05-13-2011, 05:58 AM
Hi,
Maybe we're talking at cross purposes. You start by offering a video in which the concept of starting from zero and earning points is suggested as a replacement for the processes of starting with a 4.0 and losing points. I tell of how my parents, instead of giving me an allowance and withholding all or part of it when I failed to perform, gave me no allowance, but allowed me to earn it. The two cases, while not identical, are very similar. In both cases, the same ends are achieved, but the focus shifts from punishment for failure to reward for success.
I never quit beating my wife because I never started beating my wife in the first place. But nice shot, anyway. As to the rest, my post, although typically long, was not a full autobiography. On the one hand, I did my own laundry (pretty much from when I could drag a sack to the Laundromat), I maintained my own room, I took total care of my cat (I found her, fed her, took her for shots, etc. -- she re-payed me by having three kittens on my bed while I slept). Any fad clothes I wanted I paid for as I did for all my own sporting gear. I had responsibilities, which I did perform and for which I was not payed, but they weren't necessarily the ones you might consider.
On the other hand, pretty near everything my parents payed me for were thing which they could, and often did, turn over to a paid maid in the first place. So, your implication that somehow I did not pull my share of the freight is based on a totally incorrect assumption of our life style. My parents, as very hard working, self employed people, had a good understanding that an hour spent doing laundry was an hour not spent designing hats, or negotiating sale of product, or finding better suppliers. When I found my own sources of income which were more remunerative than washing toilets (although not necessarily as legal) they put no pressure on me to continue. They simply hired someone else.
So, I will not judge the values which you instill in your children if you'll return the favor to my parents. They may have subscribed to a more continental than Anglo attitude, but that doesn't make them wrong.
--Pete
(05-12-2011, 05:09 PM)ShadowHM Wrote: I don't see this as being in 'the same spirit' at all.
Maybe we're talking at cross purposes. You start by offering a video in which the concept of starting from zero and earning points is suggested as a replacement for the processes of starting with a 4.0 and losing points. I tell of how my parents, instead of giving me an allowance and withholding all or part of it when I failed to perform, gave me no allowance, but allowed me to earn it. The two cases, while not identical, are very similar. In both cases, the same ends are achieved, but the focus shifts from punishment for failure to reward for success.
(05-12-2011, 05:09 PM)ShadowHM Wrote: (Or have you managed all along to reap those benefits without having to contribute?)
I never quit beating my wife because I never started beating my wife in the first place. But nice shot, anyway. As to the rest, my post, although typically long, was not a full autobiography. On the one hand, I did my own laundry (pretty much from when I could drag a sack to the Laundromat), I maintained my own room, I took total care of my cat (I found her, fed her, took her for shots, etc. -- she re-payed me by having three kittens on my bed while I slept). Any fad clothes I wanted I paid for as I did for all my own sporting gear. I had responsibilities, which I did perform and for which I was not payed, but they weren't necessarily the ones you might consider.
On the other hand, pretty near everything my parents payed me for were thing which they could, and often did, turn over to a paid maid in the first place. So, your implication that somehow I did not pull my share of the freight is based on a totally incorrect assumption of our life style. My parents, as very hard working, self employed people, had a good understanding that an hour spent doing laundry was an hour not spent designing hats, or negotiating sale of product, or finding better suppliers. When I found my own sources of income which were more remunerative than washing toilets (although not necessarily as legal) they put no pressure on me to continue. They simply hired someone else.
So, I will not judge the values which you instill in your children if you'll return the favor to my parents. They may have subscribed to a more continental than Anglo attitude, but that doesn't make them wrong.
--Pete
How big was the aquarium in Noah's ark?