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[NT] Child's Play - portrait of an NT child

ergophobe

Allergic to Mornings
Joined
Apr 26, 2009
Messages
1,210
MBTI Type
ENFP
Enneagram
7w6
Don't know how T I am but things I remember clearly that defined my childhood:

1. Reading anything and everything within sight. My parents would have to work hard at putting things away that they did not want me to read or see (movies). If I was curious, I would find it anyway. Could be happily left to my own devices for hours with a good book. This included books on diamonds, backpacking in Europe in the 80s, farming, the publishing industry...everything was fascinating until I understood basically how t worked.
2. I could also be left alone with an appliance and its manual. I don't like paying attention to details too much so once I figured out how something worked, I just played around with it. I wasn't into destroying but I really, really enjoyed fixing things. Now, thinking back, even in my early teens, I was the default fixer of appliances around the house.
3. I spent hours on my parents' balcony dreaming of far away places, planning elaborately how I would run away and join the circus (damn you Enid Blyton). This all changed when I began to read about the cruelty circus animals endure. Much of the planning consisted of thinking up elaborate survival scenarios (not in the wild but in the city).
4. Only being really sad when I was really bored and complaining incessantly when I was bored. It didn't happen a lot but I remember when it did because it felt so horrible.
5. Realizing that I could steal a small enough amount of money from my father's wallet every day and he would never know. I didn't need to do this. I was rarely ever denied anything and always got extra money when it was justified. Yet, I did it just because I could for several years until my moral compass became a little more defined.
6. Social manipulation in all its forms -- primarily consisted of convincing people that they should do things that were good for them but also incredibly beneficial for me. Was quite successful at this.
7. Never believed what adults told me just because they were adults. I always questioned and always had an opinion about most things.
8. Rebelled at any sign of control.
 

Zoom

Self sustaining supernova
Joined
Feb 12, 2009
Messages
1,045
Enneagram
9w8
  • I spent most of my childhood in my own head, the top of a tree, or a library.
  • I couldn't stand school - loved learning, but asked too many questions, kept getting shushed, and then asked some more. I wanted to know the why.
  • There was a distinct hobby of trespassing - private property to run by the white-tailed deer, any high spot to get a better view.
  • I wanted to know what was behind everything - the encyclopedia was a source of pleasure and inspiration, and I had my favourite articles memorized and dog-eared.
  • I'd go from one intellectual obsession to another after a two year span or so. Flight & fighter jets, ancient Egypt, and the linguistic history of Japan were some of them.
  • I'd have climbed everywhere if I could. I loved high places, the feeling of freefall, and balancing acts.
  • I normally went out in the middle of the night during thunderstorms because I felt a part of it.
  • If I wasn't in front of people, completely uninhibited - in front of others, painfully introverted and reserved to the point of crying at school in the morning.
  • I hid in plain sight. Only certain teachers understood what was going on with me, and that's because I loved them because they actually assisted in learning rather than getting in the way. (There were very, very few of these teachers.)

I think one of the common indicators with us is having no problem with doing perfectly in school when we wanted, "if only they would behave"...

I felt antsy and constrained in school, most of the time.
 

tibby

New member
Joined
Nov 22, 2008
Messages
682
MBTI Type
fool
I got to monitor a young ENTP close as a kid. Without her, I wouldn't have executed any of the following. At 8, we'd dress up and play different characters in the city and sell bananas (also in the christmas time, we dressed up as elfs and went giving gift bananas door to door style). We went squirrel hunting, we came up with a whole mythology (a wingdog legend) (in the art school where we always escaped away for the lesson to explore the old building), we created a radioshow about male siemen + other reproductive stuff and Radio kidney, we'd play pranks on teachers and create stories and scenarios and play them out. And that's only what we did together. For years she made me prank calls, always coming up with different personas (when I had moved away). They were damn good, I sometimes didn't realise it was her.

As a kid she tested out everything and everyone. She also had this fascination/interest for the outcast, she was the one who'd always befriend with them, the people no one else would be with. She made everything a game or a sport, the school stuff she created was always ironical and unique. She made fun of the joke itself and had to do things interesting for her someway, otherwise she'd been bored to death. School was way too easy for her.

As an act of kindness I gave her number to punch of random people who'd also make prank calls for her. She'd talk to them strangers for hours.
 

jenocyde

half mystic, half skeksis
Joined
Jan 2, 2009
Messages
6,387
MBTI Type
ENTP
Enneagram
7w8
I love reading these.

I also was friends with everyone in school, every single last social pariah. I didn't belong to any clique - I was free to hop about from group to group. I never understood why people excluded others. Parties at my house were always so random because of this. Without my social life, I could never have endured school. I skipped a lot and almost failed a dozen times even though the material was quite simplistic. The only motivation to go to school was to hang out with my friends.
 

ergophobe

Allergic to Mornings
Joined
Apr 26, 2009
Messages
1,210
MBTI Type
ENFP
Enneagram
7w6
I also was friends with everyone in school, every single last social pariah. I didn't belong to any clique - I was free to hop about from group to group. I never understood why people excluded others. Parties at my house were always so random because of this. Without my social life, I could never have endured school.

