#childhood-experiences

[ follow ]
#mental-health #psychology #parenting #family-dynamics #communication #emotional-health #emotional-responses
Psychology
fromSilicon Canals
22 hours ago

I'm 37 and I was raised in a house with almost no affection, and the hardest part isn't missing it, it's that I still don't know how to receive it now that it's finally being offered - Silicon Canals

Emotional capacity and intellectual understanding are distinct; early experiences shape our ability to connect physically and emotionally.
Psychology
fromSilicon Canals
22 hours ago

Psychology says the adults who were raised with very little affection don't grow up unable to love, they grow up suspicious of the love that finally arrives, and the warmth a partner offers them at thirty or forty often gets quietly held at arm's length, not because they don't want it, but because the body that didn't learn how to receive affection at six is still trying to figure out the choreography at fifty - Silicon Canals

Early experiences shape our ability to receive love and respond to compliments later in life.
Toronto
fromJays Journal
5 days ago

A Conversation with Jamie Campbell: The moments that shaped a Blue Jays voice

Jamie Campbell's childhood experiences shaped his lifelong connection to baseball and his career in sports broadcasting.
Psychology
fromSilicon Canals
1 week ago

Not everyone who keeps their feelings to themselves is private. Some people simply learned that expressing what was happening internally turned the conversation into a referendum on whether they were allowed to feel it at all - Silicon Canals

Many people remain silent about their feelings due to past experiences of having their emotions invalidated.
Parenting
fromSilicon Canals
1 week ago

There's a specific kind of adult who can't enjoy a gift without immediately calculating what it cost the giver, and it isn't thoughtfulness, it's a residual scan from a childhood where everything received was followed by a reminder of the sacrifice it required - Silicon Canals

Receiving gifts can trigger guilt and anxiety due to past experiences of associating gifts with hidden costs.
#emotional-neglect
fromSilicon Canals
1 week ago
Psychology

There's a specific kind of person who answers 'what do you want for dinner' with 'whatever you want' and isn't being easygoing. They genuinely lost access to the question a long time ago, in a house where wanting things drew the wrong kind of attention. - Silicon Canals

Mental health
fromSilicon Canals
2 weeks ago

Psychology says the adults most likely to end up in therapy aren't the ones who had dramatic or obviously painful childhoods - they're the ones who grew up in households where everything was technically fine, nobody was cruel, and something essential was quietly missing in a way that took decades to find the words for - Silicon Canals

Emotional neglect in seemingly fine childhoods can have profound effects, leaving individuals feeling their inner world doesn't matter.
Psychology
fromSilicon Canals
1 week ago

There's a specific kind of person who answers 'what do you want for dinner' with 'whatever you want' and isn't being easygoing. They genuinely lost access to the question a long time ago, in a house where wanting things drew the wrong kind of attention. - Silicon Canals

People who say 'whatever you want' often struggle with expressing preferences due to past experiences that made wanting unsafe.
Mental health
fromSilicon Canals
2 weeks ago

Psychology says the adults most likely to end up in therapy aren't the ones who had dramatic or obviously painful childhoods - they're the ones who grew up in households where everything was technically fine, nobody was cruel, and something essential was quietly missing in a way that took decades to find the words for - Silicon Canals

Emotional neglect in seemingly fine childhoods can have profound effects, leaving individuals feeling their inner world doesn't matter.
more#emotional-neglect
Parenting
fromLGBTQ Nation
1 week ago

Comedian shares hilarous take on growing up with lesbian moms - LGBTQ Nation

Jaclyn Lore-Edwards shares humorous insights about growing up with two moms, highlighting love, freedom of expression, and unique childhood experiences.
Psychology
fromSilicon Canals
1 week ago

The hardest part of being called too sensitive as a child isn't the label itself. It's the decades you spend afterward trying to feel less, without realizing you were slowly subtracting yourself from your own life - Silicon Canals

