Well, to be fair, my brother was a pretty good kid. Neither one of us were very wild. We were both too busy with school activities to cause trouble...both straight A students ( I got a B a couple of times in high school, but not more than one in a school year, usually in Math or Science, and I DID get a C in Calculus my senior year for one quarter. But, it was calculus.) Both in speech and debate, student council, honor society, German Club, Drama, and I had my music. Plus we both worked. So it wasn't like my brother didn't DESERVE to have some freedom and independence...just that I did too, and he was the only one who was given that precious gift. The one and only time I came home late...it was in the summer and I was helping my friend get her sheep ready for fair. You have to get muscle on them, so we walked them like dogs every night. She had too many to walk by herself, so I helped...it wasn't like I was goofing off or anything, but it was an approved activity AND a way for me to hang out with my friend. But this particular night, the sheep were being really stubborn and weren't wanting to walk, so it was taking a bit longer, and I really needed to go to the bathroom and the only one open was at the gas station, which was a bit out of the way of our normal walk. 15 minutes later than usual and she was already out looking for me, had called EVERYONE she knew to ask if they'd seen me, and when she found me, I got grounded for 3 weeks. For being 15 minutes late. One time. EVER. This was before cell phones, so I couldn't have called her to tell her I was going to be late. But I thought 3 weeks was a bit of an over-reaction to a one time 15 minute offense. Most kids I know wouldn't have even gotten a warning...their parents would have asked why they were late and when they heard the reason, they would have excused it as long as it didn't happen again. And I was 17 and it was 10:00 in the summer. That's not even that late, certainly not for a 17 year old!