In "The Private Ear" after Marcia and Greg play the trick on Peter for snooping on them he thinks he is really getting a party and Carol and Mike find out about the trick and throw it for him anyway. I think bugging your siblings is much worse than tricking Peter into thinking he was having the party yet Peter is rewarded anyway.

If Peter had bugged his siblings for the purpose of obtaining information with which to bribe them or gain some sort of advantage over them that would have been a serious offense. But Peter was only bugging his siblings for fun. That's why I believe Mike and Carol felt that Greg and Marcia's reaction went too far and choose to go ahead with the party.

Peter had apparently repented of his crimes and did not bug anyone's room/conversations any more after the initial incidents. True, all he had to do was apologize, but that was Mike and Carol's decision.

Even when Pete "found out" about the party, it wasn't because he went back to his old ways of bugging people, it was in fact Greg and Marcia who deliberately made the recording and then accused Peter of spying on them, knowing that Pete would probably play the tape and get all geared up for his party.

I'm with Mike and Carol on this. Pete did learn his lesson even though he really didn't have any real punishment (other than being forced to apologize, which can be tough), and Greg and Marcia really had no business "deciding" that Peter's punishment wasn't severe enough. By actually throwing the party for him, it was almost like they were teaching Greg and Marcia a lesson about getting involved in the punishments of their siblings.

But all in all, since everyone had a great time at the party, I don't guess ANYONE really got punished :)


As a side note, I had the exact same Panasonic cassette recorder that Peter received as a gift, complete with the same yellow labeled cassette demo tape. I actually still have the tape, although the player is long gone.

I say no. I thought it sent the wrong message.

Plus, I don't get it at all about them giving Peter his own tape recorder after his hijinks with a recorder landed him in trouble! I mean, the way I see it, if you take your parents' car and get into an accident, do they give your own car right then? Some parents Mike and Carol were!