At my son's school, any cell phone use during school hours gets you an automatic in-school suspension. Zero tolerance is the rule. Even if it's just a New Voicemail alert or low battery chime. It's either off and in your locker or signed in and out of the school office. It's ridiculous to pull up to the pick up area and see about 75% of the kids with a cell phone stuck to their ear. Who are they calling? Their mom who is car number 10 or 20 in the line to find out where she is? They're 12 and 13 years old for goodness sake! If hubby didn't have a crazy stalker who's crazy fantasy brain tells her they're her husband and son, my son wouldn't even have a cell phone. But, alas, crazy people do exist......

cell phones for security reasons is one thing (almost a necessity these days even for grandma), cell phones to chat with your freinds durign school hours and on playground, and while your shoppin for your jlo jeans, is another. that was my thinking.

and i dont find any fault if someone LIKES hummers, and buys one, to each his own. but our roads, garages, neighborhoods are not made for them and their purpose is clearly off road and not for buying groceries and commuting to a white collar job.

so off road is where they should be (witness teh H parks going up, parks where you pay $$$ to go drive it, obvioulsy there is a need)

how many kids have been killed by HUGE cars that are so big they cant see whats behind them when they exit their own driveway. oh well, enough car ranting.

those are RAKs, or random acts of kindness. been books written about those too.

people like you should be teachers, to help guide the kids who have parents taht dont know how to (or couldnt care less about) raise responsible kids.

after all, many kids these days spend more time with their teacher than they do with their parent/guardian.

Yeah, I guess there's a handful of folks who just genuinely like the H's. I shouldn't judge. I'm all for enjoying the fruits of your labor. Just don't stand in line in front of me lamenting the cost of those 'necessary' nikes and then add ZERO dollars to your registration check for the general fund.

My son already knows he has to buy his own car. He's going to buy a fixer upper when he's 15 and his dad is going to help him get it road ready. He has a cell phone (long story but it's necessary) but he paid the extra cost over the "free with plan" price.

My husband and I were both raised in blue collar families by hard working parents. We 'survived' public school. From the age of 13 (legal farm work age in Illinois) we both started buying our own clothes, school supplies, whatever we needed. No matter what our bank statement balance says, our son is going to learn from those same kind of experiences!

My mother-in-law is so proud of my son. She took him to a festival two summers ago. He had $40 of his own money to last the day. Walking by a build-a-bear sort of booth he noticed a 'special needs' girl who seemed to desperately want a bear. He walked over, gave the booth worker a $20 bill and said to let her pick whatever one she wanted. The girl cried and hugged him. Grandma shed a tear too.

At our house the motto is "Those who can help those who can't." It's so rewarding to see our son adopt that same attitude!

actually i guess there really are 2 kinds of flashers, those that dont got it but borrowed it, and those that got it and flash it.
then there are those that got it and dont 'need' to flash it!
anyway, i find the H buyers are NOT among the 3rd variety of folk, just the first 2. thats been my observation anwyway. the marketers probably know alot more about that.

anyway, all i hope is my kids dont start demanding cell phones and designer cars before they get their learners permit cuz 'hey mom and dad. AAAALLLLLL my friends have one'.

i beg to differ, you have NO idea if that H is fully paid for or not. the ones that gotta flash it, usually dont have it but wanna look like they do.