second childhood

How My Second Childhood Changed My Life
by Rupinder Gill

Rupinder Gill’s parents left India for a small, “whiter than snow” Ontario city in search of that well-worn cliché: a brighter future for their children. For the first 17 years of Gill’s life, however, most of that brightness came from the television screen in her basement.

The Gills were strict and overprotective of their four daughters, who when they weren’t babysitting their baby brother were expected to be cleaning house. And when it came to personal freedom—whether it was socializing with friends outside of school, sleepovers (which her parents visualized “as Roman orgies where the sleeping bags were filled with fluffy mounds of cocaine”), dating, lessons of any kind, vacations, or going on school trips—Gill’s parents raised the word “no” to the level of a mantra. Read more…