Were you considered the "problem child" growing up?

1. 84

   donotfearposted 14 years ago

   Did you give your parents a hard time? Were you the kid who always got in trouble, the instigator of all neighborhood wars, the wild child?   Were you the 'black sheep' of the family while all your siblings were well behaved?
   
   Let's hear it.

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   1. 0

      PrettyPantherposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      No, I was Miss Goodie Two Shoes, while one of my brothers was the troublemaker.  However, as we became adults, I would say I have led a more unconventional lifestyle than any of my siblings.

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      Poppa Bluesposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      Oh yeah! I was very rebellious and got into all kinds of trouble!

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      blondepoetposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      Oh what a gorgeous new avatar. Donotfear you are a dish!!!!

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         donotfearposted 14 years agoin reply to this

         Aww.....well bless your heart, as we say in the south. You're too kind, my dear young friend!

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      sophsposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      Ohhhhhh I was an awful child! And teenager- such an idiot! I'm good now though and have apologised to my Mum lol.

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         mtsi1098posted 14 years agoin reply to this

         teenagers are supposed to do stuff like that...I got grounded more times than I can remember...In fact I may still be getting grounded

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            sophsposted 14 years agoin reply to this

            Hehe

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         2. 84

            donotfearposted 14 years agoin reply to this

            I think between the sneaking out at night and getting caught smoking I stayed grounded enough. I became an excellent liar. Now I couldn't lie to a toad. It's a wonder I remember anything about the teen years, I was so full of THC.  Then when I left home at 18 and went to Austin with my abusive boyfriend, Mom found a whole box of marijuana seeds I'd stashed under a chair. She said she opened the box and it popped open, then POP! They scattered all over the room. So her vacume cleaner was full of pot seeds. No telling how much got sucked outta the floorboard of the 1964 Oldsmobile. Man, I can't believe I survived it all. I can't believe my parents never killed me!

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   5. 69

      Cathi Suttonposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      I was the youngest, born late in life to my folks, who didn't want more kids.  I was beaten, and emotionally and verbally abused by my dad.  No one stuck up for me, and I became a habitual run-a-way.  My sister, (15 years older than me), who had been the "baby girl" until I came along resented me with a passion, and mistreated me extensively.  She still fails to acknowledge my place in the family as even existing.  (Doesn't speak to me for years at a time, etc...).  My mother was a wonderful mother when my dad wasn't around.  When he was she did as she was told to avoid abuse herself.  So I caught the brunt of alot of "fall out".  I begged to go to boarding school, found a family willing to adopt me, but nothing was allowed. 
      Permanate damage to ego, self esteem and such has followed me EVERYWHERE  in life.  But... I have survived to break the cycle with my sons!  So.... I'm okay.

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         babyhudsonposted 14 years agoin reply to this

         Hi. I was the youngest and the only girl in the family too. My parents separated when I was growing to be a teenager. My mom left home and dad became a constant drinker. My brothers went on their own discovering life and so I did on my own too. But I found wrong set of friends. I become an out of school youth, prefer not to be home but to spend time with the so-called friends I met. I ended up pregnant at an early age. My mom found me at last. It was never too late. I stood up and started all over again. I intend not to look back at the dark past. But somehow, that dark past is something to look back to so that the same mistakes will not be repeated in the future.

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      mikicagleposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      I was also the youngest and my parents were very TIRED by the time I came along.  I was left alone alot for days at a time.  I could have gotten into a lot of trouble, but for the grace of God go I-my older sister did instead.  I look back at all the things I could have done, all the trouble I could have gotten into and am thankful for the Angels that were watching over me

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      GALAXY 59posted 14 years agoin reply to this

      I think I was more of the ignored child in my family, by the time I came along my parents were well into their forties and had all but given up on having kids.You would think that would make them happy to have a child around but I guess by that time they were just too set in their ways and so I was more of an annoyance than anything. I 'd like to say that I rose above their indifference but I'm afraid I went through a problem child stage.
      
      After years of misbehaving I am now a happliy married mother of three and I am proud to say that my own children have never been ignored. Mind you, they are a bit too large, loud and self assured to ignore!

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      Jane@CMposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      Yep, that would be ME!  The middle child, the one that was suppose to be a boy.  I wasn't a "black sheep" so to speak, but more along the line of invisible.  As I got older, I found ways to become visible, but they didn't work very well!

