AMA: I am a high achiever raised by awful parents

[Anonymous]

I rarely make assumptions about others because I know how many assumptions about me are untrue.

AMEN !

This needs repeating on this forum regularly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How good or bad was your high school?

The school was stretched thin, but those whose parents could advocate for them got into APs and enjoyed resources. There were specialized classes consisting mostly of wealthier kids who were labeled gifted because of their parents pushiness, lol. The rest of the classes were pretty shitty and the remedial classes could be outright dangerous ("remedial" basically meant poor with serious behavioral issues; it was not really about intellect).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

I rarely make assumptions about others because I know how many assumptions about me are untrue.

AMEN !

This needs repeating on this forum regularly.

+1

But IRL, I have met more people than not who subscribe to the judgmental way of life. No wonder they are so miserable! Yet, it would take common sense for judgmental people to figure this out, and we are in no danger of that happening.

[Anonymous]

OP, if you looked at me, you would have no idea I have a somewhat similar story; hence the judgements under naive harpies' filthy microscope. Could the same be said of you - that you don't "look the type" (whatever that means)?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Several more answers in the similar vein and more "skipped" pertinent questions and I'm calling a troll.
But I'll wait a couple more pages...

OP: My goal is to answer questions, but not to the point of outing myself. If you will not be satisfied unless I give you demographic information that can narrow down who I am, then you will just have to call me a troll.

Well, people who are paranoid about outing themselves on the Internet normally don't start their own AMA threads...

But if you insist on "a foreign country" could you perhaps give us a region where your parents are from? And how old were they when they got to the U.S.?

All right, I am African. My mother was in her late teens when she got to the US. My father was in his early 20s.

Thank you - makes more sense now: they might have been acting according to their cultural norms while raising you and your siblings - and you are now evaluating them as parents from your American cultural standpoint. Do you know other people from their home country?

And what was the reason they had so many kids?

Not OP, but the big families I know are seriously effed up; and the parents have more and more children so the parents will (supposedly) be taken care of in old age. An extremely narcissistic view (in more ways than named). Of course, the parents of big families I know would never admit this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Several more answers in the similar vein and more "skipped" pertinent questions and I'm calling a troll.
But I'll wait a couple more pages...

OP: My goal is to answer questions, but not to the point of outing myself. If you will not be satisfied unless I give you demographic information that can narrow down who I am, then you will just have to call me a troll.

Well, people who are paranoid about outing themselves on the Internet normally don't start their own AMA threads...

But if you insist on "a foreign country" could you perhaps give us a region where your parents are from? And how old were they when they got to the U.S.?

All right, I am African. My mother was in her late teens when she got to the US. My father was in his early 20s.

Thank you - makes more sense now: they might have been acting according to their cultural norms while raising you and your siblings - and you are now evaluating them as parents from your American cultural standpoint. Do you know other people from their home country?

And what was the reason they had so many kids?

OP: I missed your last question. Hell if I know why they had so many kids. That one you might be able to blame on culture, though younger Africans are having fewer kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not OP, but the big families I know are seriously effed up; and the parents have more and more children so the parents will (supposedly) be taken care of in old age. An extremely narcissistic view (in more ways than named). Of course, the parents of big families I know would never admit this.

I don't think my parents put this much thought into their reproducing. Neither likes kids very much and they would have expected even an only child to take care of them. If I had to hazard a guess, I might say that narcissism and carelessness were major reasons they didn't stop at, for instance, one or two kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not OP, but the big families I know are seriously effed up; and the parents have more and more children so the parents will (supposedly) be taken care of in old age. An extremely narcissistic view (in more ways than named). Of course, the parents of big families I know would never admit this.

OP: I don't think my parents put this much thought into their reproducing. Neither likes kids very much and they would have expected even an only child to take care of them. If I had to hazard a guess, I might say that narcissism and carelessness were major reasons they didn't stop at, for instance, one or two kids.

[Anonymous]

OP, are you bilingual?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, are you bilingual?

I speak 4 languages.

[Anonymous]

Why are you throwing this pity party?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why are you throwing this pity party?

OP: You have the wrong address. Pity party is four blocks down right before the traffic light.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why are you throwing this pity party?

The best comment of the whole thread

And this is not for OP - guys, that story about hiring a PI to follow the nanny - wasn't it just priceless? I really feel bad about calling OP about all the contradictory statements so far because I want more of that manic flow of narcissistic creativity.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Do you all have very high IQs? Did your parents have substance use problems?

You should write a book... sounds like an interesting story.

It's been written. The Glass Castle.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do you all have very high IQs? Did your parents have substance use problems?

You should write a book... sounds like an interesting story.

It's been written. The Glass Castle.

Yeah, I thought the story sounded familiar. I think this is a troll.