I had the kind of parents who believed beatings would put me straight and threatening me and my siblings with it would keep us in line. My mum pretty much 'handled' the punishments accordingly since she was the only one around at home and as I grew older my dad took the reins and would dole it out according to the severity of my actions like misbehaviour but for the most part I was a good kid and did well enough in school but the problem was my parents were only invested in the education if I was doing bad so I had to make sure I didn't give them any reasons when the report card came. As I grew older, I grew out of beatings cos I got taller than my mom who I guess feared possible retaliation from me and for my dad, doling out any punishment that actually hurt a guy of my size was too taxing on his middle aged self. They like to lie and reassure themselves that I matured and turned good to justify the beatings but really I just got too damn tall. I just attracted people who were rebellious, had a flair for stopping out of line and hung out with them to taste the proverbial forbidden fruit and before I knew it I was living a dual life. On my way to school or to see friends, I would leave my home life on the doorstep and the real me would be seen by my friends and its a bittersweet experience cos I got to indulge my fantasies, work harder at school so they couldn't have a reason to ban me from seeing friends but it meant I had to lie a great deal and the overall result of this today is seen when I talk to my parents once a week or month. They wanna know so much but I can't communicate to them how my life is doing cos I've never had a rapport with them and it never felt normal to talk to them about anything other than education. Even telling them simple things like I go gym or the doctor telling me my vitamin D count is low makes me tongue tied. However my life right now is swell and pretty ordinary, I never let my imperfect childhood influence my life, my happiness is in my hands and I'm not gonna scrimp off life and expect handouts cos I have issues with mom and dad.