For as long as children have their own rooms, parents sent them to those rooms as a type of punishment in seclusion. Meaning, it wasn't a punishment with a long history behind.
Spanking on the other hand, was as old as humanity itself.
Both of these punishments abondened in time either due to modern sensibilities or modern technologies. Any kind of violence against a children was strictly forbidden by the time I had my own son. Moreover, it was simply not a punishment to send children to their rooms when all they want is to spent their time inside in front a screen. When I was still 12 however, those two were the most popular punishment types amongst parents.
I am proud to say that I have never been spanked. My father was very gentle with women and children as any real men should be. At worst he left the house for a few hours when he was extremely angry. My mother on the other hand was not a fan of spanking. Her style was more like pinching and biting, one for warning in public, the other for warning in private. Not for punishment. Her punishments were psychological in nature.
Room punishment was supposedly a more sophisticated punishment type. Considering our house had an open room policy, meaning no doors should be locked under any circumstances and only to be closed if you are in a state of nakedness -changing, bathing or in the toilet- room punishment simple was not feasible.
Thus, suddenly I realized that this was my first room punishment, maybe first real punishment ever. I was a different breed of nerd after all. The usual punishment type when I was at high school was cutting allowances. Considering I was always in some state of employment after first three grades, it was at most a slightly limiting experience.
Now that I was at middle school and didn't get weekly or monthly allowances yet, cutting daily allowances was not a feasible punishment too. Nevertheless it must have been the first thing Steve thought. Poor guy, still hasn't mastered the art of parenting.
At the age where internet connection, personal computers, and mobile phones were not widespread enough, considering I have no gaming consoles, televisions or even a music player in my room, it should have been a devastating punishment if I was a real 12 year old. The problem is, I was not. I was an adult in the need of some alone time in a silent place.
Writing was a good way collect one's thoughts. It could have even help to relax, making it a good way to prevented sudden emotional outbursts too. But the important thing about writing was destroying the evidence. Especially in my circumstances. Burning was supposedly the de facto way to destroy any paper evidence. It was also the most eye and nose catching method that could easily be related with mental problems. When you have personal space and time that could have been it could have been a good way, but I had neither.
My way of destroying paper evidence was always water instead of fire. Just rubbing wet paper was already enough to smear anything written on it. Rubbing more than a few seconds was enough to shredd it to pieces small enough to disposed off through toilet. Rubbing more was enough to shredd it to pieces small enough to be disposed off through sink. Thus, I have started writing with a glass of water ready on the table.
What would have "I" done different in life if I was given a second chance? That was the first question. The answer was actually, nothing new... This was just the same shit in different color as 'What would you want to do with your life?' If you know the answer in your first chance, then you know the answer in your second one. If you don't know the answer in your first chance, then it is likely you won't find it out in a hundred chances.
So what was my answer in my first time? Serenity! Not money, not influence, not even love and health. It was serenity, something you can't achieve without a balanced blend of everything above. So what would be my answer in my second try? Obviously, more serenity. There were only a few thing I would have done differently in my life. Not that everything was perfect, but because I simply didn't believe in the concept of regret. Every mistake I did in life was either due to lack of knowledge or lack of experience. Things already have right now due to those mistakes I have made.
Just giving decades of life experience to any kid would have been a cheat. Regressing to your own body with future knowledge though? It was a cheat so perverse that I can't even think a way to explain.
You see, having future knowledge is both overrated and underrated. It is overrated because whatever you do, you just can't move from rags to riches, from failure to succees alone with only future knowledge.
First of all, whatever you choose to do you will need talent and loyalty. Meaning capable and trustworthy people not only can do things you can't do or don't have time to do but also do things you can do better than yourself but still stick with you instead of stabbing you on the back. Good luck with this one because people, and especially men only show their true colors when in a position of money or power. Even future knowledge will not help you to understand the reasons behind the sudden betrayel of that once humble and loyal friend.
Similarly, whatever you choose to do, you will need people of power and influence who don't need you or your money but still want a piece of it, be on your side instead of against you or on the side of those against you, just to protect yourself. Most of the time the moment you did something successful those are the first people that would either try to copy and even exceed you with better resources and connections or eliminate you and seize everything you have, legally.
You can't just go grab some shares or buy some promising companies to get rich. It is the people that makes those companies big, and most of the time the very people who sold those shares or companies to you. By buying those things you just sever the loyalty bonds between the company and those people, giving them money to chase other incentives or start companies that will be your future rivals. Most important people for global companies never work for salaries after all. They work for the shares and benefits above those salaries.
Let alone other factors. Even states steal from each other for political reasons in the name of democracy and human rights, seizing billions of dollars of taxpayers' money, let alone people. They don't even have to steal from you to destroy you. Just delaying some payments to disturb cash flow with some false charges would bankrupt you. Trust is a rare commodity in business world that is either cultivated over long years starting from childhood or more likely forced through blackmail. Everyone searches dirt over each other, and when they can't find something, they ploy to create one. Paying a student to seduce someone was the most common way in academy. Even without any charges, making sure that everyone is on the same page was more than enough to guarantee some limited loyalty. If the man or woman is promiscuous by nature and love thrill , all the better. Finding a student at collage that is still minor and willing to charge rape was much harder but still not impossible. The charge itself was enough to freeze any kind of promotion or fund for at least half a decade. Remember these are the professors that just can't share their ill gained spoils at a collage campus for you. Just imagine business and political landscape.
