The Question for Today - How Does My Childhood Affect My Life?
In the Book Have a New You by Friday, a New York Times Best Seller there are activities for each day. While not the only worthwhile part of the book, I found the Birth Order section the most interesting. It caused me to ask myself questions about who I am and how my childhood affected me.
While I was raised as an only child, I broke the mould and had three children. Being raised as an only child did not give me the skills to instead family dynamics the way children from larger families do.
This book not only made me rethink the way that I see myself. But also made me see my children in a completely different way. It also helps me to realise how nurturing their differences can bring out the best in them.
I realised why my first born daughter is far more compliant than my other children. She has those oldest child qualities of being reliable and conscientious and has a keen sense of right and wrong. In fact, while most parents tend to relax a bit more with their second child, a firstborn may well complain about the "fairness"" of what they perceive to be different standards.
I also saw that my exasperation of why my kids fight so much comes from the fact that I had no siblings to fight with.
Robert De Niro and I share the fact that we are both only children. We share the common trait of having a love for books. Not being a big fan of slacking off and wasting time, I was amused by the quote that Robert De Niro was well known for "You will have time to rest when you're dead." I think that my husband would tend to agree that that statement could apply to me.