Pampered Childhood

I was a spoiled child when I was young!

When I was growing up, I was grandma's pet and I was so spoiled by her that I was the 'untouchable' one among all my cousins :) My parents were separated when I was very young. I was about 6 years old I think. One day my mom decided to pack up, take me, leave my dad behind and go live with my grandparents.

My grandparents were living in another state and my mom's sister and her kids also lived with my grandparents. So it was kind of a huge family living under one roof. I was the only child of my parents unlike my mom's sis who had two kids and my mom's brother whose kids (2 of them also) were living with my grandparents too. My grandmother was like this great big baby sitter ... hehehe ... don't be fooled by this, she was one strict lady. Fearsome even ! Imagine Cruella De Ville here!

I really don't know why or how I became grandma's pet grandson but I sure as hell wasn't complaining :) There were loads of benefits with being the pet grandson. It was probably cos I was an only child and seeing as how my parents separated she was more protective of me. No one in the house could say anything to me or even scold me, cos I would just scream 'grandma, so-and-so did this or said this to me' and she would come to my rescue by scolding whoever pissed me off ... hehehe ... even my own mom couldn't discipline me (not that I was really a brat mind you) cos grandma would scold her back! Like I said earlier, I was the untouchable :)

Whatever I wanted, and if my mom didn't wanna get it for me, grandma would. She would give my mom some stern lecture about not getting what I wanted and grandma would buy it herself for me. I do feel guilty about doing that to my mom now.

Times were tough those days and we were not a rich family. And my mom had to raise me all on her own. In fact my mom worked her butt off to put me where I am today but to a pampered little child like me, I didn't for one second think about stuff like that. So, I'd always sulk and complain to grandma and in the end I always got what I wanted.

God, how my cousins hated me. I always had things my way. Grandma would always see to that. There was this time when my cousin got a bicycle for his birthday. I was so envious that I wanted one instantly. My mom said 'no Nicky boy! You'd have to learn to have patience and wait for your birthday like everyone else' but I wasn't buying that. I sat on the chair in the hall sulking all day, not talking, not wanting to eat, not moving from there until grandma came to my rescue and bought me a bicycle that very same day! That was how horribly pampered I was those days.

With grandma, I was always more special and I enjoyed that extra special attention I had, abused it at times even. Even with it came to allowances for school, I always had more. My cousins would have a weekly allowance of RM10.00 for the entire week, I on the other hand would have RM5.00 a day for my allowance. Whatever my mom gave me, grandma would always topped it up with extra. Even when it came to food, everyone would be eating what was cooked for the whole family for dinner, except me. Grandma would always make something extra for me.

Then one day, when I was around 14 years or so, grandma passed away and I was terrified out of my wits. Her death affected me so much (you can probably guess why). How was I gonna be special without her around? Who was gonna be there for me when things went wrong? God, all my cousins are probably gonna kill me now! LOL!

The strange thing is no one actually held anything against me. They were all more concerned about how I would cope. They knew I was extremely close to my grandmother and they all basically gathered around to fill that void that was left by grandma. And here I thought I was gonna be ostracized by them.

Well, I eventually 'learned' to cope without having the protective shell that my grandmother used to provide. In fact, I think I learned to be more independent since then. I had to learn to do things on my own and face whatever consequences that came with it. It made me a stronger person as I grew older. Yes, I was more of a loner who kept things to himself while growing but I was more capable of doing things on my own. I'm proud to say that I'm no longer a spoiled brat, stubborn to the bone maybe, but not spoiled :)

Now with a family of my own, and two fast growing kids, I look at life from a different perspective. Would I spoil my kids the way I was spoiled? Would I give them everything they want? Would I shelter and protect them the way I was to the point where I couldn't really function on my own? Yes and no.

Yes, I would protect them with my life but no, I won't spoil them the way I was. I would love to give them the world if I could, but I'd like for them to know that to have the world, they sometimes have to work for it. Then it makes having that world all the more meaningful. I did have almost everything I wanted when I was young but if you ask me now was it meaningful and I'd say 'no, it wasn't cos it was not earned'. That's the truth.

Who doesn't want the best for their kids? I do, that's for sure. But I'd like them to grow up to be strong people. To know the value of things. To know a little what their parents had to go through to get food on the table and a roof over their heads. I'm proud to say my younger son is a very independent boy. At 8 years old, though he's a hyper active brat (LOL) he can think on his feet pretty fast. He's creative, he tough (tougher than I was when I was his age), he's intelligent, he's bossy (especially with his older brother who, btw is an absolute joy to have cos he doesn't ask me and the wife for anything at all). He can understand the term, 'be patient and wait till we buy you that toy' or 'you have to get good results in school before you get that toy' (though he will bug you everyday until he eventually gets it ... hehehe).

I'd like to think he'll grow up to be a better me. I'm pretty strict with him to the point that he complains to the wife that I don't love him, but that is far from the truth. I do love him with all I've got though sometimes I don't show it all that much to him. Old age must be getting to me ... LOL! But he knows he can count on me, especially when he gets into mischief and does something wrong. The first person he'll come running to is me cos he knows I won't scold him if he tells me what he did wrong. He knows if he goes to mummy first, he is so gonna get it ... LOL! That's our brat boy for you. (brat boy is our endearing name for him ... hehehe ...)

I've got high hopes for him and I know he'll make me proud :) Just as long as he doesn't chose a thankless job like going into advertising, that would be fine with me ... LOL! So, tell me what you were like when you were growing up? Did you get the full pampered treatment? Or did you go through life the hard way? I'd love to hear your tales.