Adding to post due to likes more info my and my cousin's parents were worried that as much time as we spent with each other we would marry and hinted that we were over doing it, so we asked for a family meeting with both families present and my uncle also, we brought up that we never seemed to get in any trouble, always where we were supposed to be, home when we we said we would be, made good grades and no trouble in school, we really just did what we should be doing as we both knew if we did not there would be negative issues, so we mentioned others youths that were all seeming to have troubles in these areas which we did not, my uncle said to them "why rock the boat?" Well they were just concerned was replied back so after our meeting that WE asked for not them all got better we were allowed to go camping stay at each other's house with parents there instead of sleeping on a bench at uncle's cotton gin at times, we had to be sure to be there when a trailer came in for ginning, we both loved to hunt, shoot, fish, camp out and ride horses. If we went on night rides we even gave parents a map or list of where we were going, her dad worked for my uncle as Gin Mgr. His name was Wayne. In a moving mishap I lost most of the pictures we took of us sadly. Where 1 was the other was very close by we were a great team. Finally her dad told us both they thought we were going to tell them we were planning on marriage at the meeting and all parents were very nervous but my uncle we told him all and he probably told her dad the same. At times we also had a 3rd job together as always at dad's grocery store when we were not hauling hay or at the gin. Uncle Hans even had a mention of our hay hauling on his cotton invoices for us which got lots of business for us. I remember when very young us climbing a tree to keep me from having to go back home, dad came up the tree for us, we came down though, back then we had strict rules both had to go by or parents created a negative for us, we knew better. One time I was accused of something I did not do in school but had to work at the gin a day she did not so she asked my teacher if she could stay after school for me instead as I needed to work, they let her. Many more things remembered also so just listed a few.
None. I did whatever I was told to do at home and got a fixed weekly allowance. Any job, even the simplest, would have required transportation to get someplace else. You couldn't even ride a bicycle on the road where I lived (I mentioned this before). For the same reason, I never spent any of the allowance. Couldn't go anywhere by myself where I might have spent money for things, like movies, etc. I would never have dreamed of asking my parents to drop me off and pick me up anywhere.
Funny, but I do not recall having a childhood. That said, there was once when I was about 4-ish when my mother’s “male friend” took me to the onion fields to pick and top onions for which I received a whole 25 cents for a bushel. Then there was Mr. Rostenbach who would let a couple of us go into his sweet corn fields to hand pick corn. He had the machinery to do it but he was just a nice guy who believed that kids who worked stayed out of trouble. I think I made around $3 for about 5 or 6 hours of work. Not bad for a 6 year old. Otherwise, I always worked whether it was doing house chores or working in Dad’s cabinet shop or on a construction site or later on, as a very underaged employee at Arnaud’s Restaurant in New Orleans. As I wrote on a couple of other threads, I was pretty much on my own by the time I was about 12 years of age so earning a living to rent a small room whilst synonymously going to school was my life at the time. Now that I think about it, I bought my first pair of Levi’s when I was 8 or 9 years old. Monumental day.
Don't remember if I was a Freshman or Sophomore in high school, but I had a summer job of cleaning up some non-operating chicken houses. Then, in my Junior year, got a part-time job working in the Camera Dept. of a K-mart. However, the Dept. Head, as well as myself, found out that I didn't know enough about cameras. As I was getting ready to quit, he let me go. Leaving was a good thing, being that I had to ride a bicycle to the store and back to the farm. At least 5+ miles away, but only worked on Saturday daytime. About half way thru my Senior year, a classmate got me a job at a upper-scale restaurant in Ft. Wayne. I worked on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights. Started out as a Dining Area Waiter, but spilled some coffee on a table with people sitting at it, and ended up being a Dishwasher in the basement of the restaurant. Was able to buy my first car, a 1956 Chevy Bel Air, have it repaired and buy insurance with some money I made at the restaurant. In the beginning, the classmate took me to work and home. In fact, this was the same restaurant my Senior Class had their Senior Banquet at. My very last job, when the Navy called me up for Basic Training, was working at a Truck Stop. I checked tires, water, oil and washed the windows of big rigs. No weekly or monthly allowance for me. However, my step-parents did put money into a bank Christmas Fund for me to buy gifts with.