Did you have a happy Childhood?

[BarBoy]

For me my childhood was pretty grim. Gaslighting parents/family members/friends, mental abuse, lack of emotional support, bullying (victim & perpetrator), physical abuse at the hands of my father and constant fighting on the streets.

 

For me my youth was mostly a battleground in which only the strong survived, as it was for all the other kids on my estate. It wasn't until I severed all ties with my past, family and friends alike, that I began to heal. Alcoholism has stayed with me but I do not want help. As I suffer from bouts of severe anxiety it is more like a medicine than it is an addiction. I know my limits and I stick to them.

 

Looking back, all in all my childhood was a complete and utter nightmare, something that I wouldn't wish on my worst enemies - including MalcolmB & scottiejohn!

 

They say everyone's childhood makes them who they are. I tend to agree. That is why I can be a little difficult at times, but the women still seem to be attracted to me,

( at least for now 😉 ) ....

[KannikaP]

Made up, AI trolling, in my book anyway. Perhaps I am wrong, but I think not.

Whatever your childhood, does it permit you to post mostly rubbish here on AN?

[Lacessit]

My father taught me to stay out of debt. A valuable lesson which has served me well for all my life.

 

My childhood was happy, until I won a scholarship to a prestigious college, at secondary level. There, I learned kids from privileged backgrounds could be total @rseholes. It was a poisoned chalice, although I did have some very good teachers. The combination of being a "brain" and socially inept made me a target.

 

I only started to gain self-confidence when I left home to work in a remote part of Australia, and had to fend for myself.

[BarBoy]

Just now, KannikaP said:

Made up, AI trolling, in my book anyway. Perhaps I am wrong, but I think not.

Whatever your childhood, does it permit you to post mostly rubbish here on AN?

I don't post rubbish here, KannikaP.

 

You and a few others have decided that I do in your own heads.

 

For reasons completely unknown to me, but that is your prerogative..

[Celsius]

I was sent to war at the age of 7

[BarBoy]

1 minute ago, Lacessit said:

My father taught me to stay out of debt. A valuable lesson which has served me well for all my life.

 

My childhood was happy, until I won a scholarship to a prestigious college, at secondary level. There, I learned kids from privileged backgrounds could be total @rseholes. It was a poisoned chalice, although I did have some very good teachers. The combination of being a "brain" and socially inept made me a target.

 

I only started to gain self-confidence when I left home to work in a remote part of Australia, and had to fend for myself.

Thank you for the first serious reply of the day, Lacessit.

 

I appreciate your feedback and I do agree with you that many (not all) privileged kids can be very difficult indeed!

[BarBoy]

Just now, Celsius said:

I was sent to war at the age of 7

...weren't you supposed to be up the chimney instead?

 

must have been a mix up with the paperwork or something 😄 

[novacova]

34 minutes ago, BarBoy said:

For me my childhood was pretty grim. Gaslighting parents/family members/friends, mental abuse, lack of emotional support, bullying (victim & perpetrator), physical abuse at the hands of my father and constant fighting on the streets.

Perhaps psychiatric help would help. Thanks for the clarification of your psychological profile.

[nobodysfriend]

My childhood ?

A horror I do not want to remember ...

Grew up in a * hithole industrial suburb of a middle class town . Run away from parents as often as I could ... they got me caught by police and returned to my non loving home .

When I became 18 , they could not force me to go back anymore , I left for good ...

but , now , I am happy , forgot all the * hit that happened before ... * uck them all ...

[Lacessit]

1 minute ago, BarBoy said:

Thank you for the first serious reply of the day, Lacessit.

 

I appreciate your feedback and I do agree with you that many (not all) privileged kids can be very difficult indeed!

IMO there's a difference between old money and new money. Old money has good manners. New money tends to treat anyone they consider below them like dirt. I saw that at the college, and also at a high-end golf club where I was a member.

[sqwakvfr]

Yes but I am proud to have overcome it and made something of myself.  For me the defintion of family has a different meaning than others.  I have relatives but none are actually family. 

[BarBoy]

4 minutes ago, nobodysfriend said:

My childhood ?

A horror I do not want to remember ...

Grew up in a * hithole industrial suburb of a middle class town . Run away from parents as often as I could ... they got me caught by police and returned to my non loving home .

When I became 18 , they could not force me to go back anymore , I left for good ...

but , now , I am happy , forgot all the * hit that happened before ... * uck them all ...

I sympathize with you buddy.

 

And yes indeed, eff the lot of em!

 

We cannot choose the family we are born into, but we sure as hell can change that once we are of legal age.

[BarBoy]

9 minutes ago, sqwakvfr said:

I have relatives but none are actually family. 

exactly the same here.

 

I cut ties with the lot of them.

 

They brought me nothing but pain.

[KannikaP]

In reply to the OP's headline. YES I DID.

Dad an engineer, Mum a nurse. An older sister and three younger brothers, only 10 years between us. Council house in Lancashire. Always got 'proper' meals, and all went to local Grammar School. Four of us went to Uni.

Despite financial shortages, we never went short of anything. All went to piano lessons. I learned guitar from my Dad. I personally was encouraged to follow my love and interest in music/ groups from 14 years old and went on to have a 40 plus year career in that business. 

Loved my Mum & Dad, all siblings still alive, and I speak with all of them regularly. 

