My mother called me incorrigible, recalcitrant, defiant. She said I pushed her so far, that my behavior was so problematic, she had no choice but to discipline me in the ways she did. She informed me that being my parent was drudgery. She’d sit me down and lecture me for hours, pointing out all the ways I was bad. She told me I was headed for degeneracy. I was disobedient, lazy, annoying, needy. I talked too much and was too loud. I was a liar and a thief. My public behavior was an embarrassment. I was an utter disappointment as a daughter.
