I hope our young adults and teens jump in and tell us what expectations that they have. "our" - makes me realize how parental we have become with the young people in the cafe.

I'm expected to contribute to a home and family; I'm grown up enough now to do just as much as anyone else here, not just taking care of myself. There's no real set rules, but common sence says "do your part."

I read once that before you make a big deal about something to think whether you will care in 5 years.

I tried to let the little things go and they did the same for me.

I tried not to nag, they tried not to get mad if i forgot

They tried to keep things tidy ( a good habit to develop) and i didn't worry if it was messy.

I knew where they were and they knew where I was.

If they needed me , I dropped everything for them and vice versa

 The one big rule, which was broken for special reasons, only one night out each weekend.  The other night they had friends at our house.  It was good for all of us,

when I was a teen i thought my parents were too strict.  So I was more relaxed and we did alot of conversing to figure things out.

Oh, one thing we do is on a Sunday afternoon we sit and figure out the next week.  Who is going where, who needs me to do what......  It really helps to know that your kids need a drive here at 4 and not find out that morning.

I am a natterer - It is a fault. I work on it all the time but I am sure my kids hate it. I don't give up about it - I natter on and Kids hate it. I hate it. So once it is over - drop it. They don't want to hear "You didn't take out the trash this morning 15 times." They heard you the first time.

Well here in my(moms) house I being the oldest by 2 years means I have more responsibility when it comes to cleaning and what not. The rules in my house go pretty much as follows (with acseptions of course)

-I can't have people of the opposite or same sex over for the night because I don't think my mother would like to think about that and on the off chance that I DO have a friend over for the night we don't sleep in the same room.

- Durng school weeks, being that I'm the first one up I feed the cats (Pumpkin and Rupert) and also the dog (Frodo) and then three tiems a week I feed my lizard (Chili).

-I need to help with dishes (we go through alot) and I do my own laundry.

-I can't stay out all night on school nights and homework comes before video games and W-cafe.

-I can't have the amp for my guitar up too loud (I only did this once and my ears were ringing for like a week )

-ummm what else is there....Oh I can't let my room get so messy it looks like a tornado hit it (so keep it livable).

-And I mow the lawn in summer and shovel the drive way in winter. We take turns raking leaves in fall.

Well those are the main ones. Now that my little sister is getting older some of these we will share (and it's not like only I do these, she helps with the cleaning and so does my mom).

My son is a preteen now and I don't like to look too far into the future.  I imagine that I would want to know where he was going and when he expected to be home and a call if he was going to be late.  I'd like him to help around the house and keep up with his school work and music (if he's still into music at that time).

hmm rules for me

1-Have to help with the upkeep of the car, wash it, put gas in, take it to get the oil changed

2-My bro and I take turns mowing the lawn and weekding

3-Help with dishes now that our dish washer is broken

4-If I'm out I have to either call to let my parents know i'm staying or wake my mom up when I get home (when I was in highschool the car had to be in the driveway by 1, I didn't have to be home but that car did)

5-Generally clean up after myself in the house (though my room is my own area so I can keep that how I want)

Not sure I will ever have kids, but I think my parents were a bit strict. I can't remember all of the rules, but I remember that I wasn't allowed to go out when my mom was tired because she said she couldn't sleep while I was out at night, so I would feel guilty and stay home. Also, if my group of friends wanted to go out to dinner and a movie, I was only allowed to go out to dinner or a movie, not both, so if my friends were doing both I would have to meet them for one and not the other. The reason for this was that I did not have any income, so I was not to spend too much money on entertainment, but I was encouraged not to have a job either while I was in high school, in order to concentrate on my academic education (and also to "protect" me from growing up too fast).

I was pretty acquiescent in those days, and I used to just cave into these rules too because I didn't want to have a huge fight. Also, I was/am a pretty anxious person by nature, and believed that if I ever drank alcohol, I would almost certainly be raped and stuff like that, so it was good incentive to stay at home.

Those seem pretty reasonable rules to me, Kappa.

We have pretty much the same for our teens, plus a few more

Hi Crazy heart, I tell my kids the following.

- Don't get dead

- Don't get addicted

- Don't get pregnant

- Don't get arrested

And beware whatever activity leads in those directions

Brad

Rules, eh?

Keep your room clean.

Go to bed at, or before, midnight on a school night.

Go to church.

Feed your cat.

Don't make noise when dad is trying to sleep.

Go to school and do your homework.

Try some Canadian food once in a while. It won't kill you.