Beauty

[Desertdi]

Nothing. My classmates called me ""fat and ugly"" to my face.............

[151949]

I am surprised by how many have answered referencing only their child's experiences but not their own. I could only answer for myself what made me feel safe, secure and confident at any stage of my life.

[151949]

Because my dad was deaf he was everyone' s favorite chaperone for any activities - those kids really did not realize that he knew a lot more about what was being said and what was going on than they knew he knew. he could read lips from a pretty long distance and knew what was being said all the time. On occasion he would surprise some of them when he walked over and said something to them about what they had just said or done.

[kzjohnson]

My teen years until I was about 22 was the worse time of my life. Hated my home, hated myself.

Let's just say my parents clearly needed to divorce years sooner than what they did. My parents were sharing the same house for 10 years but were completely ineffective as parents. As the oldest I became the "maid" and did way more for my younger siblings than most teenagers should be burdened with. There were some very dark times during those years that were never shared with anyone outside the family.

I did have friends and had moments of enjoyment when I was hanging out with them.

But I didn't finally start to feel better about myself until I realized the cheating boyfriend was better gone and I moved out on my own...away from the craziness and negativity of the house I grew up in. That was when I was 22.

[maddiecat]

I had a core group of friends (male and female) that were (and still are) kind and decent people. We were in honors classes throughout junior high and high school. We kept each other motivated to do well. Our parents were involved in our lives, but none were "helicopter" parents.

Our group was not the most popular in our class of approximately 500, though we were all involved in extracurricular activities. Being encouraged to be smart and not popular was truly a blessing!

[HappyDaze]

On 7/16/2014 kjohnson said:

My teen years until I was about 22 was the worse time of my life. Hated my home, hated myself.

Let's just say my parents clearly needed to divorce years sooner than what they did. My parents were sharing the same house for 10 years but were completely ineffective as parents. As the oldest I became the "maid" and did way more for my younger siblings than most teenagers should be burdened with. There were some very dark times during those years that were never shared with anyone outside the family.

I did have friends and had moments of enjoyment when I was hanging out with them.

But I didn't finally start to feel better about myself until I realized the cheating boyfriend was better gone and I moved out on my own...away from the craziness and negativity of the house I grew up in. That was when I was 22.

This makes me so sad and I hear this all the time. I wish one of my sisters could hear these types of things. She thinks it is better "for the kids" to stick it out and based on how the kids are behaving and doing in school, it is obvious that what truly would be best for the kids would be to take those kids out of such a toxic environment. I am sorry you had to go through that.

I am really against divorce generally but I do not think God or any higher power would even want someone to suffer and certainly does not want our innocent children to suffer and be put through all the stress and mental and/or physical anguish caused by two people who just cannot get along despite their best efforts.

[Ibby114]

On 7/15/2014 happy housewife said:

I went to a very large high school. 1900+ kids just in my graduation class. Web graduated in a sports arena and they still had to hold the graduation over 2 nights. The anonymity was great - teachers did not have any idea what anyones name was and they honestly made it very easy to fly under the radar. I had a latin teacher who used to sleep through the class.

Another big thing , for me in HS , was I dated the same boy all the way through. HS is soooo much easier when you have a boyfriend. It just takes away so much of the painful drama. I also had a core group of friends that I hung out with, and we knew each other so well - we had no secrets from each other. I really enjoyed HS.

Wow- I thought my senior class was big, we were just over 900 kids! There was no anonymity though- for me anyway. I'm the youngest of 3 and my sibs were straight A top of the class students. All the teachers knew (or knew of) them- and expected me to be like them. Ha! I held my own and did well, but Honor Society I was not...

The key to HS was a great group of friends and supportive family. The girls and I try to get together every year!!

[kzjohnson]

On 7/16/2014 HappyDaze said:

On 7/16/2014 kjohnson said:

My teen years until I was about 22 was the worse time of my life. Hated my home, hated myself.

Let's just say my parents clearly needed to divorce years sooner than what they did. My parents were sharing the same house for 10 years but were completely ineffective as parents. As the oldest I became the "maid" and did way more for my younger siblings than most teenagers should be burdened with. There were some very dark times during those years that were never shared with anyone outside the family.

I did have friends and had moments of enjoyment when I was hanging out with them.

But I didn't finally start to feel better about myself until I realized the cheating boyfriend was better gone and I moved out on my own...away from the craziness and negativity of the house I grew up in. That was when I was 22.

This makes me so sad and I hear this all the time. I wish one of my sisters could hear these types of things. She thinks it is better "for the kids" to stick it out and based on how the kids are behaving and doing in school, it is obvious that what truly would be best for the kids would be to take those kids out of such a toxic environment. I am sorry you had to go through that.

Thanks for that Happy... I survived those years and now at the age of 47, me and my parents finally have good relationships.

Whenever I hear "were sticking this out for the kids", I cringe. Kids know more about what's going on in the home than I think a lot of parents want to admit to. The parents toxic relationship bleeds into every aspect of the home life (and beyond) and it can't be "hidden" no matter how hard they try. Never ever ever stay together for the kids!

[Katcat1]

My family and special friends and just the area I grew up in where parents spent time with their children and you knew everyone on the block. I grew up in Chicago. We had such good times.

[colliemom4]

On 7/16/2014 KatCat1 said:

My family and special friends and just the area I grew up in where parents spent time with their children and you knew everyone on the block. I grew up in Chicago. We had such good times.

That's how my husband and I grew up. It was great. My kids are grown, but there were few kids their age in the area we lived in. Their friends were all from school.