquitos and rampant religiosity, my childhood was rather unthreatened.
I played hockey, track & field (indoor & outdoor), took swimming lessons, played soccer and volleyball, so I did have plenty of scheduled activities. But I also spent a ton of time playing street hockey, minihockey, in the park, out in the fields on the edge of town (with my trusty wooden sword to keep me safe from all the demons and ninjas), building forts, swimming at the lake, and generally just wandering around the neighbourhood for hours on end. I'd be gone at 6 in the morning on a Saturday, come home for lunch, and then take off again til supper.
iamnot
48
I had a good childhood. I had my friend next door that I hung out with all the time, and we would get into all sorts of mischief. My parents have never been overprotective, they always trusted us. I think that gives a sense of responsibility.
For scheduled events, my I did baseball, soccer, tennis, and swim team. The only one my parents made me do, even though I did not want to was the swim team.
For scheduled events, my I did baseball, soccer, tennis, and swim team. The only one my parents made me do, even though I did not want to was the swim team.
Chartley
50
Is that perception accurate?
I believe this is accurate, especially in cities. I don't blame the parents so much as I blame media itself. This includes TV, video games, movies, etc. These are all good things, but in moderation. I think they are readily abused by every kid who has them. I do think think childhoods are still just as healthy as ever in urban areas and small towns. It only seems to be cities that have a problem! Also, innocence is a dying trait, I remember a some young kid going by me on the bus and gave me the middle finger :(. I was more shocked and sad than angry. So yes, I'd say there is a definite change in the way kids grow up!
What was your childhood like?
I loved my childhood and I still miss it! We had a nintendo and a TV, but I very rarely used it. Most of my time consisted of the following: The sandbox, lego, drawing comics, adventuring abroad, finding new trails on our bikes, building tree forts, building snow forts, tobogganing, and uh, really bad chemistry experiments.
It was kind of odd too, but my friend and I used to plan out RPGs on paper. It's a shame I don't know what happened to them. If nothing else, they probably had awesome dungeon design!
I believe this is accurate, especially in cities. I don't blame the parents so much as I blame media itself. This includes TV, video games, movies, etc. These are all good things, but in moderation. I think they are readily abused by every kid who has them. I do think think childhoods are still just as healthy as ever in urban areas and small towns. It only seems to be cities that have a problem! Also, innocence is a dying trait, I remember a some young kid going by me on the bus and gave me the middle finger :(. I was more shocked and sad than angry. So yes, I'd say there is a definite change in the way kids grow up!
What was your childhood like?
I loved my childhood and I still miss it! We had a nintendo and a TV, but I very rarely used it. Most of my time consisted of the following: The sandbox, lego, drawing comics, adventuring abroad, finding new trails on our bikes, building tree forts, building snow forts, tobogganing, and uh, really bad chemistry experiments.
It was kind of odd too, but my friend and I used to plan out RPGs on paper. It's a shame I don't know what happened to them. If nothing else, they probably had awesome dungeon design!
Ha! I spent many many hours planning RPGs on paper too! Never even had a computer until I was 13 or 14.
I had a ton of lego.
I had a ton of lego.
Shinan
4314
Lego is so fucking awesome. I remember me and my sister built two Lego town in each of our rooms and we connected them through a lego railway. So we would send the train from one room to the other with passengers. Lego was so damn cool.
I don't know if the perception is true. I have a younger brother who is 11-ish (I'm not sure exactly how old he is) and has scheduled activities nearly all the time. Though all of it is stuff he himself has kinda chosen. The difference I see to when I was younger (except of course that I never did anything scheduled because that was how I rolled) is that he doesn't seem to... uhm play as much in his free time. Except of course computer and video games.
I'm kinda fearing that that old imagining thing is going away. And I know people complained about the exact same thing when I was a kid that I didn't play enough proper games and just played video games. So I guess I shouldn't really coplain. I hope it doesn't stunt ability to make stuff up.
My childhood was awesome. Of course I'm watching it through my nostalgia eyeglasses but it still was awesome. We lived in a suburb a bit outside our town. It had lots of good stuff. In summers we'd be out in the woods fighting wars with sticks and generally playing loads of pretend fighting of monsters of all kinds. Of course all in combination with a healthy dose of football (real football), where most were in some kind of scheduled football team activity. Though never me. I only ever played in my free time.
