My Childhood Experience

I went through my childhood with more sad memories than happy ones. I sometime wish that I could feel the other way around. Unfortunately, the dramatic and sad experiences stand out more in my memory bank. Among my childhood , I remember the experience of my father helping me on my math problem when I was nine years old the most. That experience has affected my relationship with my parents negatively and teaches me to be a better parent.

When I was nine years old, I had trouble in math. I could not do multi-digit division; thus, my math performance in school suffered. My mother made me kneel for about fifteen minutes then spanked me afterward if I got an average grade or below in school. She could not help me because she had no education. To overcome the math problem, I asked my father for help one night. The experience that I went through while getting help from him was the worse one in my childhood.

My father and I spent next three hours together that night, and that was the longest three hours I had ever experience in life. He helped me by having me doing many multi-digit division problems and if I made any mistake he would whip the back of my hands with a wooden ruler. I of course got countless number of whips especially at the beginning because I didn't know how to solve them. I can still recall his out control temperament. He yelled at me and told me how stupid I was continuously. I remember crying nonstop and begging him to stop hitting me. At the end of that three hours I was no longer having any more math problem or any other problems.

After that night, I always made sure that my parents would never know any of my problems. I stopped asking my parents for help. That experience has affected the way I feel about my parents. I was not closed to my parents before, and that experience deteriorated our relationship further. That experience also affects the way I raise my children today. I learn to be more tolerable and helpful to children, and not to repeat the same nightmare that I went through with my father.