Children

Envy, look at it from the bright side, when you hit 50 you'll also look much younger!

I agree that the formation of character is very influanced by the way your get socilized in your family, what do they teach you etc.

My sister and me were also hit for punishment when we were kids, but we ended up totaly differnet characters. She's the rebel through and through, while I'm the mature rational one. I was very quiet when I was a kid, but I wouldn't say that about me now, I've gotten a lot more confidant, while my sister was the chatterbox then and is still now.
I think that hitting children isn't so important of an factor if the rest of the upbringing is right. One thing is to hit your child when it did something really bad, versus everytime even when it did the slightes thing, not explaining to it what it did wrong etc.
I only got hit when I would fight with my sister and I mean fight with hands and feet not words, my sister is the younger and slimmer of us two so my parents feared I could really hurt her, but that would usually end up with them breaking the two of us up, trying to hit me (I would run like hell and try to lock myslef in my room so that I don't get hit) and my sister screaming at them not to hit me... Oh, well, I turned up fine, my sister did, and all my friends who didn't have much of a different upbringing...

black_magnolia wrote:

I only got hit when I would fight with my sister and I mean fight with hands and feet not words, my sister is the younger and slimmer of us two so my parents feared I could really hurt her, but that would usually end up with them breaking the two of us up, trying to hit me (I would run like hell and try to lock myslef in my room so that I don't get hit) and my sister screaming at them not to hit me... Oh, well, I turned up fine, my sister did, and all my friends who didn't have much of a different upbringing...

Ahh..I never fought with my brother. I was a weird child - Never ate anything. One of the reasons I was hit regularly was so I would cry and therefore finally open my mouth so that my parents could shove some food in. I don't even remember the other reasons I was hit, but I recall the horrific wooden cane thing that I was hit with. I used to hide it in all sorts of places to avoid being hit, but back then I was too short to reach other places, so my parents figured out all of the hiding places within my reach and I was hit for trying to hide the cane.

:woohoo: I guess looking young at an old age might be a benefit..It depends how much I take after my mother. So far, it appears I take after her a lot. Her whole family seems eternally young, but there's a lot of hereditary internal conditions that run in the females on her side. Bowel cancer, kidney stones etc..It's really hit and miss with genes. The females on my mother's side that aren't affected have lived to grand old ages and still look and act relatively young. It's very strange to see.

Envy wrote:

:laugh: My friend's brother made a very amusing yet true statement the other day. He claimed teenage girls all \"want babies but don't want kids\" whilst ranting about a girl who's 18 or so and has a young rampaging toddler.

I guess in a sense that is very true. Many times I, like any typical female, have had a soft spot for the cuteness of a little one, however, I know that behind those big eyes is a horrific monster which soils itself every couple of minutes and cries 'til dawn when you're trying to sleep, and it only gets worse until they're about ready to leave home? :woohoo:

Envy, I find it backwards. I vastly prefer my daughter as she gets older. She was cute as a baby, tiring as a toddler, and now she is just fun. Now that she is a real \"person\" with a personality and hobbies and interests of her own, it is a lot of fun to hang around with her, talk with her, and teach her about the world. Much better than the toddler!

Envy wrote:

Ahh..I never fought with my brother. I was a weird child - Never ate anything. One of the reasons I was hit regularly was so I would cry and therefore finally open my mouth so that my parents could shove some food in. I don't even remember the other reasons I was hit, but I recall the horrific wooden cane thing that I was hit with. I used to hide it in all sorts of places to avoid being hit, but back then I was too short to reach other places, so my parents figured out all of the hiding places within my reach and I was hit for trying to hide the cane.

I was never hit with a cane or anything else really, my parents would use their hand and my grandma tried with a plain kitchen cloth, but I would always run so I managed to escape a lot of the punishment.

What I've noticed with kids refusing to eat is that parents give them food in large 'adult' plates and thus the portions look huge and kids get uncomfortable/frightened by the amount of food and don't want to eat. I had the same problem when I had to baby-sit so I put the food on little desert plates and cut everything in small pieces and the kids were happy to eat food that way.

And I agree with scotiebee about children being much more fun when they get older.

black_magnolia wrote:

What I've noticed with kids refusing to eat is that parents give them food in large 'adult' plates and thus the portions look huge and kids get uncomfortable/frightened by the amount of food and don't want to eat. I had the same problem when I had to baby-sit so I put the food on little desert plates and cut everything in small pieces and the kids were happy to eat food that way.

Oh, that's a very interesting point! I never thought of that, although that wasn't the case with me as a child, as I just refused to voluntarily eat until I was about 3. My mother said I was hospitalised a few times for malnutrition and all sorts because I'd never swallow anything and I was extremely picky with whatever I did choose to swallow.

I'll try and remember that for whenever I'm facing children at dinnertime anyway.

I noticed the food thing with Lucy too. You know how they say your portion of meat should be the size of your palm? Remember how small a little kid's palm is! And if you keep the food from touching each other on the plate, that helps some kids too. I bought little plates that were the size of dessert plates from Ikea when she was a baby, and they were perfect. They were shaped like flowers, and they were special to her, since we didn't use them, only she does. She uses \"real\" dishes now, but we still use the plastic flower plates for birthday cake and things like that. We even had matching colored cups, bowls and forks and spoons for the plates. Ikea has great kids things.