"These are the rules!" But you didn't understand....

[cheerfulgreek]

Originally Posted by Phrozen Sands

I know people who had strict parents like yours who really didn't turn out that well. I think sometimes when parents are too strict, it can cause kids to rebell. Sometimes that "fear" of the parents isn't a good thing. My parents were pretty laid back, and I turned out well. At least I think so.

You and I may define "strict" differently. I didn't think my parents were strict at all, but they did have rules, and there were consequences if I didn't follow those rules.

I recall as a young woman in high school observing the behavior of peers as they made choices that cost them dearly. What separated me from them was simply (like you said) "fear". Fear of getting caught, and greater yet, fear of my parents. My parents, especially my mom, had an uncanny way of finding things out. It was even scarier when they would predict things, and they happened just as they said. After learning this lesson the hard way (on a few occasions ), I decided it was best to comply with their rules and save myself the heartbreak of being found out. Or worse yet, of becoming the unwitting victim of the consequences they had forewarned would occur should I choose to go against their instruction. I just felt that if I didn't obey them, the only person I would be hurting was not only them, but me.

Plus, I don't know the people you know or their parents.