My mom tried her best, kept us off welfare, kept us together, kept us in church, sheltered us. You do the best you can with what you know at the time, right!
My parents did better than their parents in certain things, and DH and I want to do better than our parents with DS. But no matter how much we improve, I’m sure there will be things that my son is going to want to change with his kids someday, if he has any.
Looking back at my childhood, so much of it was utterly boring, and it’s hard for me (although hopefully beneficial for DS someday) to see all of the educational options being considered by people on this forum that my parents probably never even knew existed. I was not outspoken in school; I was anxious to please my teachers and loved to learn. My parents didn’t have a clue that I needed and wanted more. I think they figured that good grades = happy. So I definitely want school to be one of the things I do differently for DS, especially since I believe that he will be bouncing off the walls if he’s under-challenged. No quiet complacency for him, boys have all the luck (tongue in cheek).
I, too, learned to read before kindergarten, multi-tasked in school to stay sane, moved a lot, and was a chameleon between school and home. When I was 11, my friends at school were still in the “boys have cooties” stage so we organized “no talking to boys” days. After school, I was part of a group of 15-19 year olds from my neighborhood, so I switched to dealing with the complexities of dating and friendship cliques. It felt odd, like I was just playing a part to fit in.
