If you could sum up your childhood in a few sentences, you would say...

I had the last great classic American childhood. My parents stayed married, drank too much but not enough to be a huge problem, we went to company picnics, ran around the neighborhood and played in the woods nearby without supervision and walked to school, and we went to a nice, normal, non-fundamentalist Methodist church. We also got to be the first real nerds with our early video games and one of the first PCs. All in all, it was pretty good. I’m pretty certain that outside of some rural areas (and maybe even there) this kind of childhood is basically impossible today.

I grew up in a rural, very small town, where everyone knows you and your family.
My five siblings and I played and rode our bikes all over town.
I had responsibilities at home and school and my (non-fundamentalist) church.
My parents were married and still are. Mom made supper for us every night.
Dad brought home his paycheck and both parents were active in our small community.
I learned respect, hard work, and to be a volunteer for my community.
I had everything I really needed, and some things I wanted.

i’d say I wish i could go back and do it all differently…go back in time and kick little me in the ass and then give me a hug and tell me about what i have learned thus far

I was the product of a dysfunctional marriage, starting with the fact that my father was (is) homosexual, but since that was considered a mental illness in the ‘50s he lived in denial and was miserable.
My parents were overprotective and repressive with religion; yet they were completely oblivious to how miserable we kids were, especially me when I was being molested by another family member.
As a teenager, I was fraught with self-esteem issues and angst above and beyond the norm because of the abuse. I was filed with fear and rage, and was severely depressed and contemplated suicide.
It’s taken me over two decades to get to the point where I can say that I have moved beyond the trauma of my youth, and also to believe that I wouldn’t really change it – because then I wouldn’t be who I am today. My only wish is that someone, somewhere in my lifetime would love me unconditionally.

None the worse for wear. Some of it I remember and some of it I don’t. I would have done some things differently if given the chance but in the overall scheme of things, I had a solid and positively influential upbringing by excellent parents.

I would say thank God it’s over. I wouldn’t change anything about it. I was born into a military family, and didn’t move to every base out there like many do. My father was strict, but my mother was stricter. I had everything I needed, and nothing more. But I did have plenty of love.

I had a great childhood. I’m an only child, but I was not spoiled. My dad wouldn’t have allowed that. I had all the material things I needed & more. Between my parents & both sets of grandparents, I had all the love anyone could ask for. When I think of my childhood, all’s I can do is smile.

It was sad and very hard, our parents got divorced when we were 6–7… We had a very hard time because when this happens, most fathers think that they doing enough by giving the mom (whos normally taking care of the kids) some money. So our dad basically just gave my mom very little money, and forgot about everything else, she had to work very hard to give us some food, we would sometimes go to school without any food. and go back the same. And I could go on, but don’t know how to express myself and i’m gonna cry… I just want to say that im VERY proud of my mom and I love her sooooo much!

(((@2late2be)))

Hugs to you, 2late2be..

It was perfect.
It is sad the children of today will never be able to enjoy the safety and freedom to explore that there once was.

I wasn’t wanted at all (my BM was sexually assaulted by someone she didn’t know very well and I was born form that) and there were a few attempts very early in my life to get rid of me. The state ended up giving me to her sister, who wasn’t capable of raising a plant, much less a child. The poor woman, who had her own son, only took me in out of a sense of obligation and because her father told her to. No one realized she was a schizophrenic at the time.

In a lot of ways, I had to raise myself and parent my guardian at the same time, but I believe I’m very lucky for several reasons: I was strong enough to survive violent physical attacks. I was discovered to have above-average intelligence early enough to get proper resources. My character is such that I don’t have it in me to hurt people and I learned empathy early. Maybe too much empathy for my own good at times, but hey; better than becoming violent or self-destructive.

As a child of a single mother I wouldn’t trade my childhood for anything. My mom was great, and gave me the best childhood anyone could ask for.

I grew up in the suburbs raised by parents who had been raised in The Bronx. My parents had a great sense of humor, but were nuts in many ways. My mom knew everything that could go wrong: don’t ride in a car with a lollipop in your mouth because if the car could stop short and you would choke, stuff like that. But, it never bothered me or scared me. My father was always talking about business ideas, it felt like you were always in class or that there might be a quiz at the end of the conversation.

I have wonderful memories of my grandparents taking my sister and me to the Catskills. It was a lot like the Dirty Dancing movie depicts.

In general I hated school, especially waking up for it. I was a “night” person, still am.

Overall, I have happy memories of playing with friends and especially my sister.

During my teens I started going out to dance clubs and loved it. I never drank or did drugs, but I loved going out.

In my teens I did have some bouts of depression, but was able to overcome them.

I was sheltered an obedient. I was well-taken care of. I was very structured. I was oblivious to the people and world around me. I was happy.

I had a good childhood. Because of my father’s job we moved a lot, so I rarely developed strong friendships, but I got to live in many different places and under many different conditions, which I consider a plus.

I was also lucky – none of my misadventures resulted in major injury and most of them my parents didn’t find out about until I was an adult. I had a lot more freedom to roam than my kids do today, and had opportunities to learn about bulls, snow, deep water, and steep hills that they haven’t had. I also learned why you shouldn’t jump off the roof with home-made wings.

