Are you becoming your same-sex parent?

[Taverner]

After watching Six Feet Under last night, one of the big themes they're dealing with is becoming your father, and hating it.

I see this happening to myself sometimes...

So have you seen this happen to you?

[Shell Beau]

1. No! I am much more like my father!

[JimmyJazz]

2. my parents are both right wingers and my mother and I are polar

opposites. So, in answer to your question, I'm gonna say, "hell, NO!" :)

[RandomKoolzip]

3. I hope not.

[VelmaD]

4. Yes and no

I find myself using my momma's colorfully southern saying all the time. But our personalities are quite different so I don't see becoming too much like her.

[Not Me]

5. I could only wish to fill his shoes...

What an incredible guy.
He's taught me and my brothers SO much, and has been a tremendous support for me.

[Taverner]

6. I hope that I don't

My dad was a good guy trapped by his times but...

He is a hardcore right winger, loves to sit in front of FOX all day and build up hatred for anyone and everyone not like him.

He's an ex cop, who proudly proclaims he spent the sixties "beating up hippies."

He most likely had multiple affairs on mom.

After my mom survived a plane crash in the late 80's, he responded extremely cold, did not meet her at the airport, did not get her flowers, and when she came in the door, he made some comment like "oh you're back - thats good."

On mothers day, he got his mom a beautiful set of flowers, and my mom asked if he was going to get her any - and he responded by saying "You're not my mother."

Having said that he was there, at least physically, for me and my brother.

[dooner]

7. Yes, and I don't like it one bit!

And neither do my siblings! My mother has some pretty unpleasant
behaviors that developed as she got older, that tend to send chills up our backs. When I catch myself, it's a bad scarey feeling. Am I becoming her? Will everyone dislike and fear me as well?

[johnnie]

8. If I am, that's not a bad thing

There are some differences, but my father is a pretty decent guy. He comes from a different time, was a conservative thinker, but not politically. He was a Marine for 25 active years in the reserves and officially retired after some 40 years.
As a child he taught me (and my siblings) to be an individual and don't give a shit what other people think of you. He made sure I took responsibility for my own actions and taught me that there is no free ride.
My father was/is blue collar and worked for N.A.S.A. He was there when ronnie reagen was trying to close it down, and it took a democrat from Cleveland to keep it open. He would never vote republican and believes that this administration has raped his country. He is sad these days about what has happened to the country he served for and worked for.
My father is an intelligent man and will discuss any subject with you. He is open-minded, but sticks to his guns. If he is presented with information that goes against his original opinion, he will look into it and will admit to "being wrong" and has no problem with doing so.
We used to clash a lot more, but it's because I was a little shit with a huge attitude. Things are much better between us and when I visit with my parents, my father and I will sit outside, have a beer and maybe a cigar and talk.
So, if I am turning out like him, I say..that's cool.

[Ikonoklast]

9. I would only hope that someday

I turn out to be as a good a man as my father. He and my mother have been together for 53 years, and raised a family of five kids who all turned out pretty good. He was an early Kennnedy supporter (he has a signed photograph from JFK from when Dad gave him $5 for his first campaign) and, even though he remains socially conservative, is dead-set against Bush, the war and as he says, "The loonies running the show in Washington."

[Saphire]

10. yes, and physically as well. My mothers hands are on the ends

of my arms now. And her legs seem to have sprouted from my hips. I only sound like her when I get mad, and that ol' east texas accent comes out full force.

[Taverner]

13. How does an East Texas accent differ from the everyday Texan accent?

[Saphire]

15. well, I rinse the dishes in the sink. Mom "wrenched" dishes in the "sank"

[Taverner]

16. Ahhhh gotchya

None of you ever "warsh" your dishes do you?

[Mad_Dem_X]

14. I'm a lot like my mom now

I used to be quiet and laid-back like my dad, but as I get older, I'm adapting more of my mother's mannerisms. Especially when I get angry - I almost hear her voice coming out of me. :)

[BlueIris]

11. I'm not a fat, disgusting, abusive piece of shit, so no.

And my significant therapy bill for July just reminded me how unlikely it is I'll ever become that "parent."

[swimboy]

12. I can't be objective about myself but my partner is slowly

growing to resemble his father more and more.

[BlueIris]

19. Just for the record, I mean "significant," not "overweight."

The larger members of our society--you know I love you.

[indigo32]

17. No

I'm too much like my dad to become my mother. They both have very admirable qualities and some serious flaws...but I don't think I'll ever be either of them for alot of reasons.

[NNadir]

18. I hope so.

I'm hoping to be the father to my children that my father was to me.

My dad was right wing, and poorly educated, but as a father, as a husband, as a man, he was otherwise the best. Not a day goes by that I didn't wish I could speak to him, just for a few minutes. But he died just a year or two before my first son was born 11 years ago.

His father, by contrast, was a horrible alcoholic who when he wasn't disappearing for stretches of many years, was beating my grandmother, ruining lives, squandering opportunities, etc. That my father turned out to be such a fine man in spite of his upbringing is nothing short of amazing.