This series of posts will cover many topics and issues including my childhood. These will have a very reflective and contemplative nature and I would love to hear your views and opinions on the topics discussed.
Childhood
I will start by going through my different life phases from childhood until today and how the different cities I’ve lived in influenced or shaped the social interactions and connections. I guess the stories will have a more social, cultural and psychological aspect to them.
Parental Protection
As a child, I had extremely over-protective parents. They treated us (my sisters and I) as fragile objects or vulnerable assets. They did their best to protect us from the world and its sometimes harsh realities. This as most of you know is a futile way to raise children.
Sooner or later, these children will grow up to be responsible adults who will need to face the reality of this world with its good, bad and ugly. Protecting them from these facts will only make it more difficult for them to adapt to the world, connect to others and grow up to be the responsible adults they need to be.
My parents were both pretty anti-social themselves. They spent their weekends reading newspapers. As odd as this may sound, it is a reality. Their evenings were spent watching TV, in my dad’s case, mainly the news.
Elementary School Days
In my elementary school days, there was one friendly Palestinian-Jordanian family which we were close to. They were four girls only, no boys, so that was perfect for my paranoid, over-protective and controlling mother.
We would visit their house and they would visit ours. We played Monopoly and other fun nineties board games, shared innocent conversations over good food, laughed a lot and basically shared good times together.
They even had a fifth sister later as we got older and we continued our valuable bond throughout the years that they lived in Saudi. As I changed schools and made new friends, my circle grew. We all went to an all-girls private school, had somewhat wealthy and educated parents and had the privilege to travel and see the world.
Best Friends
During high school, I even had best friends who shared my dysfunctional family background and emotionally abusive parent story. We connected, supported each other in times of need, bounced off each other’s energy (which wasn’t always positive) and made it through to graduation day despite our adverse home environments.
You might be wondering why I’m going back in time and telling you all these stories? It’s mainly because I feel that I might inspire someone with these posts, or help them figure out something that’s currently confusing them in their lives.
It’s also because I’m trying to discover a healthy balance where I can say that I have a solid social support system and am still able to meet new people who are positive, on the same page as me and we can learn, grow and support each other.
Reflections:
Did you make new friends who didn’t share your values, social status or ethnic background?
How would you describe your childhood?
Did you have a healthy and positive circle of friends?
Were you part of a positive and supportive community?
Did you attend an all-girls school?
How did you spend your free time?
Did you have over-protective or controlling parents?
Were you close to a few good friends or part of a bigger circle?
Did you interact with people outside of school?
Who were your family friends who you were strongly connected with?
