Community Chat

[skuggles]

 stopped feeling as responsible as I did in the past a while ago. People didn't like it. They got used to it after about 10 years.

[DowntonAbbey]

I am responsible for those around me and who I come in contact with to be kind and genle and loving..............I want to set a good example and give a smile to those no one smiles to and a hug someone even if they stink...............we are to love..........you never know what someone is going through and maybe your smile can change their day.  SO I think we are responsible for others to an extent but we can't make someone happy except for a moment.......

[febe1]

My mom is gone now, but ever since I can remember as far back as a little girl my mom always told me to "smile." Even as an adult she would tell me to smile. Always. She thought you must always give the appearance of being happy and never ever, heaven forbid, angry.

I was always smiling for years, until one day I just said, "no." Why did I have to always go around smiling. I never saw boys and men always smiling. Women aren't idiots!

Now I smile when there is something to smile about.

[akaburtonfan]

I think of myself as the oil that keeps the machinery of my family running smoothly. I like to think I make it easier for everyone else to be happy but I am not responsible for their happiness. If I were, we'd all be in trouble!!!

@febe1 -- my mother used to tell me to smile too. I think it was because she wanted me to be happy and it made her feel good to see me smile. 

[SahmIam]

Nope.

That said, as a parent, I am responsible for providing a positive and nurturing environment for my children. In a world full of negativity, home is a refuge/a safe place that should be comforting, encouraging and happy. So, though I am not responsible for everyone's happiness in the world, I am responsible (as is my husband and grandparents and those in our inner circle) for providing a wonderful environment for us to live in. Team effort...not one persons' effort.

[PurpleBunny]

Yes. Everything usually falls on me. 

[SydneyH]

I'm only responsible for my own happiness imo.

[Drythe]

In some situations yes, but not as much as I once did.

But, YES, absolutely, for the fur babies who allow me to share their home, and for any others I can possibly help.

[Desertdi]

I suppose it depends on your family.........My in-laws used to have fits if we didn't travel to the East Coast for some great-grand-nephew's third birthday party...........

[KathyPet]

WHen I read some threads on these boards and see what kind of doormats some woman have become it almost sickens me.   I just want to scream at them to get some backbone.  THe mother-daughter thing seems to cause the most emotional upheval more even than the man-woman issues.  THe way some grown woman on these boards allow their domineering mothers to guilt them into doing things they don't want to do simply astounds me.  I am a mother and would never expect my daughter to cater to my every demand and be at my beck and call and to devote herself  to caring for me when I am too old to really care for myself.    So selfish on the part of these mothers and yet their daughters go along with it and then spend their time complaining about it and resenting their mothers for demanding it.  I didn't have children so I would have a caregiver when I got old.  I chose to have children.  THey did not ask to be born and they owe me nothing.