Wow, that was completely my experience as well. I had real trouble committing to any clique but definitely wanted to be a part of everything :) So us right, we want it all!
 

Qre:us

New member
Joined
Nov 21, 2008
Messages
4,890
I got to monitor a young ENTP close as a kid. Without her, I wouldn't have executed any of the following. At 8, we'd dress up and play different characters in the city and sell bananas (also in the christmas time, we dressed up as elfs and went giving gift bananas door to door style). We went squirrel hunting, we came up with a whole mythology (a wingdog legend) (in the art school where we always escaped away for the lesson to explore the old building), we created a radioshow about male siemen + other reproductive stuff and Radio kidney, we'd play pranks on teachers and create stories and scenarios and play them out. And that's only what we did together. For years she made me prank calls, always coming up with different personas (when I had moved away). They were damn good, I sometimes didn't realise it was her.


Ah, prank calls, and nicky-nicky nine doors. Memories. I formed a ghost-hunting crew where we'd have challenges every 2 times a month. Sleepovers - sneak out and grab the scarf left at the cemetary the day before. Go into the woods and hold a mirror while saying 'bloody mary'. Ghost stories.

I miss my childhood. :cry:
 

digesthisickness

✿ڿڰۣஇღ♥ wut ♥ღஇڿڰۣ✿
Joined
Apr 24, 2007
Messages
3,248
MBTI Type
ENTP
I also was friends with everyone in school, every single last social pariah. I didn't belong to any clique - I was free to hop about from group to group. I never understood why people excluded others.

i could have written this. seriously. 90% of every fight i was in was because someone was bullying someone, and i stepped in to stop it. i was suspended a lot, but i'd do it the same way if i had it to do again. i haven't changed in this regard, except that now i tend to only do it for children or adults who really do want and need the help.

Parties at my house were always so random because of this. Without my social life, I could never have endured school. I skipped a lot and almost failed a dozen times even though the material was quite simplistic. The only motivation to go to school was to hang out with my friends.

this too, except that i had a system for the skipping. i knew exactly how many days a semester i could miss without it hitting the punishment phase/parents being called. so, i'd convince friends to skip with me and made 'skip' plans each semester. i'd take friends on my own field trips to 'haunted' houses, the caves i found near my home, picnics by the river that included encouraging skinny-dipping, etc., etc.

i also used those times to get people together who were too shy to talk to one another in school by inviting them to come along on the same day. i loved playing cupid for the shy. (still do)
 

jenocyde

half mystic, half skeksis
Joined
Jan 2, 2009
Messages
6,387
MBTI Type
ENTP
Enneagram
7w8
i could have written this. seriously. 90% of every fight i was in was because someone was bullying someone, and i stepped in to stop it. i was suspended a lot, but i'd do it the same way if i had it to do again. i haven't changed in this regard, except that now i tend to only do it for children or adults who really do want and need the help.

this too, except that i had a system for the skipping. i knew exactly how many days a semester i could miss without it hitting the punishment phase/parents being called. so, i'd convince friends to skip with me and made 'skip' plans each semester. i'd take friends on my own field trips to 'haunted' houses, the caves i found near my home, picnics by the river that included encouraging skinny-dipping, etc., etc.

i also used those times to get people together who were too shy to talk to one another in school by inviting them to come along on the same day. i loved playing cupid for the shy. (still do)

That is perfect. We really have a lot in common, I could have written your post...

I never cared if my parents were called, since they were always out of the country and they weren't the least bit interested. My siblings and I covered for each other and pretended to be parents when the phone rang.

Field trips were my favorite things. I used to have this bomb shelter that was my home away from home and anyone who wanted an adventure knew to go there right when school started.

I also used to get into a lot of fights defending innocent, helpless people (esp. children), and I still do. And I always will.
 

digesthisickness

✿ڿڰۣஇღ♥ wut ♥ღஇڿڰۣ✿
Joined
Apr 24, 2007
Messages
3,248
MBTI Type
ENTP
That is perfect. We really have a lot in common, I could have written your post...

I never cared if my parents were called, since they were always out of the country and they weren't the least bit interested. My siblings and I covered for each other and pretended to be parents when the phone rang.

Field trips were my favorite things. I used to have this bomb shelter that was my home away from home and anyone who wanted an adventure knew to go there right when school started.

I also used to get into a lot of fights defending innocent, helpless people (esp. children), and I still do. And I always will.

you're starting to creep me out. i'm almost too scared to share anything else.


almost.
 

ygolo

My termites win
Joined
Aug 6, 2007
Messages
5,986
Wow, this thread is dominated by entp's. I guess entps are the most bad ass NTs.

I've got nothing, except what I mentioned in the 12 steps to become an INTP thread.