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   Hokeyposted 14 years ago

   No. Whole family was nuts.

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   1. 84

      donotfearposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      
      OOOOOOOHhhhhhhhh. That explains it.

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      logic,commonsenseposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      Hickory or Brazil?

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         blondepoetposted 14 years agoin reply to this

         

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   frogdroppingposted 14 years ago

   I don't belong to a family. I belong to a pack. Largely made up of wolves. And yes, I was the problem child. Saddled with the tag from birth and duly punished for it. 'Twas a wonderful childhood

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4. 84

   donotfearposted 14 years ago

   I was the middle child with the temper tantrums. I acted out badly on many occasions. All I can remember is that I was so full of rage I had to leap into the air and come down on all fours like a cat woman. I got my butt spanked hard, many times, but it only made me more frustrated and angry. My sister talks about it to this day. When my older sister and younger brother were getting good grades in school and participating in all the proper school stuff, I was running with the wild crowd. I found out later, after all my doping years and acting out with wild behavior, my brother and sister stuffed their behavior. It came out later in life....only not with self-destruction.  Ha! I'm glad I acted out then..at least it gave me a release.

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5. 61

   tantrumposted 14 years ago

   I was a problem child and I loved it !!
   that's the part I most enjoyed during my childhood.
   
   

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      Uninvited Writerposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      Why am I not surprised?

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   TNmoonshineposted 14 years ago

   Still am!!!

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7. 82

   Rafiniposted 14 years ago

   according to my mother, yes, I was the problem child. 
   according to my step-father, I was the good child. 
   according to my grandmother, I was the responsible child. 
   according to schoolteachers, I was the most likely to succeed
   according to classmates, I was the goody-goody
   according to my daughter, I am an over-achiever
   
   
   I tell them all:  Shut Up!!  And let me live! 

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   Disturbiaposted 14 years ago

   I was every parent's worst nightmare.

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      donotfearposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      How were you every parents worst nightmare?

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         Disturbiaposted 14 years agoin reply to this

         Let's see, without getting too specific, before my mother passed away, I was always in trouble both at home and in school.  I was hyperactive, impulsive, disobedient, disruptive, inattentive, rude, and rebellious.  I challenged everything and everyone and my teachers considered me a lazy student and not very bright because my grades were so poor.  To my mother's never ending shame, my report cards were a catastrophe and my performance at school nothing at all to brag about.  I spent so much time writing my name on the "board of education" the paddle you got to sign your name on when the nuns used it to administer discipline, that it could almost be considered a penmanship lesson.
         
         After mom passed away I was all those things and worse in many different foster care situations.  I had no skills to cope with the grief of losing my mother, so I acted out in the worst possible ways and my behavior was so horrible that I was pronounced incorrigible.  Finally I ran away and lived on the streets for several months.  I'm not sure anybody ever looked for me and if they did, I'm even more sure they were very happy that they didn't find me.

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            Lady Roseposted 14 years agoin reply to this

            You sound like an interesting person who has suffered a lot. Did you finally found what you were looking for?  I hope you found real love.

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   Chloe Comfortposted 14 years ago

   Totally! My parents camethisclose to putting me in a convent!!! The only reason they didn't, I told them I'd find a way to leave and they'd never see me again.
   
   I really was a handful. At 42 I apologize to them constantly for the crap I put them through - cut school, took the car (at 13 w/no license), stayed out all night, hung out with the dregs of the neighborhood, etc... and that's just the tame stuff!
   
   Just glad we all grow up - well most of us anyway
   
   Now I get the pleasure of raising my own teenager and yes, my mother has passed along the famous curse - you know the one - "May you have a child just like you - no better, no worse".
   
   Thought I was safe because he was a boy - yeah right!

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10. 79

    kirstenblogposted 14 years ago

    I wasn't exactly a problem child, I was more of a troubled and unhappy child

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       tantrumposted 14 years agoin reply to this

       that would be trouble, for any loving mother.

