Unexpected things that make you sad.

[StickersStickers]

As part of her homework my 8 year old had to interview an older relative about what winter/Christmas was like when they were young.

DD chose to interview her granda, which was good timing as he had popped in to our house.

So DD was asking him questions and I left them at it but walked in as she asked him “what did you wear when it was cold” and he answered a hat and gloves and a warm coat.

Thing was Granda grew up with an alcoholic father who beat him and his 4 brothers black and blue. The only way they would have a warm coat was If they nicked it and even then they wouldn’t have it long.

So to hear him telling DD a story of a childhood he never had got to me a bit.

That’s really sad OP. Your poor Dad (or FIL) 😢 I don’t have anything to contribute really but hopefully he gets a lot of comfort from watching your little girl grow up and being the loving, caring presence in her life he never had.

That is sad OP but this thread will probably be like sad tragic top trumps knowing Mumsnet…

That's really sad.

It was my FIL. He had a really hard upbringing but is the best Granda.

That is really sad, but also really sweet that he had the presence of mind to say something that would not upset his grandchild. So a bit lovely too.

This is something I thought of recently. My mother was/is a podiatrist and a lot of her visits were to old people's homes. When I was little (pre school age) she would sometimes take me with her. One day I had a little wander down the corridor and there was a lady resident in a wheelchair. Her face lit up and she beamed at me and extended her arms and tried to hug me. She was unable to talk properly. I sort of understood she was really happy to see a small child and wanted to cuddle me but I was scared and ran away. I feel sad remembering it (I am 47 now) because I think it would have made her so happy if I had given her a hug. But I didn't know/understand at the time.

Caveat: I appreciate now that no one should try and touch children they don't know but this was different times.

I was an 80s child and we were very poor it was a struggle and because of this we didn't have a camera for many years and when we did it was given to us with 1 roll of film so there isn't any pictures of any of us at all when we were little so I can't show my kids baby pictures or pictures from when I was little there is literally a small handful if pics from my childhood . That does make a little sad .