How over-protective was your mum with you growing up?
 

(Or whoever your main female guardian was.) This could’ve been a joint-poll, because either parental figure (mum or dad) can be over-protective, obviously, but for one thing I didn’t want to murky the waters of the poll-options like that, so from my side I’m just honing in on one type of parent.

And we are judging this how

Based on the other mums we had?

Based on the mum you did have. I know you like to bait but at-least be clear. I came back to this thread hoping the comment would be a constructive one.

Not at all..

Love her to bits but she called upon dad to leather me. Which he did.

My Mom was very over-protective of both myself and my Brother.:joker:

I do miss that tbh.

My Mum was protective but gave us our freedom. She trusted us and we respected that.

She isn't a very motherly or protective person but she does love her children and grandchildren very much.

I wouldn't say iver protective ....almost the opposite but growing up in the 80s was very different than parenting in the 2010s and beyond

So I guess the context of time adds layers and a bit of nuance in your case. I get that.

Things have changed now. I was never in the house as a kid....we played out all day. My kid does a lot of his socialising over gaming platforms now. In all honesty as much as I enjoy it when he does go out with friends.....I am much less anxious when he's in the house chatting to mates over the PlayStation.

The world has changed since I was growing up and its much more dangerous out there now

I'd have to go with my grandmother as the female figure (when she was available) and she was over-protective but she had pretty solid reasons for it, I think... my mother was not fully with it and had severe disabilities, so I was a caretaker as a child. Including and not limited to handling a lot of her personal business (like talking to people, phone calls and billing, etc) because I could sound like a full adult... my mother would get a lot of run around because of the way she both talked, would mistreat people when they misunderstood her especially when she was having one of her paranoid moments. On top of this, there were other people in the home with other physical disability, so I got used to being the people wrangler (No surprise there, I married one also lol)... that's why I really don't mind the level of anxiety my grandmother might've had because she had a lot going on.

Funny enough, it was my mother who had the more relaxed attitude and because I was already showing independence, she didn't really care that much if I went and did my own thing...

When I was growing up, kids were much safer than they are now. All the mothers were at home and keeping an eye on all the kids. Growing up in Glasgow was always dangerous for teenagers, gangs were violent, but it never stopped anyone doing anything they wanted to. Obviously, by that point, the parents role changes to much more hands off. It really can't be compared to growing up today

How old were you all when your parents first let you take public transport on your own (not talking about a taxi, because anyone can put a kid in a taxi and have them meet their auntie or grandpa at the other end)?

I got the bus to school at 10 as I went to a school a fair way away.

I used to get the bus a little younger but with my brother who was 2 years older and very sensible

Very, to the point where I have memories of being humiliated

Love the older people in my family but there are some things that the older generation do that I just wouldn’t dare think of doing to my kid

I flew by myself at 14 for the first time a few states away to see my aunt and cousins

public transport... about same age...

I see.

When did she ease off some?

Probably when I moved away