What story from your past has shocked your children lately?

[Sahamamama]

I'm going to say right up front that the story I shared with my children IS (in a way) a bit disgusting, but it was merely part of a larger tale.

 

We were hiking along and I mentioned how much I was enjoying being on the trail again.

 

"Again, Mommy? You mean you used to hike like this?" :001_huh::001_huh::001_huh: (all three were incredulous)

 

"As a matter of fact, I used to hike quite a bit before having all of you, thank you very much. I used to camp and hike and fish and all sorts of stuff."

 

Ensuing discussion, gasps of wonder and amazement.... Then there was the inevitable question, but I didn't see it coming.

 

"But, if you were out in the woods with no bathrooms, how did you pee?"

 

"Squat."

 

:001_huh::001_huh::001_huh: Gathering nerve, "And how did you poop?"

 

"Dig a hole, squat."

 

All three, "Eeeeeeeeewwwwwwwwwwwwww."

 

They still won't look me in the eye. :lol: I'm not sure if I have risen or fallen in their estimation. At any rate, they certainly had a new idea about their mother. They no longer want me to take them camping next summer. :lol:

 

What's been new to you and yours lately?

[iamrachelle]

Mine just figured out that I was a trauma nurse. (In my former life.)

 

Complete with blood and guts.

 

And, yes.

 

I touched it and then ate with the same hands afterwards.

 

Washed, of course.:D

[mommaduck]

Apparently it shocked my oldest that I goofed off in highschool, rather than making straight A's. I was shocked that this was a new revelation for him. Yes, I've always been the studious type, but I was busy working and planning a wedding back then.

[seraphina]

The other day a friend of my ds (15) shaved her head, my kids were shocked when I replied that I had done the same when I was 14.

[kewb]

Mine were shocked when I told them that I smoked when I was in 9th grade.

[Sahamamama]

Mine just figured out that I was a trauma nurse. (In my former life.)

 

Complete with blood and guts.

 

And, yes.

 

I touched it and then ate with the same hands afterwards.

 

Washed, of course.:D

 

:lol: And they are astonished and grossed out by this, of course!

 

BTW, your avatar is hilarious. Is that a real photo? SHCOOL :smilielol5:

[elegantlion]

I had a discussion with ds the other day. We talked about my previous marriage. It hasn't been a big secret, but we've never discussed it before. I was young, married for a few years, and he cheated on me (yes we discussed that part too). Part of the Greater Life Lessons with Mom course. :D

[LittleIzumi]

I've eaten grasshoppers. Everything else doesn't phase them, lol.

[Jennifer3141]

Mine are incredulous that there was a husband before Dad. He was a youthful error on my aprt.

 

And they both asked DH when he was going to get his new wife too. :D

Like everyone gets a do-over or something. :)

[swellmomma]

Mine were shocked that I was on the rowing team in college. Seems like such a trivial thing but they never knew me in my skinny, healthy days, I have always been overweight since they were born. They had no idea that I used to play sports(they also were shocked that I played baseball as a kid) or would row. DS actually aksed how I did it without the boat sinking. I started my diet the next day.

 

they have also been shocked to figure out that clearly I was having teA before getting married (took them long enough to figure that one out, they were both in the wedding photos for goodness sake's, it wasn't a secret), and about the stupid antics I was part of as a teenager.

[Splinter]

A few weeks ago, I told my oldest that I used to hitchhike as a teenager and specifically about hitchhiking to Mexico when I was 17. He stared at me for a minute, shook his head and said "Do you understand how dangerous that is? You could have been kidnapped or shot or stabbed." I laughed and he asked "I sound like grandma, don't I?" :tongue_smilie:

[Melissa in Australia]

My oldest ds (when aged 7) was shocked that I could climb trees. He was running away from me when I was going to give him a smack, and ran up the tree. I went right up after him. when he said " wow! you can climb trees!" I replied, "son, I grew up in trees".

 

I didn't realise my neighbour saw me go up the tree after him and thought it was so hilarious he told every single person he knew, as this is a small community that included everyone. I got quite a bit of ribbing form many people.

