>   Broad statement warning:  Too many younger people have never been told NO
 > by their parents.  Or when told no whine and cry until they get what they
 > want.
 >   This then carries over into their "adult" life.

Yup, & then those parents gety old & complain how dangherous it is on the
streets (the ones their kids roam & control, with impunity)

 > > Oh well, I don't have to play their games by their rules.

 >   And "the rules" seem to change daily in today's society.

Mine don't, so there you have it.

 > > Imagine if I told him to go shovel driveways without charging!! 

 >   I never had an allowance.  Until I was 13 I was sometimes given some
 > money for small things, but after my father died, whatever I wanted I had to
 > work for.

I asked about getting an allowance only once, & my dad lit into me about how
neither he nor my mom got an allowance & we all chip in to make the family &
home work.

 >   (I learned early to play one parent off the other.  I would ask one if I
 > could do X and be yes told if the other agreed.  I would then tell the other
 > that first said I could if they agreed and usually got what I wanted.  

I tried that, but swifly learned it didn't fly in my home.  Gosh be darned!
they actually communicate with each other.  I was taught, young, never to play
that game. If one spoke & said 'no' that answer was auto-backed by the other.
Or, as with you, the one answer was dependent on my asking the other first &
getting their answer, then returninhg to the first parent.

Naturally, I still tried anyway, if I felt I had plausible deniability (I got
distracted & forgot the one said no before I asked the other & got a yes--that
only worked the once, though)

 >   After my father died when I was 12 that cut out that bit of business.  My
 > father was a soft touch, my mother not so much).

I'm sorry to hear that -- That must've been rough on all of yas. . .

How many siblings did you have?

 >   I started mowing yards with a rotary (push) mower at 13 and in the winter
 > passed papers.  (Then all though high school I had after school/weekend jobs
 > passing papers, clerking in a drug store, hospital orderly, etc).
 >   That would now be seen as child endangerment what with those sharp
 > exposed blades, etc and no doubt a visit from CPS (child protective
 > services).

Yup.  I recall that rotary mower, &8 using it to mow our lawn when I was 8, &
wee lived on a hill! (not fun, but 'twas my job to be completed without
excuses, & raking after, even if i got blisters(now old callouses)

& trimminmg with the giant rusty manual clippers.

Happy day for me when my dad got an electric mower & weed trimmer!  The lawn
practically mowed itself, in comparison to the rotary!

Nothing you & I can do now except let loose our hard-earned wisdom when it
might be listened to & accepted. . .

But apparently I'm an old fuddy-duddy who doesn't understabnd life as it is
now.

(I gawped and asked, "You-all; aren't interested in being safe when you walk to
a friend's at night?! Myyy!")

Zoooom (right over their head)

Your friend,

<+]:{)}
Cyberpope, Bishop of ROM
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