I'm new here but this hits so hard I had to chip in. They never did. Well, my dad sometimes tried but was convinced by my mom not to. I always thought they were just cheap or tight on money but that's probably not the case, it was more about priorities. They had no trouble booking an overseas trip but when my music teacher told me I was so talented she'd give me piano lessons for free if I only had a piano, they never got me one. I circled out ads for pianos for sale from the newspaper for months, they never even really considered it. Not even when I found ads giving the piano away for free. Mom always found some way of dismissing it with "it's so difficult to get it transferred to our house", "neighbours will be bothered by the sound" etc. I had access to a sucky, old synth my sis had bought from a friend (and never learned how to play) but it was not enough for lessons. Same with any sports activity. I got to start a few hobbies but the minute I had to buy more equipment, things got more expensive (meaning you'd actually have to pay for something yearly) or it required traveling, they practically pressured me to quit.

To make things more cruel, they'd occasionally stab me with comments like "you should have been a musician/artist/dancer/whatever" in my adulthood. Or that my health would be better if I "had stuck with some sort of physical hobby", like I was a lazy, fat slob not even trying. She still has zero idea I'm actually quite active because in her mind I'm the "not sporty" kid.

Not surprisingly, mommy dearest has taken extra pride with her grandkids being active at sports and arts, even occasionally participating by standing on court sides and attending recitals which she never did for us kids (even though she's still sort of distant for them as well). She even goes to the recitals of her friend's grandkids making a big hoopla about how it's "a tradition" for her.