What Personality Did You Inherhit From Your Parents?

[Mr. DS]

As my children get older I am more fascinated with which traits they seem to have inherited from my wife and I.  I’m not sure if it was learned or just genetic but its amazing how a child’s personalities can be based on the relationship with parents.

Then I got to thinking what makes me who I am and where did my personality/emotional traits come from.  

My Father:  On a positive note, I believe I inherited his work ethic.   My dad definitely needed to be working to feel 100% alive.  I am by far the same way.   I also have the ability to schmooze at work related gatherings rather well which was my dad’s specialty when he was working.  Along those lines, my ability to tell a story with feverish detail is no doubt from him as well.  My dad can spin yarns forever.  My father also is an outgoing and generous person who would give you the shirt off his back.  I am as well but unfortunately don’t have the cash flow with three kids.  Rather I love giving away what I can to make life better for someone else.   For example, my vegetable market for charity. (I will contradict myself on this point later in the “mother” section btw)  

On the partial negative side, I inherited his stubbornness. This yes can be good but can and will get you into trouble I find. I also have his short fuse when people disagree with me about certain things.  My father was a firm believer his way was the best.  I am sort of like that as well at times.

My Mother:  My mom has the ability to act professional at the drop of a dime.  For example, we could be lost somewhere and she’d be swearing and yelling.  But the minute she pulled over to ask someone for directions its as if she were a nun.  I am a ridiculous potty mouth around my close friends/family.  However around associates I’m really professional sounding.  Some people are shocked to find out I actually swear who barely know me.  

My mother is also very caring and worried about my brother and I.  Maybe a bit to the excess which I find myself doing with my kids.  I tend to anticipate problems way in advance with kids which is what my mother always used to do.  It drives me nuts but at least I do what I can to keep the kids safe.  

As mentioned above, I will contradict my generous side now.  I am extremely frugal with money which I know I get from my mother.  When people ask me for money at work to go toward whatever cause I usually don’t give.  I have three kids and a wife to support, I’d rather keep my money in my pocket.  I also refuse to buy things at full price if I can help it.  Paying over ten bucks for a shirt to me is (and yes I know how stupid this sounds) a ridiculous idea.   I shop the discount racks for clothing and refuse to ever look at the normally priced stuff.   I guess it has paid off because people do compliment me whenever I get a new shirt.  They aren’t being sarcastic either.  

Another thing I got from my mother is her ability to come back with a smart ass reply on the drop of a dime.  My mother was always very sarcastic but then again so was my father.  I find it’s a wonderful weapon to yield in life.

So how about you?  What did you get willingly or unwillingly from your parents?  Maybe later we can open it up to what traits yo may have passed on to your offspring.

[Jack]

I'm also fascinated with trying to discern which personality traits our kids got from me and my wife.  I think they inherited my sense of humor, lock stock and barrel.  Too bad they act the way I did when I was their age instead of the way I act now - and yes, there is a slight difference.  

As far as what I inherited, I think I got my humor and general sociability from Mom.  The other day she was telling me about a neighbor of hers, and she said "But she's one of those 'nice' people, so we could never really be friends."  Yup, I got that from her.  I got my collecting habits from her too - I've got tons of DVD's, she's got tons of clothes.  I seem to have passed that gene along to the kids as well.

From Dad I think I got my work ethic - I'd much rather have a job where I make a comfortable living than one where I'm "expressing myself" or some such nonsense.  I got my cheapness from him too.  There's this movie I really want to see, but I looked up the DVD on Amazon and they want $26.95 for it.  I nearly laughed out loud.  

[Paquita]

My dad passed away when I was 10, but from what I remember, I’ve inherited his love of nature, adventure, (crappy) horror movies, and his good memory.  I wish I had inherited his ability to communicate with animals, I remember that my dad could call or command any animal, wild or tame.  If we were walking in a forest and saw a deer, rabbit, etc., my dad would put out his hand and make a clicking noise with his mouth and the animal would come to him.  I’d often see him sitting on the front porch petting squirrels that he called over to his lap.  My mom always tells me about a time (before I was born) when she went camping with him, my brother and sister, and a bear wandered dangerously close to the cabin.  My dad went out, put his arms up and delivered a battery of offensive words to the animal, and it turned away and ran.  Of course, dogs and cats would obey him like they were his own.

I’ve spent a lot more time with my mom, so I’m more likely to say that I’ve learned what NOT to do from watching her, but I know there are some things I’ve picked up.  She’s always taken family and friends into her home in their time of need, and I’ve done the same, but that’s also led to taking in their PETS which has become a bit of a problem, but I think I’m done accepting pets for a while.  She’s always been very emotional; she can’t hold back her tears or her laughter, and neither can I, so I just try to avoid situations where it would be inappropriate for me to be overcome with emotion,  like funerals of people that I’m not very close to, because I’d cry like it was my own sibling which would be weird.  She also has a knack for delivering threats to children or people that are probably more effective than physical abuse, and now that I have a child I’ve noticed some of these slipping out of my mouth as well.  My cousins lived in horror of what she would do to them if they misbehaved because of the threats she’d given them.  She’d say things like “I’ll rip your arms off and beat you with them until you’re crippled for life!”  I recently told my nephew “I will horrify you in the middle of the night when you least expect it!” when he was trying to scare my daughter by leaping out and growling at her… he stopped.