[Sahamamama]

A few weeks ago, I told my oldest that I used to hitchhike as a teenager and specifically about hitchhiking to Mexico when I was 17. He stared at me for a minute, shook his head and said "Do you understand how dangerous that is? You could have been kidnapped or shot or stabbed." I laughed and he asked "I sound like grandma, don't I?" :tongue_smilie:

 

:001_huh: We saw a hitchhiker the other day, and my husband mentioned that was the first HH he'd seen in about 20 years.

 

Really, to Mexico? Don't you realize how dangerous that is?

[iamrachelle]

BTW, your avatar is hilarious. Is that a real photo? SHCOOL :smilielol5:

 

Yep, it's real. :D

[jelbe5]

Somehow living together before marriage came up with my 11 yod. I told her that I asked Jeff to move in with me before we were married. She smirked and said "He said no." I laughed and said that was right. She laughed and said, "Well, Dad is good." I said, "Well, do you think I was bad?" She replied "No, but you were kindof wild. You're not that way now." So true, but I was the more surprised one here!:D

[Tree House Academy]

Oh my...do I have to just pick one thing?

 

I think I shock my kids on a daily basis. I was a real rebel in school and was suspended about once a week for my last year or so. The kids thought that was unbelievable.

 

That I used to play Mario Brothers on Nintendo when I was their age (OMgosh...Mario and Nintendo are THAT OLD mom???!!!)

 

That I would ride a roller coaster that flips you upside-down, takes you up at a 90 degree angle and then straight down on your face at the same 90 degree angle. I did that for them yesterday. ;)

 

That I have seen baby kittens being born.

 

I think, overall, my kids are just shocked to learn that I was a child once too!

[Belacqua]

My son was amazed that I'd once had a secretary. He knew I'd worked outside the home, but he was astonished that I'd allowed somebody else to do my filing and hole-punching and organizing, as that's about my favorite thing in the world. He's having a hard time accepting the notion that I'd let somebody touch my binders.

[Onceuponatime]

I was a boring young person. I didn't do anything that shocks my kids.

 

However, I just can't look at my father and imagine him out dancing in black chinos and an embroidered shirt. He also says he used to be able to do a flying somersault over 5 chairs.

 

Right now he looks like Santa Claus.

[nono]

Uh, I keep those stories under wraps. They think I was a nun* before I decided to get married and have a family.

 

 

 

*Maybe someday when they see Sister Act, it might give them a clue that it's all an illusion.

[bettyandbob]

Oldest knows that I had a bf who was a Deadhead and I went to several Dead shows. As a result, he doesn't believe that I never did illegal drugs (or underage drinking for that matter, since the drinking age was lower in my day).

 

My dd was a little surprised when I told her I had been cut from a sports team in high school. I'm overweight now, but I'm active and she knows I did participate in a few high school sports and I make a big deal that she and her brothers must be active at something regularly.

 

Even though I was mostly a goody two shoes, there's quite a bit I won't share. At least not until they are 25. Yeah, I did crazy stuff, made stupid decisions, and took unreasonable chances and I survived.

[Janie Grace]

My ds actually asked me TODAY if I have ever peed in the shower. He was absolutely floored. (Not that it's a current habit, but in my younger years -- what can I say?)

 

My kids also cannot believe I kissed other boys before Daddy.

[DawnM]

So many things don't come up until my friends from high school come over and we get together. As we reminisce, the boys are usually quite wide eyed.

 

We chased cheetahs with our car and a spot light, slept in the Mau Mau caves near our school, ate flying ants, and all sorts of things that my kids will never get the chance to do.

 

Dawn

[angela in ohio]

The neighbor boy was running around the field in just his underwear, which prompted dh to tell dc the story about how he and his brothers got caught running down the state highway naked with sparklers one Fourth of July. :lol: I thought they'd heard that one before. Dh and his dbs have a ton of funny stories about growing up as neglected children, and they love to tell them when they get together.

