Odd ball relatives
Nrdgrrl
116 Posts
Now that we have spent some time with our family this Christmas, I was wondering if I'm the only one with oddball family members?
My Mom and I were discussing how she raised me and my brother and either she was very progressive, or very weird, or both.
Gifts we couldn't get as children, per my Mom (not that I necessarily agree with them) :
1. Disney movies- in the old disney movies the girl always gets saved by prince charming. (think Snow White or Cinderella) Mom wanted me to save myself and be self sufficient, so out those went.
2. Coloring books- stifles creativity to have to draw within the lines. Blank paper is what we drew on, no coloring books.
3. Plastic dishware, fake kitchen appliances, fake vacuum, etc- I couldn't have these because she didn't want me to train as a young girl to be a domestic.
4. Barbie- no one will every look like that, and why give a child a doll that she can never look like? (I can only imagine what she would say about the new line of dolls called Bratz, or as me and my friends call them, hootchi mama's)
5. Guns of any and every sort, including water guns- the end result of guns is to kill something or practice killing something, so why give it to a child?
Do you have any odd quirks like that in your family?
My Mom and I were discussing how she raised me and my brother and either she was very progressive, or very weird, or both.
Gifts we couldn't get as children, per my Mom (not that I necessarily agree with them) :
1. Disney movies- in the old disney movies the girl always gets saved by prince charming. (think Snow White or Cinderella) Mom wanted me to save myself and be self sufficient, so out those went.
2. Coloring books- stifles creativity to have to draw within the lines. Blank paper is what we drew on, no coloring books.
3. Plastic dishware, fake kitchen appliances, fake vacuum, etc- I couldn't have these because she didn't want me to train as a young girl to be a domestic.
4. Barbie- no one will every look like that, and why give a child a doll that she can never look like? (I can only imagine what she would say about the new line of dolls called Bratz, or as me and my friends call them, hootchi mama's)
5. Guns of any and every sort, including water guns- the end result of guns is to kill something or practice killing something, so why give it to a child?
Do you have any odd quirks like that in your family?
Comments
Yes, my uncle was an oddball - he thought we were rich - spoke with a very upper crust type of accent, wore tweed jackets & commented on how he knew some of the children from the Nordstrom family. Meanwhile, back in reality land, he did go to school with a couple of the kids & everything else was a fabrication in his mind - he was also a successful salesperson - maybe this is where it came from - the salesman ego - Argh!
Its a common joke at our house when we think some family member is being wierd.
Aaah, the fond memories x;-)
You can watch Disney movies, play with Barbies, shoot guns and still be taught the difference between reality and fiction.
Anyway, I think my family will say I'm the oddball in the family. I'm the only Conservative in a family full of liberal Democrats.
And this includes my wife's side of the family too! It makes family get togethers a lot of fun! There are so many times I just have to bite my tongue.
If you haven't figured it out--my parents weren't the only ones with quirks in our house.
The worst was my grandmother who was an terrific seamstress. Unfortunately, she liked to make clothes for us --skirts out of my father's old ties, pants for my brother cut from my father's and uncle's old pants (the kid was only five at the time), blouses from old old sheets and towels. Loved her dearly but was very grateful she didn't live nearby to make sure we wore her clothes.
Wait a minute... I didn't mean to use that one.
1. In college I rented all the Disney movies that I could to see what I missed.
2. I love to color with my daughter, in the lines for me! (She is lucky if she hits the paper)
3. Well, I can't cook...
4. I bought a Barbie for myself just to see what all the fuss was about. Guess you really have to have them as a child...
5. My brother ended up after college making guns out of parts, he became a real gun nut for a while.
I always told her that the toys we couldn't have and the fact that I never was "presented" at a cotillion were the reasons I ended up weird.
My mother never really limited the things we could have, but aren't all relatives a bit "oddball", including ourselves? My sister has this thing with her children and the word "stupid". It went so far as to have them stop watching any kid shows that used that word regularly and anyone coming to visit has to be careful not to use it. 8-|
We were also not permitted to have guns of any kind. I have carried this through with my Step-kids....
We never watched Disney movies either...although I'm not sure why. After I was older, I realized that they are littered with adult humor (that kids never get) and they are pretty entertaining for all involved!
I had barbies, but my parents made it really painfully clear that real people don't look like this and they were plenty excited when Barbies started to come with real jobs, although by that point I'd well outgrown the barbie thing.
I'm sure that we had some strange rules growing up...but none of them are coming to me now...
My two younger brothers had more than their share of cap guns, squirt guns, plastic machine guns, etc. It never occurred to me that there was anything untoward about playing with toy guns until my mother sent me to the dime store to buy a birthday present for my brother to take to a friend's party - I bought a GI Joe weapon of some sort, and Mom refused to send it to the party, because the birthday boy's father was a minister and she was afraid it wouldn't be appropriate.
I never had a real Barbie - too expensive - but did have the cheap knock-off called "Miss Babette". However, when Midge came along, I did get her. Had no end of fun designing clothes for them, but was always frustrated that they couldn't stand up on their tiny plastic high heels!
As far as oddball things go, I remember one summer day when I was about 12 complaining to my mother that I was bored. Mom, a former English teacher, handed me "War and Peace" and told me to diagram the sentences. Believe me, I was NEVER bored in front of my mother again!
Now, a paint ball gun is a real gun used for play/practice. For those who don’t know, it has a round projectile that is basically paint and the force that propels this is carbon dioxide. While there are clubs and organizations that hold war games with these, we do not participate nor have the desire to. I believe a paint ball gun could be an unsafe toy for some, if not used properly or with no supervision however, at my son’s age (15) he was past ready for it as I taught him how to shoot a 22 rifle when he was five years old.
No NRA membership here, just a love of the shooting sport.
As kids, my brothers, our friends and I played cops/robbers, cowboys/indians, western bar (the toybox was the bar, I was the bartender), and I don't remember what else. We all grew up to be reasonably responsible adults. Some took longer than others to grow up, however...
Oh yeah, the topic was "oddball relatives", wasn't it? Let's see;
- Uncle Bryan wraps all gifts in aluminum foil, always has
- Brother Scott wraps all gifts in trash bags or paper grocery bags, occasionally will decorate the bags with markers
- Mom and Dad/Uncle Bryan swap the same gift every year: a case of Thunderbird wine. Each year the bottle is passed around for swigs, cap screwed back in so it's fresh for next year
- My family enjoys writing gift tags in code, and enjoy even more the decoding on Christmas Day. (for example "from cks&w to clm&aj" means "from Cousin Kitties Squeek and Willow to cousins Little Mike and AJ)
x:D