13 Things That Definitely Happened In Your Childhood If Your Parents Were College Professors

1. You were always asked, “Are you going to be as smart as [insert parent(s) here]?” To which you just nodded and smiled. Looking back, I wish I could have answered, “Bruh, I don’t know. I am just trying to keep my coloring inside the lines, you know?”

2. Your parents exposed you to so many things as a child, and even then you knew that deciding what you wanted to be when you grow up would be difficult and painful. You wanted to do everything because you had so many interests!

3. Your friends could boast the latest in technology and toys. What could you boast the latest in? Books. You were always the first to have books.

4. You likely had an edge over a lot of people in terms of your schooling. Sometimes this made you entirely complacent towards it because you knew at the very least, you’d be fine.

5. But mostly, even if you didn’t have direct pressure to do well from your parents, you felt it, just by being their child. They were “smart people” after all. You had to live up to that.

6. You would always get a little thrown off when people would call your parents, “Dr.” And not only that, so would your friends. And you would have to explain to them that your parents are, “Doctors in their field.” Did you know what this meant entirely? No. Did it shut your friends up? Yes.

7. You picked up a lot of big words and phrases really early – which would impress the adults around you, including your parents. Unless of course you were using their own words against them. Which may have landed you lots of laughs, or in a lot of trouble.

8. Your home library was a sacred thing in your family. And your parents expected you to treat it as such. You knew that the entire house could burn down but as long as their books (and research) were fine, your parents would be okay.

9. If you ever needed help with your homework, your parents could either help you with it or find a professor who could. At the very least, you’d go to the university library and get help for days.

10. Your parents went on trips to really cool places (where they had conferences). But sometimes they brought you along too! It was 98% the reason you have visited as many places as you have, which of course also developed your early interest in travel.

11. Whenever people asked you what your parents did, you had way too much information about it for a child. Example: “Well, my mother is in special education and she teaches learning disabilities but her specialization is in education of the gifted and talented.” (Perfectly explains why you still give comprehensive answers to things – explanations are fundamental, in your eyes.)

12. While some families talked about how their days went at dinner time, you got attuned to politics, current events, and cultural happenings pretty fast. And without even realizing it, you were always seeking more information about these things.

13.  For what it’s worth, even as a child, your parents instilled in you a curiosity of wanting to know. That there is value in learning simply because learning is valuable – it is an end in and of itself. And sure, ten year-old you might not have understood all that. But looking back, and especially now, you just feel really lucky to have known this all along.