The term 'sensitive' can carry a damaging tone that leads to long-term emotional adjustments and a life shaped by others' expectations.
Psychology
fromSilicon Canals
1 week ago

Psychology says people who hate being photographed aren't self-conscious or insecure about their appearance - they were told at some point, directly or indirectly, that being looked at was dangerous, and the camera activates the same old alarm, and the discomfort you see on their face isn't vanity, it's a nervous system refusing to be captured by something that once cost them something - Silicon Canals

Photo aversion is a nervous system response linked to past experiences of being evaluated, not merely a reaction to appearance.
Relationships
fromSilicon Canals
1 week ago

The people who are constantly checking in on everyone else aren't necessarily nurturing. Many of them are quietly running an experiment to see if anyone will ever check in on them unprompted, and the experiment has been returning the same result for decades - Silicon Canals

Constantly reaching out to others can stem from childhood experiences of needing to earn attention.
Psychology
fromSilicon Canals
1 week ago

Some people aren't the planner in every friend group because they like control. They became the planner because they noticed, early and painfully, that when they didn't initiate, nobody did, and being forgotten felt worse than doing all the work - Silicon Canals

Chronic planners often act out of a fear of being forgotten rather than a desire for control or dominance.
Psychology
fromSilicon Canals
2 weeks ago

There's a specific kind of adult who apologizes for crying even when they're alone, and it isn't sensitivity, it's the residue of a childhood where emotion was something you were expected to clean up before anyone saw the mess - Silicon Canals

Adults who were invalidated in childhood often apologize for their emotions, reflecting deep-seated patterns of emotional suppression.
Mental health
fromSilicon Canals
2 weeks ago

People who grew up in houses where money was a source of tension often become adults who can afford things comfortably but still feel a small flinch at the register, and the flinch isn't financial anymore, it's a nervous system that never got the memo that the emergency is over. - Silicon Canals

Money anxiety often stems from childhood experiences rather than current financial situations, affecting emotional responses to spending.
Parenting
fromPsychology Today
2 weeks ago

Working With the Inner Child

The inner child concept emphasizes how childhood experiences shape our adult selves and the importance of healing through compassionate responses.
Psychology
fromSilicon Canals
2 weeks ago

Psychology says people who replay conversations in their head didn't develop that habit by accident - most of them learned early that saying the wrong thing had real consequences, and now their brain replays every exchange searching for mistakes and misfires like a security system that was installed in childhood and has never once been turned off - Silicon Canals

Replaying conversations stems from early experiences where words had significant consequences, leading to a defense mechanism of constant analysis.
Mental health
fromSilicon Canals
2 weeks ago

I realized at 66 that the reason I'm always tired has nothing to do with sleep. I've been running an internal monitoring system since childhood that tracks other people's moods, and it never shuts off, not even when I'm alone. - Silicon Canals

Emotional exhaustion can stem from lifelong habits of managing others' emotional states, leading to fatigue that sleep cannot alleviate.
#emotional-intelligence
Psychology
fromSilicon Canals
3 weeks ago

Children who grew up in homes where one parent was the peacekeeper and the other was the storm almost always become adults who can read a room in seconds but have no idea what they actually feel when nobody else is in it - Silicon Canals

Emotional intelligence can stem from childhood experiences in volatile family dynamics, leading to heightened perception of others but self-blindness.
fromSilicon Canals
1 month ago
Psychology

6 signs someone grew up as the mediator between their parents, according to family therapists, and why those skills make them exceptional at work but exhausted in their own relationships - Silicon Canals

Children who mediate parental conflict develop skills that benefit their careers but can hinder personal relationships later in life.
Psychology
fromSilicon Canals
3 weeks ago

Children who grew up in homes where one parent was the peacekeeper and the other was the storm almost always become adults who can read a room in seconds but have no idea what they actually feel when nobody else is in it - Silicon Canals

Emotional intelligence can stem from childhood experiences in volatile family dynamics, leading to heightened perception of others but self-blindness.
Psychology
fromSilicon Canals
1 month ago

