Healing Magic Hands and the Singing Librarian have both participated in this meme. It’s quite an interesting one, so I thought I would give it a go.
It was devised by PhD students at Indiana State University. The original authors of this exercise are Will Barratt, Meagan Cahill, Angie Carlen, Minnette Huck, Drew Lurker, and Stacy Ploskonka at Illinois State University. If you participate, they ask that you please acknowledge their copyright. (I stole this bit from the Singing Librarian, as I couldn’t/am too lazy to think of a better way to word it myself! (Sorry))
Bold the true statements. You can explain further if you wish.
1. Father went to college.
2. Father finished college.
3. Mother went to college.
4. Mother finished college.
Both my parents went to university. My dad studied Engineering and my mum studied English Literature.
5. Have any relative who is an attorney, physician, or professor.
I have in-laws who are doctors – does this count?
6. Were the same or higher class than your high school teachers.
Yes, I think so. My dad was a high school teacher and my mum was a medical secretary, then a mental health nurse, then a social worker.
7. Had more than 50 books in your childhood home.
8. Had more than 500 books in your childhood home.
Not sure about this one we had/have a lot of books in my childhood home, where my parents still live, but not sure if we had 500. Probably. My parents have more books now than we did when I was a child, mainly due to my mum now being a volunteer in an Oxfam shop and buying her own stock on a regular basis!
9. Were read children’s books by a parent.
I was one of those children who liked the same book being read to them again and again…and again. I think my parents must have been sick of reading about the gardener who threw snails and slugs over his neighbours wall. Yes, this was my favourite book as a (small) child! Unfortunately, I can’t remember what it’s called. It had great illustrations of the garden, the wall and all the snails and slugs. If anyone can enlighten me as to its title I would be grateful.
10. Had lessons of any kind before you turned 18.
11. Had more than two kinds of lessons before you turned 18.
It’s only in more recent years that I’ve come to realise how much opportunity my parents gave me. We weren’t massively well-off, but somehow they found the money to send me to dancing lessons starting when I was three or four, piano lessons starting when I was seven and flute lessons when I was twelve. I am ashamed to say that I complained bitterly (mainly to the piano) about having to practice on it and squandered any hopes I might have had of becoming any good. I had (and have) a happier relationship with Florence, my flute, which you can read about if you like.
12. The people in the media who dress and talk like me are portrayed positively.
Hmm, I don’t know about this one. I don’t think I am particularly like anyone portrayed in the media, except for maybe a stereotypical librarian (I wear a lot of cardigans and am a fairly quiet person). So, in that case, perhaps not.
13. Had a credit card with your name on it before you turned 18.
14. Your parents (or a trust) paid for the majority of your college costs.
15. Your parents (or a trust) paid for all of your college costs.
I started university in 1996 when we didn’t have to pay our own tuition fees and the old version of student loans still existed. I took out a student loan every year (which I still don’t earn enough to pay back!), so the loans paid for most things. My parents did give me some money and I worked during the holidays to earn some more.
16. Went to a private high school.
No. I went to the local comprehensives. It was a funny arrangement where we lived, because we had a middle school (11-14) and then an upper school (14-18), but neither of these were private.
17. Went to summer camp.
No, thanks goodness.
18. Had a private tutor before you turned 18.
No. My dad helped me with maths, because I am appallingly bad at it, but I don’t think this counts.
19. Family vacations involved staying at hotels.
No. We stayed overnight at a Travel Lodge on the way/way back from Cornwall once or twice, but I don’t think that counts either.
20. Your clothing was all bought new before you turned 18.
I think so, although not sure. I’m the oldest child and didn’t have any young female relatives older than me, so probably.
21. Your parents bought you a car that was not a hand-me-down from them.
No. I’ve been attempting to learn to drive for about five years, but paid for almost all of the lessons myself and I still can’t drive!
22. There was original art in your house when you were a child.
Not in the sense meant.
23. You and your family lived in a single-family house.
24. Your parent(s) owned their own house or apartment before you left home.
In a way, in that the house was bought, not rented, but the mortgage wasn’t paid off until after I left home.
25. You had your own room as a child.
26. You had a phone in your room before you turned 18.
27. Participated in a SAT/ACT prep course
28. Had your own TV in your room in high school.
29. Owned a mutual fund or IRA in high school or college.
30. Flew anywhere on a commercial airline before you turned 16.
No. I first went on an aeroplane when I was 22. A four-hour flight to Israel. I didn’t know that turbulance was abnormal until the person I was sitting next to told me that flights weren’t supposed to be so bumpy!
31. Went on a cruise with your family.
32. Went on more than one cruise with your family.
33. Your parents took you to museums and art galleries as you grew up.
Yes. I love the dinosaur at the New Walk Museum in Leicester.
34. You were unaware of how much heating bills were for your family.
I remember being told off for leaving the lights on and thereby using up electricity and increasing the bill, so I was aware that things like heating and lighting cost money, but I didn’t know the exact cost of the bills.
Doing this meme made me think about how privileged I was as a child, how privileged I am now and also how things change from one generation to the next. My grandparents would not have been able to answer ‘yes’ to any of the statements, apart from possibly the ones about being read books by a parent as a child and living in a single-family house, and I’m not even sure about those. I think my parents would only be able to say ‘yes’ to these two, possibly the one about having lessons (I think my mum had piano lessons) and possibly the one about going to museums and galleries.
Like other bloggers who have done this meme I’m grateful that, as a child, I was privileged in the way that, I think, counts for more than simply being able to possess certain material things or go on foreign holidays. I had, and have, access to education, a safe home, opportunities to do things that I enjoy, as well as many, many, other privileges that people elsewhere in the world or even elsewhere in the UK don’t have.
