Every day I hear about people’s crazy families. But to this day, I’ve never heard someone rave to me about how normal their family is. But that could just be because people who do have normal families see no reason to talk about it.
So, are there any of you out there with normal families?
Is there such a thing?
Well, I grew up in a normal family. Mom, Dad, four kids, one car, dad worked, mom stayed home. In high school we moved to a bigger house and got some extra cars. All the kids finished school. We all work at steady jobs. No arrests. No big deal.
Then I grew up and married a farmer and we went out and bought (cheap) a couple of really weird kids. (Cute. Nice. Entertaining. But definitely loaded with issues.) I still have not been committed and am not currently trying to commit my wife or sell or bury the kids, so I guess we’re fairly normal, too. (Regardless what it looks like from behind my glasses, some days.)
Let’s see, an older brother, younger sister, two parents, one of each. Parents still married, nobody killed, no drunken brawls, no battering or abuse.
Great parents, adore my sister. Had a few issues with my brother, but we’re over those. Loving household. A series of dogs, cats, and birds as pets.
Both parents have careers - dad a college instructor, mom a social worker. Mom went back to school - twice, now has two Masters’ degrees in Social Work.
Brother is an aerospace engineer, sister a children’s librarian (with Masters’ degree), I’m an engineer.
Um, sounds pretty normal, I guess.
My family is pretty normal. Alcoholic abusive father, awesome mom, my brother’s a recovering crackhead. My older stepbrother Tony is the biggest asshole ever, my younger stepbrother Jimmy was recently arrested for drug possession. My stepdad once traumatized me by giving me the full moon in a parking lot, and people call him CupCake. On the other side, I think I still have a stepfamily. I still hate dolls because my remaining grandmother told me they would come alive and eat me when she was drunk (ie all the time); my nutcase dad still lives with her. My stepbrother Lance is also my cousin (figure THAT one out, please), my stepsister was 12 yo in the fourth grade last time I talked to her (seven years ago), my adopted half-sister was 2 last time I saw her, and I have yet to meet my half-sister, but tragically enough, she was named Bobbi Jo, which did not and does not bode well for her future.
But I’m normal!
And anyway, I wouldn’t trade my ment-ment family for a normal one. They made me who I am, and there’s much more good that came from that than bad.
I think, even with my mom’s issues that I have a normal family. I know I was talking about my mom being nuts. But that doesn’;t mean I didn’t have a good childhood. 4 kids, parents stayed together. mid-upper class income. spiled rooten to an extent. Every family has rough times. There is always going to be a flawed part here or there. My sis got into drugs for a year and a half. My mom has gone crazy about 10 times. My dad is a bit of a workaholic. But I was never abused, neglected, stsrved(motionally or physically).
I think “normal” is relative.
Two, still married parents. House with a large yard in the country with plenty of pets. Grandparents all alive and within 15 miles of home. Three kids. Church every Sunday while the kids were in school. Mother the organist. No divorces among grandparents/parents. Both parents gainfully employed, although there are no 401Ks in the works. All three kids graduated high school. All three kids in the top 25% of any standardized test any of us ever took, including SAT and ACT and Iowa Basic. All three kids gainfully employed.
Peachy so far, eh?
One kid left home 10 days after graduation and recently started seeing a therapist. One kid a 2-year recovering alcoholic who left home at 16 and is married with a husband who thinks college is useless because he dropped out/was kicked out at age 16 and is doing fine. One kid who drunked/flunked/dropped out of Vo-Tech cuz he got bored.
Isn’t it funny how things look so perfect from the outside?
“Never judge a book by its cover.”
Freak, I’m really sorry, honey, I know this wasn’t what you were looking for 
Well despite a few minor problems in my family, mine is pretty normal.
Dad’s a cop/massage therapist. Mom is a teacher’s aide. My older bro is also a cop and is getting married to his fiancee next year. My twin works in the AF. Me, i’m a student. Mom raised us pretty sensibly. I think we had better manners and were raised a bit better than most of my other friends (for instance, she would never let us run around restaurants like i see some parents allowing their kids to do).
Anyway, We’ve lived in the same house since my bros and I have been babies. Parents never had major arguments, never even thought of getting a divorce. No mental illness, or major dysfunction.None of my brothers or I got into drugs, or heavy drinking. Never joined the little wannabe gang like some friends did. None of us got any girls pregnant in HS like some friends did. We all arent married yet, unlike many of our friends (who are all 23 or younger).We never got into fights or anything at all.
While we have had our ups and downs and skeletons, compared to most families I know, we’ve had a very stable and well…mundane family life.
No, things are not normal here.
My mom and dad were crazed drug addicts in the 60’s. Shortly after I was born, mom split, and hasn’t been heard from since. My father and I moved in with his parents. When I was six or so, my dad split, leaving me to be raised by my grandparents. Unlike my mother though, he did keep in touch. My dad has since been married 2 more times. I’m not sure how many divorces he has had (uh-oh). Wife number 2 had a daughter who was a little mentally slow. She loved to terrorize me. I hated visiting. Wife number three (if she ever legally was his wife…I have to wonder) is only 5 years older than myself. I was 8 when they met. (You do the math). From that marriage sprung my half brother (at least number 3 was 18 by that time). Wife number three ran off when bro was about 4 or 5.
