I was about ten when my parents became JWs.
Quite overnight we stopped celebrating our own birthdays. We stopped celebrating Christmas. I was told to give up “worldly” friends, going to their parties and hanging out with them.
My TV watching was monitored; the lyrics to the songs I listened to; equally.
The books I wanted to read were monitored.
My after-school activities were stopped.
I was obliged to sit in a suit listening to material way above my grasp, five times a week.
I had to go on the ministry door-to-door with someone I barely knew, with the spectre of a school-friend answering the door.
I was told repeatedly by both my parents and others in the congregation that these sacrifices would realise their reward as the “new system” was coming any minute.
My parents were in fact more liberal than most but my childhood was sucked dry of the some of the innocent joys experienced by class mates.
What no one says and no one wants to admit to is that the reward is not based on any certainty.
“It’ll be worthwhile IF you survive Armageddon.” This introduced an existential crisis. I was making all these sacrifices with no guarantee of any reward. That’s child abuse, isn’t it?
Thank you.