How could I forget this?

Maybe it never occurred to me because it just came naturally, I don't know. You grew up more or less as a single child, so your if-I-go-any-farther-I'll-end-up-in-deep-shit sense is probably underdeveloped. As you know, I have two younger brothers. These clowns got into more trouble than I did not necessarily because they got into more stuff that would get them in trouble (they did), but because they didn't know when to stop. I had a pretty good sense of when to quit before my ass ended up in a sling. They didn't.

Here's a fun example: When we were kids, summer vacations were usually hot and boring. Two of our neighbors had pools. So what do hot, bored kids do when they don't have a pool of their own? Well, they might eat Otter Pops by the box load, but sooner or later they are going into a pool. The plan was flawless. Throw ball over fence as a pretense for being in a backyard not your own. If someone yelled, obviously they were home and you were not getting in a pool. Otherwise, slip into the pool, don't stay too long, and don't attract attention. Worked perfect. Then I got a feeling that things were going to go sour pretty soon (you can only get away with something for so long) and stopped hopping the fence for a swim.

My brothers, however, thought it was a good idea to invite their friends over to swim. I watched them parade past my bedroom window, beach towels and all. And shortly after, I watched them shuffle past with heads hung and knew they had been busted. Which meant I had been busted, too, because no way were my brothers going to take the fall.

So what's the point of all this? Know when enough is enough and learn to spot people that don't know when enough is enough. You'll keep yourself out of trouble and keep others from getting you into trouble.