what surprised you...

kimberley wrote: i guess my pg hormones are making me feel a little nostalgic today and it got me thinking about that time in life when you realize there are other "strange" things in the world outside of our parents' home. i remember being about 10yrs old and wondering why the heck everyone eats sanwiches at lunch time . i grew up mostly with my filipino side and we always had hot meals at mealtime.

breakfast could be fried rice with egg and sausage in it
lunch... something on top of rice
dinner... more of something on top of rice or noodles lol

we rarely ate desserts except egg custard or halo halo, so pie and jello after every supper was also foreign to me.

another thing that blew me away was the amount of disrespect i saw in other people's homes. kids mouthing off and cursing at their parents gosh, i would got licks for doing something like that! or extreme liberal hippie parents who let their 13yo stay out all night on weekends and smoke in the house. it makes me wonder what my kids will find "strange".

sorry for rambling

Insanemomof3 replied: I was surprised if i saw parents love each other and treat their kids nicely. That was not something I got growing up, so when I saw some of my friends families, it shocked me to find that not everyone had a family like mine. hehe I spent ALOT of time at homes like that.

ammommy replied: I was surprised to see that not everyone drank. Wine and predinner coctails were as common in our house as coffee in the morning.

mckayleesmom replied: I was suprised that people let their kids eat as much junk or pop as they want in their house. We had to ask permission before getting something..(we were fed well and everything...my mom just monitered what we ate) My mom never let us have pop and any kinds of snacks or anything were for school lunches only...on the rare chance that she let us have soda..the three younger kids...me being the oldest had to split it in 3..... Another thing...eating out....My mom always cooked..the only time we got to eat out is if we were on vacation. We also rarely were allowed to have friends in the house...we were to go outside and play....probably cause there were 6 of us and with added friends my mom would have been institutionalized.


Funny thing....You know that Ovalteen commercial where the mom is making the ovalteen and turns around and the whole neigborhood is in the house wanting ovalteen...they say "more ovalteen please"...and the mom looks all happy and is going to make it.....Not my mom..she would have told them to go home and ask there moms to make them ovalteen because she wasn't feeding the neighborhood...LOL

punkeemunkee'smom replied: I would say that parents who let their kids just do whatever surprized me. My parents were always very involved in what I was doing and where I was Etc...
My mom always cooked too! We are a big family so We used to go eat around 1-2 times a month and that was a HUGE treat! But I don't remember ever thinking it was weird or that I was missing out on something. But mom also always cooked homemade dinners with cake for dessert and all...The first time I ever had hamburger helper I was 17 and it was at my mother in laws house! I thought it was SOOOO COOL!

ediep replied: i was suprised the first time I ate dinner at a friends house...her mom asked me if I liked macaroni salad, I'm 100% italian, so I said well, I like salad and I like macaroni... I took a huge bite and then I ran to throw up!!!

I was also suprised that friends were allowed to have sweet cereal for breakfast, it was a rare occasion that we were allowed to have honey nut cheerios, that was the only sweet cereal my parents bought.

luvbug00 replied: My mom is german and you eat lots but you eat home cooked grub only! I was amazed at kool aid GLORIUS kool aid!!!

kimberley replied: another big one i forgot.... not everyone eats with a fork and SPOON! lol most of our dishes are stewed or soft, so knives were a rarity and i can't eat rice without a spoon

mom21kid2dogs replied: Great topic, Kimberly!!

My biggest suprise in chidhood was that I was monetarily poor. I had no idea that not everyone only had 2 pairs of shoes (one for play and one for church/school), never went on vacations, didn't have a closet full of clothes, only got one gift on your birthday, etc. In the long run, it made no difference but it was shocking to learn as a teen!!

MommyToAshley replied: In retrospect, I lived a pretty sheltered life. When my Dad retired from the service, I was around 14 and we moved for one last time. All of a sudden I saw kids my age drinking, smoking, and doing other adult things... it was really a culture shock for me. My parents never really talked to me about these things before hand and it wasn't something my previous group of friends were into. Luckily I had made up my own mind not to do any of those things. I am sure there were others, but that's the biggest shock I can remember.

Mommy2BAK replied: When I was around 12 I started noticing that I was the only one who still go spankings. *Darn Stepdad*

Hillbilly Housewife replied: I was raised very strict until my parents separated - at 11 years old, I was shocked to learn that not everybody would get spanked, the belt, the wooden spoon, hair pulling etc....

I was also very sheltered as a child. I didn't know how babies were made until I was about 12, and it was explained to me by my now hubby - who at that time was 14....

lisar replied: Well let me see. I was suprised to see that is was not normal to for dad to beat up mom. And to always to spank the kids with a leather belt anytime daddy drank. I remember when my friend told me her dad spanked her and I told her that was normal and she said it was the first one in a long time. I was shocked cause I got one daily. Then me and my dumb self asked my dad about it and got spanked. Long story about life I will share one day with yall.

Lisa

Boys r us replied: I think I was most suprised at the "convenient" food. I mean we always ate out and stuff like that, but my mom was big on making things for us, like healthy snacks and she would make us koolaid and she even made us homemade playdough that had scents. She loved being all domesticated. Anyways, It suprised me to see kids with their snack packs and capri suns and oreo cookies..b/c everything like that we had was homemade...i.e. cookies etc..

mammag replied: I remember being shocked going to a friends house and she was allowed to go to the fridge or pantry and get something to eat when ever she wanted. We didn't have a lot of money growing up and they would guard the fridge and cabinets. My mom would sit around snacking but we weren't allowed. They would even, if they were going to leave us home alone, give us instructions to "stay out of the food". And you know as soon as they left, not only did we get into the food, we'd play restaurant and make up concotions and put sheets on the table as a table cloth. We were really young then so our fancy meal one time was Cheerieos in a bowl full of butter. I even named the dish "Cheerios Delight".

Anyway, I went to a friends house one time and she was even allowed to bake a cake just because she felt like it. I thought she had the best mom ever! I think that's why I'm so obsessed with food now.

MM'sMama replied: I remember realizing the amounts of sugar and soda my friends were aloud to have. My mom rarely let that stuff into our home still really doesn't although she has lightened up some which my little sibs. love I'm sure. I still remember the look on my mom face when I asked her to buy soda .
I was also very shocked to learn know one else family called them at sleep overs and had everyone in the family tell them good night and that they loved them. This is still something my mom and dad do every night but I appreciate it a lot more now.

My2Beauties replied: I think for me it was the fact that everyone else had a nicer house than we did I grew up in a very poor end of town and lived in the ugliest house you could ever imagine in your entire life (I mean hideous guys), we didn't have any furniture or anything in our house, I didn't have lots of clothes, shoes etc... When I went to middle school it was located in a pretty upscale neighborhood, (we bussed around here, so sometimes a kid's homeschool is extremely far away, I know weird ) and I made friends with these people. As I visisted their houses I noticed they were all so nice and upper class, I never let them visit my house, only my best best friends from elementary school came over! It was a shock, I thought the whole world struggled like we did as a kid. I didn't realize that some people have money until I was around 12.