See The Variety

That wasn’t the end of the punishment either. The two forms of punishment we have discussed so far, have been clearly highlighted in my tales to date. Psychological and Physical. Each having it’s own impact and also areas of crossover and effect. But there is a third form which had a large impact when used against us. And was it used to good effect? Yes. The repercussions on us, have possibly continued through our lives. It was a fiscal punishment. Financial. The punishment could include deprivation of funds, equipment, or earnings, or, potential for earnings. I mentioned very early on in my blog (see blog 17^th May 2012) that due to the family financial situation, there was no pocket money or such. Regardless of what chores we did (and were expected to do). That was just how it was. You were told to wash, dry or put away dishes after a meal. You were told to clean your room. You were told to help. It was as simple as that. We may have objected at the time. We may (and did) kick up the odd fuss when we wanted to do something else but were tasked to something our parents wanted done (or else!). Quite a normal expectation if you think about it.

In those days I don’t believe our parents were paid to look after us. Unlike the dreadful governmental ‘nanny’ policies of Australia today, where people are effectively ‘paid’ to have children and there is no control or real planning or responsibility in raising the children. The issues related to these poorly conceived policies will be more apparent in the next decade, but they are already having an impact. Both our mother and father had to work to meet the costs. They earned the money necessary to feed and clothe us. Although it is possible there may have been some minor financial assistance in relation to children, we certainly did not see any ‘extra’ money.

If the opportunity arose for we children to actually earn some personal spending money, we grabbed it. I did many things. Everything from feeding pets for people on holidays, mowing lawns, packing groceries, washing bottles and paper rounds. Feeding Pets could earn about 7 dollars for the week the owners were away. Which involved about one hour, per animal, per day, so, if you were asked to look after two, generally, they still wouldn’t pay any more. Working for the total of six weeks of holidays we used to have during the year. Note that! Six weeks ‘only’ of holidays. Nowadays, kids seem to have six weeks of holidays for just Christmas. Then about another ten weeks of holidays during the year. We could have earned some real money if we had that many weeks to earn in. The real trick was to find not one person with multiple pets. But multiple pet owners who were going on holidays. In our area, we were lucky as, generally about four families with pets were regular holiday travelers.

(Continued tomorrow)