General Chat

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When i was young, although we always had 'clean everything', top to toe every day, my mother wasn't too fussy about the way she did the laundry.The old twin tub used to come out everyday and everything got washe and hung out to dry. hung out all higgeldy piggledy , brought in, and shown the iron, up the front if you were lucky. Its made me quite obsessive about the way i do my laundry. is it because i so hated the T-shirts that were 4'' shorter at the front than the sides, where she pegged them out by the bottom? is there anything you do, completely different from your parents, because of something you remember? Jess

Jess i am a non smoker as my parents chain smoked for years and i swore i would never have to decorate every year due to cigarette smoke. Does that count... Lisa xx

of course it does, Lisa! jess

I can't think of anything different that I do to them-but my mum was an obsessive cleaner, she always had a cloth in her hand, now I'm a bit like it, so she passed it on to me. catherine xx

my biological parents were travelers. i spent a lot of time in a care home. i like to have my own home and surroundings now.

Not sure if this counts......im very optomistic and practical......both of which my Mum wasnt (sorry Mummy if your reading the threads today). If my younger brother had an accident, as he often did (im 13 years older than him), it was me who delat with him, Mum would panic.

My mum didn't know what the word clean meant and hence now I refuse to wear anything twice, even if I have just tried it on and decided not the thing I want to wear. And yeah I'm a bit obsessive about my washing too!! ;o) xx

I don't want to look back, but I am grateful to two parents who gave me as much love and attention as it was possible for them, considering the lack of money, health and the long hours they worked. All I can say is that I know I was loved, and love my family to bits, I am positive, confident and happy, and I think that comes from, partly my inborn nature, and partly from learning lessons early on from a very wise Mum........

My parents lived in rented accomodation all their lives - I vowed to buy a house as soon as I was able to. As for their parenting skills they were fab and I hope that I am carrying on that tradition !

My Mother always cleared the table as soon as the meal was finished and washed up straight away. I am not like that,tend to leave it much too long and then moan to myself 'why couldn't I be more like Mum' when I return to the kitchen much later!!!!! This will make you laugh, we had a cleaning lady for some years, Mother would clean the house before she came!!!!! and then help her to do it.!!!!! Bless her. She was a wonderful mother and I miss her terribly.R.I.P Mummy Sunny R

You've made me think, Jess. I only ever wear most things once before putting them in the wash and Mum was the same. OH thought this was odd when we got married as his Mum said a shirt should last 2 days. I don't have any complaints about my upbringing so maybe I've copied my Mum's habits without thinking. Gwynne

I'm like you Kris - parents renting all their lives. I didn't even have a bedroom - had to sleep on a bedsettee in the lounge, so always made sure we owned our own house and my son had his own bedroom. Stella

Just read your point about wearing clothes once, Guinevere, I do this too, When my Sis and I were young, we were always short on underwear and socks, and now both Sis and I have loads of underwear, socks and tights......and my washing machine is in constant use........so that could go back to childhood....... I just wished I had inherited their love of gardening. I'm all lawns and trees......they could make anything grow.....

I can't think of anything my Mum did that has made me that different. I have inherited both my parents' love of gardening, and hubby has inherited his Dad's love of gardening. Mum cleaned the house obsessively, always polishing, I am not like that but don't think that is a 'gut' reaction, more like laziness and dislike of housework on my part. I also inherited my Dad's love of photography, anything to do with family history and writing about things. Ann Glos

Im just like my mother in every way, its really weird now because as I get older its much more obvious:-))

I think so...it must have some sort of bearing on what we do as adults. I'm the youngest of three and always had hand-me-downs for toys and clothes but mainly I had very little and for christmas and birthdays I would always get soemthing new to wear so I cherished what I got but was always embarrassed when other's asked me what I got coz I'd say new skirt or new jumper and they were like big deal we got the latest game or whatever and I eventually stopped saying what I got.....but now I panic when I ask my hubby what he wants and he says a t-shirt or jeans or whatever and I refuse to buy them as presents I won't even give my son clothes as presents coz to me it reminds me of how I felt back when I was wee and I can't bring myself to do it :-( My niece asked for clothes for her birthday coming up in August but I can't do it......she's 14 and of course clothes are everything but I still can't do it...so I will give her vouchers from various shops and she can pick herself what she wants....but then even giving vouchers I hate......my mum would always buy vouchers for my friends as birthday presents and I always would say sorry it's just a voucher......it's kinda ingrained on me that vouchers means no effort and no thought goes into buying them but I'm gona have to get over that one for my niece as I refuse to buy clothes as presents.....daft to some but it's sumat I can't get past :-( RDA.x.

I think so, judging from my own experience xx Elaine ;-)

My Mum was never obsessive about housework - the house was clean but not immaculate and we bathed once a week (didn't even have a bathroom in our first house - bath was in Kitchen), but rather than being the opposite I am the same. Mum was, and still is, a Penny Pincher and me and my Brother and Sister tend to buy something if we want it. Also Biscuits were 'rationed' - we were never allowed more than 2 Biscuits at any one time and now all three of us are big piggies and will scoff a pack of Biscuits in no time - I nearly always have more than 2 just because I can! lol I asked Hubby about his Childhood and he said that because his Parents were always skint he has always worked really hard and tried to be careful so that he didn't have to struggle so much - we're still skint, but we do have our own house and nice things in it. So, yes I would say your Childhood does shape you a lot. Kaye x

yes Jess I think it does. My mum is a very negative person and I try my hardest to be the opposite - although it is a struggle at times as it has been so ingrained in me. I find it hard to do things on the spur of the moment as we could never do that when I was young - there would always be a 'what if' that stopped her. I do wash clothes much more frequently than her too! She buys the disposable dusters on a stick (you know the ones) but doesn't throw them away!! She has never really got past 'make do and mend' even though the world has moved on since the War. The other thing I do is tell my kids loads that I love them and cuddle them all the time - that is something I never had. She is one of those people who always has to be doing something - I am not like that at all! On the other side, I get my love of watching sport from my dad, and also I think from him comes my obsessive organising of paperwork - he had a room full of 'stuff' piled in boxes to the ceiling and that terrifies me! Maz. XX