Children Should Be Seen And Not Heard

In ages gone by parents often had the philosophy that children should be seen and not heard. In actual experience, this is sometimes still true and yet sometimes not true. There are times when children should be heard and their concerns and interests be made known. So what if I was a little bit bratty at the slide show in which Cousin Susie explained various pictures of Hindu temples. Ok, so we don't really need to know the detals that are reserved for the grownups who alone understand these matters, as hinted by Cousin Susie. It was not unfair of Cousin Susie to withhold such information from us children and it was silly of me to pipe and say, "That's not fair."  Nevertheless there are other times when bratty little Cousin Laurie's opinion of me is totally irrelevant. We all know that the Butterfield cousins were exceedingly wicked children, all of them younger than me, and so in such cases the rule is true that the little Butterfield brats should not be heard. The Butterfield cousins must respect their elders which of course include me. Someone really should remind Cousin Laurie that she is not entitled to the honors that are due only to me. I am the one who graduated from high school and she is the one who had to catch up later in regards to high school diploma. She is the one chose to drop out of high school so that is not my problem. There is no reason to punish me for Cousin Laurie's stupid mistakes.