My Dad was an over bearing bullying sort of a bloke who I was mostly scared of.
My Mum was (and indeed is) very loving but poorly educated with a slightly limited world view.

My Dad would denigrate much of what we did and my Mum would comfort us by telling us that it was ok to be rubbish, rahter than by saying that we weren't.

Mind you, my Dad was working very hard to build a business that did provide for us. And hisDad had been a trawlerman, who he saw little of and learnt no parenting skills from. My Mum was one of 13 children (though only 11 made it through childhood)and as one of the older girls, spent more time looking after the younger children than she did in school.

We generally either repeat or wholly reject our parents "errors". I'm generally much softer with our girls than my partner, though I still retain the ability to be a five star bully (ISO 9001 approved) to others if push comes to shove.

Right, it's all back to BGB's thread for cuddles all round.
(Cave Duck, Wed 22 Sep 2010, 13:25, Reply)