Your biggest disappointment as a child.

vonnie you seem to have had a father like my brother in law.
His children grew up to be lovely as I’m sure you have. They are never mean to their children. Or play ‘funny’ jokes.

Not winning the WH Smith "Win A Pony" competition. I entered every year religiously.
Every year I lived in hope...

Having to have my hair short like a boy and not being allowed pierced ears.I had them pierced my first week at work,my Mother was horrified!nearly 60 years later I have two sets of piercings and never go a day without wearing earrings.

So sorry Redhead.

We went to a Woolworths store whilst the washing was in the launderette, it must have been the school holidays and I was about 8 or 9, I saw a life sized baby doll (my sister had just had her first baby) and wanted it so much - it was 7/6, so for the next two weeks I got together all the money I could, shaking all moneyboxes etc and begging the odd penny or two from my sister and brother, finally I had 7/6 and had dreamt of nothing but that baby doll, we went back next time we were at the launderette and there she was, but I had misread the price tag and she was 17/6! There was no way I could ever have raised that amount of money, so I never got the baby doll.

The Grammar School/ Secondary Modern System, which divided children at the early age of 11 into white collar workers and factory drones.

I remember wanting a puppy for christmas but got a pair of Jacko skates l never even asked for.lnever used them but made good use of them by tying a piece of string round them and taking them for a walk.
Also my mother was a cold, hard woman and life was difficult. l remember wishing l could be a woodentop as their life looked lovely!

My biggest disappointment as a child was my mother. I really wanted to have a Mum who smiled and gave me kisses and cuddles just like my best friend's Mum. I was baffled as to why my Mum never touched me and was mostly shut away upstairs in her workroom angry or miserable. As I grew up I found out that generally mothers were seen as wonderful and loving. I concluded that it must be me at fault. It wasnt until Mum's funeral (age 91) that my own daughter told me she thought Gran was autistic. I was gobsmacked. Of course no one had heard of autism when I was growing up, and I realised immediately it might well have been true. All those years of blaming myself for something that actually was the fault of no one.

My biggest disappointment was that my mother hated me and had hated me since the day I was born. She told me this regularly. I was one of 4 and the only one treated this way. Even now we are in our sixties my siblings say they don't understand why she was like this with me. I longed to go and live in the local children's home where a couple of my school friends lived. They had "house mothers" who were kind and loving towards them and even used to get a hug or two. My mother didn't even come to my wedding but I did get my happy ending as I married the loveliest, kindest man and we had 5 daughters who are in no doubt that they are utterly loved and adored by both of us. Still happy after 45 years together.

I wanted a bigger bike for Christmas and my Dad took me to the bike shop to choose one. Because I knew my parents were always going on about how much things cost I chose a plain, dull, navy blue one because it was the cheapest. Two weeks later, my younger sister who's birthday was in January, was taken to the same shop and she asked for the shiniest metallic red and blue bike that cost a lot more than mine. I was so disappointed because mine was so plain and boring in comparison. I couldn't say anything as I had chosen my bike myself but I could never understand why I dare not ask for the red one too.

This still makes me sad 60yrs later. I had been invited to a school friends birthday party, and she said they would collect me from outside our house at a certain time. I was there 15 early, waiting in my party dress and shoes with a wrapped gift, but no one came, even now I remember how unwanted I felt that day.

My mum perming my hair with "Twink", I was expecting lovely curls instead I got a halo of frizz and cried.

Having to wear home knitted jumpers and cardigans when my best friend's came from M & S. Also, that I could only have shoes from shops that took provident cheques, so nothing very modern.

I desperately wanted a budgerigar for my birthday when I was a child . I mentioned this to my best friend .. I didn’t get one but she did and it wasn’t even her birthday.

I had seen a box of dolls in a newsagents window and each of these little dolls was dressed in a different national costume. I so wanted those dolls. There was a sign that said the price (I can't remember it now, probably about 2 old shillings) and for weeks I asked my mum and dad for the money. After weeks of nagging they gave me the money and I ran off to get my prize. Only when I asked for the dolls in the window, the shop owner said "which one?", they were 2 shillings each! I was so upset, I didn't want one, I wanted the whole set so I just ran away crying!

