My son is a lot like me personality wise

@sissy15 (12431)
United States
June 11, 2025 2:32am CST
There are days when I realize my son is a lot more like me than I originally thought. For some backstory, I am a fairly quiet individual in person, which is probably why I write so much. I spend a lot of time in my head and don't say much, so it tends to build up until I write it out. That said when anything happens in my life I really don't talk about it. I don't make a big deal about anything, I do not enjoy any real attention on me so I always try to blend into the background and I don't say anything. On my birthday this year, I didn't say anything to anyone. No one knew outside of family and close friends who already knew or people who happened to see it on Facebook. I went to work and even had a coworker mention it being a student's birthday and didn't say a word. Later that night the teacher I work with noticed on FB that it was my birthday and felt awful and messaged me and I told her it was fine I hadn't intended on anyone knowing. Another coworker didn't know until the following week and came in yelling at me that "How are we supposed to know if you don't tell us?! I can't believe you didn't say anything, well maybe I can because that seems like something you'd do" I just told them all the same thing I didn't want people to know. I hate the attention a birthday brings. Fast forward to today, I stumbled across a local online newspaper article with the names of the students of the month at our schools for the month of April that had been listed in May. I find the middle school list and there is my son's name. I looked at the date thinking maybe it was from last year because I knew my son got student of the month last year but nope it was dated for May of this year. I thought clearly my son would have told me about this. He didn't. I asked him about it and he said "Oh, yeah, that happened". I asked why he didn't tell me and he said he forgot. I asked how he could forget something that big. He shrugged and said he didn't know. I ask my son every single day how school was and he usually just says good, ok, or boring but rarely elaborates. Sometimes I can get him to tell me stuff if I pry a little. My son also got an award in Choir that he actually did tell me about. He made it sound like it wasn't a big deal but later I found out it actually was kind of a big deal. They only select kids who work hard, have improved, have a good attitude, and the list continues. It's not an award everyone gets but he just shrugged it off. My child never makes a big deal out of anything and I always tell him he should be proud of himself. I understand not wanting a ton of attention from everyone but I feel like your parents are a different story. He knows I'm proud of him but I'd still think he'd want us to know how well he has done. I have no doubts that my son is a good person because I know he is. I just wish he was at least excited to tell us things but that's not who he is and honestly, it's never who I was either. I only told my parents about awards where I needed them to give me a ride to the ceremony. My son used to get student of the month sometimes in elementary school but I always knew then because the teachers would email me about it. There was always something that came home in his backpack. Now I no longer check his backpack because he is old enough to be responsible for his own stuff. I gave my son a hard time about not telling me but only in a joking way and he laughed and just brushed it aside. I told him from now on I have to pester him every day after school or he'll never tell me anything.
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1 response
@JudyEv (355941)
• Rockingham, Australia
11 Jun
A lot of people don't like a fuss being made about them, whether it's birthdays or awards. We're all different.
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@sissy15 (12431)
• United States
11 Jun
Up until my son I was one of the very few people I knew who didn't enjoy any attention. I hate crowded rooms where everyone is looking at me. Most people I know enjoy the recognition but I never have. There are only a few times in my life I was happy to have an audience and it was because there were a few people in the audience that dismissed me and I wanted them to see I made something of myself otherwise I'd have been happy to not be recognized.
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