Opinion of your family?

[TJ in Oregon]

FF, especially my immediate family. When I was younger, I may have questioned this out of frustration at the searching eyes and perceived naivetes of my parents, particularly my mother, or whined about being forced to do this or that against my will, but after having been really gone from them for 5 years and now living in a different state, I must say that many of the decisions I resented at the time were right. I've come to realize that they managed to raise me in a way that was both disciplined and loving. I can remember from when I was very little, my otherwise relatively tough, mom constantly reminding me that no matter I did, no matter how much I screw up she will always love me. It sounded so corny at the time (and to some degree it still does) but I think I can understand now the value of it. I can now see the value of being limited in how much computer time I could get a day until high school. I can now see the value of being forced to do sports. I can now see the value in being forced to go to Mass every Sunday. I can now see the value of being forced to read books. These sorts of things seemed like such a nuisance at the time, but now seem like important good decisions.

When I was little, my parents never really told us how good either of them were at their jobs or how good we were at the things we did. And now with all my siblings grown up, I can see that my whole immediate family really is quite good at their respective professions. I think part of that is that I was raised to expect to do well on everything and was not, no matter what else was true, either give a lack of effort on anything, or complain about having done poorly. I can remember being punished at times of failure, not for having gotten a B in school, but for whining about it.