 

As my girls get older, I regale them with stories of "the good old days" all the time: being the first girl in my school with a banana clip, programming in BASIC and saving the file on a "cassette tape," getting my license and getting pulled over for drag racing my friend up the subdivision road, getting in an elevator with a dead body when I was 15 and candy striping, and so on. (That's just what's come up this week. :D)

[mommaduck]

My oldest ds (when aged 7) was shocked that I could climb trees. He was running away from me when I was going to give him a smack, and ran up the tree. I went right up after him. when he said " wow! you can climb trees!" I replied, "son, I grew up in trees".

 

I didn't realise my neighbour saw me go up the tree after him and thought it was so hilarious he told every single person he knew, as this is a small community that included everyone. I got quite a bit of ribbing form many people.

I not only shocked my kids with that one one day, I also shocked a local Amishman that had started to wave at my kids in the tree while driving by...until he could see higher up the tree where I was. Pick up your jaw, Mr Amos; you know you can still climb trees, too :D

[Sahamamama]

So many things don't come up until my friends from high school come over and we get together. As we reminisce, the boys are usually quite wide eyed.

 

We chased cheetahs with our car and a spot light, slept in the Mau Mau caves near our school, ate flying ants, and all sorts of things that my kids will never get the chance to do.

 

Dawn

 

You grew up in Africa? :bigear:

[wapiti]

This is boring, but yesterday one of mine was very surprised to find out that, once upon a time, I had a job. The same kind of job as daddy has. :001_huh:

 

I don't know how he could possibly not have known that.

[delaney]

Yes, just recently I was glad that I tried pot in HS because I was able to honestly tell oldest DS that I had done it(since I found out he tried it) and I was able to relate to him and upfront with him. I never thought a bad choice would come in handy, but I think he is more likely to understand that I know it is a bad choice, not from what I have heard, but because I have walked down that path, KWIM?

[Sahamamama]

This is boring, but yesterday one of mine was very surprised to find out that, once upon a time, I had a job. The same kind of job as daddy has. :001_huh:

 

I don't know how he could possibly not have known that.

 

Mine don't believe this about me, either. I've been home since the oldest was born, so none of them have any concept of me going out to "work." :glare:

[BigMamaBird]

My daughter's Spanish Class takes place in a home two doors down from my old High School. Dd seemed pretty shocked that Mommy was once a teenager and might possibly have been fun long ago!:D

[ThatCyndiGirl]

That I went to a middle school that thought it was acceptable to hit students. We were hit for not closing our eyes when we prayed, for not "dancing for the lord'' and for misunderstanding the homework. :glare:

[obsidian]

That I went to a middle school that thought it was acceptable to hit students. We were hit for not closing our eyes when we prayed, for not "dancing for the lord'' and for misunderstanding the homework. :glare:

 

:blink: :sad: :grouphug:

[GailV]

Discussing a trip to Hawaii we made years ago before parenthood, we mentioned going to a nude beach. Jaws dropped. It just never occurred to me that the kids would think that was shocking.

[butterflymommy]

I don't like talking about my childhood and generally tell my kids I can't remember anything. But the few things I've let spill that shocked them... walking 2 miles each way to school, alone from age 7; I was let to wander the entire day miles into deep woods (before the age of cell phones, also my parents are uptight control freaks, why they let us do this I'll never understand), and we had to go outside for recess unless it was colder than 10F. So if it was 11F, out we went.

[Jenny in Florida]

My son was shocked to discover I'd gone to college.

 

Which is weird, because we've talked about it a number of times. But I guess he was confused because he'd heard me talking about skipping out on high school. He apparently couldn't process that I had done both.

 

This translated, for him, into a period of him telling me he shouldn't have to do any schoolwork and that I had no moral grounds on which to insist that he do so.

 

Sigh.

 

They have both gone through phases of being extremely embarassed at any suggestion that I dated anyone before their father, too.

[butterflymommy]

My son was shocked to discover I'd gone to college.

