Been meaning to do these....

[treeskin]

“Parents” includes parents, step-parents, and any other adult in authority in the house, such as Daddy’s girlfriend or the grandmother who took you in.

There's no scoring system. Everybody loses in this one.

Education
(x) Did you attend a rural or inner-city primary school? (Still very rural, still under 250 students TOTAL, K-12)
(X) Did your school have broken windows, torn books, no playground equipment, or other substandard equipment?
(x) Did less than 60% of your high school class go on to attend college?
( ) (Bonus) Did less than 25% of your high school class go on to attend college?
( ) Did more than 10% of your high school class drop out or get pregnant?
( ) Did your high school have metal detectors?
( ) (Bonus) Did you witness shootings or stabbings in or near your high school?
( ) Did one or both of your parents not graduate from college?
( ) Have you not graduated from college?
( ) Did you pay for college yourself?
(x) Did you attend a state school?
( ) Did you work your way through college?
( ) (Bonus) Did you wait until you were more than 25 to start college?

Growing Up
(X) Did you live in subsidized housing? (For a few years, anyway.)
( ) Did you live on Welfare?
(X) Did your family get WIC or food stamps? (Food stamps and free cheese, again, for a few years.)
( ) Did you cover up for your parents with bill collectors?
(X) Were you afraid to bring friends home?
( ) Did you avoid coming home yourself?
( ) Did you live at more than three addresses during your childhood?
( ) (Bonus) Were you homeless or evicted at any point during your childhood?
(X) (Bonus) Did your parents go bankrupt, have a car or other item repossessed, have wages garnished, or lose items to a sheriff’s sale, to the DEA, or to the IRS? (Add to the list: Dad in jail twice for writing bad checks.)
( ) Did your home have less than 100 books?
( ) (Bonus) Did your home have less than 20 books?
(X) Do you have more than two step-parents? (Your parents' live-in boyfriends/girlfriends count)(I have no idea. Probably. Don't know how many people Dad's shacked up with the first few years after Mom kicked him out.)
( ) (Bonus) Do you have more than five step-parents?
( ) Were you shuffled between relatives while your parents couldn't care for you?
( ) (Bonus) Did you overhear arguments about who would have to take you while your parents couldn't care for you?
( ) Did you share a room with more than 1 other person?
( ) Did you sometimes go hungry or have to scrounge for food, since your parents didn’t bother cooking for you?
( ) Did your home ever have rats, filth, mess, cockroaches, broken windows, etc.?
(X) Did you ever have no heat, water, etc., because the bills hadn’t been paid? (Only a couple times, when Dad was drinking heavily. Same years as the bad checks.)
( ) (Bonus) Did your parents have new toys for themselves at times when you were wearing ragged clothing, not getting enough to eat, or the basic bills weren’t paid?
(X) Did you or your siblings have injuries or illnesses that should have been professionally treated but were not?
( ) Did your parents hit you with belts or other objects?
( ) Did your parents leave you bruised?
( ) (Bonus) Did your parents' physical violence leave you with burns, broken bones, or bleeding wounds?
( ) (Bonus) Did your parents' neglect leave you or your siblings with burns, broken bones, or bleeding wounds?
(X) Were one or both birth parents smokers? (during pregnancy or in the presence of the children)
(X) Did one or both birth parents continue to smoke despite their children’s asthma or other negative physical reactions?
( ) Were one or both birth parents drug users?
(X) Were one or both birth parents alcoholics?
( ) Were one or both birth parents mentally ill?
(X) Were one or both birth parents convicted criminals?
( ) Were one or both birth parents physically violent?
( ) Were one or both birth parents emotionally violent?
( ) Did you witness their violence?
( ) Did you ever go hungry or use a trash can as a toilet because you were afraid to go near your parents?
( ) Were you exposed to the adultery of one or both parents?
(X) Were you exposed to the substance abuse of one or both parents?
( ) Were any of your siblings molested by a family member?
( ) (Bonus) Were you molested by a family member?
( ) (Bonus) Did your parents not believe you (or not care) when you told them?
( ) Did you ever have to call the cops on someone in your family? (No, but I was warned, at the age of 5, not to let Dad drive me anywhere becuase he was always drunk, and it wasn't safe. I was also supposed to call the cops or a relative he he drove us kids somewhere and forgot about us.)
( ) (Bonus) Did one parent kill the other? (Half credit for attempted murder and threats with knife or gun.)
( ) (Bonus) Did either parent attempt to kill you?
( ) (Bonus) Did either parent kill one of your siblings? (Half credit for attempted murder and threats with knife or gun.)
( ) (Bonus) Were there any other family murders? (Half credit for attempted murder and threats with knife or gun.)
(X) Were you a latchkey kid? (Not sure how much this set counts, considering the town we lived in at the time had less than 100 people in it.)
(X) (Bonus) Were you a latchkey kid when you were less than 12 years old?
(X) (Bonus) Were you a latchkey kid expected to care for your younger siblings?
( ) (Bonus) Were you a latchkey kid in an isolated place where you couldn’t go to any neighbors if there was trouble?
( ) (Bonus) Were you and your siblings left home with no adults for more than 36 hours?
( ) Were you and your siblings responsible for more than 30% of the housework?
( ) Were you and your siblings responsible for more than 50% of the housework?
(X) Were most of your clothes ragged or hand-me-downs?
( ) Did you start working as soon as it was legal?
( ) (Bonus) Did you work to support yourself [i.e., food and shelter, not extras] or your birth family?
( ) (Bonus) Did you hustle, shoplift, or deal drugs to support yourself or your birth family?
( ) (Bonus) Was a family member your pimp?
( ) Did you or a sibling get pregnant (or make someone else pregnant) before 18?
( ) (Bonus) Did you or a sibling get pregnant (or make someone else pregnant) before 16?
( ) (Bonus) Did you or a sibling get pregnant (or make someone else pregnant) *and keep the baby* before 17?
( ) (Bonus) Do you have PTSD because of your childhood?
(X) (Bonus) Do you have chronic health conditions because of your childhood?