6 signs someone grew up as the mediator between their parents, according to family therapists, and why those skills make them exceptional at work but exhausted in their own relationships - Silicon Canals

Children who mediate parental conflict develop skills that benefit their careers but can hinder personal relationships later in life.
more#emotional-intelligence
Mental health
fromSilicon Canals
3 weeks ago

I grew up lower middle class and the thing nobody explains is how the financial anxiety doesn't leave when the money arrives. You can have six months of savings and still feel the phantom weight of an empty account because your nervous system was calibrated in a house where the math never quite worked and it stored that frequency permanently - Silicon Canals

Chronic stress from childhood financial instability affects adult behavior and emotional responses to money.
#financial-anxiety
Psychology
fromSilicon Canals
3 weeks ago

The people who check their bank account before every small purchase aren't necessarily struggling. Some of them grew up in houses where an unexpected expense could change the entire atmosphere of a week, and the checking is not about the balance. It's about confirming that the ground is still solid. - Silicon Canals

Financial anxiety often stems from childhood experiences where money influenced household atmosphere and emotional states, not just current financial status.
Mindfulness
fromSilicon Canals
1 month ago

People who grew up watching their parents check the mailbox with visible anxiety understand something about money that no financial literacy course will ever teach - that scarcity isn't a budget problem, it's a nervous system state - Silicon Canals

Financial anxiety stems from deep-rooted emotional experiences rather than just a lack of knowledge about budgeting or financial concepts.
Psychology
fromSilicon Canals
3 weeks ago

The people who check their bank account before every small purchase aren't necessarily struggling. Some of them grew up in houses where an unexpected expense could change the entire atmosphere of a week, and the checking is not about the balance. It's about confirming that the ground is still solid. - Silicon Canals

Financial anxiety often stems from childhood experiences where money influenced household atmosphere and emotional states, not just current financial status.
Mindfulness
fromSilicon Canals
1 month ago

People who grew up watching their parents check the mailbox with visible anxiety understand something about money that no financial literacy course will ever teach - that scarcity isn't a budget problem, it's a nervous system state - Silicon Canals

Financial anxiety stems from deep-rooted emotional experiences rather than just a lack of knowledge about budgeting or financial concepts.
more#financial-anxiety
#trauma
Psychology
fromSilicon Canals
3 weeks ago

Psychology suggests the most reliable sign that someone had a difficult childhood isn't what they tell you about it - it's how startled they look when you are simply kind to them without a reason, as though kindness without a transaction attached is something the body recognizes as unusual before the mind has finished deciding what to do with it - Silicon Canals

Kindness can trigger confusion in those with a history of trauma due to learned survival responses from past experiences.
Psychology
fromSilicon Canals
3 weeks ago

Psychology suggests the most reliable sign that someone had a difficult childhood isn't what they tell you about it - it's how startled they look when you are simply kind to them without a reason, as though kindness without a transaction attached is something the body recognizes as unusual before the mind has finished deciding what to do with it - Silicon Canals

Kindness can trigger confusion in those with a history of trauma due to learned survival responses from past experiences.
more#trauma
Parenting
fromwww.businessinsider.com
3 weeks ago

I'm a millionaire who sells ranches to billionaires. I still can't afford one for my kids.

Growing up on a ranch instilled resilience, self-confidence, and a strong work ethic, leading to a successful career in ranch real estate.
Psychology
fromSilicon Canals
4 weeks ago

A clinical psychologist explains that the need to 'earn' your place in every room you enter isn't humility. It's the residue of a childhood where love had prerequisites, and you internalized the application process as permanent. - Silicon Canals

Humility can mask a dangerous need for validation rooted in childhood experiences, leading to exhaustion rather than true ambition.
Psychology
fromSilicon Canals
4 weeks ago

