Personal Narrative: My Attachment Styles

The best way to describe the attachment style between my grandparents and I was securely attached. In daycare I would always be upset watching my grandmother leave but then it was always easy for me to get along with other people and make friends while she was gone. When she returned, I was incredibly excited to see her and would immediate re-attach myself to her. My grandmother tells a particular story of the first day I was at a new daycare and I was fine when she dropped me off but when she picked me up she describes me as running to her with a runny nose and skinned knees because I had been thrown off of the merry-go-round. That was the first and last day of my attendance at that particular day care.
Growing up my grandparents constructed an authoritative type home for me. Both, especially my grandmother, held extremely high standards for my academically and socially. I was and still am expected to be involved in a plethora
of activities on campus, especially if they are performance based. My grandmother was a teacher so she was the type that would always come to the school and ask about how my performance was and if there was anything to improve my standing if need be. She always asked about grades and how classes were going, and still does to this day. Even though they held me to high standards growing up, my grandparents always supported what it was that I wanted to do with my life and helped my seize every opportunity possible so that I could get ahead in my craft. For example, sending me to a private school so that I could receive personal attention from faculty and thrive academically, paying for dance and voice lessons, paying to send me to summer camps for theatre, and the most recent being helping pay for me to study Commedia dell’Arte in Italy for the summer. My grandparents have always been a strong support system for me throughout my entire life no matter what.
I believe that the reason I formed a securely attached attachment style is because of the Authoritative parenting style that my grandparents chose to raise me with.
There were high expectations of me but they applied to the areas of my choosing. I was allowed to create my own goals but I was always expected to reach them, if not go above and beyond. This allowed me enough freedom to have experience and feel like a was supported in every aspect of my life and that any limits that were set for me were for my best interest. For example, during freshman and sophomore year of high school I was never allowed to go out on weekdays after rehearsals or soccer practice because it was important that I focus on schoolwork. Junior year I was allowed to go out out but had to be back by a certain time and senior year I was allowed to choose when I came home as long as I called if I was going to be out late. This taught me responsibility and priority later in college when I was in control of my own schedule even though I didn’t understand it at the
time.