Personal Childhood Web: Dad

I remember both my mom and dad being supportive of all of us children no matter what. One favorite family story is related to my brother, John. John was born in November, and we lived in California where the cut-off for each grade was at the end of November, so John went to kindergarten when he was four until he turned five in November. When John was in fourth grade, he received many Ds on his final yearly report card. My parents, who knew he was doing his best, enthusiastically told John how well he had done. Before John was in fifth grade, our family had moved to a new city and a new school. In that new school, John suddenly became very smart. By the time John reached eighth grade, he was a leader in his school and he won the academic scholarship when he graduated from eighth grade. Today, John is a computer genius, who is the one who takes care of my mom and takes care of many of her bills.

My dad was also very supportive of me. As a child growing up in a family of twelve, I often felt like I blended in and like since my mom and dad would love me no matter what, I wasn’t sure what made me special. When I was 9, I received my brother’s old guitar for Christmas and his old guitar book to use to teach myself guitar. I taught myself guitar until I was eleven. This was made easier by the fact that my sister had taught me to read music and play simple piano when I was seven. When I was 11, I played a song I enjoyed for my dad. He was very impressed. This was the first time I felt that I stood out among my siblings. A little later, my mom asked me if I wanted to take guitar lessons.

In the summer when I was about 11 years old, I took care of my brother with psychological problems and at least one other sibling for six hours a day, Monday through Friday. I received 10 dollars a week. At the end of the summer, on September first, it was my birthday. I remember going with my dad to GEMCO, a store like Super Walmart, to get my birthday gift while my mom did grocery shopping. I was planning to get a chromatic harmonica. I was very surprised that not only did I get the harmonica, but I also received a case for it and a recorder to add to my collection of musical instruments. This may have been my dad’s way of showing his support for my ability with children and my perseverance with my summer job.

My dad also encouraged us to have an opinion and to defend our opinions. I remember once in fifth grade when my dad told me that the teacher had called him because of something I had done. A teacher had called to complain that I had told another student that I thought the math project she was having some of us work on was stupid because it wasn’t teaching us anything new. The teacher had given us what amounted to busy work to do outside, while she taught math to the majority of students who needed a review. I was surprised that I was in trouble for saying what I thought. My dad explained that in some cultures, like the one of the Hispanic nuns that ran our school, it is not right for children to express a differing opinion to adults.