Went for lunch with my mum and my husband today. She spent ages talking about when me and my brother were young. How she’d meet us at the school gate every day, we’d bake, play games, she’d slave away to do a home cooked meal and have it on the table every evening at 5pm when my dad came home so we’d all sit around and basically sing kumbaya.
That’s not my recollection at all, and not how my brother remembers either. He’s six years older than me so doesn’t remember it from his early years, or mine.
The truth is my parents did not have a good relationship. My father was a workaholic and I have practically no memories of him when I was young. Mum did stay at home when I was very young but then went back to work when I was 5 and I had a childminder after school. The childminder finished up when I was 6 so I used to walk home from school, then stay on my own until my brother got home two hours later. I have a scar on my arm from when I decided to make myself a cup of tea and knocked over the kettle.
There wasn’t any baking, and dinner was usually Crispy Pancakes, a Frey Bentos pie, or something from a Dolmio jar. There was always a roast on a Sunday but my father would eat it in the “good” room which we weren’t allowed in so we never sat eating dinner together.
My father was horrifically controlling and doing even small things became a battle. There was no physical abuse, but he was cold and could be very manipulative.
Don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t a bad childhood (this post definitely gives some of the worst examples), it just wasn’t an easy house to grow up in and I was pretty free-range once old enough to cycle. We were well provided for, but my parents really should have gone their separate ways. There was always lots of tension and they always wanted us to take sides when they’d argue. They married really young and had both grown up in very abusive households so just didn’t know how to communicate or compromise.
Before anyone asks, I don’t think my mother has any form of dementia etc. I think she has just told herself these things so often that she believes them. I’m very close to her and love her loads but anytime I tell her I remember things differently, she gets very, very defensive. I assume it’s her way of coping with such an unhappy marriage, so I tend not to push it too much anymore.
So I guess I’m not asking for advice on how to deal with my mother (she’s mid-80s now and not in great healthy, physically, so I don’t want to stress/antagonize her) but just wondering if anyone has a parent who also misremembers their childhood?