Children who grew up teaching themselves because nobody had time to teach them often become adults who are extraordinarily competent and quietly resentful

https://lemmy.world/post/44028229

Children who grew up teaching themselves because nobody had time to teach them often become adults who are extraordinarily competent and quietly resentful - Lemmy.World

Does anyone else see themselves in this article?

I’m married to someone who had to be the adult and take care of her family (siblings and mother) starting age 11.

My wife is unstoppable. But she expects adults to be adults, because she had to figure out how to be one by herself. And that’s where the resentment comes in.

Yeah that was me as a kid. 1-2 siblings, parents worked 8am-6pm or later, and mom travelled a lot for work. I did all my own stuff starting at ~6yo, cooking/cleaning/laundry by 8yo, caring for my baby siblings starting at 11yo (including overnight childcare).

I don’t resent anyone for it (no cope, I think my childhood was good overall). Parents both started from absolutely zero and became very successful. But I definitely am left with the feeling that if I can’t handle something, someone else will either do it incompetently or not think to do it at all.

That attitude has not yielded lots of friends or the support I probably need. People assume I don’t need anything and I don’t know how to ask.

But I definitely am left with the feeling that if I can’t handle something, someone else will either do it incompetently or not think to do it at all.

In my many decades of experience, the only people who can do it competently are going to charge a fuck of a lot of money for their time, and even with an expensive contractor, it’s 60:40 they’ll do it right.

Mechanics will replace the entire cooling loop and sensors in a car to make an extra grand. HVAC techs will charge you an extra Benjamin to replace a contractor along with the capacitor, just in case it was a problem.