What were you like as a child?

I'm more interested in the present at the moment, but for anyone who cares to read it I'll go ahead and share what insights I can into my own childhood.

To start off: I, Trope, am by definition a bastard. I have no ill feelings toward this simple fact and it is reflected as such in my signature. The apparent oxymoron presented in the phrase "magnificent bastard" fills me with warm fuzzies.

I was raised by my INTJ father who believed in such adages as "It takes two fools to argue," and "You should follow your head, not your heart." Admittedly, it makes a great deal of sense for him but for me, the latter bit of wisdom has hardly proved fruitful. *cough*Te has never worked for me.*cough*

When I was about five, I remember looking at my box full of toys and realizing that all the cheap plastic goodness in the world wasn't going to bring me any sort of satisfaction. Those things bored me so I had to find other ways to occupy myself.

I was the kid who enjoyed doing things he hadn't done before, which often meant doing the things that would have gotten me into trouble if caught. An early fascination with fire as well as sneaking into empty homes come to mind for some reason. Two things which was later combined, I might add, as my friends and I would let ourselves into the unlocked and abandoned apartments that comprised the majority of our complex to play with fire. I was also one of the fastest runners at my elementary school since I was so much taller than the rest of the kids, which suited me just fine. I liked being taller than the so-called "big kids."

When I was nearly ten, we moved from California to Texas because my father had become rather paranoid about certain issues which I needn't go into here but I will say that shortly after that point, my mentality shifted began to shift rather drastically toward INTPness. Perhaps it would have anyway, but if type is formative rather than simple inherent nature, then that move followed by the his subsequent marriage to my ESTJ stepmother drove me rather strongly into an unfeeling introverted shell. Who knows? Maybe I could've ended up ENTP. In any case, before long I stopped caring about doing well in school and even managed to get myself held back after seventh grade after I was tardy too many times to summer school.

I don't have much to look back on in comparison to most people on here, for I am only 15. Nonetheless, thinking back to when i was younger, back in primary school, I was very talkative and have been told that i had "an angelic disposition". I was generally upbeat and outgoing, the opposite of my personality now. I was also very naive and gullible, i never believed that people would lie to me or play pranks. I was always a bookworm, that never changed. At the beginning of middle school is when my personality flip-flopped. I became very quiet, cynical, reclusive, and suspicious. I also became very depressed and withdrawn from people, looking toward people as untrustworthy and undesirable. This was the result of multiple traumas that i am still recovering from to this day.

My mother is an ESFP and even before i changed, she never really seemed to know what to do with me or how to handle me. I lived with her and my grandmother who was never happy with me and always compared me to my dead cousin. I was never smart, pretty, or helpful enough to make her proud. I went to a very small school, where the teachers were generally the parents of other children there. I was always treated differently because it was run by rich people who raised their children to think they were a higher life form because they could buy what they wanted. The only interaction i had with children my own age was from that school and i got in so many fights i have lost count. This drove me into a deep and nearly suicidal depression and gave me a quick temper and a smart mouth. I became so withdrawn that they would call me a vampire or a goth because i wore all black, seeing color hurt, and i would sit emotionless and silent until they angered me. When i was 12, i switched schools and moved in with my dad. On new years day, also the day before i switched schools, my dad had a seizure. it was at 5 in the morning and it began 2 years of hell. He changed completely, talking to himself and hallucinating. He would have horrible seizures that i think truly scarred me for life. One of which, i was at the library with my friend, charlie, and when i got home there was an ambulance in the driveway. They wouldn't let me see my father and i found out he had fallen on the marble counter face first in the bathroom and broke 30% of the bones in his face. I walked back into the house and found blood covering the bathroom floor. I had to stay at charlie's house so i could go to school the next morning. After living with my grandmother once more and constantly being criticized for everything i did and didn't do, my mother has moved the two of us into a little apartment.

I can't honestly say what my personality would be now had my life been different, but i believe i wouldn't be nearly so reserved and jaded.

No it is not with me there are so many things which have been added in my personality since my childhood. And i think that it is a dynamic thing which keep changing time to time.

While I'm still fairly similar to when I was a kid, I've definitely changed quite a bit due to the fact that I've had to leave people behind quite often. I went to 3 elementary schools (first school from Jr. Kindergarten and finished grade 1 there, 2nd school for grade 2, and 3rd until grade 6) and the deaths of 2 family members. I've just started avoiding getting close to to people knowing that I'll probably end up having to leave them too.

Yay these threads are always fun. :)

Little me: TV junkie, fascinated by computers- neopets obsessed but went through many multimedia phases, more playful and talkative but it was still obvious I was an introvert, sometimes teasing my sisters' boyfriends to the point of annoying, beheaded barbies, loved role playing with toys- designed houses for them, played schools, accessories swaps, shops, dance, knew how to do a row of successive cartwheels.. best friend was of course ESFP but we've drifted since I've become more dorky and less of a social boy magnet haha. I'd tell anyone who'd listen about the soap I directed featuring dolls and pillows.. yes I used to personify pillows over blankies... I also loved fiction- one of my favourite books involved the protagonist travelling through a tree into a magical sparkly fairy realm, was interested in astronomy and was spoon-fed food for much longer than the average child :P Dad threatened that talking to mirrors caused nightmares to stop me doing it, which I believed it for much longer than I should've. Apparently I recited a poem he read to me every night from memory when I was three. Hm come to think of it I was kind of an eccentric child; I had this scooter I'd ride around the house while engaging my imagination, took photos of myself holding photos, would imagine certain clothes as being 'safe and warm' against a stormy backdrop and others as being 'fatal' such as dresses without stockings. I still get that 'safe and warm' feeling when I'm snuggled up in bed and there's it's pouring mad outside. When I was 3-5 I would cry whenever I got a birthday present I didn't like as if it contained bad omens, it was probably a subconscious fear of that chuckie doll x files episode projected onto objects I wasn't 'feelin it' with :P

