>>>Now I would imagine many of you must have had some interesting and creative ways to make money as a kid. It would be great reading all about them.<<<
Unlike you and Opie, Ken, I did not live in town and, thus, many money-making opportunities were simply not available to me. I identify more with Frankie Flint, having grown up out in the country on a farm. Helping my mom in the house, working in the garden, or helping my dad with farm work was something that was expected of us kids, so there was no way to make money at home. And the nearest town was several miles away--too far to walk or ride my bike. At some point, having come up with no other way to acquire some cash, I asked my parents for an allowance. Having been kids during the Great Depression, they were resistant to the idea. They weren't mean and stingy, but they were certainly frugal, and money was not to be wasted. They figured that if I needed something, they would provide it. Finally, they relented and gave me a nickel a week. Mind you, this was a few years after Opie was getting a QUARTER from Andy! In a few years, I managed to get them to raise it to a dime. Needless to say, I didn't go on many buying sprees. I managed a comic book from time to time, and when I was older it took me several weeks to save up enough to buy a 45 rpm record. The only time I went to the movies as a kid was once (once!) when my parents took us to a drive-in to see a Disney double feature. At the time, I was envious of other kids I knew who received a much more generous allowance or whose parents from time to time simply gave them extra money or something special they wanted. Yes, I probably did think my folks were unreasonably tight-fisted. However, when I got older, I discovered that the money they could have given us for frivolous things when we were young was being systematically put aside into savings for all three of us kids as college funds. And we did all go to college. My sister has a B.S., I have an M.A., and my brother has a Ph.D. As for any real money-making opportunities, those didn't arrive until we were all old enough to drive and get jobs away from the farm. Thelma Lou (Janet) _______________________________________________ WBMUTBB mailing list [email protected] http://www.mayberry.com/tagsrwc/wbmutbb/