And while out in the woods there were no cell phones and I never wore a watch. So time just passed or didn't pass. That stuff is great.
And when I started to grow out of it I found tabletop roleplaying. So everyone else grew out of it and I'm sitting online imagining wonderful worlds from the past. I get into nostalgia mode occasionally and writing this has put me in that.
It wasn't even for too many years but damn a lot happened. My last couple of years have just been routinely doing the same thing all the time. I hope kids get to be kids today still and that they remember their days with rosy glasses and a smile. Because if they're forced to grow up fast and be all... Cool and stuff... I don't want...
I'm still a kid deep down.
You know when I was around 10 I was a total pacifist. Some time when I was around 8 I decided to throw away every single one of my toy guns. Somewhere things went wrong and I am now the violence-loving bugger I am. But I was a true pacifist once.
I should stop now before I...
I don't know if the perception is true. I have a younger brother who is 11-ish (I'm not sure exactly how old he is) and has scheduled activities nearly all the time. Though all of it is stuff he himself has kinda chosen. The difference I see to when I was younger (except of course that I never did anything scheduled because that was how I rolled) is that he doesn't seem to... uhm play as much in his free time. Except of course computer and video games.
I'm kinda fearing that that old imagining thing is going away. And I know people complained about the exact same thing when I was a kid that I didn't play enough proper games and just played video games. So I guess I shouldn't really coplain. I hope it doesn't stunt ability to make stuff up.
My childhood was awesome. Of course I'm watching it through my nostalgia eyeglasses but it still was awesome. We lived in a suburb a bit outside our town. It had lots of good stuff. In summers we'd be out in the woods fighting wars with sticks and generally playing loads of pretend fighting of monsters of all kinds. Of course all in combination with a healthy dose of football (real football), where most were in some kind of scheduled football team activity. Though never me. I only ever played in my free time.
And while out in the woods there were no cell phones and I never wore a watch. So time just passed or didn't pass. That stuff is great.
And when I started to grow out of it I found tabletop roleplaying. So everyone else grew out of it and I'm sitting online imagining wonderful worlds from the past. I get into nostalgia mode occasionally and writing this has put me in that.
It wasn't even for too many years but damn a lot happened. My last couple of years have just been routinely doing the same thing all the time. I hope kids get to be kids today still and that they remember their days with rosy glasses and a smile. Because if they're forced to grow up fast and be all... Cool and stuff... I don't want...
I'm still a kid deep down.
You know when I was around 10 I was a total pacifist. Some time when I was around 8 I decided to throw away every single one of my toy guns. Somewhere things went wrong and I am now the violence-loving bugger I am. But I was a true pacifist once.
I should stop now before I...
demondestiny
889
I had a pretty interesting childhood. I too agree that lego was the greatest thing invented back then. I used to play it all day and night with my brother. I actually used to live in Australia when i was little and did basically all my schooling there. I used to play sports every saturday morning such as tennis and was hoping to be a famous tennis star. Me and my mates used to run around this lake that was close by for hours and hours every day and even built mini forts and such there. Surprisingly when i went on my last holiday to australia the place looked exactly the same from 20 years ago.
But overall i enjoyed my childhood.
But overall i enjoyed my childhood.
Euphorian
80
Is the perception accurate?
My mom's a music teacher year round out of her home. During the summer, because of the annual concerts I end up getting to know most of the kids decently each year.
It's not inaccurate. The list there is of course exaggerated, but most parents are paranoid about college, and dangers, be it pedophiles or drugs or colleges. They want their kids to turn out 'right' and so therefore do absolutely everything in their power to make them well rounded, etc.
Eight different activities? Probably not, but there is ussually at least one student each year who has to drop music lessons because they're doing soooo many other things. Spring is also ALWAYS a problem, because my mom has to schedule everyone around their other events (mostly soccer), and the schedule ends up becoming very disorienting and volatile for both her and the students.
In the summer, the same holds true. Students begin group rehearsals and several of them only make it to two out of eight. Needless to say, they are kicked out. Why? Because their parents (95% of the time their mom alone) over-booked them.
