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I had to teach myself, my parents did nothing for me, they didn't bathe me or teach me to
brush my teeth, they didn't wash my clothes, I felt humiliated at school, but I learned to do
it for myself. With my mental illnesses it is hard to maintain good grooming habits at times.

None of the other students in school would have anything to do with me when I was a child, because I wore the same clothes every day, didn't get haircuts, and wasn't allowed to bathe. Now as an adult, I have worked hard to establish new habits. I brush my teeth not often enough, but at least twice a week, though I know I should brush them twice daily for two to three minutes each time. I even have mouthwash now. I cut my own hair at least once a month. I don't shower every day as I should. If I get a job, I will shower and put on clean clothes every day. I'm not doing what I know I should be doing. But I'm working on becoming domesticated.

Oh boy....I think that my haircuts and the outfits I wore were definitely enough to put me the semi- "outcast" group of kids. It was embarrassing. My Dad was clueless on how to dress us. We frequently wore pants with worn out or blown out knees with ridiculous iron on patches. I never owned a pair of pretty shoes like other girls.

I have tried hard to better myself as an adult....but it is tough. I feel that because I didn't have a Mom that I missed out on so much. All the things she left behind indicated that she was a woman of impeccable style and people absolutely adored her. I wish she had been there to help me...

I often look at other women and am sad that I cannot take care of myself the way they do. I don't know how they do it. If I had enough $$$ I would hire someone to help me shop for clothing that flatters my figure.

My parents told me the right things, I suppose...but they never followed through on anything. They really didn't want to be bothered with me most of the time. So I had teeth that were all green because I didn't like the way the toothpaste tasted. If you don't keep after kids, they live like animals, really.

I see a lot of kids like that today, parents are working three jobs between two people and not following through on anything with their kids. Kids grow up thinking they can do as they please and talk their way out of any kind of trouble. They never learned discipline. You have to have self-discipline to accomplish things in life in an honest way. Either your parents teach you or you learn it the hard way...or you wind up a mess...maybe even in prison.

I went through some bad times in life and learned what I know the hard way. But I'm still prone to self-destructive habits and times when I feel sorry for myself and don't care what happens to me. I keep dusting myself off and trying again, though. I don't want to wind up in a heap of self-pity again...the air is foul there.

Good habits are the key to succeeding at many things....always make your bed as soon as you get out of it, put your tools away where you can find them again, exercise every day, eat real food not junk, keep the floor swept...you all know this stuff I'm sure.

I'm sick with chronic illness and have no caregiver, so I have to do that job myself. We all have to take care of ourselves, nobody is going to do it for us. In the end it's like Mavis Staples sings in her song Respect...if you don't respect yourself, you're not going to respect anyone else. And so it goes.

My Mom was to the opposite and the extreme. I had hair to my waist as a child and it had to be permed by her every six months. Imagine what is like to a child. And she would fix my hair and make me elaborate dresses and we would go places and I would get put in a corner wearing white gloves and told to stay and not move and don't get dirty. It was like I as a doll put on a shelf.

i too was impoverished this was on top of the abuse made fun of my the kids for the way I dressed this is devastating to self esteem could not invite friends over due to filthy house