I remember random snippets from my childhood like collecting hailstones in the garden and eating them, laughing at messy drawings of overflowing toilets in kindy, frowning hard trying to bend a fork like in pokemon or spelling heaven 'haven' in the story I wrote in year one. I used to write really black and white plots where the good princesses were vehemently victimised by the ugly witches haha, cheap! I conducted an 'experiment' to see whether santa was real in year one by telling no one what I wanted for Christmas and I was right :(

In school I was a quick reader and my first big word was 'chrysanthemum' since the tea is delicious! Muhaha I remember on the first of year three I knew the difference between 'court' and 'caught' being common sense and the rest of the class was stunned XD They tried to get me to move up a grade in year two but I either failed on purpose or they overestimated me.. don't remember and it doesn't matter because that all changed when I got to high school where the content was much harder. (I remember primary school to be mostly a bludge). I was ridiculed for being 'teacher's pet' probably because of my IJ inclination to focus and pay attention in class. In this one exam in year six I got answers wrong on purpose for self-effacing purposes... but as kids realise higher years of schooling become increasingly important and apply themseives, they can turn out to be much more intelligent.

Some years I was a complete loner, some years I was more popular.. and now I'm back to being a loner :P

Gosh I miss my childhood but if I had the choice I wouldn't go back. The thought of going through everything else subsequent to the good times all over again is shuddering. Eghh got a bit carried away, sorry it's so long. D:

I was ANGELIC as a child, summed up in one word for brief response

I'll maybe reply more in detail later since this is a big topic.

Later I was still angelic but ,also,
curiouslly mischevious,
and my rebel/awesomeness came out.

Wow, all these posts were a blast to read! Very fun and informative! Trope, I delighted in your short story.
Edit: I went completely overboard as I haven't done this in a while and found it immensely entertaining to see what streamed out of me.

My turn.
NOTE: Was born shortly after midnight during the worst electrical storm my hometown had experienced for over fifteen years. My father often said with a smile, "I'm not sure what was louder, the thunder or your screaming." The hospital was on backup power and half the staff had gone home to batten the hatches.

As a baby I shrieked my displeasure at the world. As a young child I simply raged at the world. I grew up on a farm/ranch style home outside town limits and my friends were dogs and horses. An older cousin was often my baby-sitter and later discussion with her revealed I was a manipulative bastard from the beginning. I was a tireless climber and adventurer. Bookshelves, fridges, countertops and closets would be discovered and re-discovered frequently. I "ran away" no less than three times before age 12. Twice my mother followed me in the pickup until I was too tired to go further. The third time my father found me holed up in our "neighbour's" hay barn with some cheese and bread wrapped in a dishtowel and my Beastmen. (Little anthropomorphic dudes in armor with color changing elemental insignias.)

In short, elementary was comprised of being overly physical to the point that my roving band of miscreants were feared by grade sixers, while we were grade fourers. The English/French division didn't help that. Crazy style animal soccer was my strong point, as well as playing DnD behind the power boxes with the local genius during summertime lunch hours. As a classmate I was often disruptive, argumentative with the teacher and very compassionate to those that I felt were unfairly treated (this has nothing to do with those that I treated unfairly, I was ignorant of that).

In grade six, I punched my teacher in the nuts, then face, for advancing in a threatening manner. He called the cops, then was dismissed from my school. Upon family investigation, later found that my Grandmother dubbed me "fearless when reprimanded".

Oddly enough my only problem (so far) with the girls was in preschool. I hit a girl named Jayna with a plastic brontosaur. She still remembered that until High School. I had forgotten until she reminded me.

On the point of girls I must say that, developing reading skills at a young age and finding the Clan Of The Cave Bears series in my parents bookshelf, led me to scoring higher on female anatomy tests than the girls in my grade ? class(can't remember, 5 or 6 I think). I knew what a clitoris was and was fascinated. This led me to chronic masturbation. Also, with the help of a certain girl, we arranged kissing contests at grade 6 that led to lines as long as ten people for certain. Clandestine makeout sessions in the basement science storage areas became an activity as well.

During all this time I wasn't allowed a Nintendo and we owned a 64k IBM compatible with which I enjoyed making the screen constantly spew HA HA HA HA HA, much to my father's chagrin (he was trying to start a business). Otherwise Pac-man was the game of choice. Well, only game. I occasionally rode one of the stabled horses to a friends house also on the edge of town (opposite though) to bypass this and play Megaman. I loved games even without them being in my immediate experience.

Other than that, fantasy literature and the over the top antics of those characters inspired me to be better than I was. Elfquest taught me to be more forgiving and love those different than I. Sci-Fi intrigued the technological part of me, namely Douglas Adams and all his crazy stuff. Stephen King was also readily available and devoured, beloved, then forgotten and disdained as I got older. Pompous ass. Fiction was boring and less entertaining until I got older. I needed more over the top models.

After all that comes Junior High, which isn't childhood, so I'm done. I may have taken liberties with this thread but I feel like I ran a marathon with this and feel much better.

Cliffs: Angry and rebellious at first.
Loved to read.
Discovered women and sexuality early.
Fearless in the face of authority.