21 Sept 2020

I got into a discussion yesterday with a fellow PK, trying to identify other PK’s that we both knew.

If you’re a PK, you know what I’m talking about. If not, it’s not a reference to an old chewing gum brand, but a brand of children who grew up with a parent as a church minister of some description. Parsons, or Preachers Kids is what we know each other by, and it’s a handy way of identifying people who grew up with similar family stories as yours.

The PK’s I know have generally attended many schools, been part of many churches, have travelled throughout the state or country quite a bit, and are dab hands about telling you fascinating stories about random country towns. By and large, as kids we got moved from town to town every four years or so, so we have similar tales about either having heaps of friends all over the state, or of forgetting everyone we went to school with because we really weren’t there for too long.

I’d challenge anyone who doesn’t know me to identify me as a preachers kid on first or second meeting. Maybe by the third or fourth meeting and I’ve told you boring stories about growing up in York, or South Perth, or Wagin, or Wembley – you might query why we moved around so frequently, and the story would come out.

Can you identify the occupation of their parents in people you meet? (And although I’m talking fathers in this instance, the occupation of mothers is also vital to our stories… Mine was most active as a Ministers Wife – and believe me that was a full time occupation back then – but she also moonlighted as a registered nurse… and has fascinating stories that I could share if she didn’t read these things as well).

My husband’s father was a plumber, and I blame this fact for his preoccupation with how much water is used by a dishwasher, or washing machine, or how long people spend in the shower. This could possibly be more related to his preoccupation with knowing how much money is going in and out of the bank account, but I’ll be nice and blame his Dads plumbing history instead.

I know people whose parents worked in banks (who also got moved around frequently as kids) – I couldn’t nowadays identify them by their detailed knowledge of interest rates, though.

If your Dad was a train driver, do you now pay more attention to trains?

If he was a fisherman, are you extra critical of fish you buy?

If he was a jewel thief, do you have a good security system in your house?

So tell me – what work did your parent/s do, and has it left a mark on you in some way?

Us PK’s are nosy little beggars.