Oh the things we got up to - my sister and I managed to climb up onto the garage roof, we started arguing, which resulted in her pushing me off the roof into a bed of stinging nettles!!! She then bathed me in vinegar. We were playing chase in the house one day and she shut the door against my head making quite a cut, which she then rubbed butter into??? Another time we played cards for buttons, there was a set that was our favourite with little teddies on, and as she was the biggest she always seemed to get the teddies, so one day I grabbed one and put it in my mouth, she shook me, and I promptly swallowed it, but it got stuck, so she forced me to eat chunks of bread in an attempt to make the button go down, which it eventually did. But I think the worst thing was when we were due to meet my mother who was pea picking in a field up the track from where we lived, I went to the drawer to get my gloves out, and threw up!! I called my sister, who said 'don't worry, I'll clean it up'. She went and got a bowl of water, took one look at what she had to do, dropped the bowl of water, and promptly threw up herself!! That time we had to go and fetch Mum to rescue us, but most of the other things she didn't get to hear about until we were grown up, lol. I think that being left to take care of ourselves didn't do us any harm at all, although probably more by luck than judgement!
However, I do think kids today are mollycoddled, and so many are never taught about how to handle money, hence it's no wonder that a lot end up in debt as they get older. We were given chores from the age of 4, and paid pocket money accordingly. Once the money was spent, that was it. This taught me a valuable lesson, as we went on a rare holiday when I was 7, the first day I put ALL of my money into the slot machines in a penny arcade, but my Mum said 'well you've spent your money, that's your lot', and stuck to it. I was bought the odd ice cream, but had to watch my older sisters spend their money throughout the week. This taught me two lessons - Do NOT gamble, because you'll lose every penny you have, and budget for the week, ie. divide what you have into so much each day, if you have some left, you can either save it, or spend it the following day, but never borrow from the days yet to come!
My grandkids have never been made to do chores, and have pretty much been given everything they've ever asked for. I remember the first one who at 4 years old was given a TV for her bedroom, I pointed out to her parents that given a TV at 4, what would they have to give her by the time she was 10 or 15?? Now their parents wonder where they went wrong!!