| This account will be the first, among others, which will relate experiences from our parent's attempts to effect kid behavior by using "scare tactics". Some examples that we heard were:, "Don't make that face or it will 'Freeze' and stay that way for the rest of your life"!, "Don't swallow your gum or your insides will get blocked and 'gummed up'", and "Clean your ears or potatos will start to grow out of them" (being a farm kid, I had water melons growing out of mine)., and etc., etc. This talent seemed to have been at it's zenith in the 1950's and our parents were among the best in mastering this elusive art! Having finally been diagnosed at around age 38 with various and sundry defects, including: A-typical Bipolar Disorder, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, Seasonal Affective Disorder, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (from too many paper cuts as a "typewriter commando" in the Navy), Insomnia, and an assorted array of other things that have Latin names and are unpronounceable to mere mortal non-medical types. (Whoa... I'm starting to sound like an AARP meeting!) Anyway... having had insomnia, probably since my pre-natal days, and being hyperactive (I had ADD BEFORE it was trendy), my brother always said that I never slept! (He was right of course). The Easter Bunny had a strange resemblence to my Dad! I ALWAYS dreaded bed time because I was just getting warmed up by bed time with my hyper activity. I was usually out of bed more than in it all during my "formulative years". Because of refusing to stay in bed, our parents invented (unknown to us at the time of course), and appropriate consequence of roaming the house at unearthly hours when probably even God was taking "40 winks"! They said if my brother and/or me (mostly me) were caught out of bed after bed time, that "Mr. Pringle", who lived in our attic, would catch us and throw us out in space! It seemed to work with my brother most of the time, but with me it just resulted not only with me being OUT OF BED, but being out of bed AND being paranoid and scared! For years afterward when we were "grown up" (a relative term indeed), it still gave us a little tinge of chill in our spine to go up to the attic. Of course even today, neither one of us would EVER do it at night! We both felt relieved when "Mr. Pringle" eventually got out of the "Throwing Kid's in Space Who Were Out of Bed business, and went into the potato chip business. |
