Fuzzy, it MUST be them! It was the way they were raised, the input they received as they grew up. My mother was prepared to be the grandmother's slave for life when it was found that she had a physical malformation; one leg was shorter than the other.

Perna, the grandmother rode my mom's butt about every little thing she did, yet my mom was the one that taught her how to read and write, taught her manners, made sure she always had more than she needed and waited on her hand and foot!

What I can't understand is HOW, WHY was it ME that stopped the crap from rolling downhill? How come I knew better than to put my kids down, abuse them physically and/or sexually? How did I know I could trust them and expect the best out of them? Surely, my mom could have done that with ME!?

Ok, my mom never abused me sexually but I remember the beatings I got with my own leather belt simply because I had asked if I could go out with a friend! Every girlfriend I had was a ***** and every guy friend only wanted one thing from me and according to my mom, I was more than willing to oblige!

When my daughter was 16, she kiddingly told my mom that she wanted "that car," a car that had a For Sale sign on it. My mom told her that if she had the money, she'd surely buy it for her. I turned around and asked my mom how come she would never buy me a car. Her answer was "Because you'd go to Fort Bliss and fill it up with GIs and have a gang bang." She said this in front of my husband and kids!!!

So if this ***** (me) had raised my daughter, wouldn't it stand to reason that my daughter would be a *****, too??? How does one deal with a dichotomy like that one? Where does it begin to make sense? It doesn't to me!

Most parents deny that their kids could ever do anything wrong. Not MY mother! She was always so quick to assume the worst from me! Heck! It was a foregone conclusion!