Yes, that's true, she did get The Idiot Boy, though of course she couldn't have known that at the time. And I'm pretty sure it wasn't a gift - didn't Nicola and Peter buy him, and then Nicola and Lawrie do swops? I don't think it would have hurt to say, "You'll get one eventually", though of course Lawrie would have then mithered and mithered to know when, and if she never had got one, would have remembered ever after that she'd been promised one.
As for the way I was raised - I certainly wasn't ever taught that me and my brother were clones, or even that we had the same needs or desires. And we well knew the world wasn't a fair place to be - but my parents both thought they should be as even-handed with us as they could be. It is possible to teach your children that "life isn't like that" while still ensuring they get as equal attention and opportunities as you can provide. As it happens, I ended up at private school, and my brother didn't, because I passed the entrance exam well enough to get a scholarship, but he failed it - this was an object lesson to both of us that what happens to you in life isn't all completely "fair" or "even", even if your parents do try give you equal birthday presents.
Also, as you mention - you got riding lessons, your sister got ballet lessons, your brother got driving lessons - in the examples you've given you did all get something. Lawrie was obviously of the opinion that she doesn't get anything. Giny gets a horse, and Lawrie wants one too - not really a case of "wanting different things".
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2005-08-30 09:54 pm (UTC)As for the way I was raised - I certainly wasn't ever taught that me and my brother were clones, or even that we had the same needs or desires. And we well knew the world wasn't a fair place to be - but my parents both thought they should be as even-handed with us as they could be. It is possible to teach your children that "life isn't like that" while still ensuring they get as equal attention and opportunities as you can provide. As it happens, I ended up at private school, and my brother didn't, because I passed the entrance exam well enough to get a scholarship, but he failed it - this was an object lesson to both of us that what happens to you in life isn't all completely "fair" or "even", even if your parents do try give you equal birthday presents.
Also, as you mention - you got riding lessons, your sister got ballet lessons, your brother got driving lessons - in the examples you've given you did all get something. Lawrie was obviously of the opinion that she doesn't get anything. Giny gets a horse, and Lawrie wants one too - not really a case of "wanting different things".