<p>I want everyone to explain how they've been brought up. What morals and values have your parents instilled in you? What rules/regulations do you have in your household? Chores? Be sure to tell what nationality your parents are and whether you are the only one born in the US...are your parents us citizens? what types of jobs do your parents have?</p>
<p>What?????</p>
<p>They have taught me alot but I don't really listen. lol </p>
<p>I go by my own stuff.</p>
<p>sars... it might be a good idea if you start...</p>
<p>okay, i'll start. I'm not that smart..im pretty average. I'm indian..pretty laid back. Parents are party animals. I'm just curious to see whether or not I can blame my parents. Is it their fault I'm so laid back? How many of you have easy going parents but still are motivated to work hard? How can I do that?</p>
<p>My parents are easy going... they are not party animals... but they never pressure me to get good grades, they are happy with whatever it is I can do. I am just naturally smart, meaning i remember things very easily and i dont study and still achieve well. I have a hard time motivating myself... if i could motivate myself then i would be a very good student instead of a good student... my average class grade is about an a-... and i am sure that if i was motivated to study more id be able to pull that to an a in most classes and the classes that i dont normally do as well maybe up to an a or a-</p>
<p>Umm...i'm White. I live with my dad, my mom lives in another state( I moved from her house a year ago.)I do chores like laundry, taking out trash, and cleaning my room but I get $20/wk. My parents aren't religious so I've never been to church, but I go to Catholic school (by my own choice.) My parents aren't very strict about my grades, but they dont want me to do bad.</p>
<p>Uh... I'm white and I live with my mom and step dad and brother. I do simple chores (laundry, clean room, empty/load dishwasher, set/clear table), but I don't get any money for it. I also have to take care of the animals (4 horses, 2 dogs, 2 cats and 1 rabbit). Hmm... My parents aren't religious either and I've really never been to church except with friends. My parents aren't strict about my grades at all, I'm just highly motivated on my own... always loved learning even in elementary school. My parents jobs... not that I really think that it matters, but my mom is a social worker and my stepdad is some type of machine programmer or something to that effect.</p>
<p>so this turned out pretty long... interesting though, I hope....... </p>
<p>I think that this is such an interesting topic. The way one is brought up has a HUGE effect on the type of person they will become. That is not to say that you'll be either exactly like your parents or rebel and be totally opposite, there are so many factors. </p>
<p>I, personally, am white, parents divorced when I was about 4, dad remarried some 6 years later, for the first ~15 years of my life we were low middle class, with my mom struggling to provide for my brother and me and also finish her PhD. My mom's really creative so I grew up in an atmosphere full of learning and excitement (could read by age 2-3). Throughout school until 8th grade I did quite well and loved to learn, so there was never a need for my parents to push me academically.
As far as chores go, there was always and incentive to do them. I don't think there was ever a problem with chores not getting done. By ~freshman year, we weren't made to do chores anymore, just the occasional "can you go vaccum?" or, "would you mow the lawn." I've always liked helping out around the house. I had a bedtime until middle school. </p>
<p>NOW... when at my dads house, there aren't too many rules at all.. if any, he's pretty relaxed. My mom nags a lot, but aside from cerfew I can't really think of any rules, she tried to raise us to be able to manage our own lives.
How has that worked out? Well, I slack a lot in school with my homework, get decent grades, really love to learn on my own so no one's ever freaked out about a couple of poor grades. I like working hard but on my what I want to do and by my own rules.
All in all, I sort of underachieve most of the time (nearly all of my teachers have given me the whole "potential" speech). I take all AP's except history, do a hell of a lot for my school newspaper, have had several jobs since age 13, help out my elderly neighbors, will be playing soccer at a D1 school.. </p>
<p>My mom finished her PhD three years ago, works like crazy and is now very successful. My dad always has to be doing something-work, volunteering, fixing stuff up, studying.
He and my step-mom have been sober in AA for 13+ years, my mom quite rarely drinks. </p>
<p>MORALS:
I used to go to church with my dad on some holidays, but never regularly. My dad stopped going all together a few years ago. My mom has always been athiest. I've always liked to discuss the concept of god with my family and have never been uncomfortable doing so. I don't believe in god. We've always just discussed different viewpoints on all types of morals, nothing's ever been forced, some opinions vary. I suppose my whole family is pretty liberal, my dad more so than the rest. </p>
<p>I think I've been exposed to many aspects of life and culture, traveled quite a good deal, been in poverty, now go to a school with a bunch of rich kids but still live 20 mins away in the city.
I'm so thankful for the way I've been brought up, all of the opportunity I've been given and all of the support I have. </p>
<p>OP- I think you can "blame" your parents a little, but don't make it an excuse. If you don't like the way you are and you think it's due to your parents, than work with the motivation of being better than you parents, proving their lifestyle wrong.</p>
<p>I'm white (both of my parents are half Irish, half Italian), and a "non-practicing Catholic" (according to my mom, lol) but I go to a Catholic school run by nuns, etc.<br>
My mom was a wild child when she was younger, didn't go to college. After she graduated HS she went down to Florida (lived in NJ whole life) to party with my aunt who married a pro-football player. After a while she came back up to NJ, met my father, married, etc. She's really laid-back, doesn't really care about academics or anything.
