Mistakes My Parents Made

When I was 24, I knew everything there was about children. I could tell you what I would do, what I wouldn't do, and what other people were doing wrong. On January 11, 1995, Spanky was born, and I immediately lost all that knowledge and joined the Parents Don't Know Anything Club.

There's absolutely no way I could cover all the mistakes my parents made when I was growing up, but I would like to highlight some of my favorites:

• They let me listen to heavy metal music. I'm going out on a limb here...I think most of that genre is from the devil.
• They let me wear skin-tight leather pants. I was much thinner then, but it was still innappropriate. Maybe even more so, as I was a mere babe of 13 when I started this little fashion trend. Fortunately, it ended rather quickly.
• When I was 13, I won front row tickets to Duran Duran. Only the hottest band of the time. And they didn't let me go to the concert. It may well have ruined my life, if I weren't such a well-adjusted person. Plus, I sold the tickets and made a fast $100.
• When I was 14, they allowed me to date a 17-year-old. What were these people thinking?
• When I was 18, they let me have an unchaperoned co-ed toga party in an empty house. Are you kidding me? Does this sound like a good idea? Even people without kids don't think this is logical.
• When I was 18, they also let me visit my boyfriend at the time...in Rhode Island. Hello. Is this what a sensible parent would do? No, I didn't think so.
• Throughout high school, my friends and I had unlimited use of a beach house on Folly Beach. It belonged to one of my friend's parents. We would spend weekends out there, without any adult supervision whatsoever. Why? Because we could.

I would like to point out, I never gave my parents any reason to NOT trust me. I deserved the leeway I was given, as I was quite the goody-goody (for the most part). In high school I was accused of being a narc, and sadly, I had to ask some of my "rougher" friends to explain the meaning of that word to me.

And yet, I still managed to get into some trouble. I'm sure I would've found a way to do the things I wanted to do, but I just don't think parents should give permission for such nonsense. At the time I thought it was cool; I would think of arguments to get my case in front of the parental jury, only to have them say "Okay, great!" before I could finish asking.

I just truly hope that when my boys are older and start requesting such insane privileges, I can remember that I'm not supposed to be their friend, I'm supposed to make the decisions for them that they're not yet able to make for themselves, and teach them how to be wise adults.