It was unnecessarily intense and left me a very precocious child who was always lonely.

I would never subject my (potential) children to my childhood.

It gave me a boost in my career and programming, but that's nothing that can't be overcome with a marginal gap in work ethic.

That said, I was very fortunate to be able to crawl out of the lower classes.

I'm 19, and I feel the pain too. Listening to classmates talk about their childhood makes me feel somewhat sad for mine.

I wouldn't trade mine in for thiers though - I love where I am :)