Psychology says people who feel like they've been living someone else's life aren't confused or ungrateful - they're often the ones who were so good at adapting in childhood that they never stopped adapting long enough to find out who they actually were - Silicon Canals

Adapting to others' needs in childhood can lead to feeling disconnected and lost in adulthood.
Psychology
fromSilicon Canals
4 weeks ago

Psychology says people who grew up poor and became successful often can't fully enjoy it - not because they're ungrateful, but because some part of them never stopped waiting for it to disappear - Silicon Canals

Successful individuals often struggle with feelings of scarcity and anxiety about their financial stability, despite their achievements.
Psychology
fromSilicon Canals
4 weeks ago

The people who always have a backup plan aren't pessimists. They grew up in environments where promises were unreliable, and redundancy became the only architecture that didn't collapse when someone changed their mind without warning. - Silicon Canals

Obsessive planners are often generous, driven by past experiences that teach them to prepare for uncertainties.
Psychology
fromSilicon Canals
1 month ago

You can tell someone had a tough childhood if they apologize for taking up space - not in the dramatic way, but in the small daily way, the sorry before the question, the thank you after the ordinary kindness, the slight surprise every time someone is simply decent to them, as though decency was never something they learned to expect - Silicon Canals

Some individuals habitually apologize, reflecting deeper issues of self-worth and the learned behavior of minimizing their presence in social situations.
Psychology
fromSilicon Canals
1 month ago

People who go completely silent during an argument aren't giving you the silent treatment. They learned early that anything they said while emotional would be used as evidence against them later, so silence became the only statement that couldn't be misquoted. - Silicon Canals

Silence during conflict can be a strategic choice rooted in childhood experiences of emotional expression being weaponized.
#emotional-health
fromSilicon Canals
1 month ago
Mental health

I grew up in the 1970s and the closest thing I had to therapy was my uncle telling me to 'walk it off' after I broke my collarbone - and that phrase became my entire emotional philosophy for the next fifty years - Silicon Canals

Some emotional wounds cannot be healed by simply ignoring them; they require acknowledgment and processing.
Psychology
fromSilicon Canals
1 month ago

I grew up being told I was too sensitive and I spent the next twenty-five years building an entire personality around not reacting. Now I'm the person everyone calls steady and nobody calls close, and I can trace the distance in every relationship I have back to a single word a teacher used when I was nine. - Silicon Canals

Emotional steadiness often masks deeper issues rooted in childhood experiences and societal feedback.
Mental health
fromSilicon Canals
1 month ago

I grew up in the 1970s and the closest thing I had to therapy was my uncle telling me to 'walk it off' after I broke my collarbone - and that phrase became my entire emotional philosophy for the next fifty years - Silicon Canals

Some emotional wounds cannot be healed by simply ignoring them; they require acknowledgment and processing.
Psychology
fromSilicon Canals
1 month ago

I grew up being told I was too sensitive and I spent the next twenty-five years building an entire personality around not reacting. Now I'm the person everyone calls steady and nobody calls close, and I can trace the distance in every relationship I have back to a single word a teacher used when I was nine. - Silicon Canals

Emotional steadiness often masks deeper issues rooted in childhood experiences and societal feedback.
more#emotional-health
Psychology
fromSilicon Canals
1 month ago

Not everyone who keeps a mental inventory of every favor they've done is keeping score. Some of them were raised in homes where reciprocity was the only reliable evidence that someone valued you. - Silicon Canals

Favor-tracking is a survival system for those raised in emotionally inconsistent households, not merely a manipulative behavior.
Relationships
fromSilicon Canals
1 month ago

Children who grew up watching their parents stay together despite being visibly unhappy often develop a very specific fear as adults - they confuse sacrifice with love and can't tell the difference until someone shows them both - Silicon Canals

Emotional bonds with caregivers shape adult attachment patterns, influencing perceptions of love and suffering in relationships.
#gratitude
more#gratitude
Parenting
fromwww.theguardian.com
1 month ago

