Does everyone have a traumatic childhood?

Joel's dad · 05/09/14 - 11:05

I was just wondering do they? I had one, but I'm wondering is it uncommon or not?

idlewilde · 05/09/14 - 11:06

No. Mine was very normal. Thanks for asking.

[Deleted User] · 05/09/14 - 11:06

Define "traumatic". This could include anything from "My parents regularly burned my toes" to "I never got that massive bike for Christmas and I still think about how unjust it felt".

UKMikey · 05/09/14 - 11:07

This Be The Verse by Philip Larkin

Voted "other" as in "how the flip should I know?!".

Joel's dad · 05/09/14 - 11:09

Indrid Cold wrote: »

Define "traumatic". This could include anything from "My parents regularly burned my toes" to "I never got that massive bike for Christmas and I still think about how unjust it felt".

Childhood that causes problems later in life I suppose

[Deleted User] · 05/09/14 - 11:10

Joel's dad wrote: »

Childhood that causes problems later in life I suppose

In that case I think you'd be hard pressed to find anyone who'd answer "No" if they were sincere. Of course the people themselves may not see it as a problem.

gashead · 05/09/14 - 11:10

Whilst you're still going through childhood, yes. Looking back as an adult, no.

Fizix · 05/09/14 - 11:12

Nope, I had a good, happy childhood. I was also spoiled so "not getting the massive bike for Christmas" type trauma never occurred either.

I'm sorry to hear that you had a traumatic childhood.

Joel's dad · 05/09/14 - 11:16

UKMikey wrote: »

This Be The Verse by Philip Larkin

Voted "other" as in "how the flip should I know?!".

That's why I put the option there,;-)

UKMikey · 05/09/14 - 11:18

Joel's dad wrote: »

That's why I put the option there,;-)

There must've been some minor trauma to make people feel they can speak for everybody

Joel's dad · 05/09/14 - 11:19

UKMikey wrote: »

There must've been some minor trauma to make people feel they can speak for everybody

Well that's why there is a poll so the majority can speak;-)

[Deleted User] · 05/09/14 - 11:22

UKMikey wrote: »

There must've been some minor trauma to make people feel they can speak for everybody

If that was about my post (apologies if not) I wasn't attempting to speak for everybody, just presenting philosophical arguments.
If the definition only includes people who personally don't believe they have any problems as a result of their childhood, as I would guess it does, then a majority of "No" is expected.

EDIT: I just noticed the wording in the OP which explains your post.

UKMikey · 05/09/14 - 11:23

Joel's dad wrote: »

Well that's why there is a poll so the majority can speak;-)

... for everyone.

Kiko H Fan · 05/09/14 - 11:23

Mine was brilliant, in the 70s and 80s.

Great days at school.
Lived in a rural village, so lots of green space to go out and play in.
Called in for tea.
2 beaches in the village, so summer holidays were spent on the beach from 9am-4pm.
Bike rides without helmets.
3 TV channels to choose from.
1 computer game, if you were rich enough.
Left in the car in the pub car park, with coke and crisps, whilst my parents drank inside.

and many other things.

Yep, it was excellent.

Flamethrower100 · 05/09/14 - 11:23

No. It was hard at times. But it didn't leave me traumatized.

Inkblot · 05/09/14 - 11:30

I suppose that a lot of things that were considered normal back then would be considered if not traumatic, then at least unpleasant nowadays, like being beaten at school. As the saying goes, that which doesn't kill us makes us feel like shit.

Duffman2000 · 05/09/14 - 11:36

Flamethrower100 wrote: »

No. It was hard at times. But it didn't leave me traumatized.

Mostly the same with me as well.

gashead · 05/09/14 - 11:48

Inkblot wrote: »

I suppose that a lot of things that were considered normal back then would be considered if not traumatic, then at least unpleasant nowadays, like being beaten at school. As the saying goes, that which doesn't kill us makes us feel like shit.

I'm pretty sure that being beaten at school was and is, if not traumatic, then at least unpleasant, even when you were at school. It may have been 'normal' (if by that you mean an everyday occurance, which is desperately sad), but I doubt that made it any less horrible for the poor bastard enduring the beating(s).

Takae · 05/09/14 - 11:57

I don't know about everyone, but I don't feel I had a traumatic childhood. Chaotic, yes, but traumatic? Nope.

gashead wrote: »

I'm pretty sure that being beaten at school was and is, if not traumatic, then at least unpleasant, even when you were at school. It may have been 'normal' (if by that you mean an everyday occurance, which is desperately sad), but I doubt that made it any less horrible for the poor bastard enduring the beating(s).

I think it was considered normal in a sense that you weren't the only one beaten at school.

Our P.E. teacher wasn't quite right in his head, but his excessively brutal methods didn't traumatise me, probably because I wasn't the only one in the class to experience it. I'm reasonably sure it'd be a different story if I were the only one to experience it.

BlueEyedMrsP · 05/09/14 - 14:02

Yes. My father was abusive, and I still have body and self-esteem issues because of it. I have good days and bad days.

[Deleted User] · 05/09/14 - 14:25

No, of course everybody doesn't.

Mine was terrible, but I've not let it affect me as I don't like to think that I have to be a product of my environment.

What's the "other" in the poll or if it is just a yes or no option? Shouldn't it be "don't know"?

Teddybleads · 05/09/14 - 14:28

Nothing Traumatic. The usual odd bit of bullying and school fights etc but I had tremendous love and support from my family and a rather jolly time of it all in.

Hogzilla · 05/09/14 - 14:31

Spose so. By the end of my tenth year in my close family, only me, my brother and my dad were left standing after a particularly long wave of doom and death and disaster that seemed to take everyone else. Then my dad made it worse by re-marrying a psychopath with loads of kids and who was the diametric opposite of us in every way. And my brother ran away. I got bullied because I was that most freakish of things to 70s' teenagers, a motherless child. It wasn't entirely fun but it gave me a kind of endurance that has stood me in good stead in later life. But even writing that down, it feels like am talking about someone else.

John146 · 05/09/14 - 14:34

Born 1941, WW2, Father died of TB 1944, so yup suppose I had a pretty traumatic childhood..

Andagha · 05/09/14 - 14:39

I think I would class my childhood as traumatic - I was abused mentally, physically and sexually by a relative, stepfather and then mother and boyfriend which led me having to have an abortion which left me unable to have children.. Bullied as a child, Taken to a childrens home where I spent the rest of my childhood, went to court, saw my abusers effectively get let off and then have most of my adult life blighted by this childhood. Have your own mother disown you and refuse to deal with what happened, called a liar many times over the abuse, and then for her to die without any acknowledgement of it happening or why.. And only now at 46 dealing with the deamons and mental health I have been left with.

So not that traumatic really...lol

Strewth reading all that back is scary, and yet I'm still here. Gods knows how..I shouldn't be.

Centaurion · 05/09/14 - 14:59

Don't have one bad memory from my childhood, so if my life has been a failure [ some might say that ] then it's been because of me as an adult rather than some childhood trauma that I can blame everything on.

Maybe your schooldays ARE the happiest days of your life.

Hey there!

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