Comparing Childhoods: Brent and Allena

I saw this on another blog, and it seemed like a great idea - how do mine and Brent's childhoods compare to our children's. I want to first compare my upbringing to Brent's, and then we'll see how that compares to the kiddos.  Neat idea, right?

My initial thoughts are that all 3 sets of our childhoods are very similar which is honestly my goal. I think Brent and I both had pretty idyllic childhoods, and I really hope that our children will one day look back on their childhood and feel the same way.

Family dynamics:

First, Brent and I both grew up in a family of 4 as the second {same sex} child. Brent and his brother are 4 years apart while Patty and I are only 20 months apart.

Patty and Allena

Brian and Brent

I also find it interesting that both sets of our parents were high school sweethearts. My parents dated in high school and then on-and-off through college {they went to different schools} and then got married about a year after my dad got his bachelor's degree {my mom is older...scandalous...and had been working for a year}. Brent's parents dated through high school and got married when Janet was 18 and Harold was 21. Neither went to college after high school, but Janet did go start college when Brent was in elementary school and graduated in 1999 as the first person in her family to graduate!

Religion:
Brent and I both grew up in moderately religious families. My mom is Catholic and my dad is Methodist, but we have always gone to the Catholic church as a family. Brent's mom is Methodist, and his dad is Catholic, and their involvement has changed over the years. Brent went to the Methodist church as a young child, and then started going to the Catholic church with his dad probably around middle school.

SAHM vs. Working Mom:
Both Brent and I grew up with working moms. My mom was able to stay home with Patty and me until I was about 1, but then she went back to work. I feel like we had a pretty good gig with 2 teachers for parents - it was great having our parents home in the summers and over holidays...until it wasn't great {ahem...probably middle school...ha}. Brent's parents both worked for state agencies, so his mom was able to stay home for I think 8 or 12 weeks. {Don't get me started on the travesty that is the typical American maternity leave.}

Big city vs. small town living:
Technically, the towns Brent {Austin} and I {Pflugerville} grew up in are next to each other, and the part of Austin where Brent's from is in the Pflugerville school district {hence how we met}, but I would say there were some differences for us. Austin is definitely a big city while Pville is a suburb and was a big farming community, so I think there's a much more 'country' feel to Pville. Pretty much ALL of Brent's family {grandparents, etc.} were in Austin when he was a kid, while ALL of my family lived in even smaller/countrier towns. My parents are from a tiny, tiny farming community {population: 1,000}. So I spent a lot of my childhood in a much more 'country' setting.

Schooling:
Brent and I both went to public school all the way through. We were in the same school district but only overlapped at a 5th grade center and high school {where we met}. However, I will say that Brent's elementary/middle school at times were rougher than mine.

I think that pretty nicely sums up my childhood compared to Brent's. Stay tuned to read my thoughts on the kiddos!