On the down side I had terrible headaches throughout childhood, which were ignored by adults because they said kids don’t get headaches (they turned out to have been migraines), plus I had to deal with repeated and untreated bouts of depression.

Abusive, alcoholic father. Parents got divorced when I was seven. Mom got custody, got a new boyfriend and started doing drugs. Took me to some bad areas, saw a lot of screwed up stuff. I went so I could spend time with her, but stopped after a while, because I knew it wasn’t good. She started leaving my sister and I home alone for nights at a time. Finally, after about a week had gone by and we hadn’t seen her or gotten a telephone call, we figured out that she abandoned us. We had no food left, not even to eat out of cans anymore, so we called my dad. Moved in to his mother’s with him, got a house about six months later. Didn’t hear from my mom for a year to two years after that. That’s just the basics, there’s a lot more negativity in between. I’ll save it for another day or something.

@ DrasticDreamer, I’m so sorry. How sad.
I did realize how good I had it, even back then if I had unhappy times,
I knew that I was loved and protected.
I’m feeling bad for those of you who had such hardship growing up.
The good thing is, you made it through.

Isolating, frightening, confusing, painful, humiliating, stressful, anxiety-provoking.

@hearkat you’re a wonderful person with a great heart, and the fella that does get you will be a lucky guy.

Spoiled, my nickname growing up was Brat! I was smart and very active. I rarely stayed indoors and always had a neighborhood friend to play with. That’s from about 9 years and up. Before that I have only fleeting memories.

My parents both came from very unstable backgrounds, and provided a very stable home for me, my 2 older sisters, and my younger brother. We lived on a quiet, dead end street. We didn’t have money for anything that wasn’t absolutely necessary, but we didn’t really lack anything. I was blessed.

My childhood was very happy. Mother and Father were married and still are. Dad worked hard and a lot. Mom stayed home . I have two younger brothers who are twins. Grandma lived next door. Now I realize how poor we were. I never realized it then. My parents made sure we had all we needed and a lot of what we wanted. They did without so we could have. We never had a new car. We didn’t go on vacations . We were very happy. My mom said just the other day that sometimes she wishes we could go back to those simpler happy days, but she is happy that she has the grandkids. My sister in laws can be a handful at times…..I am grateful for growing up knowing I was loved! My parents did not sweat the small stuff. We never did drugs or gave them problems.

My childhood started of famously. I was my mother’s little girl and spent every single second I could with her. I worshiped my mother, for me the sun rose and set on her. We were poor but I never realized it, and had all I wanted,, even if the toys came from garage sales and the clothes were hand-me-downs. Things started to go south when my mom died shortly after my twelfth birthday. My dad didn’t want six kids and had no idea what to do with us. He was an angry alcoholic who took most of his anger out on my brothers and me. Once my brothers hit him back (which was after the first time he hit them), he stopped hitting them. I never hit back.

Me, a younger sister and an even younger cousin all brought up by a grandmother because parents were working. She died when I was 11 and I discovered I also had a mother. Child prodigy, very promising with everybody telling me how great I was. First got on stage when I was 10 or so, a professional singer when I was 16. Always wrote songs but didn’t consider it to be some special talent until I was 14. Very popular and sociable at school, but at the same time shy and lonely (if you could ever combine the two). Not very good with girls, clumsy and silly. Good at sports and school. Plenty of spare time. Most of it spent reading crime novels, playing basketball (on my own) and going for long walks or rides with my bike. A lot of exploration.

I had an excellent childhood. Lived in Las Vegas for the first half, lived in San Francisco for the second half. I was brought up with a lot of freedom compared to many other children I knew, my parents were very open-minded and liberal and were supportive of me in every way and they never hit me and were very calm. Three siblings, 2 younger brothers, 1 older sister. We traveled a lot to various places in the U.S. and in the rest of the world, I had a lot in common with my mom and she was very involved in my school life. Visited my grandparents a lot and went to Lake Tahoe a lot. Always ate out and Christmas was the best time of the year. I was brought up in a wealthy family so I lived differently than many people I knew; I was also raised Catholic and went to Sunday school and got confirmed and everything. Discovered my homosexuality gradually. Had a lot of fun at school, got good grades, made good friends, middle school was the best. Lots and lots and lots of good memories. I wouldn’t trade it for anything; it really was quite good.

Sorry to answer this late, but I stumbled upon this while looking for a different question and I read everyone’s answers and they were all great. So I had to include one of my own. :P I can’t believe I missed this one. :(

Joyous. Rode bikes all over town with friends and played in the woods and next to the railroad tracks. I had So many kids to play with up and down our street. Dad worked hard and was the only breadwinner. Mom would sing songs while she did housework. She was a good cook. Dinner at six. I had a brother and sister but was raised almost like an only child because they were ten and eleven years older. Parents were married 61 years and not once did I hear fighting. There was a little too much drinking as I look back on it. Dad worked happily on radios and photography in the basement and sometimes played the pipe organ down there. I remember him shoveling coal into the basement furnace shirtless with the roaring coals reflecting red/orange light off his damp skin. I never felt scared or insecure with them taking care of me. Fast forward to the teen years. My parents and the house were the same but I had guys at the door! I guess it sounds boring.