This reminds me of a bit of lore my father told me, when I was a child. I never met my paternal grandfather, as he died in 1935, when my father was only 10. B

This reminds me of a bit of lore my father told me, when I was a child. I never met my paternal grandfather, as he died in 1935, when my father was only 10. But, my father reported that his father used to pay the neighborhood bully a nickel -- which of course would be $1-$2 in purchasing power today -- each time the bully beat up my father. I suppose the theory was that when my father learned to put up more than 5¢ of resistance, the bully would stop. I suppose it worked; my father survived and thrived. The story left me suitably aghast that it put my own issues with bullies in perspective: at least my own father wasn't subsidizing them! I wasn't wise enough to ask for more details -- like, how much did the bully make through this incentive program? -- either as a child, or later as an adult before my father died. But let it serve as a parable to another generation: parenting strategies vary widely, across people, cultures, and eras. Your parents could be worse! And your worst nemesis as a child, in the playground or MMORPG, might just be an agent of your own parents.