I imagine that most of you have heard that we are all going to end up just like our parents. Many of you seek rebellion. Some of you accept it, because not all parents are bad; right? But, most of us tend to fall into a happy medium creating an identity all our own, pulling bits and pieces from our environment and our parents.
My question to you is: How do your parents influence you?
I have changed quite a bit in regards to my political, economic and moral values. They used to mirror my mothers, but now I am trying to become my own person. I have taken a liberal standpoint, I research the goings on in our environment and I try to like my own things. Our musical tastes differ, our clothing choices differ. I even like my hair curly while she prefers hers strait.
Do you mirror your parents?
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I play the drums like my dad. thats about all we have in common, not because im rebelling or anything. whats the use in that? he spanked me when I was younger, and I hated it. but now I realise that out of all of my cousins who raise hell daily, I am probably the most obidient kid. even my brother and sister try to rebel more than I do (they always got away with everything). my dad did a good job of teaching me to be who I am today, so I would never rebel against him. maybe what determins if you rebel or not is the quality of the parenting you recieve as a child.
As you know I am studying psychology and we have been discussing nature vs nurture and it talked about all the different forms of parenting. You have the parent who refuses to listen and is too harsh(authoritarian), then there is the parent who caves into everything (permissive), and then there is the perfect balance of the two( authoritative). Supposedly the children with the brightest futures are the ones who were raised by the latter.
I don't think I am remotely like either one of my parents. It's funny actually. Every time one of my little brothers or sisters misbehaved, I was punished because they "learned it" from me. When I asked where I learned it from, they responded that I taught myself. Perhaps I raised myself and I am only like me?