Did you Grow up around INTJ(s)?

[orange]

It is up to you to decide what "growing up" means. Also, feel free to discuss how you think growing up with/without INTJs around you may effect a young INTJ.

my answer is YES!
1)My dad is an INTJ, which made my life a lot easier growing up.
2)My favorite Highschool teacher is an INTJ.
3)One of my Highschool firends is an INTJ.

[Natrushka]

No. I grew up feeling very different and often misunderstood.

[GOD]

It is up to you to decide what "growing up" means. Also, feel free to discuss how you think growing up with/without INTJs around you may effect a young INTJ.

my answer is YES!
1)My dad is an INTJ, which made my life a lot easier growing up.
2)My favorite Highschool teacher is an INTJ.
3)One of my Highschool firends is an INTJ.

Both my parents are INTJ's.

A truly idyllic world for the young INTJ....

Almost without question anyone that has been my mentor or great "true" friend has been an INTJ... (Or maybe ENTJ, or just maybe INTP). But they've all had IQ's off the scale.

[Doppelbock]

I suspect my dad might have been an INTJ. He was an arrogant asshole just like I am.

DB

[rwyatt365]

My dad and mom I suspect are both E's, as is my little sister. I don't have a clue what my older sister is, but I'd guess not an INTJ, maybe an SF of some sort???

[Firelie]

My dad might be an INTJ, but it's hard to tell because he's so introverted that it's hard to get to know him enough to decide. I feel like we have some sort of weird connection, though, that I don't get with anyone else.

He's the only one I know of, though.

My mom and brother definitely are F's, as are most of my friends.

[thegnat]

Oh hell no.

My mom's an ESFx Not sure if it's ESFP or ESFJ

Dad(not my real dad- but I grew up around him)? Hmm...too careless to be an INTJ, not independent enough, doesn't think before he says anything...yet introverted - he seems afraid of people. extraordinarily lazy. I think ISTP from descriptions I've read.
(I'm an only)

In school growing up there weren't many of us at all. I'd be the one person sitting in the corner reading....I was very misunderstood when I was younger. Even still I feel like my parents don't realize I have such a different personality than they do. Mom thinks she can just turn me into an extrovert. Won't happen.

I think at least one of my chemistry professors (coincidentally the one I'm going to research for and my Inorganic lab prof) is an INTJ and perhaps at least one other chemistry major I know. Other than that though...eh not that I can think of.

All the women's tennis teams I've been on have all been E's of some sort. Probably even E_F's.

Can't think of an INTJ relative either (that I know well). At least my real dad's side of the family has some more scientific-minded people that I can relate to more.

[Circe]

My dad is definitely the only other INTJ I've ever met. Middle and elementary school were hell... as was early high school. I grew up misunderstood and feared (who likes a smart, arrogant female? :))

[mind_wander]

I'm the odd one, so no one can really relate to me as an INTJ. Therefore, I am rare.

[Kathryn]

My dad was an INTJ. This was probably my saving grace, as my mom is ISFP and we clashed at every turn. My younger, and only, sibling is a female ESFJ. She and I have always gotten along well.

[qwerty]

Nope no intj's around. One of my brothers is intp, the rest of my family I haven't tested but they would be along the lines of
ENTP, ENFJ and INFP all were extremely smart which is great.

[gwalchma]

I dont have a clue if anyone was INTJ...dad worked so many hours to stay away from mom, who clearly is NOT INTJ that i dont know what he would test at. I would not describe my siblings as INTJ. But most are introverts like me.

Like some of the others, i grew up misunderstood. i was resented by select family members and adored by others.
When I was child I remember getting a lot of "You should smile, its not that bad"...Hate that! Unless there is a stimuli (worthy of an INTJ smile, you know what im talking about), then i sure the hell am not going to stand around and smile like the village idiot! Course watching the village idiot would make me smile! :)

[deicruxified]

mostly friends... not in my family...

