On 1/30/2015 12:09 PM, DerbyDad03 wrote:
On Friday, January 30, 2015 at 12:17:12 PM UTC-5, wrote:

...snip...

The problem that I mentioned above is that the parents of these kids
think it is acceptable when people come over to their house to go to the
computer in the back room and only appear periodically. OR to set
around the room with their guest ignoring them and texting to the
worlds. They are setting a great example for the kids with their parent
behavior, see nothing wrong with the same behavior.


...snip...

It makes you wonder what the parent's parents were like. Mine were fairly strict and I know that my grandparents were even more so, at least on my dad's side. I didn't realize how much I really liked/understood my dad until I was already out of the house and raising my own kids. It took longer than it should have for it all to sink in. I'm extremely thankful that my kids seem to have gotten the picture much sooner than I did. I can't say for sure that they didn't like me when they were younger, but they sure do now. Not as much as they like mom...that's a competition I'll never win - nor would I want to. ;-)


My parents were strict and I thought I would be also. That did not
happen. I simply did not lie to our son regardless of what the topic
was, well Santa Claus might be an exception, and I taught him by
example. It worked better than my wildest expectations.

My parents, shall we say, were sometimes less than truthful. If you are
not honest with your kids you are only fooling yourself if you think
they are going to respect and listen to everything you say. The belt or
being grounded makes kids mind and teaches them to not get caught, but
does it explain what they actually did wrong? Typically kids are going
to learn and do as their parents show and do. Always pretend that our
kids are watching you and be honest with them and I don't think you will
be disappointed.

When my son was young, 10ish, my wife and I became debt free, we owed
nobody. I did not really preach to my 10 year old son what was going on
and how to get there as this was above his head.
Go forward 12 years and my son has had a masters degree, 1 year later he
has his is a CPA license, and at 25 he too is a dept free home owner.
I'm certainly not smart to teach this and the schools certainly don't
stress the importance of not being debt.

The other day he told me something that totally got my attention...
He pays more in income taxes than he does for all other experiences
combined. I recall topping out in SS taxes at one point in my life but
never ever spent less to live than what I paid the government.