[worgeordie]

17 minutes ago, BarBoy said:

I don't post rubbish here, KannikaP.

 

You and a few others have decided that I do in your own heads.

 

For reasons completely unknown to me, but that is your prerogative..

Seeing as it's Pantomime season, Oh yes you do ! , the biggest fib was,

I am going away and never coming back to Aseannow again ,and here

you are ,trying to hide under another name ,but you will always be

Bob Smith to me...

 

regards Worgeordie

[KannikaP]

4 minutes ago, BarBoy said:

They brought me nothing but pain.

And probably Vice Versa.

[BarBoy]

1 minute ago, KannikaP said:

And probably Vice Versa.

what kind of a human are you?

 

how can a child intentionally bring adults pain?

[KannikaP]

5 minutes ago, BarBoy said:

what kind of a human are you?

 

how can a child intentionally bring adults pain?

I know plenty who do bring their parents much grief. 

[Ralf001]

Yeah was fairly decent, thanks for asking.

[BarBoy]

2 minutes ago, KannikaP said:

I know plenty who do bring their parents much grief. 

and that's the kids fault, is it?

 

nothing to do with the way their parents raise them??

 

you must know a lot of people that were psychopaths from birth then!!

[BarBoy]

3 minutes ago, Ralf001 said:

Yeah was fairly decent, thanks for asking.

glad to hear it!

[Hummin]

1 hour ago, BarBoy said:

For me my childhood was pretty grim. Gaslighting parents/family members/friends, mental abuse, lack of emotional support, bullying (victim & perpetrator), physical abuse at the hands of my father and constant fighting on the streets.

 

For me my youth was mostly a battleground in which only the strong survived, as it was for all the other kids on my estate. It wasn't until I severed all ties with my past, family and friends alike, that I began to heal. Alcoholism has stayed with me but I do not want help. As I suffer from bouts of severe anxiety it is more like a medicine than it is an addiction. I know my limits and I stick to them.

 

Looking back, all in all my childhood was a complete and utter nightmare, something that I wouldn't wish on my worst enemies - including MalcolmB & scottiejohn!

 

They say everyone's childhood makes them who they are. I tend to agree. That is why I can be a little difficult at times, but the women still seem to be attracted to me,

( at least for now 😉 ) ....

Seems many coming to Thailand have scars for life, before attending here. 

 

And make sense how the mental state of the whole forum are. Just mental and lack of positivity.

 

Grumpy old mens forum, who have limited time to make up for their past.

[BarBoy]

7 minutes ago, Hummin said:

Seems many coming to Thailand have scars for life before attending here. 

I would tend to agree.

 

I have met many 'unhinged' people in Thailand, especially in the bar scene, which I am a firm part of.

 

There are much more deeply disturbed folk than I that sit on the bar stools daily, mostly they are out before breakfast, beer in hand and dressed in a vest...

[bubblegum]

From being the poorest kid at basic schooling to the "privileged" at an International Boarding school in Switzerland, I can say I have been on both sides. The privileged side was terrible with my parents constantly pushing me beyond my intellectual boundaries. 

There was no love just stress to please them. In the end (40 years later!) this broke me and it took me a decade, as well as relocating to Thailand in order to heal.

 

 

[Hummin]

3 minutes ago, BarBoy said:

I would tend to agree.

 

I have met many 'unhinged' people in Thailand, especially in the bar scene, which I am a firm part of. There are much more deeply disturbed folk than I that sit on the bar stools daily, mostly they are out before breakfast, beer in hand...

It is one thing having a past,  and living in the past.

 

How I see my childhood now, and how I at the time experienced it, is two different things.

 

I appreciate my childhood alot more now, than then. I learned something, and it gave me will and power to change things, be better at things, and  at least appreciate today, now, right now

[BarBoy]

2 minutes ago, bubblegum said:

From being the poorest kid at basic schooling to the "privileged" at an International Boarding school in Switzerland, I can say I have been on both sides. The privileged side was terrible with my parents constantly pushing me beyond my intellectual boundaries. 

There was no love just stress to please them. In the end (40 years later!) this broke me and it took me a decade, as well as relocating to Thailand in order to heal.

 

 

Thank you for your input, bubblegum, and I understand and sympathize with your situation.

 

Great to hear that you have healed and have left all the rotten eggs behind!

 

Well done buddy!

[GarryP]

5 minutes ago, Hummin said:

Seems many coming to Thailand have scars for life before attending here. 

I came here when I was 19 just over 42 years ago. I didn't think about it much at the time, but perhaps I was running away from something. Still not sure about it really. Childhood was tough but not totally unhappy - the good often comes with the bad. Got some good life lessons from my divorced parents, and wouldn't be where I am in life now if it wasn't for them. In hindsight would I still come here? To this day, I am not sure.   

[BarBoy]

Just now, GarryP said:

In hindsight would I still come here? To this day, I am not sure.   

If I could do it all again I wouldn't.

 

I would have chosen somewhere other than here.

 

But I can't turn back the clock...

[AlexRich]

Show me the child at seven, and I’ll show you the man.

[MalcolmB]

10 minutes ago, BarBoy said:

mostly they are out before breakfast, beer in hand...

You make it sound like a bad thing?

I see it as privileged.

2 billion men around the world would probably be happier having a beer in the morning than going to boring job in the cold.

 

Harden up snowflake