What secret did your parents keep from you?

A secret which was only revealed to you many years later?
When I applied for my Birth Certificate I found out that I had two brothers who died in childbirth in the late 50’s
It was never mentioned at all.
I suppose there was no reason to share this information with their children.

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My mother said that my sister was a bit premature at birth. Not so. She was pregnant before she gor married.

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yes i too was born early…lol… they were in Birmingham getting bombed regularly my Mum had gone down to work in the war effort factories, she was in digs, she met my father who came from the same town in Scotland and was an aircraft fitter, so they got married anf mother went home to make me a jock…they never told me, my grandfather did one night he’d had a few…non of which mattered to me, but i think my father resented me, we never got on, my mum died when i was 21, so i headed back to Doncaster and i have never seen my father since…

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Not sure it was a secret as such but I never realised until I was much older that my Mum was dreadfully homesick for her large, Irish family and often wished she could “go home”.

I do remember her crying sometimes often on a Sunday afternoon when she finally got to sit down and was just told she wasn’t feeling well.

She came from a large, close family of 8 children and they all had get togethers and parties with lots of singing and dancing and “doing a turn”.
Although my Dad was a good husband and father he was much more reserved so I am sure the house seemed very quiet. Even when us kids came along she was still homesick and missed family weddings, christenings, parties etc as she couldn’t afford the journey home.

In later years she did open up to me about how lonely she felt. My Dad’s family were not very close so she missed all that.

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there were no secrets in our house, the neighbours knew our business with all the ranting that used to go on.

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How poor we were!

Dad worked very long hours, mum was brilliant at managing, they were good with DIY, make and mend and they both had a knack of making fun times when we had very little

Honestly, I was in my twenties before I realised :slightly_smiling_face:

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Having no resentment in your life can be a negative, at the end. :icon_wink:

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I don’t think they deliberately kept it as a secret from us but I do regret that they, and particularly my mother who outlived my father by 40 years, didn’t tell me more about the health conditions of my grandparents. I’d have liked to know more but maybe she wasn’t informed by doctors at the time or wasn’t interested and didn’t inquire. What I did learn from her was not satisfactory.

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Where they lived.

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My father never told me the details of his unhappy lonely childhood . His father died when he was 14 leaving his mother who was stone deaf and his terminally ill older sister . He spent many unhappy years in a boarding school
I wish I had known.
I only found out years after his death .

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My grandmother kept a secret from my father…we only found this out after she died.
She was six months pregnant with him when she married my grandfather…which was scandalous in the 1930s!

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Can you tell me what this means?

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Something Scottish probably.

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the were both Scots living in England so my mother had to return north not just to make me a Scot [a Jock] but take us both away from the danger of German bombers

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Her new life was such a difference after being part of a large lively family.
Such a pity. She never went back for a visit at all?

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Sometimes it can be a good thing to not know.
Your parents managed to seamlessly raise you so there was never anything for you to be worried about. What wonderful parents.

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That is sad indeed.

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I’ve found all the secrets recently. Some are awful, some are good and some are very sad.

Papa had three jobs. Mother began working (against Papa’s wishes) when my one and only sibling got engaged. The payments/costs were enormous. We’d always shopped for lots of our clothing from charity shops.

Even though, they’d believed I didn’t know their secrets, I was a quiet child. Staying quiet but I’d open my ears and listened very carefully.

Years later, when I was pregnant with our daughter, something happened and it hit me square in the brow. My sibling had been pregnant out of wedlock at a very young age (the speech, received at 18, I got via earful proved what had gone on). I’m uncertain if what happened to the child.

Years later, I’m working now and a colleague became a friend. She invited me to her lodgings within a convent. A nun upon hearing my name, spilled the beans. I kept it secret (my turn lol).

The dangers of annihilation with the Bay of Pigs and nuclear possibility.

Why my cats died in February of 1962 in the neighbours semi-house fire. It really was someone’s fault.

All in all, what I’ve discovered later made that I’m extremely good at saving money, frugal and help every charity I can to this day.

One secret that is 100% true is still denied by the remaining relatives. It caused me to be bullied for years… That wasn’t pleasant! Nowadays, I don’t give a hoot about it. I’ve embraced my heritage and I’m happier for it.

Blessed be!

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There comes a time in our lives where we accept all those things that happened in the past and we move forward unencumbered.

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Here, here!!!

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