What secret did your parents keep from you?

[hollydolly]

I remember those days. We were taught (in my family) children should be seen and not heard.

same in ours.. we were not allowed to speak unless we were spoken to first by an adult... and we certainly could not join in any adult conversations kids do today

 

[EmptyCup]

Not that I know of.
They didn’t talk about money to children though. I believe they thought it was improper.
My paternal grandmother though was another story. She stonewalled any attempt to learn about her family. I had to figure it out through public records research. Turns out she was an “oopsie” baby born to a teenage mother. I only have a name for the father from her birth certificate. He quickly disappeared. She was raised by her aunt (grandmothers sister) who never married or had kids. I suppose that was a big scandal in the 1890’s. Nobody would blink at it now. Her actual mother (my g-grandmother) eventually married a different man and had three more daughters.

 

[Been There]

When I was around 15 I learned that my moms father was actually her step father. He had already passed but when alive he was the only grandfater I had so the big secret had no impact on me.

Here's one I just learned about a couple of months ago. My dad was forty when he married my mom who was seventeen, and pregnant. What I just learned is he never told my mom he was married before and had five other children, that didn't become known for many years and when my mom found out she threw him out. This was before I was born but one of my older brothers told me they lived apart for a couple of years before she took him back.

Growing up I knew he had another family but it was rarely discussed, now I know why.

This reminds me of a joke I heard many moons ago.
One red-neck asked another red-neck “If your dad divorces his wife will she still be his sister?”

 

[Trade]

When I was about 3 years old my parents got me a dog.


His name was Blackie. One day Blackie ran out into the road and got hit by a car. My parents told me that Blackie was at the Vets getting fixed up. I would ask them when Blackie was coming home and they would tell me that the Vet needed to keep Blackie for just a little longer. They kept that up for years. Finally when I was about 7 years old I figured out on my own that Blackie wasn't coming home because he was dead.