1. my dad is infp (uber generous...)
2. my mom is esfj (uber control freak...)
3. sister enfp as per latest mbti test she took

[orange]

It is up to you to decide what "growing up" means. Also, feel free to discuss how you think growing up with/without INTJs around you may effect a young INTJ.

my answer is YES!
1)My dad is an INTJ, which made my life a lot easier growing up.
2)My favorite Highschool teacher is an INTJ.
3)One of my Highschool firends is an INTJ.
Well since it seems that all of you went all out telling stuff about growing up i guess I can fill in some of the blanks I left.

My mom and older sister are ISTJs
Being a traditionalist (Like most ISTJs), my mom let my dad (INTJ) make all of the important decisions.

Needless to say there was plent of space, freedom, and time to myself from everyone at home. Most of my other family understood our need for space. The only exception to that would possibly be my Grandma's they always wanted me to give them big hugs and fussed about not smiling for pictures.

the friend mentione in "3)" is a guy, but I also met a INTJ female in Highschool. She was cool, but we had no common intrests. and one of my professors for my computer classes in college right now is an INTJ (from what I know it fits, and when I showed him a MBTI page he said thats what he thougth he had tested to be in the past). He is also my advisor for scheduling.

I was one of the missunderstood outcasts in elementry school, untill I made friends with the biggest/strongest kid in school. After that I was untouchable untill Highschool when we parted ways after he let drugs take total control over his life, but by then I was only an outcast by choice.

[Rei]

I think my mother might be an INTJ.
I'm not sure though, her J/P is really hard to determine.

[wolf]

My father is an ESTP, but a rather bright one out of necessity. Two of his brothers (my uncles) are INTPs and my grandfather on that side was a hardcore INTJ (it was so obvious that to this day you can tell if you go to either of his places). Luckily, I grew up a couple doors away from him (in one of his houses, so it was also modified in his manner), so I had a bit of a role model to learn from. He retired when I was a young child, so I had a lot of opportunity to be around him and learn the ways of our type. Since my father lived among these crazy INTXs he was forced to learn how to hold up his end of a discussion, or else get crushed.

I've worked with at least a couple over the years, and quite a few INTPs. I believe my manager may be an INTJ, a couple others might be, but almost everyone is an INTX, with a couple ENTXs mixed in. We live in such an NT-centric world that our SJ overlords from corporate freak out when they come to our office... We don't really care about the physical world, aside from our specific projects.

The funny thing was that my manager wrote the world's most condensed job description ever, just to find an NT. I responded to this 3-line description with about two pages of cover email, and my resume. He called me back within a couple hours and we talked for a while. I had an interview with them down here a couple weeks later, which lasted over two hours, but he already intuitively knew before he met me that he wanted me on the team. It was quite strange to have someone inside on a cold contact selling you to the team interviewing you, but he knew what he was looking for and played an INTJ game to find that in the choicest candidates. It made it easier for him to weed them out, too, because they mostly self-weeded because they didn't know what he was looking for, but that the person he was looking for would know what he was talking about.

It's nice, and I've been fortunate to have a good number of NTs around me.

[Jezebel]

No, I didn't know anyone like me when I was a kid. I would guess my father is an ISFP (and I'm stuck with a guess because he refuses to take the MBTI to be "judged and categorized"). I don't know a single person on my father's side of the family that I would peg as an NT. Possibly on my mother's side, but I don't know them.

I don't think any of my friends in grade school were INTJ (or even INTP) either.

[thecraig]

My father is either an INTJ or INTP but I think he is a J. *My mom on the other hand is an ExFx. *We had really hard time with each other for a while. *She often expressed her frustration that I didn't talk to her enough and that she was concerned about me. *If i did something wrong i preferred corporal punishmet to the extended tongue lashings. *I learned it was over with quicker if I just let her vent instead of defending my position. *(during an emotional upheaval, logic was usualy completely lost on her.) *Likewise the confrontations between my folks were aweful things. *Dad coldly using logic and trying to be patient with mom's emotional illogical arguments and mom all the while getting more and more upset and frustrated with dad's refusal to "respond apropriatly" to her emotions. *I don't think I have ever understood all that so well until just now. *I must have understood it intuitively at some level because I would sit and anylize their arguments while they were going on and later use my knowledge of their respective tactics on them later. * * *Wow. *don't know why I'm telling a bunch of strangers all this. *My guess is b/c you all sound so much like me for once.

