The Real Rules

I receive this email every once in awhile. As I read the Rules again, I thought how true they were and how we, as adults, have a duty to make certain our children understand them. These are the rules of adulthood. Aren't we supposed to be raising capable individuals who are contributing members of society? Why are we protecting them from life's lessons into adulthood? How old will be old enough to take over the reins of their lives?

While often attributed to Bill Gates, the following "rules" are actually the work of Charles J. Sykes, the author of "Dumbing Down our Kids: Why American Children Feel Good About Themselves, but can't Read, Write or Add" and "A Nation of Victims: The Decay of American Character" and form the meat of the book, "50 Rules Kids Won't Learn in School; Real-World Antidotes to Feel Good Education".

Rule 1: Life is not fair - get used to it!

Rule 2 : The world won't care about your self-esteem. The world will expect you to accomplish something BEFORE you feel good about yourself.

Rule 3 : You will NOT make $60,000 a year right out of high school. You won't be a vice-president with a car phone until you earn both.

Rule 4 : If you think your teacher is tough, wait till you get a boss.

Rule 5 : Flipping burgers is not beneath your dignity. Your grandparents had a different word for burger flipping: they called it opportunity.

Rule 6: If you mess up,it's not your parents' fault, so don't whine about your mistakes, learn from them.

Rule 7: Before you were born, your parents weren't as boring as they are now. They got that way from paying your bills, cleaning your clothes and listening to you talk about how cool you thought you were. So before you save the rain forest from the parasites of your parent's generation, try delousing the closet in your own room.

Rule 8: Your school may have done away with winners and losers, but life HAS NOT. In some schools, they have abolished failing grades and they'll give you as MANY TIMES as you want to get the right answer. This doesn't bear the slightest resemblance to ANYTHING in real life.

Rule 9: Life is not divided into semesters. You don't get summers off and very few employers are interested in helping you FIND YOURSELF. Do that on your own time.

Rule 10: Television is NOT real life. In real life people actually have to leave the coffee shop and go to jobs.

Rule 11: Be nice to nerds. Chances are you'll end up working for one.