Among Friends

[qualitygal]

I've wanted to ask if you remember "slam books" for ages. This is a tell on you (age) thing. Those were early cell phones LOL. (joke).

[Desertdi]

NO WAY...........I didn't want anyone to find out what I was REALLY thinking............

[jlkz]

No to the journal / diary: too private an individual.

As for " slam books "---in junior high they made an appearance at our school but the nuns put a stop to it as the "books" became nasty and hurtful to others.  I would call it " paper bullying " in today's parlance.

A more fun thing from 8th grade was " Fortunes " where someone would make up numbered lists of ten possibilities as answers to life questions:  where will I live, whom will I marry, # of children, career, etc. The better ones had very creative choices.  You'd pick a number and get your fortune.  The others in the group of listeners would commiserate or howl with laughter.

[Peaches McPhee]

I am 56, and never heard of slam books until several years ago when I learned of them via a movie.  But, I was never a "cool kid", so maybe I was the subject of others' slam books.  (That would have devistated me . . . )

[Havarti]

Never heard of “slam books”.

No to the journal/diary…My parents always told me to think twice about what I put in writing and if it was personal information I should think yet again about it because once it was in writing it may never be personal again. I guess it was sort of like a primitive form of the internet or a Pandora’s box…once you put it out there or set it free there is no going back. That lesson has stuck with me to this day.

[Puppy Lips]

My mother gave me a diary when I was a young girl and it was both the best and worst thing she did.  It was the best because I wrote in it everyday and became a good writer.  It was easy for me to sit down and write papers when I was in school, all the way through college.  But it was the worst in that it got me in the habit of writing everything down.  While raising my three boys, I got them calendars and wrote down what they did every day.  It started with those baby calendars when you have a sticker for their achievements, like when they get their first tooth, walk, etc.  That morphed into me writing down their daily activities.  I did this for them everyday all the way through High School.  When they went to college, I backed off and did not write on it every day.  Then when my middle boy got married, I stopped for the older two.  I still do it for my last boy who is in 12th grade.  They may never look at them.  But it has been helpful for me if I need to go back and reference something in it.  I know that people think I am nuts, but I don't care.

To answer your other question, I don't know what a slam book is.

[Kardi]

My favorite aunt and cousins bought me a set that included a diary and bulletin board for my 10th birthday.  I was thrilled and began writing my personal " little girl" thoughts and observations.  Then my older brother, age 14, got a hold of my diary, broke the lock and read it aloud to my parents, laughing at my crush on the little boy down the street.  I still remember my sense of shame and betrayal.  I've never written anything personal again.  Today I still wonder what the heck was wrong with my parents.

[GCR18]

No, I didn't have a diary..  never heard of a slam book.

[PINKdogWOOD]

I grew up in  60s-70s and when I was young diaries were all the thing for girls way back when.  I did have a diary until I discovered my mother got into it and read my entries.  I'm n ot at all sure why she always felt the need to get into not only my stuff but my 2 sisters' stuff too.

I understand she & Dad 'asking questions' about what was going on in our young lives but mom went over the edge in being a total huge snoop - digging through our drawers in our bedrooms just trying to find things.  Not sure what she thought she'd find as none of us had anything to hide.  Anything she may have thought she'd find she'd then bring it up, throw it up in our faces out of the clear blue, blind siding us especially me most of the time.  She'd blurt out really hurtful things to us/me in front of my other sibs.  I'm not at all sure what she t hought she was trying to accomplish but all it did was push me farther and farther away from her.

She said somethings to to me that were extremely hurtful that I've never forgotten or forgiven her for.  Not a good way to live between mother & daughter.

[Kardi]

Wow PinkDogwood, you and I had similar moms.  I feel that it left me with the feeling that I cannot ever fully trust anyone.  After 40 plus years of marriage to a great man, when I leave the house and he is home it still flashes in my mind that he will be digging in my stuff snooping around.  Sick, but true.  I have to immediately check myself and tell myself it's crazy thinking and besides I have nothing to hide.