Hellobee Boards

@keepcalmcarrie: Bahaha, I did see that SNL skit, that's too funny! I think my mom did go into her room and cry when I got my lip pierced - I feel bad now when I think about that part of it. And I imagine she probably went into her room and did a secret little happy dance when I removed it.

@Mrs. Pen: Personally, I disagree with the removal of college funding for something like that. Obviously I'm biased based on my personal history, but I think it's incredibly important to have the punishment be appropriate for the rule that was broken. A pin-size hole in my child's body, or a picture on their skin that I dislike, is not equal to college funding in my opinion. If I could afford to pay for my child's college and had planned on doing so, I can't imagine having them unnecessarily begin their adult life under a crushing amount of debt, or possibly just choosing not to go to college and going with a different career path that's not their best choice, because I don't like the way they want their body to look.

I'm not saying it would be smart of the kid to go against their parent's wishes if they know the consequences are so extreme, obviously it wouldn't be and as a kid I would've just sucked it up and waited. But I would have resented my parents for placing such importance on me having the 'normal' look that they personally preferred, and it likely would have caused serious damage to our relationship. I think there's a fine line there between not wanting your kids to regret things in the future, and making your child feel less than because they have different style/look preferences than you. And as a parent if I made a threat like that, then had to follow through and pull their college funding, I can't see looking back on that with my child in debt or not fulfilling their potential in a different career path, and feeling good about that parenting decision!

@wonderstruck: I teach middle schoolers--- so when we have kids with crazy (permanent, not temporary for crazy hair day or something) hair and piercings, it is almost always linked to some kind of family issues-- uninvolved parents and lack of supervision or parents who are friends with kids, who in both cases think it's so cool to help their kids be "cool" and "different".

For whatever reason, I've never had one of those kids be a top student either. And this is my 11th year teaching.

I think it's different when you are over 18.

Unselfishness
Tolerance/respect
Determination/Perseverance

I got Uruguay