I can echo your sentiments, daddycool. We have tried to raise our kids to be responsible for their actions and to have independent minds - part of that is to keep it simple . . . learn how to make your own fun and don't mope around wishing for junk you can do without.
Thinking about our kid's friends - there are some who have not enough guidance (single-parent households) and some who have way too much (smothering parents). What amazes me is the resiliance of youth - kids from seemingly very dysfunctional households can still grow up to be great people.
"That darn Pythagorean Comma thing keeps messing me up!"
[url]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pythagorean_comma[/url]