Damn it! I thought this was a 12 step program to cure INTPness.

Well, anyway... 12 steps to become an INTP physics nerd:

  1. Break your front door's lock by trying to pick it by the age of 8. This is essential, you will forget keys, combinations, etc. often.
  2. Construct your own super-soaker at the age of about 9. This is one way for a socially awkward INTP mute to gain some social capital.
  3. Blow up something by the age of 12. A capacitor is good enough, but the bigger the better.
  4. Solder a blinking LED based display for space invaders or mastermind by age 15.
  5. Program your own computer game that requires excessive button pushing, and get yelled at by your dad when your siblings play the game and almost break the keyboard--preferably by the age of 15 again.
  6. Read Einstein's popular version of relativity by the time you are 16.
  7. Take apart your front door lock, and get yelled at for it. Lock picking, safe cracking, etc. are essential for an NTP physicist (read Feynman). I learned how to pick the Samsonite 3-digit combo pretty quickly (not by trying every combination) because I kept forgetting the combo (very INTP).
  8. Work in some scientific capacity (a technician or whatever) in at least two fields other than physics by the time you graduate high-school (mine were Geology and Biotech).
  9. Participate in Science Fairs, Math Contests, Computer Programming Contests, Physics Contests, and chess club through out high-school. Also, playing a sport or two or more is also a good way to get some physical grounding.
  10. Get two or more college degrees in three or less years--just to see how pointless that is.
  11. Get hopelessly lost in life.
  12. Be content that you "fail at life" but like figuring things out and start your career in physics.
 

Blank

.
Joined
Mar 10, 2009
Messages
1,201
MBTI Type
INTP
Enneagram
5w6
I ran into a wall on my seventh birthday, hereby receiving seven stitches. After the operation, the nurses gave me seven suckers.

777, beetches.


What's so NT about it?

I was at a library. *roll*
 

jenocyde

half mystic, half skeksis
Joined
Jan 2, 2009
Messages
6,387
MBTI Type
ENTP
Enneagram
7w8
Wow, this thread is dominated by entp's. I guess entps are the most bad ass NTs.

I've got nothing, except what I mentioned in the 12 steps to become an INTP thread.

Um, you sound pretty bad ass to me.
 

Gamine

in-game
Joined
Nov 2, 2008
Messages
810
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ENTP
Enneagram
3w2
My barbies held elections and participated in counter-intelligence operations. Though this may be what sparked my passion for shoes.
 

jenocyde

half mystic, half skeksis
Joined
Jan 2, 2009
Messages
6,387
MBTI Type
ENTP
Enneagram
7w8
TWINKLE!!! Yay!!!!!

(I also love shoes for real...)
 

CJ99

Is Willard in Footloose!!
Joined
Jan 5, 2009
Messages
582
MBTI Type
ENTP
Twinkletoes can you explain how you go from counter-intelligence operations to shoes?

Also i like shoes too! there the only clothes i have were I actually consider all my stuff kool.
 

runvardh

にゃん
Joined
Jun 23, 2007
Messages
8,541
MBTI Type
INFP
Enneagram
6w7
Instinctual Variant
sx/so
Memories of my childhood often make me question my NF designation, but then I remember that I was too nice for my own good more often than not...
 

lunalum

Super Senior Member
Joined
Dec 20, 2008
Messages
2,706
MBTI Type
ZNTP
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7w6
Instinctual Variant
sp/so
Wow, that is quite the mix of child prodigies and juvenile delinquents :D

I still don't know what the square root of seven is without a calculator, and I don't even know if bomb-making ever crossed my mind. I even claimed that I did not like reading books, though I could read for functional reasons very well and enjoyed books about the human body, space, and weather. This was research to me, not reading. From about age 8 to 10, I was pretty obsessed with th Weather Channel, and I see now that it was because I was very drawn to the idea of finding the pattern amidst chaos, and using this pattern to predict future outcomes. I did cause some trouble as a kid, but usually unintentionally or tardiness/procrastination related stuff.

I'll add more if I remember anything from my childhood that has 1/12 or more the excitement of these other stories...
 

whimsical

New member
Joined
Feb 27, 2009
Messages
351
MBTI Type
infj
Enneagram
4
I spent a lot of time playing alone, or one-on-one with close friends, very imaginative because of all the alone time I partook in, I also enjoyed reading books that would talk about some issue in society, like depression, or suicide, just because I'd find the knowledge interesting & useful.

My parents would always say that I knew how to entertain myself, I did not need any other kids to have fun, nor any interaction.

My doctor on the other hand remembers me in my youth being "selectively mute"

LOL
 

Gamine

in-game
Joined
Nov 2, 2008
Messages
810
MBTI Type
ENTP
Enneagram
3w2
Twinkletoes can you explain how you go from counter-intelligence operations to shoes?

Also i like shoes too! there the only clothes i have were I actually consider all my stuff kool.

I only covet shoes.


Counter intelligence --> disguises --> Clothing --> SHOES!!!
 
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