Originally Posted by susandj
Were your parents more like you or more like your brother?

Somewhere in the middle. We mostly lived with my dad in a low income neighborhood. He didn't really care about academics, school, or grades, as long as we weren't getting into trouble in school he was happy. He didn't read to us or try to give us a head start probably because he's not a good reader himself and he got by just fine. However, our dad, and eventually step-mom, always made time for us; took us camping, fishing, bike riding. My dad loved to play and get his hands dirty. He's a big kid himself, needless to say all the kids still love Grandpa!
I think my brother inherited his negative traits from my mother, with whom we didn't live, and by hanging out with wrong crowd in high school, he reinforced them.