Day to Day happenings in my life

Lessons learned.

PROMPT July 24th

Write about your parents and the learnt behaviours you’ve inherited from them

Well, I haven’t seen either of my parents since the early eighties so I’m struggling to imagine what it was that I learned or inherited. But I’ll give it a go.

From my mother her looks. I scare myself when I look at photos of my mother when she was the age I am now. We’re pretty much identical.
From both my parents a work ethic. No one was allowed to be sitting doing nothing in our household when my brothers and I were growing up. I actually hate that. Not that I don’t like doing my share and more of the allotted tasks, but the guilt that they instilled in me if I didn’t see what needed doing and just get it done.
From my mother I learned from a very early age that women were as good if not better than men. Now this was from a woman born in 1914! Again from my mother I learned not to follow the pack but to do what was sensible not expected. I learned this lesson when I was six years old. Girls at school had to wear a dress. It didn’t matter if it was below freezing. My Mum sent me to school on such a day in a pair of brown corduroy trousers. I was made to stay in class, not allowed out to play and my mother was summoned to school to pick me up and take me home to dress in the correct attire. I wish I had a tape of that encounter!
From my dad? I learned it was okay for a man to cry. I saw him do this on more than a few occasions. I learned to love music and the joy of singing.