Making memories

Being poor doesn't mean you can't memories which is something I learned very young. If you have food to eat you are definitely doing better than some people.

@sissy15 That's good

Thank you, he's 13, but I won't give out his name on here. It sounds like you had a great childhood. My parents didn't have money. We owned our home which they bought for about 10k and put another 20k into it because there was a house fire and needed a lot of work when they bought it but when I was a year old my dad lost his job and after that there were a lot of patch up jobs. I remember our furnace breaking and freezing in the winter and I remember when our pipes busted and our roof leaked. Despite not having much financially my parents made sure we had freedom to be kids and took us to local places. My much older sisters once took us to Disney World which was the best vacation I ever had. My parents couldn't have afforded that. We were poor but I never really felt poor. I remember my childhood fondly. I remember running around town with the neighborhood kids (I lived in a small town with a population of about 200 that was out in the middle of nowhere). I remember riding my bike about two to three miles to the library in the next town with my brother, I remember picking berries off the trees and eating them, we were kids. We had the freedom most kids wished they had. My parents took us to nearby places but boy did we make memories. I had toys and things but my parents couldn't afford to get me everything I wanted and I knew it and was just happy to get to be a kid. I did a lot of dangerous things they had no clue I was doing because we weren't supervised the best but it made for some of the best memories and the time they did spend with us were some of the best parts of my childhood. I will say we were super blessed that we never went without food. I never knew hunger. My dad had us help him with a garden and in the summer most of our vegetables came from the garden.

@RasmaSandra I always tell my son I'm his mom first but that I'm always going to love him and be there for him when he needs me. My son and I are close but I have always put being a mom over being his friend. I've always seen it as kids have friends what they need is a parent. That's not to say a parent can't be a friend to their child but they need to know their parent is there first. My job as a parent is to do my best to raise and protect my son to the best of my ability but he knows he can talk to me about anything. I have seen kids who need a parent and all they have is a friend who doesn't do the things a parent should be doing. My son does know he can confide in me and I will sometimes let go of the adult side of myself to get down on his level and just be silly. I try and give him the love and compassion he needs but at the end of the day I'm his parent first and that has been our dynamic. You're right a parent can be a friend but their job should always be a parent first. My son has a ton of friends and he sees me as the person he can run to when things are hard. He seeks me out in times of worry for comfort. My goal has always been to be honest with him while still trying to comfort him the best way I know how. He wants me as his mom and not his friend but to me part of being a parent is also being a friend who listens when he needs someone to talk to. He knows he can tell me anything and I'll always love him even if I don't always agree with him. He has always told me I'm his favorite person and he loves me most and I've always told him the same. My son knows when I'm tough it's because I love him. I do my best to be the person he knows he can always come to. I loved my parents and they were great to me but I never felt I could go to them with everything. I knew there were things they would disapprove of and instead of listening they'd scold me and I have never wanted that for my son. He knows there are going to be times I won't agree with him but I'll listen. As his mom I want what is best for him and that means making sure he knows some choices are his own whether or not I agree and that part of growing up is making mistakes. He knows he has my unconditional love no matter what.

@sissy15