Even charity is a crime in adult work if you don't know what you are doing. Most simply use it to gain influence on ceartin circles while still deducting from tax. No problem here. The system itself is designed to abuse the nature of charity work. But offering help when not needed can easily disturb someone's well oiled machine of embezzlement which would destroy you and everything you love in turn. Because no one can steal taxpayers money without paying up to the tax collectors and some elected members. Even when the elected ones change, the machine still stays operational because no one is stupid enough to kill the gold laying goose. Remember, the worst people you can offend in real life are bureaucrats who protect their position regardless of the winner of the elections. Those are always the protectors of the machine because they are the ones that would go under the buss if something happens to it.
Using future knowledge to get rich through entertainment industry? Writing books, lyrics, screenplays? Drawing comics? Composing music, singing songs? Acting, directing or distributing movies? Even developing games?
The entertainment industry would eat you alive!
They are not logical like businessmen. They would destroy you just to stay relevant even if it cost them millions. If you think talent is enough or copying the best of the best with future knowledge is better yet, then sorry. Even with the internet access and the social media coverage in early to middle millennium talent was still not enough. It was basically dark ages in the late 90's. You can't even join a casting agency without getting naked pictures taken unless you are related to someone important. You can't distribute your book or album without sleeping with half of the company. You can't get even get to know someone of importance or power without doing drugs in a what is all but an orgy. Just like all other businesses, entertainment industry ensures loyalty but unlike any other legal businesses it uses everything possible in a most aggressive way to ensure it from women to drugs, expclipt videos to threat of violance. Nothing is sacred in entertainment industry.
People often think that internet connection, social media and entertainment platforms liberated artists and cleaned the industry. Let me tell you all it did was to remove the middleman. Girls and boys still sold their innocence to the highest bidder at 15 with the blessings of their parents, but only this time it was not the small time employee of some unnamed agency that got the benefit. Everything else remained the same. Just maybe less got forced and decieved but more misleaded and coerced.
If want to ensure success in real life, first you must aim for the money and power but not the fame related to those two. Only the insiders, people that works in the same circle must know you but better yet they must only know of you. Some of the best businesses, the ones that earn best money while getting the best benefits are also the ones that teenagers at those ages think the least.
Real estate for example... Buy, sell, rent, but whatever you do, be the landlord of the apartment complex you reside and only rent them for your other needs, not for money. That newlywed couple works for the local bank as clerks? The family of three with an obediend and talented son who lacks funds for collage? Young divorcee with two children who desperately needs a stable job? Even the collage girls who can't afford the rent. The real Korean adult manhwa fantasy. But more like a device that produces loyalty. Tell Maslow that shelter is not only a physiological need, it is a safety need as well.
When I realized that some people don't buy real estate as a long term slow gain investment because they are financially illiterate but because they love the feeling of power over other people it was baffling. Let's be honest, in what other way a 50 year old lonely and jobless high school graduate can feel superior to a 30 year old doctorate graduate that makes great money, have a beautiful wife and a lowing family unless he uses the house by the lake he inherited from his late parents? You don't even realize that some people just gets off with the feeling of it because even they don't understand it themselves. Hell, I have even seen terrorist organizations and religious cults use the same system to collect members, let alone lustful businessman.
Almost no other business is as subtle as real estate when it comes to have great deal of wealth but still stay incognito. The best part however touching the lives of others without needing to be too social. Let me tell you as a researcher of positive sciences. Any occupation that doesn't touch human life is a crippled one. There is a reason for the real jobs of most politicians are being related to military, education, business, law, medicine or public service. Not interestingly, jobs that require good human skills for success.
Sadly, real estate is impossible in this state at the age of 12. Even after 18 it is something that require great deal of capital. So, the next question is, 'What is the best alternative to real estate if you are 12 and without any capital? There are two answers to this question.
The first answer is always education. Education is one of the most lucrative sectors our there right after business and finance. But I am not talking about being a teacher in a public school here. I am talking about teaching in cram schools, complimentary schools and especially giving private lessons. Those are the most lucrative ones without any need of capital, that only need good humanity skills and a wide network.
The second answer to that question is, whatever your existing network can provide. There is a reason first sons inherited family businesses for millennias. Your parents' or relatives' network case easily be your own network as long as you work for it and start early enough. They can also provide you valuable experience to prevent any early pitfalls in life. The setback is, their experience and network is also shackles to you if you don't abide their rules or designs for you.
So my plan was to use my parents' and relatives' network to create my own network of private education. My cousins were a few years younger than me and in a few years I was going to be demanded to help them in their studies as the only nerd in the family. That was a job without compensation and a torture to the kids. However, it was a great opportunity for publicity, yet I was too dumb to understand it at that age. This time around, I had a far better view of the things out and around me and naturally a better plan too. But it was still at least two years away.
This year and the next year, the young me was to help at the salon when needed and work at occasional odd jobs out untill I find my high school job at a certified public accountant office as an unofficial office boy. But my plan was to use these two years to invest in myself instead of working in odd jobs out for a pittance, while still trying to earn money without much commitment. I was never a genius. As far as I know, eidetic memory was only a myth created due to a few controversial examples in history on limited subjects with overrated results. But I know as a fact that focus and memory can be improved and sharpened with exercise. Moreover genetic factors aside, one can be a polygoth and a polymath with study alone.
The question here was not what can be or can't be done. It was, 'Is the mind of an old man in the body of a 12 year old boy flexible enough?' That is the question most fictions conveniently forget to address. Well, just another experiment for me.