Anyone have an unconventional upbringing?

[arabookworm]

My family is muslim, which I guess is very different than most other american families. does that count?

 

[Lobzi]

Unconventional by todays standards...THANK GOODNESS!!!
My parents built our first home in a rather rural part of the SF bay area known as El Sobrante. We were surrounded by grassy hills to make our cowboy and Indian trails for pulling our wagons through, a large crack where we made our caves with intercom system using garden hoses, and a winter time, large size pond where we unsuccessfully tried to float the raft of scrap wood we crafted. Our house was located on a private road at the end. There was a huge court at the providing for basket ball and softball as well as hop scotch and the drawing of "roadways" for us to travel on our bicycles. I could either choose to walk the "long way" to school via the paved roads (no sidewalks though), or take the "shortcut" over the grassy hills. It was a safe living environment back then and so the "gang" (as my mom called us) was allowed to play hide and seek long even into the evening on those warm summer nights. It was a marvelous time and place to grow up. Im so thankful for the memories.
OH and watch TV... well we had just a few channels back then but it didnt matter because we preferred to be outside playing anyway. We built our own skateboards from old roller skates, and many other 'toys" rather than asking our parent to purchase them for us.
Our creativity was our playmate. I am so lucky to have been raised before the electronic boom. THANK GOODNESS!!!

 

[Rosalind]

I grew up PA Dutch. Dad's side of the family is Mennonite and some Amish, mom's side is just PA Dutch, with all the Hoodoo stuff that goes with it. Both parents decided to make a break from their parents' traditions--dad went to college, divorced his first wife and married my mother (who was much younger and still thinks of herself as the Trophy Wife), my mother went to art school at a time when women just did not do that. Dad died when I was little, mother was one of those people who probably never should have had children in the first place, so I was mostly raised by neighbors, friends' parents, grandparents, aunts & uncles.

PA Dutch culture is very workaholic, superstitious (most PA Dutch would not call it "superstitious," but it really is), pragmatic, and frugal. It has its own accent, languages, and habits. It does not respect women very much, other than as mothers, extra farm labor and housewives. Even so, housewives are expected to WORK, 12-14 hours/day, not sit around eating bonbons.

I got a lot of independence and DIY skills out of it. Idle hands, devil's workshop, etc. etc. I'm reasonably competent at all of the following: gardening, sewing (incl. quilting and embroidery), knitting, livestock management, first aid and some basic medical stuff, minor construction and interior finish work, electrical and plumbing repairs, cooking, fishing, processing deer, brewing, pottery (from digging and refining clay to glaze mixing), making soap and candles, and a little small-scale metal casting. Note, only reasonably competent in all those things--the only thing I'm quite good at is the pottery, cooking and gardening. It's a practice thing, if you only lay tile or make three plumbing repairs per year, you're never going to be Norm Abrams.

However, I gotta say, it is really really really difficult to convince the average school administrator that they need to talk to YOU, not your parents, when you're in trouble. High school principals and their ilk rarely deal with honor roll students who also fail to have supportive and financially generous parents; the stereotype is that when children come from a "troubled home," they will have bad grades, be poorly socialized, have behavioral issues. I had good grades, friends, and was quite good at anger management. It really seemed to throw both high school and even college administrators for a heck of a loop when I calmly told them that I could not afford (travel to college campus, new clothes, quitting part-time job, extracurricular activities, tuition increases, new edition textbooks), or when my mother would hang up on their calls. It is not a parenting style I would recommend to anyone.

 

[mom'sfolly]

I had a very convential upbringing in an unconvential place. I grew up in small town Alaska. Even today many of the daily life activities and happenings in small town Alaska are very different from other places. The paster and his wife both hunted and the paster had an outside job. When I severely broke my arm, the nearest pediatric orthopedist was almost 1000 miles away. My brother's first airplane ride was when he was three days old, and my mom was the pilot (the local doctor didn't deliver babies). I knew people who died in drowning and plane crashes. I had friends who had never seen a cow. The nearest art museum was 1000 miles away, but I knew wood carvers, jewelry carvers, painters and photographers. I was surrounded by fervent environmentalists and equally fervent logging and mining proponents who often fought for local control.

My family was very conventional, in all the usual disfunctional ways.

 

[Xtina]

Wow, it's been great hearing all your stories! And yes, for all those of you who asked, your stories all count. I'm sorry I've abandoned the thread for a while...life got kind of busy. But it's the weekend and I might have some time, although the way this weekend's shaping up I might have a lot more fun and excitement away from the computer.

But thanks for your stories, it puts all my stuff into perspective.