Things are a little better now. My dad is a professional beach bum/college student in Hawaii. My bro is now 18, just finished high school, and has no plans for college but is working a steady job. I haven’t seen either one of them in about 10 years. My dad did just send me my birthday gift though: a voodoo doll and spell kit, to help my love life, he says. Oy vey.
Father, mother, 2 kids and a dog. Dad is a sales manager for industrial equipment, mom is a homemaker. My younger brother, now 30, is an electrician. I went in to the computer trade.
O
vidi vici veni
My family is not normal at all. Not my generation, not the previous generation, and from what I can tell not my grandparents generation either. I’m starting to think that perhaps I’m lucky to be as normal as I am.
way too wierd to goo into here… lets just say we’re not the Waltons.
Pretty exceedingly normal. Dad’s running an old family business, Mom’s an aspiring writer. Three kids. I’m in college, both of my sisters in high school, all of us doing well. We had a dog when I was little, and have been through assorted fish. Yes, we have our problems, arguements, weird/fun stories, but generally very normal.
Well, kinda normal, kinda bizarre on this end.
Mom and Dad had the perfect failed marriage before it even began- he was 33 and a worldly city-boy; she was 19 and a knocked-up country girl. (Knocked up with me, by him.) Shortly after the marriage, my father lost everything- everything- in the Crash of '72. So it was a classic mismatch, brought about only by pregnancy, and in the depths of financial despair.
And they’re still together. That always amazes me. Hell, they’re still completely in love with each other.
As for dysfunction- well, my parents weren’t the greatest at raising us, but they certainly could have been worse, and I can’t lay the blame for all my psychoses upon them. My sisters seem to be pretty self-confident and in control of their lives; quite frankly, I think we all ended up okay.
Of course, if you want serious dysfunction, ask me about my extended family- crazy Grandma Watts, my herion-addicted Uncle Carl, former alcoholic cocaine addict Uncle Charlie, and Cousin Andy, who spent seven years in Haiti to avoid being thrown in jail for tax fraud.
My folks have been married 31 years & lived in the same house for 27.
Mom’s a teacher, Dad’s a financial guy in the city govt, and my brother’s in his 3rd year in college.
Neither of us ever got anyone pregnant, got arrested, had big knock-down-drag-out fights with the parents, etc…
About as idyllic of a family life as someone could hope for, which isn’t to say we don’t have our disagreements, but we all treat each other with respect, fairness & love, so any disagreements never get out of hand.
My hubby’s family is ultra “normal.” In my book, that makes them weird, as I am not used to normal families.
His mom and dad owned a farm. Dad worked at Ford. Mom stayed home, looked after the boys, and worked on the farm. They are still happily married, 50+ years. There are 5 brothers, all are gainfully employed and relatively happy with their lives. Four are married with kids; the other is happy enough with his life as it is. They get along with the extended network of aunts, uncles, cousins, etc. for the most part.
We won’t get into my family. I don’t know how my SO can deal with it, having grown up in his Norman Rockwell-esque world; some days, he does indeed have difficulties understanding my relationship with my family. I am not going into the bizarre matrix of relationships withing my family - that would require a spreadsheet and slides, with lots of footnotes.
My Family is so normal, I had other kids jealous over MY parents. Everyone loved my parents.
Mom and Dad, married 33 years, no seperations or fiddling around or anything. Three kids, I have a younger sister and brother (in that order). I’m married, have two kids. Sister is married, has a husband to raise (as we joke, he’s cool otherwise). Brother is going to be a conservative version of Ted Turner, I think. He’s studying Broadcasting, looking at a Masters in CompSci. All Graduated HS.
No fights, drunks, weird green glows from the basement, no midnight chanting of odd necromantic spells, just plain normal.
The first thing I learned when I went to College is exactly how f’d up people are. I grew up in a very, very small town. Every knew you, your family and vis a versa. No secrets, everything on the table.
Well college showed me the manipulative, unstable, needy side of a lot of people. To this day I thank my Mom for doing such a good job raising me and my sister.(although she is kind of needy…nerdy… Actually she is just too nice of a person!!)
Anyway, while I wouldn’t call it normal(undefinable), it was a loving caring family environment and that is what really matters.
Man, that’s the truth! I was absolutely appalled when I got to college how people could so casually manipulate & screw each other around, and not have any problems with it before or after.
Amazed me at the time, and the older I get, it doesn’t fail to amaze me any less.
Show me a “normal” family, and I’ll show you a realistic social conservative.
Normal? Ha. Look in the dictionary under “dysfunctional.” See that picture? Yep, that’s us. We’re the poster family for dysfunctional.
Don’t get me started. BTW, what is a “normal” family?