What kind of a kid were you? Did it affect the kind of adult you are now?

[Maddy McCall]

I was really mischievous. I ran rampant through the neighborhood, had bb gun wars on house rooftops, rode the three-wheeler on ice on purpose to make it spin out, shot fireworks at my mean old neighbor's bedroom window. Terrible, I tell you. Terrible.

I was the epitome of tomboy, but when I learned about boys, I "feminized" myself, and dated and did all of that, and now in my thirties have reverted to being an outdoorsy woman. Would rather be hiking, camping, or digging for artifacts than baking, reading, or shopping for clothes. I read magazines like Nat Geo and Archaeology instead of Cosmo and Ms.

What kind of a kid were you? What are you like now? Is your kid-self congruent with your adult-self?

[RevolutionaryActs]

1. Who told you I was an adult!? That dirty liar!

:P

[RagingInMiami]

2. I was ADD - a class clown -- a troublemaker who got expelled a few times

I'm still ADD, still like to crack jokes and I've been fired a few times, not to mention arrested.

But I've also matured.

[flamingyouth]

3. I was a brooder

And no, I haven't changed much. :D

[THUNDER HANDS]

4. i was picked on in school

became very introverted. Gained weight. Tried to dumb myself down so kids wouldn't think of me as a nerd and a fat loser.

I swear, if I wasn't picked on in elementary school and junior high I probably could have gone to an Ivy League school.

I just hated going to school every day. I didn't care. If I had to do it all over again I would have brought a baseball bat with me and cracked the skull of every kid who ever picked on me.

No, I have no issues. No siree. :D

[mark11727]

10. I hear ya, Rat.

Moved at age 14 from one place (where I fit in), to another place (where I didn't)... think of a little guy in a severely jock HS, and you get the idea (if things rolled a little differently, you would have heard of my HS thirty years ago, instead of Columbine, but I exaggerate).

By college age I was already used to hanging with the other misfit toys, so this taught me three very strong things.

(1) I have strong sense of fair play and justice.

(2) I have a tendency to root for underdogs.

(3) I have no mercy whatsoever for bullies.

Any bloody wonder I ended up here.

[SarahB]

12. I moved at 15 myself.

I didn't fit so much either, but I was a pretty girl, so instead, I got sexually harassed. I was very strong and could handle myself, so then I became "a rude, stuck-up, bitch". Sigh.... gotta love those fond memories. :nuke:

[babylonsister]

15. Wow, Mark. I definitely

was taught/learned the same things! I am one of 5, and have a twin sister. Try competing with that or even understanding it! And have you ever heard of Babylon?

[AG78]

18. I share that

But I wasn't picked on. I was always left alone, but ended up with the same results as you. Except for the bat part :)

[Mojambo]

5. Fearful, anxious and escapist

I remain so.

[gollygee]

6. I was a tomboy too

I'm also a stay-at-home mom. But I like camping and what-not as well. I think I'm probably still a tomboy.

[Maddy McCall]

9. Stay-at-home momming is a GREAT thing for tomboy moms!

I bet you are an excellent mom and make things fun and exciting for your kids.

[jdots]

7. i was much more mature at 5-8

being the wacko poster child and getting on the cover of Disturbed Child Magazine enabled me to be hated and ignored
at all times.Mad magazine was my life apart from trying to get girls naked and huffing school paste.

[SarahB]

8. When I was young...

I was very talkative and known as "the smart girl", but I was a bit of a troublemaker (or attention getter perhaps at times). I was very competitive academically throughout grade school anyway. I hated team sports because I hated teams (either extremely independent or a control freak depending on how one wants to look it at). I did a lot of drama and theater stuff as well as debate in middle school which channeled some of my energies until adolescence hit and I was much more quiet and reserved then. In high school, I tended to flock to theater stuff again as well as liberal activist groups.

I had a tough time though figuring out my role as a women as these dichotomies were always thrown at me. My mother subscribed to Ms. and Catholic magazines. My dad to Omni, Newsweek, and Playboy. They divorced when I was young, but always on and off with each other despite that.

I'm probably more like my kid self now than I was during my 20's. My 20's just seemed to be this insecure, self-deprecating extension of my adolescence. And it only gets better now.... :D

[signmike]

11. I was a nerd.

And picked on, though probably no more than the other geeks. I've outlived some of the bullies - but I relate to the previous poster who'd like to revisit with a Louisville Sluggger -- in my dream it's a garrote - right there in English 101.

Oh, and I'm still a nerd.

On second thought - if there was Justice - P.E. = death by towel snapping!

[GRLMGC]

13. Dour and lonely

Now I'm socially awkward :) Nahh, I'm just shy and I don't like to intrude on other people's conversations. I tend to assume that nobody wants to talk to me so I don't talk to them. I like people though, I just don't seem ver friendly.

[TahitiNut]

14. Eight schools in 12 years. (Bruised.)

They've healed.

[Guaranteed]

16. I was the smart kid- wouldn't call myself a nerd, but

I was pretty damned stuck up. Thought very highly of myself. Didn't really fit in anywhere- too good looking for the nerds, too smart for the popular people.

:shrug:

[sans qualia]

17. I was shy and avoidant to the point of pathology

In fact, up until a few months ago, my mother was asolutely convinced I had Asperger's. I do have some really Asperger-ish traits, but my social issues were rooted elsewhere.

I'm completely different now. I actually don't go out of my way to avoid people, most of the time. And I can make small talk! What a surprise that was the first time I did it. :crazy: Considering how weird my kid-self was, I'm quite shockingly normal.

[YellowRubberDuckie]

19. I was lame and awkward and kinda dumb...

And it has made me more outgoing, because I always felt like everyone else was better than me. And people thought so too. I was one of like three girls name Melissa. And I kinda got used to not answering to my name. No one was ever talking to me. And THAT has effected the way I act now. You can be yelling at me, but I won't look up. :shrug: I guess I'm also more outgoing and funnier because now I'm not scared to actually say what I think. And I learned to stop being such a spaz.
Duckie