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Pastimes : Precious Memories!Kids make me smile! -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: calgal who wrote (842)	9/10/2001 11:40:39 AM
From: SofaSpud	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 1309

At the risk of being too far OT, can I follow up on the car question for a sec? I strongly agree that kids are better off if they're working toward the capacity to get optional things like cars. That was the route that I went, too -- not that my parents had two extra cents to buy me a car even if they wanted to. I had many "character-building" experiences out of it. The fly I see in the ointment is that, frankly, I wouldn't let one of my kids drive what I had when I was 16 (a 10-year old Mazda with more rust than paint). I scraped together $500 to buy it, and depended heavily on mechanically-inclined friends to keep it running. In hindsight, I'm not sure how mechanically sound it ever was -- particularly since 16 year old boys see their first cars more as fighter planes than clunkers, whatever they look like. Maybe people can help me get thoughts straight on this. On the one hand, telling the kids that they have to save up enough to get a "good" car might seem tantamount to telling them they can't have one (and thereby putting them in a position where they (a) are delayed in learning responsible driving habits, and (b) maybe getting transportation with less-than-reliable kids). On the other, letting them buy what they can afford seems inconsistent with my responsibility to keep them from unreasonable risks. Fortunately I have 8 years before this becomes an issue. In the meantime, I would appreciate anyone's thoughts.

To: calgal who wrote (842)	9/10/2001 11:54:59 AM
From: The Philosopher	Respond to of 1309

You know the old saying, don't you? I can't repeat it properly, but it went sort of like this. When I was 5, my parents were wonderful. When I was 10, my parents were pretty good, but had developed some issues. When I was 15, my parents had gotten totally stupid and didn't undestand anything. When I was 20, my parents were not only still stupid, but had gotten hopelessly old fashioned. When I was 25, it looked as though my parents maybe were starting to learn. Now that I'm 30 and have my own 5 year old, it's amazing how smart my parents have gotten.