My sisters and I had the same parents but were raised apart. It taught me there's more to siblings than meets the eye

Siblings share a family yet experience different childhoods due to birth order, family dynamics, parental evolution, and individual circumstances beyond simple personality theories.
Relationships
fromBuzzFeed
2 months ago

"My Parents Cared More About Them Than Me": People With Poly Parents Share What It Was Like

Children raised in polyamorous families develop diverse perspectives on relationships, learning that love and support can come from multiple people when communication and consent are present.
Mental health
fromPsychology Today
2 months ago

Compassion as the Doorway to Forgiveness

Forgiveness fails when present pain stems from unresolved emotional wounds; self-compassion and full acknowledgment of pain enable genuine forgiveness to emerge organically.
Psychology
fromSilicon Canals
2 months ago

Psychology says people who always sleep with the door closed-even when they live alone-share these 7 traits that all trace back to one thing from childhood - Silicon Canals

Consistently sleeping with the bedroom door closed signals a strong need for psychological boundaries rooted in childhood and heightened sensitivity to external stimuli.
Psychology
fromSilicon Canals
2 months ago

Psychology says people who wash dishes immediately after eating display these 6 personality patterns that started in childhood - Silicon Canals

Immediate dish-washing often reflects deeper personality patterns, including a need for control, responses to childhood unpredictability, and coping strategies for anxiety.
Psychology
fromPsychology Today
6 months ago

Change Your Schemas, Change Your Life

Schemas are early-formed mental patterns that shape perceptions and reactions; awareness enables questioning automatic responses and choosing healthier behaviors.
fromBuzzFeed
6 months ago

People With Polyamorous Parents Are Sharing What It Was Like Growing Up, And It's Fascinating

Turned out his aunt was his actual birth mother, who had kids with his father too before he was born, but who had passed away in a house fire. The mother who raised him was completely sterile and, in fact, had a hysterectomy at a very young age. He was in complete shock, but said it made sense how close everyone was in the house, despite keeping all the adult stuff behind closed doors.
Relationships
Parenting
fromBuzzFeed
7 months ago

Gen X And Millennials Are Sharing Things They Survived That Would Destroy Today's Kids

Gen X and Millennial childhoods involved rough play, unsupervised responsibilities, physical risks, and prolonged boredom that many Gen Z and Gen Alpha children rarely face.
Mental health
fromPsychology Today
8 months ago

The Water We Swim In: Why Being Seen Matters More Than You Think

Consistent caregiver acknowledgment during distress determines lifelong emotional resilience; repeated dismissal by close others creates pervasive, subtle wounds shaping vulnerability.
#parenting
Parenting
fromPsychology Today
11 months ago

6 Most Common Parenting Conflicts and How to Solve Them

Parents often argue about parenting due to differing childhood experiences and stress, leading to repeated conflicts.
Effective communication methods can mitigate longstanding parenting disagreements.
Parenting
fromPsychology Today
11 months ago

6 Most Common Parenting Conflicts and How to Solve Them

Parents often argue about parenting due to differing childhood experiences and stress, leading to repeated conflicts.
Effective communication methods can mitigate longstanding parenting disagreements.
more#parenting
Parenting
fromwww.theguardian.com
8 months ago

Blockbuster, board games and boredom: why everyone's parenting like it's 1999

Nostalgia for 1990s childhood and parenting is rising, with many parents seeking to replicate that era's experiences for their children.
fromwww.mercurynews.com
8 months ago

Charlie Brown and Snoopy offer an animated Peanuts' musical about summer camp

"If someone asked me to write for a stupid kids thing, I would find it difficult because I don't like talking down to anyone, much less kids."
Apple
fromBuzzFeed
8 months ago

Millennials Are Weighing In On Whether Or Not They Had "Free-Range" Childhoods, And It's An Interesting Glimpse Into The Past