[orange]

Wow. *don't know why I'm telling a bunch of strangers all this. *My guess is b/c you all sound so much like me for once.

It's crazy how much people will tell when you feel safe behind the computer monitor, surounded by people that seem similar to them.

[Evalind]

My dad and youngest brother are both INTJs, and it's possible my middle bro is also INTJ, but I'm not 100% sure.

[Raven Queen]

No, but I wish I had. Wouldn't have felt so odd all those years... I think my family's largely made up of extroverts. Ugh.

[aelan]

I think my dad's an INFP who denies his FP-ness- would that count? * *:-/

Also, when I was a kid, my best friend's family was very xxTJ.

[logan235711]

No. I grew up feeling very different and often misunderstood.
Me too

but i think maybe it was for the best in many regards, although i have shared a good deal of feelings of 'aloneness'

[Riverratt]

I was cursed...

Both my parents where VERY Exxx's and the vast majority of my family are Exxx's as well

They loved me very much, this I have no doubt, My father did not understand my need “space”, and my nearly complete disinterest in sports, unless a certain sport helped me with some research I was doing (just for myself, kind of research) For example, I am extremely interested in local history, as it pertains to the local railroad. I took up mountain biking, so I could around all these long gone communitys, mine sites, and iron ore furnaces, etcetera.... LOL I than took up “spelunking” to farther my mine research.

My father and Mother where confused by me, I would rather spend hours in the basement, working with modal trains, than out playing ball with the other kids that where around. I was such a voracious reader that I would even sit down and read the encyclopedias. Neither of my parents where like that.

Oddly enough, I was a “D” student at school, even failing the 5th grade. I just did not care....nothing could be done to make me care. *It drove my parents insane. They had me tested when I was in the 5th grade, and I had a *very high IQ, but that fact confused them even more.

Truth is, school was so dull, repetitive, and mind numbing, the only class I enjoyed was History, and I enjoyed using my prowess in that subject to easily “out debate” the teacher in front of the class.

My father, in an effort to “pull me out of my shell” started signing me up for football, and baseball. I hated football with a passion, the coach had the personalty and IQ of a septic pumper truck, so I ended up being a “bench warmer” I faired better in Baseball, I did enjoy those games, but I did not care about winning or losing. Which confused my father even more.

My parents became desperate, they even took me to see various shrinks, to sort me out, ahh, more talk about “feelings”.......

But I must say, the shrink did some good....for my parents! I was about 12 when I was taken to see him, *after a “battery of tests” and even more “intelligence tests” (I do vividly remember being asked to solve some kind of puzzle with blocks, After I completed the tests, I purposely gave the shrink, my evil grin, without saying a word) *I don't remember much about what was spoken between me and him, nor what he told my parents. But things got better for me, my father and mother STOPPED trying to “socialize” me. Heck my father even let me drop out of football!

Things got much better.

Also, I must say that I have lead a incredibly tragic life, at 13 my father and nephew was killed in front of me, in a horrible accident, at 17 my mother suddenly got sick and died I honestly think she really died when my father was killed, and the grand son died, she lost the will to live, and only survived until I was a bit older.

My parents where some of the most loving and caring people I have ever known, I was just so different from them, and they did not understand.

I also FIRMLY believe that being a “very pronounced” INTJ is the only reason I was able to survive the massive emotional trauma I went thru during my teenage years... Especially when I came back home after my mother's funeral, to an empty, quiet, cold, formerly family home, with the stark realization that their was no need to leave the porch light on, because no one else is coming.... :(

It was then that being an Introvert saved my life.

[cielo market]

No, but that would have been awesome.

