Was I This Dumb? or When Did I Turn Into My Mother?

I know I was no goody two shoes growing up.  I got into my own fair share of trouble, some of it semi serious in nature. Some on my own, and some with the help of my "friends".  But I don't remember ever being blatantly disobedient (being told no and then doing something anyway), or not knowing the consequences of my actions prior to acting them out.

I remember taking a flask of wine (Manischewitz mind you) to school in seventh grade and Mr.Lewis telling me it was a really dumb idea and I should get rid of it.  We all (well most of us) do stupid things around alcohol at different times in our lives.  Even now I have friends who might imbibe a little too much a little too often, but as adults we pay for our own crimes.

I remember getting caught shop lifting a package of D batteries with a friend, doing it clearly to find out if we could - which obviously we couldn't.

I remember driving through stop signs on purpose then slamming on the breaks on the other side laughing hysterically at the foolishness - always with a carload of friends and usually with many more than could fit safely in our station wagon.

I remember walking on the lawn of the mean guy who lived on the end of the block and writing nasty words in the frost - in the spring his grass was brown there and we giggled as he could not hide the swear words we plodded onto his lawn.

I remember borrowing my sisters working papers because I wanted to be older than I was for some reason and she gave them to me.

I remember breaking curfew.

I remember being rude and sometimes downright belligerent to my parents.

And that's just the short list because I can tell you clearly there is plenty that I don't remember, or that I really don't want to remember.

But today the things young people do seem so grievous to me - like having a party with alcohol in the house where everyone is underage when specifically being told no - and then being surprised that they are punished when the 'crime' is found out.

Like driving so fast that I hold the door and put my foot on the break that is definitely not on the passenger side of the car.

Like not caring about feelings of others - specifically their parents and how their words and actions affect those around them.

I wish I could figure out when the turning point came.  When was it that what I considered fun and normal as I grew up turned into  nonsense of teenagers and non thinking actions?  As I watch the actions of young people and often have to live through the actions and reactions of my son, his friends and my nieces, nephews and cousins, it just comes to hit me in a horrendous way - When did I turn into my mother?