As for my childhood. It's mostly blank. I can't remember what I did for most of it. From 11 years onward, it was 2k3. Before that, I don't know. Probably pokemon or somethhing.
My mom's a music teacher year round out of her home. During the summer, because of the annual concerts I end up getting to know most of the kids decently each year.
It's not inaccurate. The list there is of course exaggerated, but most parents are paranoid about college, and dangers, be it pedophiles or drugs or colleges. They want their kids to turn out 'right' and so therefore do absolutely everything in their power to make them well rounded, etc.
Eight different activities? Probably not, but there is ussually at least one student each year who has to drop music lessons because they're doing soooo many other things. Spring is also ALWAYS a problem, because my mom has to schedule everyone around their other events (mostly soccer), and the schedule ends up becoming very disorienting and volatile for both her and the students.
In the summer, the same holds true. Students begin group rehearsals and several of them only make it to two out of eight. Needless to say, they are kicked out. Why? Because their parents (95% of the time their mom alone) over-booked them.
As for my childhood. It's mostly blank. I can't remember what I did for most of it. From 11 years onward, it was 2k3. Before that, I don't know. Probably pokemon or somethhing.
Chartley
50
I still firmly believe that Tom Sawyer should be every kids idol. That's like, the childhood I wish I had. Though I suppose I was like that to some degree.
demondestiny
889
author=Euphorian link=topic=991.msg13596#msg13596 date=1209504571
Before that, I don't know. Probably pokemon or somethhing.
That was every kids dream playing pokemon, especially when getting your gameboy confiscated by a teacher in school. ;D
demondestiny
889
You don't know what your missing out on. :o
But, it was more fun when you were a kid though, not now that were older.
But, it was more fun when you were a kid though, not now that were older.
I think one of the worst things parents do, is shelter their kids. A former boss of mine would rarely let his kids just go run around and do whatever.
I think this is terrible, because I've always enjoyed a freedom to go do what I wanted. I lived in a small city (< 10,000 people) with all sorts of things to play on outside. There was a river a mile or so away that I would go to consistently.
Parents are afraid their kids will get hurt doing things, and they will. But I'm in the camp that thinks it's good for them. I've hurt probably every part of my body falling off something, getting burned, stepping on nails holy shit does that hurt, jumping across wreckage, cutting myself on old rusty metal, and the list continues.
That's a childhood right there. Not this STAY HOME ALL DAY garbage.
I think this is terrible, because I've always enjoyed a freedom to go do what I wanted. I lived in a small city (< 10,000 people) with all sorts of things to play on outside. There was a river a mile or so away that I would go to consistently.
Parents are afraid their kids will get hurt doing things, and they will. But I'm in the camp that thinks it's good for them. I've hurt probably every part of my body falling off something, getting burned, stepping on nails holy shit does that hurt, jumping across wreckage, cutting myself on old rusty metal, and the list continues.
That's a childhood right there. Not this STAY HOME ALL DAY garbage.
Other than the standard activities... my childhood was video games, playing piano, and eating lots and lots of macaroni and cheese. I was a very creative little guy, drawing stuff I saw and playing stuff I heard on the piano.
It was also the stigma of not hitting puberty until the 9th grade and being less than 5 feet tall until then. Then the athsma-causing growth to 5'11" in one year.
It was also the stigma of not hitting puberty until the 9th grade and being less than 5 feet tall until then. Then the athsma-causing growth to 5'11" in one year.
I played Paper RPGs until I got a computer.
Not knowing about RPG Maker at that time...
I played Excel RPGs.
Not knowing about RPG Maker at that time...
I played Excel RPGs.
My childhood was a bit here and there. With four younger brothers and me being the oldest I was the one who got the blame if anything went wrong... but we still managed to get in to a few lively scraps.
Hm. We moved around a bit, too. There were two main 'bases' that we went back and forth from.
One was a small rural town with about eight blocks total - one main street, a railway station, silos, lots of paddocks and an abandoned army barracks that we'd 'break' in to to play.
