In the last few blogs, I have written about how we could develop negative emotional blocks from our parents, even if we had “perfect” parents.  However, how many of us had “perfect” parents?   I forget where I read this statistic, but one of the well known authorities suggested that 96% of people came from “dysfunctional” families.

Most of us had parents who may or may not have been doing their best, but it wasn’t very good.  After all, none of us were born with instructions on the best way to raise us.  Also, most of our parents had no experience or training on how to be good parents.

I remember when my first daughter was born.  I was 23 years old and a registered nurse.  I should have been very confident, but I was absolutely terrified.  Physically, I knew how to look after her but the awesome responsibility of having to care for such a completely helpless person 24/7 was overwhelming for me.

I heard one experienced father say:  “Before I was married, I had no children and six theories on how to raise them.  Now I have six children and no theories”. 

That was exactly my experience.  With our first child, I had no idea how to handle each age and stage that she went in to.  By the time I figured out how to handle it, she was out of that stage and into another. 

As the other children were born (five in six years, including one seriously handicapped child), I soon learned that each child was completely different.  What worked for one child, didn’t work for the next one. 

I spent most of those years, just trying to get through each day with some measure of peace and sanity.   The sad part is that I raised my children the way I was raised and how could I have done any differently.  I didn’t know any other way.  Just as my parents did before me, I did the best that I could with the level of knowledge and awareness I had at the time.

In my next blog, I will share some of my childhood experiences with you.  As you read them, you might relate to some of them.