For born in's: how did your parents get you to answer up?

by highdose 18 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  exwhyzee

  I always got the impression that JW moms used their kids answers as a baromoter to rate their worth as mothers. It was a feather in a Mom's cap to have a good answerer in her household. When I was little my mom used to make me stand up so that the Conductor would be sure to see me. I would be crestfallen if he didn't call on me so I could say "GEEESUS" (anything to get a pat on the head and make Mom happy....it's what she lived for)Later, if we didn't answer or at least raise our hand, we would be denied priviliges,especially if you had been sitting with a friend during the meeting.

  For a time at our hall, at the end of the WT study, the PO would assign the teenagers certian paragraphs to answer for the following Sunday and he required them to sit in the front row. I couldn't believe the parents went along with this but they did. It all ended when some of the teens who had gotten their drivers licenses began leaving after the public talk and having their own study at someone's house. One young brother got married when he was 19. When he came back from his honeymoon, the attendant told he and his new bride to move up to the front row. He flatly refused and caused a pretty good scene. I think that's when people finally said "enough already"

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  3Mozzies

  @ highdose Oh My Bloody Goodness!!! You mother sounds crazy! I feel so sorry for your past JW life. I feel sick thinking of all the young children who are going through that crap right now.

  I wasn't 'born in' so I was free from such abuse.

  3Mozzies
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  Hairyhegoat

  My mom was crazy and we had to answer up in the Witchtower every week or she would stop our pocket money! What a bribe and also these JW'S need to be taken down a pegg or two

  HHG
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  serein

  i think in my hall it was a flipin goal of wanting to look the best and have the best answers, i never told my kids to answer up unles they wanted to and i never pushed em to just to look good to others,id see young kids as young as 4 and 5 answering up with sentences they would never understand , plus why do we even have to do it its stupid,i never asnswerd up cos im so shy but people in my cong thought i wasnt very up on scripture nd didnt prepare or anything, i did but dint answer, i just dont see the point in it realy cos to me in my hall it was seeming like a compertition. the ones with the best and most answers got the most prause and its all crap cos my son nows of a girl that was real bad at school but at hall everyone loves her cos she answers up out on min u know tows the line, but away from it shes as worldly" as the rest.
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  MrFreeze

  Sorry for your troubles highdose but that is bad, even by JW mom standards.
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  wasblind

  " I wasn't 'born in' so I was free from such abuse."

  Same here 3Mozzies,

  but I can not forgive myself for being swept up in this cult

  and exposing my daughter even for a little while, every now

  and then I feel I have to apologize to her, because I'm supposed

  to protect her from harm mentally, physically and spiritually

  ((((((( Mrs Jones & Highdose )))))))
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  TotallyADD

  All no we are not a cult. We love our children. We give them gifts on other days. We take them to the park or the beach. We want our kids to be educated. After reading all the abuse from you all it really makes my stomach turn. I had it bad other ways a lease my parents didn't do the things I just read. Sometimes extreme neglect is good. Cult, Cult, Cult. How can parents treat their children that way? Totally ADD
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  3Mozzies

  I can not forgive myself for being swept up in this cult and exposing my daughter even for a little while, every now and then I feel I have to apologize to her, because I'm supposed to protect her from harm mentally, physically and spiritually

  That is so admirable wasblind, I truly believe we all should apologise to those that we helped into the cult or/and with our children that we raised in the cult.

  3M
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  mythreesons

  My father...Elder/PO...would take us to the bathroom and spank my brother and I if we had not had our hands up in the first few paragraphs. The standard was if we didn't answer we would be taken to the back (spanked) then once we were home we would get a lecture and the belt. Needless to say we were scared sh*tless of not answering.

  As we grew older, the answers had to be in our "own words" if not we would still get the "standard" spankings at the hall and once we got home. That was probably from 4-6th grades. After that he had our spirits broken...I mean we were trained to become future elders and we answered all the time.

  Grrrr! I really hate remembering that CRAP!