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          kirstenblogposted 14 years agoin reply to this

          It was for my adopted mum, when she got sick I had a great foster mom who really inspired hope for me. I think my adopted mom liked her and could see me 'coming out of my shell' so to speak. The sad thing is that my adopted mom had had a daughter (with the same name as me to boot) who suffered a drug overdose that kinda looked like suicide. For a while there I think she was terrified that she was going to lose me too. Now a days we have a lot of fun when we talk or get together, she is a pretty fun person living out in the woods in almost total freedom. I guess we share quite a bit of healing and that gives us a nice bond of respect for each other.

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11. 84

    donotfearposted 14 years ago

    I apologized to my Mom several times before she passed away last year. I remember when my kids gave me trouble, Mom would laugh and say "Ha ha, now you're getting it".  I understand totally.

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12. 61

    calpol25posted 14 years ago

    I was always in trouble lol, I used to give my family some bad days lol I apologized to my mum when I was older, but she said i was a typical boy.

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13. 60

    double_frickposted 14 years ago

    i used to volunteer at the nursing home my mom worked at, her co-workers would tell me that she called me "damian child" when i wasn't around. nice.
    i wasn't that bad, actually. mom was just straight nuts, i guess.
    my anything but perfect sister was treated like a queen though. LOL
    nah, in 6th grade i foraged my mothers signature on detention slips because i was scared to get in trouble! *good excuse*
    hah
    got suspended in 8th grade for harboring a pack of cigarettes.
    got in trouble in 8th grade for smoking weed...though i had never even seen it at that time.
    in 10th grade my mom put me in drug rehab...foorrrr......weed.
    
    i would say i was a tormented child more than a tormenting child.

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       Lisa HWposted 14 years agoin reply to this

       That's disturbing (the rehab-for-weed thing).  I hope you weren't "scarred for life" by it.
       
       I can top your mother story with my mother story, though:  I wasn't a problem child until I got to be in my mid/late thirties - at which time I decided to leave my marriage.  I then became a major "problem child", and my mother played a role in having my dragged off to the local mental hospital to see if I was insane!!!     (I can laugh about it now - sometimes and sort of.)  They let me go, because - contrary to what my mother believed - it isn't always crazy for a person to leave a husband who has a good job, isn't a drunk, and isn't having an affair.  From then on, I became the "big-problem child".  The moral to the story is you can become a problem child at any age if you have the kind of parent who only thinks you're sane if you happen to think the same way do.  Of course, I'm the middle child; so even though I didn't get in trouble as a kid, my mother had it in her head that I was a time-bomb waiting to go off. 

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14. 57

    Dame Scribeposted 14 years ago

    I was only a problem to those seeking control lol

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15. 81

    manlypoetrymanposted 14 years ago

    No...I was great kid...a virtual angel!
    
    

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       tantrumposted 14 years agoin reply to this

       
       
       More like a devil in an angelic disguise !

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    Madison22posted 14 years ago

    Hi donotfear, how have you been?
    
    I became a problem child to my parents later on in life as I got older, when I started disliking being a middle child, which kinda sucked for me.  But, it is what it is:)

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17. 62

    Daniel Carterposted 14 years ago

    I was told I was the reason my parents' marriage was bad. However, one parent is still alive to tell the truth.
    
    Things come round right in time, it seems.

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       Pandoras Boxposted 14 years agoin reply to this

       That's awful Daniel. What a load of crap.
       
       In my family, we were all problem children. Dysfunctional parents tend to produce children with problems.
       
       That said, I would say that on a regular basis, I was the least problematic. I was the youngest of five girls by quite a few years, and was very observant I guess. I knew my mother had plenty of stuff to deal with it, and I never wanted to add to her burdens.
       
       But once she abandoned me the last child to the tender mercies of my alcoholic father while she ran off from south Florida to upstate Pennsylvania, it was pretty much game on.
       
       I now have one child who is different from the others. She reminds me sometimes of my mentally disturbed mother and clinically insane sister. As such, I fear she has inherited a family gene.
       
       As with all of my children, I spend alot of time talking to her about all sorts of things, trying to demonstrate to her a sane way to view the world and deal with reality, in the hopes that when she grows up she will be able to understand her own behavior and cope with her mental problems, though of course, I never tell her that.
       
       Her two older siblings are frequently shocked by her behavior, and they claim that I let her get away with too much. Maybe they are right, but as I have tried to explain to them each person is different. The older two were always very reasonable and well-behaved. The younger one could be a daily fight if I let it be that way.
       