"I grew up in middle-class suburbia in the Midwest. Everything that is mentioned in the stereotypical free-range childhood is literally all the things my siblings and I experienced growing up. Outside all day, playing with all the other kids in the neighborhood, looking for our friends' bikes on the lawn to find out which house everyone was at."
Parenting
fromPsychology Today
8 months ago

Uneven Ground: The Ups and Downs of Daily Hassles

Over time, daily hassles can exert a cumulative and prolonged effect on our emotional well-being, leading to substantial distress, anxiety, depression, and emotional exhaustion.
Mental health
Books
fromwww.theguardian.com
8 months ago

Bloody Awful in Different Ways by Andrev Walden review darkly funny Swedish autofiction

Andrev's childhood is a series of tumultuous experiences with seven fathers, marked by disappointment and violence.
Digital life
fromIndependent
9 months ago

'I was traumatised by porn as a 12-year-old': Growing up during the internet free-for-all

New age-verification rules alter the unrestricted internet experience of childhood, contributing to a safer online environment for children.
Mental health
fromPsychology Today
9 months ago

A Move to Assisted Living Brings Up Memories of the Past

Maintaining a relationship with an obsessive parent involves navigating high expectations and a struggle for individual identity.
Women
fromwww.theguardian.com
9 months ago

I used to be scared of being a difficult woman'. Now it's a badge of honour | Jacinta Parsons

Goodness was seen as the supreme achievement for girls, but the concept of being a bad girl created a strong fear and need to conform.
SF parents
fromIndependent
10 months ago

Bill Linnane: Like lots of working parents, I'm panic booking the kids into summer camps to fill their time over the school holidays

Irish college provides children with positive experiences away from home.
Childhood memories of summer camps, like Irish college, carry lasting emotional significance.
Cocktails
fromIndependent
10 months ago

Sinead Ryan: How 'Jaws' made teenage me a hard-bitten horror fan

Kids enjoyed a makeshift cinema night at the swimming club, sneaking in snacks and savoring the thrill of rebellion.
Mental health
fromInsideHook
10 months ago

Why Can I Fall Asleep on the Couch and Not in My Bed?

Couch sleeping may stem from childhood sleep anxiety, leading to adult insomnia.
Relaxed environments, like couches, can help reduce sleep anxiety and aid relaxation.
fromBusiness Insider
11 months ago

I grew up financially insecure, and having a side gig makes me feel safe. I've had dozens of jobs over the years.

I've always had at least one side gig on top of a primary job. Through economic dips, my backup jobs have brought me peace of mind for 25 years.
Parenting
NYC parents
fromBuzzFeed
11 months ago

Older Adults Share The Dangerous But Common Experiences From "Back In The Day"

Past safety practices for children were dangerously lax, leading to numerous avoidable accidents.
Parenting
fromBuzzFeed
11 months ago

Kourtney Said "Controlling And Bossy" Stepparent Caitlyn Jenner Wouldn't Even Let Her Phone Her Dad

Different siblings can have vastly different childhood experiences despite the same upbringing.
fromFast Company
11 months ago

What '80s pop culture taught me about investing

As I struggled to get a secondhand easy chair up the stairs, I found myself referencing pop culture, underscoring the influence of entertainment in my daily life.
Video games
Atlanta Braves
fromBattery Power
11 months ago

On Braves stolen bases and recurring nightmares

Recurring nightmares can stem from unresolved emotional issues, often related to past experiences. Their persistence might decrease as individuals navigate their relationship with these feelings.
fromPsychology Today
11 months ago

I Loved the Book Stellaluna While Growing Up, Now I Know Why

Stellaluna's journey of belonging reflects the struggles of feeling different, akin to my experiences growing up struggling with social norms as an autistic child.
Parenting
Relationships
fromPsychology Today
1 year ago

How Childhood Experiences Impact Our Choice Of Partner

Childhood experiences significantly shape adult romantic choices and relationship dynamics.
Unconscious patterns from early relationships may lead to unhealthy relationship dynamics due to attachment styles.
[ Load more ]