My parents has always raised us to be independent. We had to work for everything that we wanted. They were not the type of parents to give us a car on our birthday. There were five children in our family, and we were all really close in age. If we wanted a car, then we had to work and get it. The only thing that my mother would do for us was to gather several car insurance quotes to ensure that we got the best rate available. I now totally understand their reasoning for doing this, because they would have been bankrupt trying to buy cars for five children.