It was right next door to our house and was overgrown with trees and bushes - it'd been just left and we went there to catch mice and feral cats. Our cousins lived on the other side of it and we'd climb on the roof and get in that way. Across the road from us were bike tracks and silos, so we'd ride our bikes there and run a muck, chewing sourgrass and smoking reeds. ^.^
Our grandparent lived in the house behind ours and we had a secret entrance via the fence. We had a cubby and water tanks and lots of fun and injuries.
The second place is a small city (>10000) and we lived on the outskirts in a huge house with lots of land.
Our great grandfather lived on the other side of town and had a farm and lots of land and we'd visit and go trouping through the sheds, watch the horses and get in to trouble when we went near the creek or under the wool shed. We lost our pet guinea pigs and they bred all through the sheds - there was a colony. ^.^ We ran around the woodpiles trying not to get bitten by the giant bullants, played in the smashed up car near the horse corral and ate mulberries and peaches when they were in season - staining our clothes something rotten.
When we moved into the centre of town is when everything changed and we began focussing more on inside interests. As for scheduled events - we never saw the need for them. You just left the house and played what you felt like playing. Be back by tea, or before dark. One of my brothers did a bit of Karate, and my cousin (who lives with us now) does soccer, but that about it really.
I had a great childhood in most ways, but some of it... well.
Hm. We moved around a bit, too. There were two main 'bases' that we went back and forth from.
One was a small rural town with about eight blocks total - one main street, a railway station, silos, lots of paddocks and an abandoned army barracks that we'd 'break' in to to play.
It was right next door to our house and was overgrown with trees and bushes - it'd been just left and we went there to catch mice and feral cats. Our cousins lived on the other side of it and we'd climb on the roof and get in that way. Across the road from us were bike tracks and silos, so we'd ride our bikes there and run a muck, chewing sourgrass and smoking reeds. ^.^
Our grandparent lived in the house behind ours and we had a secret entrance via the fence. We had a cubby and water tanks and lots of fun and injuries.
The second place is a small city (>10000) and we lived on the outskirts in a huge house with lots of land.
Our great grandfather lived on the other side of town and had a farm and lots of land and we'd visit and go trouping through the sheds, watch the horses and get in to trouble when we went near the creek or under the wool shed. We lost our pet guinea pigs and they bred all through the sheds - there was a colony. ^.^ We ran around the woodpiles trying not to get bitten by the giant bullants, played in the smashed up car near the horse corral and ate mulberries and peaches when they were in season - staining our clothes something rotten.
When we moved into the centre of town is when everything changed and we began focussing more on inside interests. As for scheduled events - we never saw the need for them. You just left the house and played what you felt like playing. Be back by tea, or before dark. One of my brothers did a bit of Karate, and my cousin (who lives with us now) does soccer, but that about it really.
I had a great childhood in most ways, but some of it... well.
maladroithim
1495
Is that perception accurate?
It is for suburban families, which will soon be the majority of people (or might already be). There is an enormous push in the middle class to make every kid a huge success -- someone who takes the family to the higher class. I think that is what's causing the phenomenon.
All of these scheduled activities usually revolve around the idea idea that the parent read in a parenting book somewhere that people who play piano end up being $20,000 per year more on average than people who do not. Thus, piano lessons. Everyone wants to be upper-class and now that the middle class is so affluent in America (there is no recession you idiots it's just a bursting bubble this happens every 10 years), and they are so close, they push their kids to rise to the next level. 25 is the new 60 in America. These attitudes have left people who have not changed the world by the time they are 25 feeling worthless and depressed because everyone is special!!!! and the crushing realization that maybe you are just like everyone else is too much for people to take.
Playing outside, after all, is for poor people and simpletons. You don't learn anything outdoors!
What was your childhood like?
My childhood was miserable. I watched my father die when I was six years old and the event derailed my mother's life for the next 10 years. She struggled to get a college degree so that she could raise her children in a good environment, but she also had to pay the bills and work full-time, so the net result was her being a stressed and unhappy woman with no time or energy for her family. By the time she had an education and a high salary, her children were out of the nest and had inherited loads of money from their grandparents and didn't need help anymore.
