My Worst Childhood Experience
My Worst Childhood Experience
Have you ever been abused by your parents? Many people would say yes. At least that’s how I grew up when I was still in Vietnam. My father wasn’t around often and my mother would sometimes hit me with a stick if I stay out too late, or go straight to a gaming center when I get home from school. My family situation wasn’t the best, but it wasn’t that bad. Because I had friends that I can hang out with, and forget all about the things that I have to go through. So, even though I was abused by my mother and my father isn’t around very often, there are enjoyable moments as well.
First of all, child abuse in the United States is prohibited. And even if it is prohibited, there are parents who will still abuse their children. As for parents from other countries like Vietnam and China, they view child abuse as a form of disciplinary. However, in an 8-year-old child’s eyes, it was a form of physical abuse, abandonment, and being neglected. Parents who abuse their children either physically or verbally will leave then physical and mental scars. There are times when I think that I have gynophobia was because of my mother’s constant abuse. If hitting me with a stick and chasing me around with it wasn’t enough, at one time, she threw a chair at me. Though lucky for me, I hid under the table on one side when my mother threw the chair at me from the other end. That was the last time that I remember being hit and yells at by my mother. Either it was the fear that my mother instilled in me or it was the passing of time, but it made me forget what happened afterward.
Even with all that has happened, I was still able to enjoy life. I was able to hang out with my friends and laugh with them. Being around my friends has made me forget all the abuse that I took from my mother. I had been beaten until we migrated to the United States. When we moved to the U.S., my mother stopped hitting me, though she still yells at me sometimes. Even if we moved to another country, the wounds that she had inflicted on me will never fade. However, I can still start a new life. And that was exactly what I did when I came to the U.S. I studied and did my homework, which I didn’t care for much when I was in Vietnam. Gradually, the memories of my mother beating me faded away and became a blurry dream that I’ve been having for a long time, like I was asleep for a few years.
In conclusion, even though I was abused by my mother, if there is a chance for me to start over, then I would take that chance and anew. Even if the memories of the past still haunt me, I would still embrace the future and take one step at a time. Because if one does not do anything about one’s life and will not fight against hardship, then one is not really living.
- Thai Tran