In class yesterday, much of the discussion was about Scout and the absence of a mother figure in her life. We all agreed that this absence changed the family dynamics and probably played a large part in molding Scout's overall personality etc. So, I was wondering if there are any absences of important family figures in your lives? How have these absences changed your upbringing or effected who you are as a person? How would your lives be different if that figure had been there?

Keep in mind that this doesn't just apply to parents... maybe some of you are an only child, how has your life been different without siblings? Or maybe your grandparents died or live far away and you never really got to know them, how has this absence influenced your family? Looking forward to reading your comments!!

Different Parents for Different Kids

Okay, so to tie into the whole theme of family I want to know if you guys think it's true that your parents are different parents for each of their children. For instance, usually the firstborn is the "experiment child" and the baby of the family is the most spoiled and gets away with almost anything. I also want to know if you have any personal stories about this topic. Were you ever allowed or not allowed to do something that one of your other siblings did or didn't get to do? The idea of this concept is that even though you technically have the same parents as your brothers and sisters you don't really have the same parents. So since each child is different from their siblings it makes sense that parents would be differ in how they raise each child right? I just want to know what you guys think or if you have any stories that relate to this! :)

Upbringing and Its Affects!

In class, the idea about people's morals and who they are as a person stem from their upbringing is always brought up. I have always been very interested in how people were raised and if it truly affects them and in what ways. For example, how do some parents raise a genius? Or what went wrong in the upbringing of children who become killers?

So I want to know..... How did your parents raise you? Was it a very structured environment or more of a day by day experiment? Were there any specific instances that you can remember where their discipline or lack thereof had a major affect on your life? Do you still apply the morals you were taught as a child to your life now? Do you believe that your upbringing has shaped who you are today? If yes, then how? Expand on this topic in any way that you would like, I'm just interested in what you have to say :)