[GatorgalstuckinGA]

yes cb...you were the meanest mom...just as mean as my mom...who made us behave in resturants...who made us go to bed at UGHHH 9 (10 when we were teens), who made us OH NO SAY IT ISNT SO do chores...who made us earn our keep. Growing up...soemtimes i hated my mom for being so darn strict. But ya know what....the meanest moms in the world to growing kids turn up to be their best friends as they are older. Shes the best and i thank her every day for all shes done for me and taught me...thank you cb for being a mean mom....if you are anything like my mom...you are awesome!

[charolastra00]

It wasn't my mom who made me behave at restaurants- it was my gestapo Yiayia! She relished the name :P She was my step grandmother and together with my grandfather made a very Gilmore Girls-ish life for me whenever I visited (we moved halfway across the country when I was 2 so that wasn't super often). Rather than have housemaids and cooks, they went to the Club every weeknight and really fancy restaurants on the weekends. I learned VERY fast. Could only go to the bathroom once, could only dredge the bottom of a glass with a straw once, had to say please and thank you. If you forgot, you'd end up in tears. :P She was a great woman though, even though I was terrified of her as young child!

In high school, I never really had a curfew because since I didn't have a car, my parents realized that I would be dependent on someone else to get home and so I couldn't be penalized for them. However, I always called me parents at every leg of the trip (oh I'm at Becca's house, now we're going to the mall. We're at the mall, now we're going to Parker's.. etc). Generally it was understood that I had to be home by 10ish on a school night and 1AM on Fridays during marching band because I would be with band kids at a chaperoned afterparty.

Boy was it a shock in the week before graduation where we didn't have school when I called my mom to ask to stay over at a friend's house they'd never met and they agreed! That never would have happened before. Now that I'm across the country for college, it took them some time to accept that I WILL go into Boston alone but they've finally come to grips with it. I still call almost every day to check in, or at least talk to my brother and have him tell my mom that I'm fine.

What's REALLY funny is that I don't drink and my parents are always telling me that it's ok, I don't have to lie to them. Then this shifted to "You're in college, drink!" When I explained my reason for not drinking to my parents, my mom cried. :P

[drake3272004]

Bless your heart because you have accepted the fact that when you get involved with someone with kids, it's a package deal. Headaches and all. You are to be commended.

Thank you dearly for all that, you brought tears to my eyes! I really hope someday that oldest DSS sees that I did it because I love him and care about him
He really tried to pull some horrible stunts this past year, he failed 2 classes and did horrible in most the others, then he stole some items from school and has been on probation and back in therapy since January. I think he has finally figured out that he isn't going to be able to get away with all this. We are pretty sure that he is hoping that we'll just give up and he'll get to move back in with his mother and to be honest we considered it. But we just can't give up on him!
Now he is almost on the B honor roll, he's so close! And he just started wrestling and had been doing some volunteer work this past summer. We just had a meeting last week at the school for him and they can't believe this is the same kid! Crossing my fingers that the worst is over!

[FrouFrou]

I guess you can add me to the meanest mom list, lol. I too always had schedules and rules. Their bedtime was 7 p.m., lol. Only because they would fart around in their room for about an hour before actually falling to sleep. But I knew I could take my kids in public or to someones house and not have to worry about them being unruly. My kids were the ones who looked at others kids like what the heck is wrong with that kid? We took them to nice places, on trips, shopping, etc. I think today's moms, or some, not all, are a different breed for sure. There are waaaaay too many kids who run the streets, thru the stores screaming all the while the mothers are yaking away on their cells, ugh!

NOELLE...that is the cutest picture ever, lol! Wonder what was going thru his head when he colored that. I've got some pictures like that as well and you are right...they are to be treasured. So cute!

[almostheaven]

You couldn't have been. My daughter's pet name for me was "mean mommy". Her friends all thought she had the coolest mom though. Guess everyone's tastes are different.

I made her behave in all public places, not just restaurants. My parents would spoil her and allow her to act up when she was with them. She tried that on me one day at Shoney's and we ended up in the restroom. After she cried it out, we went back to the table and had a good dinner and conversation. She never pulled it on me again.

As for bedtime, heck, I was still in bed by 10:00 even when I was 15! Forget going to the movies that late. I don't think I stayed up later than that until I was 16.

[blondebritbrat17]

Well my mom was pretty strict too but I think I turned out pretty good. I will most likely have the exact same rules I had when I was growing up. The only difference is that my kids will have more privacy than what I had. Example: For the longest time I was not even allowed to shut the bathroom door or my bedroom door while using the bathroom or changing clothes and then it was I couldn't lock the door either while using the bathroom or changing clothes. Also if I was in the bathroom for more than 5 minutes my mother would come barging in to see if I was "playing around". At 16 years old I'm not going to be "goofing off" in the bathroom. Also if my kids want to have a diary and if they don't give me cause to be suspicious of their behavior then I'm not going to read it. I couldn't even have a diary or a journal since I wanted to be a writer at one point and once my mom found out I was journaling and writing my mother forced me to let her read it every single day so I stopped writing and just kept things in my head which was not good for me and I was a good kid too. I only got detention 3 times in my entire life and all those 3 times there was more to the situation than what the teacher knew and I was too afraid to tell them since I didn't want to be a "tattletale". I will be doing just a few variations on some of the rules I had. My mom now admits that she was too strict while I was growing up. I didn't go out very much either in HS because of all the rules my mom had and other kids knew it too so I didn't get invited either. I was only allowed to go to school functions and usually my parents were there.