Wish I Did, Wish I Didn't.

[Moorea7]

Throughout our life, I guess most of us have wished we had done something we were contemplating and, on the other hand, done something which we wish we hadn't done. Has this happened to you?

I wish I had continued on to University after leaving school.
I wish I hadn't turned down the offer to go and live in Canada.

[rowanwitch]

I wish I had learned to drive when I was young
I wish I didn't .... But I did... And the memories still make me shudder!

[bookbinder]

My mother asked me, when I was 11 years old, if I wanted to go to grammar school. I said 'no'. I didn't know what a grammar school education meant, and I'd had enough of school, anyway. I sometimes wish that I had said 'yes', but my life would have been completely different if I had done. Ah, well.

[barry1010]

Regrets, I've had a few, but then again, too few to mention. So I won't

[elliemay1]

bookbinder, I'm surprised your Mum left the decision up to you at that tender age.

[barry1010]

I had the chance of grammar school after passing my 11+ but my parents couldn't afford it.

[lankeela]

I passed the 11+ and was the only one of my gang of friends who did, who all went to the local secondary modern while I went off to grammar school - I wasn't really the academic type and wished I had gone with my friends, but the education stood me in good stead (apart from Maths which I was hopeless at). My problem was I was the class clown and was always in trouble with the teachers for messing about or making smart ass comments. My school reports all said things like 'easily distracted' or 'should concentrate on her work more'. My main problem was never being able to resist taking a shot at an open goal and that continues to this day!

[rowanwitch]

I also had the chance to go to grammar schools, including a couple of boarding schools. My mother refused point blank saying it wasn't for 'people like us'. She claimed later I would have a hard time being working class, and she wouldn't be able to afford the costs of extra curricular stuff, like riding, trips abroad etc. I also found out my dad's family went ballistic and had offered to support her financially. So I went to a comprehensive and spent 7 years under achieving , bored out of my brain, and being bullied for being 'clever',

[Vagus]

Wish someone had steered me into nursing when I left school…top in biology, art, English, geography.
Wish I didn’t….no regrets, no point.

[Peter Pedant]

I also found out my dad's family went ballistic and had offered to support her financially.

the theme of this thread is how 'opportunities' were lost because parents just didnt want their child to do that, ( with a memory of "it wasnt offered to me, so they can't...."

I spent two years as a lab rat in Porton Down because the parents cd not wait to get me out of the house. I was the fourth, Wages £28-30 per month. Lodgings £7 per week. you just lived....
Part time day release and evening classes were a god send

[Peter Pedant]

I wish I hadn't turned down the offer to go and live in Canada.
if you hadnt, you would find out what it was like
50% of Brits last one winter.
Nfld., I left on the first day of snow ( Oct 1st ) and it wasnt going to thaw until May....
Let us celebrate and thank the teachers who did good
Rhymer at primary school ( theologian )
Ball ,Ensor, Stewart, Townend, Fatty Barrett, big school
Blakemore ( the v famous one) at uni
along with Weir, Parry, Collier, uni

[Peter Pedant]

and so in modern speak
the kids had to break thro the glass ceiling
and a lot didnt make it

[Moorea7]

Peter Pedant. It was Vancouver I'd have been going to - not much snow there though this Winter was a bit different.

[Peter Pedant]

I have two returnees - no three - Oz New Zealand and Korea, and yes it means, beginning again.

[roopower]

No regrets as far as education was concerned, failed 11+ so no choice. Did quite well in my career as a nursery nurse/ teachers assistant. My regrets concern several boyfriends who I should have avoided!

[bookbinder]

elliemay1 @17.37 Thu 06th July. I've just now seen your post, and I thought that I could add a bit more. At the time that my mother asked me that question, she had been a widow for 4 years, and she had had to take a low-paid job in textiles. Many years after she asked me the question, I suspected that she wanted me to leave school at 15 years, and get a job to bring an extra wage packet in to the home. A grammar school education might have been too expensive for her, and she was probably relieved when I said 'no' to her question. As it happened, when I left school at 15, she had married again, so she really did have another wage coming in to the home. But it was too late for me.

[david small]

I wished I’d stayed in the navy. I also wish I’d have avoided the lovely girl that I left the navy for.