As for how NOT to act, for as long as I can remember, my mom has always been a really loud person, complains a lot, and has really mean, but funny, sarcasm.  I DO tend to have a lot of complaints about things, but I try to hold them back, unless I’m with someone close to me who can see the humor behind it..  I try not to back my verbal complaints with ill feelings.  Even though the thought to make a mean sarcastic quip comes to mind sometimes, however funny I may think it is, I try not to say it.  I’ve always been very quiet by nature, even to a fault – I can’t raise my voice very far above a normal tone even when I try, which leads people to complain that they can’t hear me, which only embarrasses me and makes my voice even softer… I probably get that from my dad because he was never very loud and I remember my mom complaining about him always mumbling everything.

[Mr. DS]

I have to say my 4 year old mirrors my wackiness at times sense of humor wise.  I often will make a face, do an idiotic dance or speak in odd tongues to make people laugh.  The other day he had a marshmallow and stood like a statue pretending to take a bit out of it.  Not sure why but I found this absolutely hilarious.  I also like imitating people which he also likes to do.  One day I asked him to imitate me and he went over to the couch and slammed his head into the pillow while saying, “I’M SO TIRED”.  What can I say, the kid is a comedic genius. 

On a side note, he has inherited two bad traits from my wife and I.  We’re both stubborn (my wife way more than me) and huge ball busters.  Aka, he’s fire and gasoline all in one package.  He also hates when people poke fun at him at times which is sooooo my wife.  I sometimes call him “Donkey” when he talks too much.  (Aka Donkey from Shrek)  He HATES that but it usually makes him stop. 

[Trevor]

As an abandoned baby and abused adolescent, I have serious life rage but that doesn't lend itself to drug and alcohol abuse, self hurting or anything like that, I am just, at times an incredibly angry person and thankfully those times are few and far between. My adoptive parents gave me the solid grounding that such a child needed and, although there's no blood relations there, I have inherited my Dad's stubborness and my Mom's take-no-sh*t-from-anyone attitude. I also inherited their love of nature, the sea and movies.

Growing up in a country ravaged by civil war messed me up a little inside and most people see and perceive me as quite a strange person indeed, as I try to be me with everyone I meet: no BS, just Trevor, straight, no chaser. 

Children like me for some weird reason (I can't really see what there is to like in me) and I like them too: most people who know my story of horrible abuse will quite willingly leave their kids in my care as they know that all that abuse sh*t stops with me.

[Trevor]

One day I asked him to imitate me and he went over to the couch and slammed his head into the pillow while saying, “I’M SO TIRED”.  What can I say, the kid is a comedic genius. 

 

[lester1/2jr]

from my dad being a loner and from my Mom depression 

[Skull]

I'm not sure... I think I Inherhited my dad's artistic eye; although I don't draw anymore and when I do (or try) it looks like crap. On the other hand, I use my artistic eye when setting up dwgs for my work (I work on Autocad... maybe this is why I'm sick of drawing in general because I do it for a living.)

My dad didnt like b-movies (or from what I know from him) I got my flavor of b-movies when he picked up his kids (my sister and I) for the Saturday and we (my sister and I) would stay in his house watching TV (I think Creature Features), building model cars, playing other toys... while he would go to the bar and disapear for almost 5 or 6 hours before he would return us to our Mothers.

Oddly and not surprisingly... I never knew my father.

If anything, I have learned not to be like my father.

As for my mother, I think she Inherhited my taste in horror/bad movies from me...  

[macabre]

hi
My mum is from county Armagh Northen Ireland,and she is very much family orientated,to the point that she turned a blind eye to my dads wandering eye.I have inherited her strong desire to hold onto the family unit.Most of you guys know that my wife became very ill after my sons diagnosis,my wife became very physical and often hit me and verbally abused me(never in front of the kids). I stood by my wife and took a lot of s**t and now i am seeing some results.I have a very wicked sense of humour i got from my mum, F from my dad i got a love of collecting things and a lifelong love of horror movies,my family is very important to me and i would defend them with all i have.I  also have a strong desire to help strangers and will often refuse payment from my pupils parents..
macabre

[The Burgomaster]

My father and I are complete opposites: He is very conservative, soft-spoken, and introverted.  I am a free-wheeling, impulsive, anything-goes jerk.

One thing I got from my mother (not really a personality trait) is my love for movies.  I remember watching plenty of movies with my mom when I was a kid, especially on Saturdays and Sundays.  She introduced me to some movies that I still watch quite frequently including JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH and WAR OF THE WORLDS.

[The Gravekeeper]

I inherited most of my personality from my mother and her side of the family, although now that I'm starting to come out of my shell I'm starting to see some of the typical French-Canadian fire coming into play (eg- I take less crap from people who are trying to take advantage of me). Unfortunately, it means that I butt heads with my father now when I'm at my parents' house for too long (I can usually only stand it for about 2 weeks now). I'm pretty sure I inherited my tendency to have a snarky comment, although I usually keep them to myself because I'm very aware that my sense of humour can be very hit-or-miss and that snark can easily become just plain mean-spirited even if that wasn't the intention.

[Mr. DS]

I noticed movies were mentioned a lot.  I owe a lot of what I watch to my father who was an immense fan of classic comedies and action films.  The other half goes to my brother who introduced me to my love of horror as well as 80s pop culture.  My mother for some odd reasons hardly ever watched movies.  She still doesn't  thought she never frowned on me watching movies.  It did after all keep me entertained. 

[Mr. DS]

Side note about movies, my 4 year old has inherited my ability to quote movie lines word for word.