I had my first job at the age of thirteen, when a friend of my mother who owned a bookshop hired me for six hours a week to help her in the shop. I was very proud to earn my own pocket money and my parents never interfered with how I spent it, even when I was spending it foolishly. Theybelievedthat by earning money, spending it, and learning from the mistakes, I would become more mature and responsible about how to handle work, relationships with others, and money.

Like many American parents, my parents also let me and my brothers do things over which they worried a great deal. When I was sixteen, for example, after I finished high school and before I entered university, I wanted to spend the summer months traveling around Europe. My mother was against the idea of my traveling alone at such a young age, but my father felt that it would be a great experience for me. In the end, my father won the argument on the condition that I limited my traveling to France, my motherˈ s home, where I had many uncles, aunts and cousins spread out through the country who could provide shelter and help if I needed them.

Three years later, my younger brother decided to take a year off after his first year in university and travel through the United States and the Caribbean. Again my mother was very worried and not eager to see my brother leave school, but my father encouraged him and my brother had a fascinating year working his way on trains and ships to earn passage to different ports and cities, and discovering many fascinating places and people.

These kinds of experiences are probably rare for children in many countries but in the US they are fairly common. Most parents start pushing their children at a young age to do small things by themselves. By the time they have finished high school, many American kids have already had part-time jobs, traveled around the US or other countries on their own, have selected the university they plan to attend and maybe even decided on their future career, and so on.