Quote From: hexum7your parents taught you to be obediant, not to how be good or moral.
Your parents taught you to fear them and thier wrath.
Your parents taught you that they own you- that you are theri property , to do as they want with, not an individual.
Your parents taught you that they can do anything they want to you because they are bigger and stronger.
Your parents taught you that your feelings and your pain were unimportant to them.
Your parents taught you that those who are bigger have the right to violenty abuse those who are weaker in order to force them to behave as they prefer..
In short, your parents taught you that abuse is acceptable and admirable behavior
And now you are teaching your own children the same lessons.
they were awful people
You are so right about what the parents taught her.
I too came from a very strict Italian family, where Father was king, and you were his property.
Many a day I would go to school with welts from a belting that he would give me almost on a daily bases. To this day at sixty eight years old I still have emotional scares from the abuse.
It just so happened when I was growing up there were no laws against child abuse. Parents were allowed to hit their kids.
As an adult I have trouble with authority figures in the work place. I freeze up with fear when I think I am going to be in trouble for something. I may be called in the office for something very good, but I die a thousand deaths on the way there. This is what my Father's legacy to me was.
I never remember him telling me something positive about myself or what I had done. Whatever I was proud of and wanted to show him. he dismissed it as a waste of time.
My Mother was no help she was as fearful of him as we were. So she was always very passive.
All that I have become today, has been gleaned from self help books, that I have read for years.
My self image is healthy, and I have peace in my life.