In nurturing me and my sister the key role was played by my parents. But, in fact, an essential role in the development of my personality was played by my grandparents. Their impact on me was significant, no doubt.

First of all, my grandmother provided a lot of help while my parents were at work, took care of me and my sister during illness. She was a housewife, hence she used to do a lot of cooking and she could do it quite well. I’ve always looked up to her, learning how to make wonderful dinners and keep the house clean and tidy. 

However, my grandfather would come across as an extremely busy person, who used to spend a lot of time at work. Anyway, he would always find the time to engage us in fun and educational activities such as visiting museums, theatres and going on various excursions. I reckon, the passion for history and art runs in our family thanks to him. 

I’ll always be grateful to my grandparents for them being so loving and caring. They’ve never been scornful to me, never looked down to me like I was a small unreasonable child. They’ve constantly encouraged me to do my best in everything and pull myself together whenever I felt disaffected or frustrated. 

I didn’t happen to be inspired by my parents so it was a welcome change when I got married. My husband came across as a caring person and I felt relieved and motivated. The family became my main priority. When some challenges crop up we can pull ourselves together and take them in stride.

I take pride in our two precious daughters . It’s only natural that they sometimes rub us up the wrong way. It usually happens when I’m overwhelmed by tight deadlines and heavy workloads. In case the atmosphere of mutual respect seems to be ruined and it catches me unawares , my husband helps me cotton on that it’s high time to change tacks. 

There are some vital traditions that let us turn the relations around. As an example On our way home from a wide variety of children’s extra classes my husband changes the route, we ride for another half an hour and take pleasure in shadowing favorite songs loudly together . 

It’s always bound to pay off. 

When we finally arrived at our destination, which was crammed full of boys, we started to feel a bit apprehensive and embarrassed, but as it turned out nobody was aggressive or hostile. On the contrary, in a wink, a group of boys approached us to introduce themselves. Anyway, among all, there were two I’d like to mention. One of them looked like a real Prince Charming: handsome, tall and blue-eyed with a cheeky smile…The other boy was of medium height and had green eyes - clearly, not my type. Oddly enough, but both of them seemed to fancy me! It’s needless to say I chose the prince. Since then we had been going out for a couple of months until he simply stopped turning up. I started to feel distressed by that fact, as it was so hard for a teenage girl with butterflies in her stomach to be treated that way.  Unlike my ex-boyfriend, the second guy I had met at the party continued to keep in touch with me by permanent visits and calls to the Lyceum in spite of the fact that I was utterly indifferent to him and resistant to his offers to be his date since I was not ready to establish any romantic relationships with anybody. Notwithstanding I didn’t initially respond the boy’s consistent addresses to me, he eventually helped me to pull myself together and I had to change my mind.

Frankly speaking, I don’t know if I had my heart set on a job of a teacher, but after the Lyceum I entered a Teachers Training college. At that time I was head other heels in love with my future husband. I can’t say that I was an underachieving student or a troublemaker-quite the opposite-I did really well, though if confessing I skived off from time to time so that I could spend more time with my soulmate. 

Thus against all odds, we are happily married and have a wonderful daughter, who takes a lot after her father and looks up at him. What is important in our family is that we try to see eye to eye with each other on the key issues such as our daughter’s upbringing. Having said that I mean we are trying to encourage her, to make her feel cared for, as well as well supported and guided. We definitely have high expectations for her like leaving both of her schools (state and musical) with many qualifications and entering a university as we as parents have a leg to stand on, and thus fulfilling her potential.

All in all, despite the fact about leopards and their spots, I’d advise to trust the universe and change your tune whenever it is possible. If that day my friends at the Lyceum or my husband 16 years ago had taken no for an answer, I might never have had my precious family!