If I'd known then what I know now ...

Marydoll, I don't know where you live , but you could be talking about my convent school. I did lots of the naughty things you mentioned, but they were nothing compared to the pranks my younger sister and her gang got up to. I hated the school and wished I'd been able to go to my first choice of grammar. I also wish I'd learned to ride a horse.

GagaJo Me too. I wouldn’t have left ex in family house when we split up either. Would have chosen different career from teaching. Wouldn’t have married an abuser. Hindsight is a great thing. Would like another go at life but it’s too late now. Ah well ....

Ditto, only for me it's definitely not at all.

I believe we follow the path we are supposed to but back in 1975 I had met my future husband (now my ex) and was also offered the chance to move from London to the south coast with the company I worked for. I was not engaged at that point. I often wonder how my life would have turned out.

Oh Bridie22 I am with you on that one! I only have myself to blame, for wasted years that could have been better spent.

I would have researched the family tree too and saved more - but most importantly would have started writing my first book before the age of 66 !

I wish I had asked my father more questions about his time as a soldier during the war. I wish I had tried harder at school and had more confidence. I wish I hadn't got married at 16 (it ended badly.) I wish I had made more of myself and had a career. I wish . . . I wish . . .

It’s NEVER too late to learn to drive. I definitely think you should go for it.

I wish I hadn’t re-married my husband. He never changed!

I would have liked to be more sensible with my relationships. Not too eager to please - say no more - and not wasted so much time trying to find Mr. Right. I would have kept asking my Mum more about her post par-tum depression and having to put my brother into care (she wouldn't discuss it). It was not nice reading her medical reports once she had passed away. And even at my age now I'm still hot headed at times.

I wish that I had managed to persuade my dad to either write down or record his memories of when he was growing up. He'd lived in this village all of his life - something rare these days- and now his generation has just about gone, there is no record of what it was like during the war or when the main industry was leather, before it all got moved to India. There were also several farms that have either been conglomerated or the land built on.
Even the new village sign shows no history connected to the industry - obviously too dirty for the incomers!

I would have begged my parents to stop our teachers from caning us. This happened over a period of three years and I put up with it. I wish I'd given the authorities a fright by running away. It's only as I've grown up that I've found out that caning was not the norm in most schools. I went to school in Northern Ireland. The head master was a retired army Captain and his ideas for discipline were so wrong.

Have waited for the next bus... #slidingdoors

I would have married someone who loved me like no other

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

flyingsolo. I loved that 'see you later' comment for your dad.

Made more effort at school, and tried for a career rather than a job. But that said times were different then.
Also wish I’d been a better mother when the children were young. I always seemed to be stressed, and coped being short tempered.
Hindsight is a wonderful thing ?

I'd have worked harder at school nobody ever told me to do this and I didn't have the sense to realise it for myself.

Wish I had ignored my OH and accepted the offer of being an extra in a film to get an equity card and then get a job in costume dept. But OH said no way unless you are going to get my dinner on the table at 6. I left him a year later and went to university to study costume design. Then my next mistake was to get back with him 3 years later. He said you can give up this nonsense and get a proper job.

Many other regrets about not asking parents and grandparents more about their lives. A family tree can only tell you basic facts.

I wish that when I was given the choice of two grammar schools, I had rejected going to the convent to be taught by Catholic nuns. Bad choice! Bad memories!

Yes soop. Me too. Bad memories of convent school. Wish I had been brought up C of E, because I would almost certainly have remained a church goer.

This is a bit different. I'm glad for some of the things I did do. I learned to drive when I was 20. I became a nurse and loved it for over 40 years. I got married to someone I loved, ( he didn't feel the same unfortunately). I had my 2 great talented and loving daughters, who have given me the joy of 4 grandchildren. I refuse to spend time regretting what I didn't do.

Oh if only we could all turn back the clock with hindsight. There are so many things i would have done differently.......

Tried harder not to get fat

To all those saying you wished you had asked your parents more about their lives and about the family history, can I suggest that you do it now for your own children/grandchildren? Write it down or better still record it somewhere so they can one day hear your story in your own words and hear your voice tell it them.

I don't have that but what I do have is a cassette tape where as a girl I had decided to record my family just being together in our house one day without them knowing. Wasn't thinking at the time of keeping it forever, I was just a child thinking it would be funny to secretly press the record button. But now all these decades later I am glad I did it. Was a shock when I found it last year. I put it on thinking it would be one of the music mix tapes that I use to make and suddenly there was my dad's voice. I don't mind telling you I cried.