How It's Done
My oldest friend, Liz, is the eldest of three kids. Her parents are both doctors - in fact, her dad is a consultant anaesthetist. Their combined income must be something truly foolish, but until we were thirteen they lived in a very modest house (actually fairly crappy) just round the corner from the Mnemonics.
Throughout the kids' childhood they:

- were made to do their homework properly every night
- had a full schedule of household chores to be done, else no playtime
- had to get jobs as soon as they were old enough so they'd have pocket money (paper rounds and car-washing then graduating to the dizzy heights of kitchen portering once they were 14)
- had no expensive clothes or shoes or any of that crap and,
- were generally brought up to be hard-working, respectful, self-reliant people.

And what's the result of this? Ten years on, the eldest two kids are both doctors, having partially worked their way through med school (as much as that's possible when you have practically no holidays) and the youngest kid is having a gap year, which he's spending working as a chef in the local pub. They are some of the nicest, most capable and grounded people that I know, because despite having a lot of money, the parents themselves didn't grow up that way (the dad grew up the eldest of 11 kids in Govan...) and they knew the virtues of hard work and how totally corrosive it can be to have everything at the snap of your fingers.

Anyway, there's no moral here, apart from maybe that spoilt is an attitude, not a bank balance, and if any of you lot are lucky enough to have money and are planning on breeding, these kids are a pretty good template.
(jennymnemonic, Wed 15 Oct 2008, 22:58, 3 replies)

Thanks
all the other stories had me rather depressed about how shallow the human race is becoming.


BTW. Does that Liz bird have big knockers?
(knackerz is skinning up, Thu 16 Oct 2008, 3:11, closed)

I agree totally.
Being spoilt has nothing to do with money.

My youngest sister, (as I have mentioned on here), has always been spoilt but she's aware that if she wants to keep herself in the manner in which she has been accustomed then she better bloody work hard at uni and get a good job afterwards.
( girlinthehole, Thu 16 Oct 2008, 8:39, closed)

yay
for parents like this.
(Binary Solo loves a bit of algebra, Thu 16 Oct 2008, 9:51, closed)