Are you spoiled?
Do you have:
(1) your own cell phone
( ) a television in your bedroom
( ) an iPod
( ) a photo printer
( ) your own phone line
( ) TiVo or a generic digital video recorder
( ) high-speed internet access (i.e., not dialup)
( ) a surround sound system in bedroom
( ) DVD player in bedroom
( ) at least a hundred DVDs (if you count the individual DVDs in the box sets.)
(2) a childfree bathroom?
( ) your own in-house office
( ) a pool
( ) a guest house
( ) a game room
(3) a queen-size bed or larger
( ) a stocked bar
(4) a working dishwasher (!!!!!)
( ) an icemaker
(5) a working washer and dryer
( ) more than 20 pairs of shoes
( ) at least ten things from a designer store
( ) expensive sunglasses
(6) framed original art (not lithographs or prints)(several, but I married an artist, so it may not count)
(7) Egyptian cotton sheets or towels
( ) a multi-speed bike
( ) a gym membership
( ) large exercise equipment at home
( ) your own set of golf clubs
( ) a pool table
( ) a tennis court
( ) local access to a lake, large pond, or the sea
( ) your own pair of skis
(8) enough camping gear for a weekend trip in an isolated area
( ) a boat
( ) a jet ski
( ) a neighborhood committee membership
( ) a beach house or a vacation house/cabin
(9) wealthy family members
(10) two or more family cars
( ) a walk-in closet or pantry
(11) landscaped yard
( ) a hammock
( ) a personal trainer
( ) good credit
(13) expensive jewelry (again, I married an artist, so...)
( ) a designer bag that required being on a waiting list to get
( ) at least $100 cash in your possession right now
(14) more than two credit cards bearing your name
( ) a stock portfolio
( ) a passport
( ) a horse
( ) a trust fund (either for you or created by you)
( ) private medical insurance
(15) a college degree, and no outstanding student loans (And no outstanding loans? whatever.)

Do you:
( ) shop for non-needed items for yourself (like clothes, jewelry, electronics) at least once a week (when ever I have a little money, I buy books...)
( ) do your regular grocery shopping at high-end or specialty stores?
( ) pay someone else to clean your house, do dishes, or launder your clothes (not counting dry-cleaning)
( ) go on weekend mini-vacations
( ) send dinners back with every flaw
( ) wear perfume or cologne (not body spray)
( ) regularly get your hair styled or nails done in a salon
( ) have a job but don’t need the money
( ) stay at home with little financial sacrifice
( ) pay someone else to cook your meals
( ) pay someone else to watch your children or walk your dogs
( ) regularly pay someone else to drive you, like taxis
( ) expect a gift after you fight with your partner

Are you:
( ) an only child
( ) married/partnered to a wealthy person
( ) baffled/surprised when you don’t get your way

Have you:
( ) been on a cruise
( ) traveled out of the country (Not very far out; it hardly counts.)
( ) met a celebrity
( ) been to the Caribbean
( ) been to Europe
( ) been to Hawaii
( ) been to New York
( ) eaten at the space needle in Seattle
( ) been to the Mall of America
( ) been on the Eiffel tower in Paris
( ) been on the Statue of Liberty in New York
( ) moved more than three times because you wanted to
( ) dined with local political figures
( ) been to both the Atlantic coast and the Pacific coast

Did you:
( ) go to another country for your honeymoon
( ) hire a professional photographer for your wedding or party
( ) take riding or swimming lessons as a child
( ) attend private school
( ) have a Sweet 16 birthday party thrown for you

Comments

[noveldevice.livejournal.com]

I have to admit that the assumptions inherent in "wealthy family members" amuse me. I have wealthy family members on both sides--mom's mom has over a million dollars now, from what I hear, and dad's parents have always been crazy rich even though it took me a while to realize it--but I never have nor probably will I ever see a penny.

Having wealthy relatives doesn't mean anything.

[treeskin.livejournal.com]

Yup. Same here--By's family is well-off, but they expect us to pay our own way. Which is fine, I don't have a problem with that, they've helped us plenty as it is. Mom's youngest brother is VERY well-off, even after the bankruptcy, but he can't spare $200 out of whatever he does with his money for Grandma's groceries and meds. (Of course, that same uncle can't be bothered to CALL Grandma or the rest of the family, either, because he's embarassed about them being poor.)

I was surprised at the inclusion of the Egyptian cotton towels and sheets--both are available at Costco, for crissakes, and even if they're not the best specimens of their type, they're still better than the usual.

And how many couples can afford to NOT have 2 vehicles, so both can get to work? I see that as a necessary expense, not a luxury.