I'm settled traveller married to a non traveller AMA

[uhtredsonofuhtred]

Just that really 

Did your husband divorce you? I've heard divorce is more difficult for women, again, the culture of being seen to bring shame on the family. I don't know how much truth there is in all my assumptions.

What did you do for work?

@KennDodd I can't remember what the name of of it is, it's a really weird name for it  I'll ask my dad tomorrow

@SoleBizzz I'm fortunate that I don't have to atm, husband earns enough 

No I divorced him, no lots of women divorce their husband it doesn't make any difference, and I worked in a school for years, was a housekeeper for 3 years then worked in my sister boutique for 5 years

Shelta?

Do you think social media has improved literacy rates in the traveller communities? In that, like most other people they use their phones to communicate and this tends to be written rather than oral.

Yes I do.kids are going to school longer these days than when they were when I was little, I was pulled out of school at 9, a lot of traveller kids these day are staying on and even going to college

Are those big, highly decorated wedding dresses that we see on telly the norm?

@CrazySheepLady no they most definitely are not lol

How did you feel about leaving school at 9? Were you settled in one school before that, or did you go to several? What was your childhood like after you left school at 9?

@Greensleeves I didn't want to go to secondary school so I was fine with leaving then, it was the only school I'd been to and I loved it, but my parents didn't want me going to bigger school where I'd be mixing with older kids and also sex education was a no no. After I left school I helped my mum with my baby sister and with the cooking and cleaning, I loved my childhood

As you left school at 9 are you able to read and write? Have you undertaken any other education since? Has your lack of education hindered you at all?

@daffodilbrain yes I can read and write fine.
No I haven't,I've worked since I was 14 (apart from taking time out to have my children) and it's never hindered me, I get by just fine

Obviously you can read and write! You are very articulate in fact.

What do your children think about your background and DH's background? Do they feel caught between two very different cultures? Would they identify as travellers (clumsy way to put it, but I hope you know what I mean)?

Maybe a bjit of a random one but what do you think of transit sites? Would you or your family have used them?

OK, I'm going to show my ignorance here, but when you said I still live very much as a traveller, I still have the views and beliefs , what are those views and beliefs?

Nb that isn't meant to be goady, even though it probably reads like it is.

Yes I'm also wondering about the views and beliefs!
surely the essential thing of being a traveller is that you travel....no?

@OlennasWimple tbh I'm not sure what they identify as, they've been brought up in a house but have friends that are travellers but most of their friends are not.

@itsboiledeggsagain we've stayed on transit sites and on parks and fields, if the sites are full then there's no other choice but to pull on anywhere

Why was sex education a no-no?

@TheSpottedZebra it's hard to explain only travellers would know what I mean.

@Wordthe travelling doesn't make you a traveller, it's in your blood, like being black/Asian, you can live settled in a house for 50 years but your still a traveller it doesn't change anything!

No sex before marriage for girls, teach kids young to cook clean/ work/ keep a home. That's some of the beliefs

@TheOnlyLivingBoyInNewCross because we don't don't believe that kids should see that. My kids have grown up in a house it's all they've known. My 3 teenagers have not been able to attend sex Ed, I just don't believe in kids watching that kind of thing, and I'm not naive the have phones and access to the internet but I just wasn't comfortable with my kids in those lessons

My dad punched a teacher in the face when I was at school because he told him repeatedly that I wasn't to attend sex Ed and he ignored my dad 3 times, I realised what I was watching after a couple of minutes and stood up and told them I wasn't suppose to be there, the teacher told me that I wasn't to leave otherwise I'd be in trouble, I left and told my mum and dad my dad was mad

If travelling doesn't make you a traveller then what is it that makes you a traveller?
what is the essential thing?

are you in favour of this division of labour where by the women do the domestic work, also are you in favour of no sex before marriage?