I’ve been thinking back to your query about my primary school and pre primary days @AlwaysMyself
I get “light bulb” memories from those times or have memories that are jumbled up in my mind. Lots of good times and memories, lots of which I think got buried or semi buried due to trauma.
I have photos and slides (pre current photo technology) that serve as back up and prompts.
I grew up around adults and was not baby talked to. Everyday words were always used, simplifying for me when needed for my understanding. Eg from about 4 or 5 I understood my mums youngest sister could not walk due to a health problem and that seeing her being carried or laying in bed all the time was part of life.
lot of time spent with my maternal grandmother and her youngest daughter.
comments made to help boost my self confidence
silly fun times.
- Being sent across the narrow street to corner milk bar to buy ice cream for everyone from when I was mid primary. Wording by my grandmother about being able to go on my own as I was so grown up.
- going grocery shopping with my grandmother and her telling me she couldn’t have done it without my help. Sometimes having couple swap cards bought for me (always a special treat, as a child was worth more than💰💰)
- taught and encouraged by my mum to clearly to bus driver where we were going to and holding on to the tickets (my mum never drove. 2 of us took buses together wherever we went)
- before starting school, got used to going to my dads work, talking to his work mates.
- taught to do things to help well before going to school. Not as if was chores though, always with light hearted.
Grew up that way knowing how to hold my pet bantam without fear and not to cause her pain, to collect eggs, pick fruit and vegetables.
**that reminded me of my mum saying before I started school I would help myself to any ripe fruit in the backyard. Apples, apricots, pears, plums, nectarines.
be sent out to collect some fruit to have in the house and always come inside eating fruit. 😂
I have a photo taken when I was a toddler. Kids from 3 houses sitting all bunched together near front of car carrying trailer. 10 kids late primary and under who grew up playing in each others houses
growing up I spent a lot of time with my dad. My dad taught me how to play darts, billiards and snooker. Only thing pre high school years my dad won’t have me part of was fishing. In his opinion, fishing was not for girls
Example of use of my names. If I didn’t do something I’d been asked to do, at times I would get my entire first name as part of being asked my I hadn’t done it. Dealt with quickly and then dropped.
make a mess, deny it was me even though was obvious I had to me, i would get entire first name plus possible one or both middle names. Then be helped to clean up the mess and topic was dropped.
fully names by my grandmother never meant or caused ongoing upset. Length if name = amount of disappointment she felt (best way to describe it). Time we both got our full names and tried hiding, we weren’t worried about any type of punishment. Was more along the lines of ‘what did we do to cause her to be upset with us”. 2 kids who absolutely adored their grandmother and would willingly do things for her that we refused to do for respective parents.
i remember wooden steps being built at different heights based on height of 3 children. 3 primary school children who used to ask to do the dishes for our grandmother. Initially was 2 of us that, at that stage, were no where tall enough to help
as only child to her eldest child, I was spoilt to some degree by my grandmother but I was not ruined. I knew my boundaries, quickly learnt not to test them and used to try to be 150% on my best behaviour around her
