Growing up poor in Australia

[Ace in the Hole]

http://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/re...oor-in-australia/story-fnixwvgh-1227007328670

I feel sad for some of the struggle these families faced.
Not everybody deserves to be where they are, due to certain circumstances.
Puts things into perspective and makes you grateful for what you have.

 

[BayView]

Shoebox in middle of road...

My parents split up when I was 2 and my sister was 1.

Mum was a single mother on a "deserted wife" pension in those days, renting and moving around a lot.

No money, mum didn't work, no car...and so on. No tv until I was about 8 years old.

Dad was in the Navy, so I saw him a handful of times until about 7 years old, then nothing at all after that until a few yeas ago.

Poor upbringing? Sure; but I was oblivious to all that. We had no money to do anything or go anywhere; no holidays away, second hand clothes and various attempts that mum made to make her own for us...

Kids seem to find happiness anywhere they are as long as they have some love from a parent or parents.

 

[chindonly]

Just showed my daughter this article. I think it really touched her and helped her realize how lucky she and her brother are.

Both my wife and myself can relate to many of the anecdotes quoted.

 

[RPI]

We grew up what you would call dirt poor, older siblings had it worse than I. You don't really know it until high school anyway. But if you can either use it as a chip on your shoulder or you can use it as motivation

 

[redwing]

We live in a Lucky Country compared to some, though others have gone through hard times to get us here

Have you read "A Fortunate Life" by AB Facey

A great Australian story

 

[willair]

My parents split up when I was 8 years old still remember the day my Father left us,,it was very hard for fatherless families in the early 60's
my Mother meet another man while working as a bar-maid about one later
and I left home at 16,so when you start off picking up coke bottles for the 5 cent refund and start in the gutter,just goes to show how good a country we live in..

 

[eggnog]

Born into a poor family in a third world country. The standard of poor in Australia I personally would still consider luxurious. All comes down to perspective, what you decide to do with life and perseverance.

 

[Spades]

My father died when i was 12 on my sisters 15th birthday.
He died 3 weeks after changing jobs from a chemical factory to dying in a cemetery where he worked.
My mother kept a blanket over sis and i,but later found out he drank,gambled and hocked everything.
When dad was alive,i had good grades and dare not put one foot out of place.
Becoming man of the house,was open season without family.
Mum worked for awhile and transport was via foot or PT,no car.
Good old mounty,more drugs than cabramatta.
Lucky i came out unscathed to an extent.

Memories are blocked as it was back to school as if nothing happened.

Such is life eh?

Cheers Spades.

Ps:

Kids seem to find happiness anywhere they are as long as they have some love from a parent or parents.

So true BV.

 

[roe]

some of the quote from that article I can relate to though I haven't read the whole thing.

Trevor Lawrence: ?School books wrapped in Xmas paper and newspaper?

Melany Mclean: ?Using newspaper for toilet paper?

Richard Kelty: ?We slept on the floor, grandma and grandpa too. The whole family?

Melany Mclean: ?Hiding from the landlord. Having no electricity because mum didn?t have the money to pay the bills.

Jen Fitch: ?You know you poor when you got nothing for your birthday. And hand me down clothes. you to share presents.?

newspaper and plastic bags are considered luxury items, no such thing as toilet paper, you use whatever available to clean yourself, water, paper, wraps etc...sleeping on the floor is normal, no electricity most of the time, no such thing as birthday, hand me down clothes you have one new pair of clothes when absolutely need it

Kids seem to find happiness anywhere they are as long as they have some love from a parent or parents.

+1 looking back it was poor but I don't feel poor at all as a kid, I always have loving parents and they tried to shield a lot that stuff from their kids and sacrificed much for us to have a better future ... they never admit it but we can observe.

using the same formular my parents use on me for my kids and they are wonderful, they do what they told, they listen and they know their parents dont say no just because they like to say no and appreciate what we done for them.

they do it for a reason, they do it so they can turn out to be a better person and by luck or by hard work my kids understand that, so our parenting tasks made much easier.

no fight, no talk back and they are into their teens, send them to public school and mix with the baddest and have no fear

 

[mrdobalina]

Wow... that reddit thread is so sad to read. There's a consistent theme of parents (particular mothers) going hungry just so their children can have a smidgen of a meal.

I must have spent 4 hours reading that thread last night, and I had tears in my eyes. Makes you think of the things you take for granted everyday.