I was physically abused on a regular basis by a brother who to this day thinks it is normal for older brothers to put their siblings in excruciating submission holds. He had an obsession with professional wrestling and I was his plaything. My mother thought I was making everything up because my brother was the golden child (all first-borns are after all) until a particularly unsettling revelation she had when I was 17. I don't know if he's a fundamentally bad person or not and I sort of like him even though he is violent and lies and steals but until he apologizes for torturing me without reason I'll never forgive him or feel safe around physically strong men (it's actually pretty embarassing).
I didn't have any friends until high school when I started staying at other peoples' houses and rarely went home. Since video games were a cheap and effective way to placate me for hours on end, I spent my entire childhood indoor playing games and never went outside. When I would go outside, I'd end up getting chased or beaten up or not allowed to play baseball or whatever. There was a period where I would collect sticks and whittle them into swords and things but I stopped when a neighborhood bully broke all of them in front of me, leaving me bawling and he kept triumphantly shouting what are you going to do about it faggot?!, but that was the only time I ever played outside and I stopped shortly after that.
In middle school I had disfiguring acne and was mistakenly labelled with Oppositional-Defiant Disorder or something like that which basically means I need to be placed on lockdown and supervised 100% of the time. I would be suspended from school at the drop of a hat. I believe I spent over 90 days during sixth grade either on in-school suspension or out-of-school suspension for infractions as mild as forgetting to turn in an assignment (I was a special case after all and I was definitely going to shoot up the school someday). This probably would not have helped set me on the right course as the program took all of the misbehaving kids in the school and placed them in the same room together all day. Naturally they would become friends and later operate criminal enterprises as there were no good influences in their lives. After I graduated and was dating the district psychologist's daughter, he personally apologized to me for his mistake and explained that he assumed I would be as troublesome as my brother had been when he went through the school system. The psychologist is a good guy that made the best decision that he could have in the circumstance; unfortunately it just turned out to be the wrong one.
In high school, I joined activities and became friends with kids from wealthier families. My acne had also cleared up (this is a major milestone in my life). This really changed my life because until then I had never realized that maybe life wasn't supposed to be so awful. It also turned out that I was a reasonably attractive person, which really does go a long way. Among other things I became a class officer, got into fashion, discovered music, starting making homebrew games, and was probably one of the most popular people in my high school. My Junior and Senior years of high school were really pretty sweet aside from the time I had four or five ulcers at the same time and puked several times per day for a couple of months. During the graduation ceremony an enormous cheer rose up from the crowd as my name was read, and that moment, which signalled the very end of my childhood, was sort of a bittersweet happy ending.
Hey, you asked.
It is for suburban families, which will soon be the majority of people (or might already be). There is an enormous push in the middle class to make every kid a huge success -- someone who takes the family to the higher class. I think that is what's causing the phenomenon.
All of these scheduled activities usually revolve around the idea idea that the parent read in a parenting book somewhere that people who play piano end up being $20,000 per year more on average than people who do not. Thus, piano lessons. Everyone wants to be upper-class and now that the middle class is so affluent in America (there is no recession you idiots it's just a bursting bubble this happens every 10 years), and they are so close, they push their kids to rise to the next level. 25 is the new 60 in America. These attitudes have left people who have not changed the world by the time they are 25 feeling worthless and depressed because everyone is special!!!! and the crushing realization that maybe you are just like everyone else is too much for people to take.
Playing outside, after all, is for poor people and simpletons. You don't learn anything outdoors!
What was your childhood like?
My childhood was miserable. I watched my father die when I was six years old and the event derailed my mother's life for the next 10 years. She struggled to get a college degree so that she could raise her children in a good environment, but she also had to pay the bills and work full-time, so the net result was her being a stressed and unhappy woman with no time or energy for her family. By the time she had an education and a high salary, her children were out of the nest and had inherited loads of money from their grandparents and didn't need help anymore.
I was physically abused on a regular basis by a brother who to this day thinks it is normal for older brothers to put their siblings in excruciating submission holds. He had an obsession with professional wrestling and I was his plaything. My mother thought I was making everything up because my brother was the golden child (all first-borns are after all) until a particularly unsettling revelation she had when I was 17. I don't know if he's a fundamentally bad person or not and I sort of like him even though he is violent and lies and steals but until he apologizes for torturing me without reason I'll never forgive him or feel safe around physically strong men (it's actually pretty embarassing).
I didn't have any friends until high school when I started staying at other peoples' houses and rarely went home. Since video games were a cheap and effective way to placate me for hours on end, I spent my entire childhood indoor playing games and never went outside. When I would go outside, I'd end up getting chased or beaten up or not allowed to play baseball or whatever. There was a period where I would collect sticks and whittle them into swords and things but I stopped when a neighborhood bully broke all of them in front of me, leaving me bawling and he kept triumphantly shouting what are you going to do about it faggot?!, but that was the only time I ever played outside and I stopped shortly after that.
In middle school I had disfiguring acne and was mistakenly labelled with Oppositional-Defiant Disorder or something like that which basically means I need to be placed on lockdown and supervised 100% of the time. I would be suspended from school at the drop of a hat. I believe I spent over 90 days during sixth grade either on in-school suspension or out-of-school suspension for infractions as mild as forgetting to turn in an assignment (I was a special case after all and I was definitely going to shoot up the school someday). This probably would not have helped set me on the right course as the program took all of the misbehaving kids in the school and placed them in the same room together all day. Naturally they would become friends and later operate criminal enterprises as there were no good influences in their lives. After I graduated and was dating the district psychologist's daughter, he personally apologized to me for his mistake and explained that he assumed I would be as troublesome as my brother had been when he went through the school system. The psychologist is a good guy that made the best decision that he could have in the circumstance; unfortunately it just turned out to be the wrong one.
In high school, I joined activities and became friends with kids from wealthier families. My acne had also cleared up (this is a major milestone in my life). This really changed my life because until then I had never realized that maybe life wasn't supposed to be so awful. It also turned out that I was a reasonably attractive person, which really does go a long way. Among other things I became a class officer, got into fashion, discovered music, starting making homebrew games, and was probably one of the most popular people in my high school. My Junior and Senior years of high school were really pretty sweet aside from the time I had four or five ulcers at the same time and puked several times per day for a couple of months. During the graduation ceremony an enormous cheer rose up from the crowd as my name was read, and that moment, which signalled the very end of my childhood, was sort of a bittersweet happy ending.
Hey, you asked.
maladroithim
1495
author=kentona link=topic=991.msg13667#msg13667 date=1209572663
they could make a movie about your life, Him.
I think there are already several based on Charles Dickens novels.
demondestiny
889
author=kentona link=topic=991.msg13667#msg13667 date=1209572663
they could make a movie about your life, Him.
It definitely is big enough to be a feature film.
I love how Him is a good writer because that might just be the first wall of text that I've ever read!
<3
-----------------
PERCEPTION ACCURACY: Yes; the middle-class pushingupupupupupupupupupup that Him described can be seen everywhere where I live. It is a sad day when rural Maine has turned into a helicopter launch pad. :<
MY OWN (on-going?) CHILDHOOD: From what my parents tell me, I was a premature baby and was really gross for a month or so until I was merely kind of gross. Mommy and daddy really love babies it seems! Anyway, I grew up I guess and had lots of criminal/bad stuff happen to me but I don't remember any of it because I've blocked pretty much everything prior to middle school. I only know what my relatives tell me and it ain't pretty. Who knows, maybe they're lying?
The summer before I went to middle school I was sent to a prep school for kids two years older than me while my parents got a divorce. My ESL roommate was expelled for attempted murder and I got my dorm room to myself so I guess that was nice. I also was scared of everything there so I didn't go to any meals for the first week; instead I lived off of a giant jar of peanuts. Eventually I got hungry and started dining. The school was where I realized HEY I AM MASTURBATING TO GAY PORN AS A TWELVE-YEAR-OLD. It wasn't all bad, though-- I got to play Jerry Springer (I still have never known who that is) in some trailer-park version of Medea.
In middle school I touched other boys and got sucky grades yet was in the Enrichment Resources (gifted & talented) group. I grew out my hair into a curly afro eigth grade year and hated it. Around this time I started going to the summer camp that I now work at which was really cool and yeah I liked that. By the beginning of Freshman year I was somewhat better adjusted due to ER and camp (I think...?). In the middle of seventh grade I discovered RPGMaker. I had a SNES but it blew up when I was ~6 so I had never played videogames before, just some trading card stuff. I can honestly say that RPGMaker 2000 gave me a reason to walk home every day during this time period! Sad but true.