Like someone else I was very cross that I didn’t get a pedal car like my brother - and also I desperately wanted Meccano but again - only my brother got some. I wasn’t the sort of girl who wanted dolls etc- never had one - I loved my bricks best of all. Funny sort of girl maybe - hated flouncy dresses - an early feminist ? Loved playing with boys - have always thought I had many masculine traits. Yet here I am - married - 3 children- 6 grandchildren.

Mine was going to school with holes in my knickers and holes in my shoes . Always being cold because my parents couldn’t afford coal for a full week . I went to an all girls grammar school but hated it because I was the ‘ poor ‘ child.

Being an only child

When I was very little, my much-older brother, who was in the Merchant Navy, would always say, when I asked for something: "I'll get it for you when my ship comes in." As he was away at sea for much of the time, I waited and waited for his ship to come in - I thought he must be very rich! We should always how literal children can be, they don't always get hold of the right end of the stick! I loved my dear brother very much, and we enjoyed many happy times together.

As I a child I had a blue budgy. I thought it had lived for a good age. When I was in my forties my dad admitted when the budgy died or the cat killed it he did a dash to the local pet shop and replaced it with another blue budgy. When he told me I felt a huge devastation all those years later.

Re giving your things away, I was 18 but still very upset when my mother got rid of two treasured books (among others) when they moved after I’d gone away to university. One of them - a far from common non fiction book - was published in the late 1800s and had been given to me by a grandfather.
By some miracle, many decades later dh found an identical copy on some 2nd hand site.

As for my poor dh - his mother gave almost his entire treasured collection of Dinky Toys to a neighbour’s child, again without after he’d gone to university - and again without asking. They had a big house - it wasn’t as if they didn’t have room.
I still don’t think he’s ever quite got over it!

Worst I ever heard of was on MN though - somebody’s MiL who was supposed only to be feeding the cat while they were away, took it upon herself to ‘declutter’ her son and DiL’s bedroom, by throwing out DiL’s complete collection of (IIRC) Chalet School books, plus a lot of memorabilia, personal letters, etc.
How could you ever be civil again to anyone who did such a thing? Of course when confronted the MiL turned the tap on - ‘I was only trying to help!’, etc., and made the DiL out to be the baddie for making her cry.
IMO under the patio would have been the best place for that MiL!

As a young brownie we had a show and tell evening and I was assigned to doing knots. When the parents came Brown Owl went round everyone else and forgot about me, I’ve never forgotten it!

Another one about a holiday. I was an only child and we didn’t have many holidays but on a couple of occasions my cousin was asked to come so that we could play together. One summer a holiday was planned but shortly before we were to go my father and his sister had an argument. Because of this my uncle refused to allow my cousin to come with us. My father, who hated holidays anyway, promptly cancelled the trip telling me that he didn’t want to have to play with me all the time.

Many of these stories have brought tears to my eyes. How cruel and unthinking some parents could be, especially the ones having much loved dogs put to sleep.
My own memory is of my lovely baby doll being snatched from me by my mother and put onto the fire because I didn’t want to hand it over to my younger brother to play with. My mum had made lots of clothes for my doll and knew how much I loved it. I’ve never forgotten.
My brother grew up to be a lovely young man but was tragically killed on his motorbike aged 18. I still miss him even though he always nicked my toys.

Such poignant stories have come out of this thread. I feel mine is very trite by comparison. I had a Sindy doll and dearly wanted a white plastic Sindy wardrobe complete with the gold S on the doors. On Christmas Day, I unwrapped a plain white wooden dolls wardrobe. I was not happy. It was far sturdier and lasted for years and would have cost a fraction of the price from the market. But it was not what I wanted. Fast forward 55 years and I bought my granddaughter a sparkly pink and purple wardrobe for her Barbie doll to put all the outfits in that I had made. I felt I’d laid a ghost at last.