I was a bad kid when I was little. Were you a bad kid?
[quote]When I was kindergarten age my father used to beat me. He beat me sporadically till about age 8. Once he beat on me when I was 15. I remember aspects of the early beatings. I was disobedient during the day when I was home with my mother. When my father got home from work, my mother would tell my father about my misdeeds and he would take his strap off and whup me. That’s all I remember. At least until recently. Yesterday I recalled the back story, which had been outside my conscious awareness. Something always bothered me about my recollection of these beatings. I recall my father’s ferocious anger. But why was he so angry if he was simply acting as my mother’s proxy?
At that time period my mother got a job, working from home. She had been a seamstress before she got married, sewing lampshades, and did that work again, working at the kitchen table. My father had a low-paying factory job. The family relied on extra income. While my mother worked, I felt ignored. I used to act out. This interfered with my mother’s sewing. Thus, my acting out affected the entire family’s welfare. My mother’s job, at least figuratively, meant “money on the kitchen table” — and to some extent, literally. And so I was punished.
I am intrigued by the idea that this matter parallels events from age three. My continued drinking from a baby bottle at age three — drinking milk that had gone sour, which I enjoyed — led to a case of scarlet fever. My pediatrician, Dr. Bloom administered a shot of peniccillin. The doctor, who had a reporting requirement, notified the Philadelphia Health Department. The Health Department thereafter posted a quarantine notice on our front door, which embarrassed my parents in the face of the neighbors. Again, my misbehavior, as in the case of my mother’s at-home sewing job, adversely affected the entire family.
These incidents may have contributed to my sense that I was an impactful person.[/quote]
At that time period my mother got a job, working from home. She had been a seamstress before she got married, sewing lampshades, and did that work again, working at the kitchen table. My father had a low-paying factory job. The family relied on extra income. While my mother worked, I felt ignored. I used to act out. This interfered with my mother’s sewing. Thus, my acting out affected the entire family’s welfare. My mother’s job, at least figuratively, meant “money on the kitchen table” — and to some extent, literally. And so I was punished.
I am intrigued by the idea that this matter parallels events from age three. My continued drinking from a baby bottle at age three — drinking milk that had gone sour, which I enjoyed — led to a case of scarlet fever. My pediatrician, Dr. Bloom administered a shot of peniccillin. The doctor, who had a reporting requirement, notified the Philadelphia Health Department. The Health Department thereafter posted a quarantine notice on our front door, which embarrassed my parents in the face of the neighbors. Again, my misbehavior, as in the case of my mother’s at-home sewing job, adversely affected the entire family.
These incidents may have contributed to my sense that I was an impactful person.[/quote]