My father is a lawyer. He didn't really try hard in college because he was a baseball player and partied a lot so he wasn't really focused on academics. Went to law school where (according to him) "everyone were nerda$$es." He yells a lot and thinks sports and academics (in that order) are extremely important.</p>
<p>I don't have chores (never have), don't really have set rules or anything, we don't get like "grounded" or have curfews or things like that.</p>
<p>I'm white-asian (mom's welsh, dad's filipino) and I've grown up as a not really practicing Protestant (I know the basics, but I don't really go to church, only for holidays and on 9/11 and go to one of the only private girls' schools where there is NO religion/chapel at all) - I'm basically a WASP and I've lived in an affluent white community my whole life (the upper east side). My parents brought me up to appreciate more than the city, and to realize that there's always more in life by seeing the world.</p>
<p>My parents have never needed to pressure academics as they've always come really easily, so that's never been an issue. In fact, THEY'RE usually the ones to tell me to lighten up, and are often asking if I ever have fun. However, they're sticklers for mess (never really been a problem) and pretty into being ethical and moral (never really been a problem, but a heated discussion when I caught an ex-friend cheating on several tests). They always tell me that they'll always be proud, which for some odd reason makes me work harder. I don't know why. </p>
<p>Since I live in a city and we have a housekeeper, they didn't make me do chores, but I help out on weekends - especially with organizing. They're pretty loose, but I've never wanted to slack off. They're only extremely strict when it comes to me practicing piano and cello every day for at least 30 minutes each, and have said that if I don't practice enough I should quit.</p>
<p>I don't get an allowance, and I have two jobs - a city council internship and another with condenast. Condenast provides a $30 a day stipend, but city council doesn't pay, and the checks from the rest of the family help too. My parents usually pay for clothes (which is REALLY nice of them considering I'm a bit of a die-hard shopper), but I provide for clothes I really don't need but like anyways, for after school snacks, cab rides and for my Sephora binges.</p>
<p>I've never really fought with my mom and dad, and they are one of my bigger inspirations.</p>
<p>WAIT, mikeman90, did you say sars? As in "seriously"? I thought I made that up!!</p>
<p>Nearly none, except don't drink or smoke and have good manners. Everything else came from within.</p>
<p>That's because you're made of blood and iron.</p>
<p>haha. could i have some of that iron? i'm anemic</p>
<p>unwritten- no curfew? Do you stay out late?</p>
<p>no, i'm not a huge partier or anything but usually if we're doing something we'll just sleep at one of my friends' houses so im not bothering my parents coming in really late
i'm 16 so i can't drive yet, but most of my friends are 17 and the 12am driving curfew thing for 17 yr olds usually gets us in by then</p>
<p>Oookay lets see.. I'm eastern European (Bosnian to be exact). We are all US citizens but none of us were born here. My moms a preschool teacher, and my dad works for a trucking company for oil && stuff & he's a private business owner within that company and they have taught me that school always comes first. And thats about it. My mom kinda expects my little sister & I to do chores & stuff but it's not a rule.</p>
<p>Man, here in Arizona you can get your lisence at 16. I guess we have a curfew for those under 18 that's set at 12, and under age 17 is 11 or something, but I don't think anyone abides by it.</p>
<p>I'm Greek, which I guess is considered white. Right now, we're upper middle class, living in rural New Jersey. My parents work together in a restaurant buisiness; my dad owns it, my mom is the head hostess. Neither of my parents were American citizens until months ago, and neither graduated high school.</p>
<p>However, we weren't always looking up. I grew up in a small 3 room shack in the middle of the woods, if you include the bathroom. I was there until 3, when my dad's current buisness failed. We moved to the ghetto of Dover, NJ. The ghettos there are like that of any city. We lived there for a few years, and moved to where we are now. My dad made money, opened up his own buisness, and now we're thriving. </p>
<p>My parents both divorced once. Then they met in GReece and married after one month. They came to America, and neither knew much English. They learned and worked hard, and we're here today.</p>
<p>The morals my parents instilled in me were sort of what they were wishing for, but not directly. I don't have as much work ethic as them, though I do have some. I can respect others beliefs, though I don't hold the same as my parents in a lot of things. I work for them, about 30 hours a week over the summer, so that's my chore. I get paid $150 a week, which is enough to live on by far. Curfew is 10:30. And, um, they expect me to do well in school. My life story, haha.</p>
<p>Luwain- are you glad, in a way, that you were once in poverty and thus have been exposed to more in life than the lifestyles of the upper middle class? </p>
<p>Oh and, my mom was kicked out of highschool a couple times (all of them private Catholic schools) and eventually dropped out when she was 16. She was accepted into MIT, Carnegie Mellon, Northwestern, and WPI after attending CC (I think for only a year). She now has a PhD. </p>
<p>High school isn't everything.</p>