 

 

Mine too! I guess it never came up. We were watching a movie that was filmed on the campus of my "alma mater" and I started pointing out various libraries and buildings. My son asked surprised, "You went to college!?"

 

It reminds me of a story a history teacher once told me of visiting a female friend in Pakistan. They had studied together in the states and while working in India he took a vacation to Pakistan and visited her, where she was now living with her new husband. The men and women ate separately and in the course of their conversation he became aware that her husband didn't even know his wife had gone to college. She had a master's degree!

[bairnmama]

Mine were shocked to discover that I had never ridden in a child restraint seat, HAD ridden in the bed of a pickup down the highway with my 4 yr old cousin sitting in his daddy's lap & steering, and didn't have to be signed into or out of classes at church past the age of 5.

[FaithManor]

Mine still cannot wrap their brains around two things.

 

1. Prior to dh, during my high school and early college years, I was a National Weather Service Tornado Spotter and spent a lot of time with my cousin chasing funnels and ducking for any cover available when they turned on us.

 

2. That while in Jamaica I ate some sardine omelettes which were quite good but made me feel slightly squeamish when it was discovered that Miss Zell munched up the eyeballs and a few other choice parts and added that to the scrambles besides just the parts of the fish we Americans feel is appropriate fodder. Oldest boy visibly gags when I remind him of this and I think he is mildly concerned about what things I might be hiding in his food.

 

Faith

[Lara in Colo]

How when I was a child, my mother owned a business and the computer took up the entire room and couldn't do as much stuff as a laptop can.

 

Also that I would (at ten) ride the bus downtown to visit her at work and walk several blocks downtown alone. We also rode the bus across town to visit my father for the weekend and he wasn't home when we got there (at 8pm).

This still shocks me that my mother allowed this since she gets MAD if I don't call in when Dh and I drive 6 hours to see his family.

Edited September 20, 2011 by Lara in Colo

[Donna]

My oldest was shocked to find out that I actually had to use the house phone to call friends when I was in high school, no one texted, there was no such thing as the internet, and to call my parents to pick me up from school, I had to use a pay phone (a completely foreign concept).

 

Also, in order to do a research paper we actually had to go to the library and do research. I apparently lived in the Stone Age.

[bettyandbob]

my dc are appalled that I watched tv on a very small black and white tv and there were 3 channels.

[MamaT]

I was quite a wild child back in the day, so they are shocked fairly often. The most shocked I've seen them is when they learned I had streaked around the streets of my hometown when I was a teenager. Streaking had somehow come up in conversation between my dh and me, and after explaining to them what it was, I told them I had done it. :tongue_smilie:

[Sahamamama]

my dc are appalled that I watched tv on a very small black and white tv and there were 3 channels.

 

:lol::lol: We don't have a TV, but were explaining to our girls what it was like to have to GET UP to change the channel or turn down the volume.

 

:confused: No remote control? :confused:

[Sahamamama]

I was quite a wild child back in the day, so they are shocked fairly often. The most shocked I've seen them is when they learned I had streaked around the streets of my hometown when I was a teenager. Streaking had somehow come up in conversation between my dh and me, and after explaining to them what it was, I told them I had done it. :tongue_smilie:

 

Yes, and when I was a child, I was shocked that my father (as a child) had gone "skinny dipping" in the river. :001_huh:

 

(That means swimming naked).

[KidsHappen]

I am amazed by how often my children are shocked to hear about the things that I have done. I don't know if it is because they don't listen to what I say the first 15 times I say it or because they have some stubbornly persistant notion that I did not exist prior to them being born. :tongue_smilie:

[Melissa in Australia]

:lol::lol: We don't have a TV, but were explaining to our girls what it was like to have to GET UP to change the channel or turn down the volume.

 

:confused: No remote control? :confused:

 

Ah, the good old days! I so wish that there was still no remote.

[Mommy22alyns]

Well, the girls are pretty traumatized about the fact that I had a C-section. They both want to just "get a baby from the hospital," not get pregnant when they're adults. :001_huh: