You didn't like other kids

Dr. Metallic

This is a brief article on introvertedness, and on nature vs. nurture—something to think and discuss.

My mom found an old photocopy of my teeny hand from when I was three. So I asked her a couple of questions about my childhood. She told me that I was like Stewie. We talked about my advanced vocabulary for just a young’n , about following her around in my walker, and that I didn’t like other kids. And that I used to headbutt her. I was utterly distraught when she answered my next question, “Who is Piaget?” Yes, I really wanted to know how soon before I realized both glasses had the same amount of water.

You didn’t like other kids. Apparently it went back as far as when I was two, and I would get up and walk away when the neighbor kids would want to get into my little blow-up pool.
Man, and I’m still introverted just like that.
That may have been my first response, but these days I don’t say no to social interaction (not always at least….)

I wasn’t a crowd-follower either. When I was five or six my dad and grandpa took me through this new house being built. They warned me not to touch the insulation (It’ll make ya itch), among other safety tips an adult would tell a small child walking through a construction site. Don’t ask me why, but there were about five other kids there too, so I went over to see what they were doing. Of course, they were all giving the fiberglass insulation a good groping, “It’s soooo soft.”

Do you still have your I/E from your childhood?
Do you still express it in a similar way?
How did you do with Piagetian Tasks?
Do you have any childhood anomalies to share?

Ciao,
J.M.

Trope

One of, if not 'the', oldest memory I have involved a minor realization about sharing. Someone wanted to play with my toy car and I was expected to share. To the best of my recollection, only a moment passed before I came to the conclusion that sharing was dumb and wandered off to find something else to do. I got nothing from watching someone else enjoy the use of my toys when I got nothing in return but a chance to watch them play.

vanWinchester

Oh Gee, childhood.
Hm, I used to be quite big on self-esteem and ego as a kid. Very energetic, dominant and whatnot.
Somewhen I changed 180°. And now I am a mix. Kinda weird if I think about it.

I guess I would have become some sort of ENTx or something, but some happenings prevented me from doing so (which is good). So now I am more of an introvert. But it's cool. At least I could experience *both sides* of every trait. Sure helps the balance.

Define: Anomalies. ^^°

NewSoul

I actually think I was quite extraverted as a young child. Of course, I'm still considered a child, but whatever.

WickedQueen

I tortured my Barbies.

NewSoul

My little brother liked to undress my Barbies and make them wrestle.

de l'eau salée

I was extremely antisocial. I didn't hate people, I'd just rather be on my own or with someone I enjoyed (my dog :P).
I refused to sign up for sports or pretty much any activity involving fellow kids. Not only did I suck at and detest most sports, but I hated having to interact with the super loud outgoing kids who I felt complete opposite to, but for some unknown reason, looked up to. I believe I was the only boy in my class who didn't play on the soccer or baseball team. The Gameboy was most likely my best friend. I was extremely shy as well and my parent's tried making me go to shyness classes, but I also refused to do that as well. The only extra curricular activity I ever signed up for as a kid was an art class, and I didn't even like it that much. Then, by the 7th grade, I realized I was going down a bad path and tried to force myself to socialize by signing up for the basketball team for 2 years, but, surprise surprise, I didn't fit in and rejoiced when the season ended. Damn, looking bad at my childhood, I feel bad for my parents having to put up with such an antisocial kid. At least I'm not as bad as I was, but I've still got plenty of issues.

εmptε

I think I had a lot of friends when I was young, but seemed to always do stuff alone. So I was more extroverted but still self-reliant. I'm probably less extroverted now, but still extroverted :)

I always hung out with the people others considered 'freaks'. Even though I knew the people that considered them freaks I think I had more freaky friends :P I like crazy people I guess.

NephilimAzrael

I was apparently an inquisitive fella..
When I was a kid I would not shut up with questions, apparently it didn't go away.
I used to read alot, read the dictionary copiously. Yet I felt repelled from using redundant terms. Except people somehow were and still are enamoured by those terms.

Oh I just had a flash memory.. I was about 7 at a family friend's place. I got on well with their kids and had an organised play group going. So my folks and their folks decided I could babysit and they could go down the pub.

I remember their father turning to me and asking about how I was able to keep them in line. I said "perhaps it is a maternal instinct", which he critiqued "Don't you mean PATERNAL?" I pointed out:
" I am 7, and as a dad is asking me how to keep kids in-line, I know what I am saying"..

Oh I can't stop laughing at the Irony..

Nightriser

I made my Barbies have sex a lot.
I was a perverse child. Speaking of which,

...that might explain why Mom never approves of any of my friends. They're all as weird or perverse as I am. I love them anyway.

Actually, I remember not asking that many questions. In second or third grade, I decided that it was better if I were able to figure things out on my own than to ask someone else. It turned into a habit.

I still read a lot, and occasionally get in trouble for it. In third grade, the students were entrusted with the task of choosing their own spelling list. I would scour the dictionary for what looked like the most challenging words, and the teacher praised me for it.


Anyway, I was a rather anti-social child. I didn't often play with other children, and when I did, the manner in which I played seems detached. The teachers wrote their concern about my social development on report cards. Looking back, it seems that being introverted was an inevitability for me. My parents didn't have time to take me to play with classmates, and few neighbors had children my age. I desperately wished for a little sibling, but my parents had decided not to have another child. At home, I was lonely and wanting a playmate, but at school, I shunned most social interaction. At any given year of school, the number of friends I had never exceeded two, until seventh grade (and one year, it was at zero). Come to think of it, I never related to my peers. I usually preferred the company of older students or teachers.

As noted before, I once expressed a snobbery about my vocabulary--I would let no vernacular taint my perfect English. This also extended to music, in fifth and sixth grade. I would listen to the "cultured" classical music, not the pop music that appealed to the masses. Yes, I was an elitist child. I also spoke frankly about how I perceived myself: beautiful, brilliant, and too perfect to be a normal human. That last one didn't manifest until middle school, but I did once think it. Hey, maybe that's why I didn't have many friends.

I don't know how I did with the Piagetian tasks.