Your relationship with your parents

*Netkeeper* · 12-13-2014, 02:54 PM

Includes step-parents, guardians, and other parental figures in your life, related by blood or otherwise. Feel free to get into as much detail as you like, since this is a complex topic! I'm going to try to keep it brief for now, though.

I had the strangest thought a few minutes ago: I'd said "Mom's the best", and after I said it, I realised that wasn't something I've ever actually said before. Just as little as three years ago, I never would have dreamed I'd be saying something like that with sincere intent.

For most of my life my relationship with her has been rather strained. I attribute this to her own strained relationship of my father, since she'd remarked many times through my teen years as "being just like him", but they since managed to repair that relationship after spending some time living in different states.

As I grew up, my mother was the authoritarian, not my father. Her standards were higher, too -- if I came home with a C grade on anything, oh boy. She was also really secretive. I didn't even learn what kind of movies or books she enjoyed until I was living with just her, and I never felt like I could talk to her because she was dismissive about any subject that wasn't school related. She was harsher on displays of emotion, usually yelling at me for crying, and if we were even two steps outside the house, I got smacked for it. And this behaviour continued even into adulthood, though some of it did lessen, to her credit.

Now, though? She's become more open, friendly, and most of all, understanding. She used to be the absolute last person I would talk to about anything. Now, she's the first; she helped me get the job I have now, she doesn't pressure me to do things any more, and lets me be myself.

My dad's pretty different. I never had many problems with him -- my mother wasn't wrong when she compared us to one another. In personality, we're really similar, and throughout my life I never felt much like he was an "authority figure". He's far too silly for that kind of thing, though some of that might have been because he was experiencing his midlife crisis when I was a kid. :V

12-13-2014, 02:54 PM	#1
Netkeeper tactical blackquill Join Date: May 2014 Location: Texas, but not for much longer Posts: 3,645	Your relationship with your parents Includes step-parents, guardians, and other parental figures in your life, related by blood or otherwise. Feel free to get into as much detail as you like, since this is a complex topic! I'm going to try to keep it brief for now, though. I had the strangest thought a few minutes ago: I'd said "Mom's the best", and after I said it, I realised that wasn't something I've ever actually said before. Just as little as three years ago, I never would have dreamed I'd be saying something like that with sincere intent. For most of my life my relationship with her has been rather strained. I attribute this to her own strained relationship of my father, since she'd remarked many times through my teen years as "being just like him", but they since managed to repair that relationship after spending some time living in different states. As I grew up, my mother was the authoritarian, not my father. Her standards were higher, too -- if I came home with a C grade on anything, oh boy. She was also really secretive. I didn't even learn what kind of movies or books she enjoyed until I was living with just her, and I never felt like I could talk to her because she was dismissive about any subject that wasn't school related. She was harsher on displays of emotion, usually yelling at me for crying, and if we were even two steps outside the house, I got smacked for it. And this behaviour continued even into adulthood, though some of it did lessen, to her credit. Now, though? She's become more open, friendly, and most of all, understanding. She used to be the absolute last person I would talk to about anything. Now, she's the first; she helped me get the job I have now, she doesn't pressure me to do things any more, and lets me be myself. My dad's pretty different. I never had many problems with him -- my mother wasn't wrong when she compared us to one another. In personality, we're really similar, and throughout my life I never felt much like he was an "authority figure". He's far too silly for that kind of thing, though some of that might have been because he was experiencing his midlife crisis when I was a kid. :V __________________