I'm not sure if your father was the same as mine. I wouldn't consider my late father as violent, but he was strict and would whack us if we got out of hand. I suppose that was normal for parents to be like that back when I was much younger.

But my parents seemed to instill on me that arguing is bad, especially to them. If I pointed out that I felt like they did something wrong, then they would say, "you're talking foolish". They would shame me for daring to argue with them. Yet, if they felt like someone else was walking all over me, they would shame me for not standing up for myself.

Funny is that, when I got into my 50s, I thought a lot of what my life was like when I was a child. I didn't give it much thought until recently. Then I got thinking that I am the way I am because of my parents. And then I would read article on Psych Central about Narcistic Parents and I could very well resonate with what the articles were saying.

Like I mentioned earlier, I guess that's probably why I would have a hard time at work standing up for myself, since it's a major part of my life.