Freshman year I met a guy who I became best friends with after I hated him for stalking me first quarter. I spent basically my entire first high school year with him and doing well on the Speech team. Sophomore year I continued flirting with that guy (we weren't a couple or anything; rather we were simply really close). I continued Speech and got into Drama as a techie, carrying stuff between scenes/being useless. Then I spent a summer as a counselor-in-training at summer camp and suddenly was like WOAH I HAVE EFFECTIVE LEADERSHIP SKILLS. Junior year to current, I've been remarkably successful in Drama (head of the running crew and helping the director with everything) and much more fun instead of just being a jerk-- I visit classrooms and sing/dance for no reason while the teacher preps. I've gotten multiple awards at school assemblies this year and my grades don't suck any more. I've also become pretty pissy and irritable ever since that guy I haven't mentioned in a few sentences was like SHIT I COME FROM CHRISTIAN REPUBLICAN FAMILY and now won't even look at me. This actually happened over a single night and I was a total mess for a good while.
In short: I went from nothing to a successful young man with a bright future but I don't care anymore emo emo emo. Him's story tops mine on the INTERESTING SCALE, though. Damn you. :<3
<3
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PERCEPTION ACCURACY: Yes; the middle-class pushingupupupupupupupupupup that Him described can be seen everywhere where I live. It is a sad day when rural Maine has turned into a helicopter launch pad. :<
MY OWN (on-going?) CHILDHOOD: From what my parents tell me, I was a premature baby and was really gross for a month or so until I was merely kind of gross. Mommy and daddy really love babies it seems! Anyway, I grew up I guess and had lots of criminal/bad stuff happen to me but I don't remember any of it because I've blocked pretty much everything prior to middle school. I only know what my relatives tell me and it ain't pretty. Who knows, maybe they're lying?
The summer before I went to middle school I was sent to a prep school for kids two years older than me while my parents got a divorce. My ESL roommate was expelled for attempted murder and I got my dorm room to myself so I guess that was nice. I also was scared of everything there so I didn't go to any meals for the first week; instead I lived off of a giant jar of peanuts. Eventually I got hungry and started dining. The school was where I realized HEY I AM MASTURBATING TO GAY PORN AS A TWELVE-YEAR-OLD. It wasn't all bad, though-- I got to play Jerry Springer (I still have never known who that is) in some trailer-park version of Medea.
In middle school I touched other boys and got sucky grades yet was in the Enrichment Resources (gifted & talented) group. I grew out my hair into a curly afro eigth grade year and hated it. Around this time I started going to the summer camp that I now work at which was really cool and yeah I liked that. By the beginning of Freshman year I was somewhat better adjusted due to ER and camp (I think...?). In the middle of seventh grade I discovered RPGMaker. I had a SNES but it blew up when I was ~6 so I had never played videogames before, just some trading card stuff. I can honestly say that RPGMaker 2000 gave me a reason to walk home every day during this time period! Sad but true.
Freshman year I met a guy who I became best friends with after I hated him for stalking me first quarter. I spent basically my entire first high school year with him and doing well on the Speech team. Sophomore year I continued flirting with that guy (we weren't a couple or anything; rather we were simply really close). I continued Speech and got into Drama as a techie, carrying stuff between scenes/being useless. Then I spent a summer as a counselor-in-training at summer camp and suddenly was like WOAH I HAVE EFFECTIVE LEADERSHIP SKILLS. Junior year to current, I've been remarkably successful in Drama (head of the running crew and helping the director with everything) and much more fun instead of just being a jerk-- I visit classrooms and sing/dance for no reason while the teacher preps. I've gotten multiple awards at school assemblies this year and my grades don't suck any more. I've also become pretty pissy and irritable ever since that guy I haven't mentioned in a few sentences was like SHIT I COME FROM CHRISTIAN REPUBLICAN FAMILY and now won't even look at me. This actually happened over a single night and I was a total mess for a good while.
In short: I went from nothing to a successful young man with a bright future but I don't care anymore emo emo emo. Him's story tops mine on the INTERESTING SCALE, though. Damn you. :<3