       I grew up watching my mother fight with my insane sister, striving to force her to fit a mold she deemed appropriate. It never worked, and my sister became and still is an adult incapable of taking care of herself.
       
       So I take a different approach, which is not without limits, structure and rules, but which is an attempt to not only understand but also to impart understanding. It takes alot of energy and patience. I believe it is working.
       
       Ironically, like my insane sister, she actually is extremely intelligent and also extremely compassionate for others. I think maybe when you're too empathic and also smart enough to see too much too clearly, the world can be a little overwhelming.

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18. 0

    EmpressFelicityposted 14 years ago

    I was born middle aged LOL.  I was an only child (what's more, it was just me and my mum with no close relatives in the same country), and I always had my nose in a book, partly to escape from the fact that we had no money and also because I found most other children to be completely alien.
    
    Some of my teachers didn't much like me though.  They thought I was a smart-arse - probably because I WAS a smart-arse

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       kerrygposted 14 years agoin reply to this

       Yeah, I was the oldest of three and my family was well off, but otherwise, that was pretty much me. I had a few stupid lapses, like running out after the dog in -50 windchill, and did squabble some with my siblings, but overall all three of us were almost ridiculously studious and well behaved. I didn't relate well to my "peers" in general until college, and often not then! My husband and many of my friends are significantly older than I am, and most of my friends who are the same age are also the "born 40" type of personality.

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19. 61

    Ohmaposted 14 years ago

    Yes. But in fairness the reason I was considered a problem is because I always went my own way. I live a full life and have no regrets but my family has not always understood or appreciated the choices I made so I did have that label for many years.

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20. 58

    zzronposted 14 years ago

    Yes I was.

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21. 73

    blondepoetposted 14 years ago

    I was told from early child-hood I was an accident. I copped everything unlike my sister. There was no love in my family only fear. I have always til this day been my mother's shame.

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       logic,commonsenseposted 14 years agoin reply to this

       You are the best 'accident' I have ever met!
       You have more love from this family than can ever be given from any other!
       Hopefully, you are proud of yourself for the long journey and the obstacles you have overcome.  I am proud to know you!

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          blondepoetposted 14 years agoin reply to this

          Aww thanks Logic, that means a lot. xox
          
          

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             logic,commonsenseposted 14 years agoin reply to this

             I like the tongue!

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                blondepoetposted 14 years agoin reply to this

                He is using it, you just can't see from this angle, put your head more around the corner and have a closer look LMAO.

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                   logic,commonsenseposted 14 years agoin reply to this

                   I'll try!
                   Gotta get to bed, long week ahead.  check mail later in the week.

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                      blondepoetposted 14 years agoin reply to this

                      Oh you party pooper, goodnight Logic, take care.

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22. 65

    prettydarkhorseposted 14 years ago

    I was a happy child and I got a lot of support from my parents. A lot of studies documented that a family at times is a source of conflict specially to children.

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23. 84

    donotfearposted 14 years ago

    Ha...well, I was sooooo bad that my mom bought me a
    Gangsta' Bitch Barbie
    for Christmas!!!
    
    

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    logic,commonsenseposted 14 years ago

    I think I used to date her!

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       donotfearposted 14 years agoin reply to this

       Musta been me then............

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          logic,commonsenseposted 14 years agoin reply to this

          I don't believe so, you are much cuter than she was!

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             blondepoetposted 14 years agoin reply to this

             Oh I agree donotfear is far more good looking than any Barbie that gleams on any shelf. She would be great in a country and western film.

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             donotfearposted 14 years agoin reply to this

             
             OHHHH, my!!!! Get the smelling sauce!
             

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                blondepoetposted 14 years agoin reply to this

                He reminds me of Hokey he knows all the right things to say.
                However Logic has told the truth here on this.

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                   donotfearposted 14 years agoin reply to this

                   
                   Yep, he knows the right things to say. Hmmmm, smooth, too. I believe Hokey is genuine, though. I don't know about somebody who won't post their pic.
                   
                   Last man I talked to that 'knew just what to say' turned out to be...oh well, we won't go there. Besides, I got more important things in life.

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                      donotfearposted 14 years agoin reply to this

                      
                      I must apologize for my judgemental statement above. To hint that Hubber logic,common sense would be less than honorable is a true understatement. It is 'my bad' and I must be accountable for such a thoughtless statement. Sincerely, donotfear.

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