Do you want your children to understand traumas you've faced in your past?

[somuchtea]

Just interested in others' views on this one.

If you've been through some sort of major trauma in the past - say abusive relationships, sexual abuse, alcoholism, traumatic experiences, mental health issues etc etc - do you expect to talk to your kids about that, and how it's shaped you?
Is it important to you that they don't just know, but have an indepth understanding of what you experienced?
Or do you prefer to keep it from them?

Don't feel you have to divulge any personal details, just really interested in how people think about what they tell their kids.

Not while children are less than teenage. And even then, only if it affects them. Eg if a dc was blaming me for the failure of a marriage, I might explain that ex had drunk 80 units a week, every week for years. But generally I'd gloss over it if I could.

My mum told me a lot of the awful things my df did to her but only once I was a grown woman. I already knew he was rotten so it didn't surprise me and I suppose it was her chance to offload it all after he died. She was from the generation who were ashamed to admit to having been abused. So I didn't mind.