[BlackMita]

I haven't really grown up yet. My mom and sis are both ESFP (it isn't a nightmare all the time), but I can recall a few INTJ I've come into contact with... I didn't befriend them; they were just classmates. Thinking back, my 2nd grade teacher MIGHT have been INTJ, as I remember he made us do math drills which included long division by hand. My mom recalls that he recommended me to a gifted-ish program, which would mean a grade skip. Her and my grandparents decided not to do it, since skipping a grade seemed too risky.

Most of my best friends have been ENFP. Other introverts are difficult for me to know well, unless they "extrovert" or it’s a situation where they speak their mind causally. Like in class participation, or anonymously online.

As a little kid I came off as hyper and inconsistent. I wanted to be alone some days, then spew out every thought I had to the people around me other days. Got teased a lot by other kids for being too weird. I was misunderstood in middle school as well, but didn't really care since I actually had friends. In high school the same pattern followed up until this point with three good friends (ENFP, ENTP, INTP).

If anything could have made childhood better, it'd have been one with more intellectual challenge. Nowadays I just think of logic and being smart as a chore. My current ambitions require more determination than novel intelligence anyhow.

[ENFP is curious]

my father is an INTJ and it's taken me a long time (my entire adult life) to understand it's his world, i'm just livin' in it.

[catd]

No and it made my childhood hell.

[curiousjane]

How'd I miss this thread?

I have:

My mother, her brother, and her sister-in-law (married to her brother) are all INTJs. Crazy.

Though I will never know for sure, I suspect my grandfather (mother's dad) could have been an INTJ, as well, in his own way.

I remarked recently that that particularly side of my family is full of nerdy/smart types. I think the mental prowess was incubated by all that INTJism. It's a small family, but we have:

- An ecological warrior
- A nurse
- A city planner/teacher
- An engineer
- A Japanese studies major
- A film-maker
- A soldier/carpenter
- A pilot
- A mechanic
- and a writer/artist (me)

[TheLastMohican]

I do not know any other INTJ's (I think).
:cry:

[Terian]

I do not know any other INTJ's (I think).
:cry:
Seconded. I do know an ENTJ though. He was the reciprocating mind I needed in middle school.

[sriv]

I do not know any other INTJ's (I think).
:cry:

I know one, but I never took the time to get to know him. He doesn't seem the type to get into deep conversation with. Grumpy guy.

So I feel the same. :cry:

[Richard0612]

Sorta, almost my whole [albeit small] family is IxTx, my mum is ISTJ with several INTJ tendencies. Most of my school friends are xNxJ, although I find myself giving advice to lots of ESFxs. I have never met an INTJ in person though [or at least not one I could be sure about to any degree].

[darkkodiak]

No, to my memory, I did not meet another INTJ while growing up. This did make my life hell seeing how everything just annoyed me. Fortunately I learned to deal with the annoyances so I don't have to deal with the downward spiraling effect for not wanting to conform or acting out of the 'ordinary'.

[Uytuun]

My father is INTJ, my mother ESFx...it was a good mix of things to grow up in as a child, but I have to say that I am very, very glad that my dad was there...I have always been understood and loved at home. My brother is ESTP so he relates better to my mother and I'm a daddy's girl.

Quite a lot of INTJs with INTJ fathers.

[errrzarrr]

nope. I even doubt if I know a INTJ in real life. I sure have met one, but can't say who is one.

[demaugustus]

As I've mentioned before, my dad is an INTJ, so he always seemed to be one step ahead of me growing up...I've only become familiar with MBTI in the last 6 months and haven't given much thought yet about who else in my life was an INTJ...I'll have to think about that...thanks for bringing this up.

[Linza]

Blessedly yes. My father is an INTJ, my little brother is an INTx (leaning J), both my grandfathers, one of my uncles, and two of my aunts are INTJs. Pretty great. It really does help to have someone around who understands you, even if that means you're the geeky kid who hangs out with their family. And after a bad break up, it helps to have your dad pull you aside and spend the rest of the evening with you working on the car in complete silence. Sometimes good company is the best therapy.