Step 4 Questions about Childhood

• What kind of relationship did your mother have with her parents?


• What kind of relationship did your father have with his parents?


• Were you wanted at birth?


• Write out the circumstances of your family at the time of your birth - things such as family size, age differences, financial status and atmosphere. Was there laughter? arguing? depression? Were other relatives or people living with you?


• In general, what did your family think of you.


• How old were you at the birth of your brothers and sisters or how hold were they at your birth?


• How did you feel about new arrivals in your family?


• Were either of your parents sick enough to require hospitalization?


• Were you separated from any important family member? If so, was there fear or guilt about this separation. In other words, did YOU feel responsible?


• Did you feel threatened by the Boogey Man or the Devil if you misbehaved? If so, what were your fears in this regard?


• What kind of sexual curiosity did you have as a child? Did anyone know about this and, if so, how did they respond?


• Did you ever see anyone naked or mostly unclothed as a child? If so, how did you feel about this? How did those around you feel about this?


• What makes you feel uneasy in writing about your sexuality in your younger years?


• As a child, were you afraid of the dark?


• As a child, were you afraid to fight? Or were you afraid NOT to fight because of pressure from your father or older brothers or others?


• As a child, how did your parents punish you? Did they try to reason with you or was it physical?


• As a child, how did you react to punishment?


• What kind of marriage do you THINK that your parents had? If they fought did you resent it? Did it scare you? Were you used to break up their fights? Did you have to take sides?


• What were your parents attitudes about religion?


• Did you ever feel confused or angry or put off by religion? Explain the details.


• How do you see the relationship between God and religion?


• As a child, were you afraid of storms?


• List all your feelings of guilt, fear, or resentment that I had toward any person in my life AS A CHILD (not my feelings now).


• What was the first time that you ever stole anything (if at all). Inventory all of your thefts.


• If you have ever masturbated, how old were you when you first tried this?


• Were you ever caught masturbating? If so, how did you feel? If you were never caught, how did you feel about it?


• What other kinds of sexual curiosity were you involved in (homosexual, animal, other family members - ANYTHING else)?


• If you were named after someone, what was that person like?


• Did your family move often? If so, did you make friends and then have to break off the relationship so often that you became afraid to get to close?


• Do you remember starting school? What were your feelings at that time?


• Try to remember each successive grade in school and, as you do, write down any resentments that you felt towards teachers, pupils or anyone else. Chronicle any fights, slights, hurts or embarrassments - ALL OF IT.


• Did you resent your church, relatives, friends or parents? If so, list them. No resentment is too small to mention. The Big Book states, "Resentment is the number one offender" (p. 64).


• What kind of language did your parents use? Were you ashamed of them for this or for anything else?


• Did you ever see your parents in the nude? What were your feelings?


• Did you ever see or hear your parents having sex? What were your feelings?


• Did you have chores in your family? If so, what were your chores? Were they fair? Could you ever do them to the point of pleasing your parents?


• Did your parents ever seem to like your friends better than they did you?


• Did your friends seem to like your parents better than they did you? If so, did you resent this?


• Did you have any bad experiences at Sunday School or at Summer camp?


• Were you an only child? If so, did you resent this or enjoy it?


• Did you parents want a child of the opposite sex when they had you? If so, did they name you or dress you to match their preferred gender?


• Did your appearance (looks, dress, etc.) embarrass you? Did other people ever make fun of you or look down on you because of your appearance?


• Did you ever feel different from your classmates? How so, and how did you feel about this?


• What question about your childhood experiences is the toughest for you to answer?