25 February, 2006

Got a house full of drivers now

My son has joined the ranks of the mobile.

Phew.

I will never threaten my children with pulling their license. I don't see why, if they have done something wrong, I should be punished.

It's pretty cool. Instead of being home by 4:30 to take my son to rock climbing, I just met him there. I was worn out after an hour, so I left him there to climb until he had had enough.

I am frankly a little afraid of the additional distance this will put between us, but that is the nature of growing. It is happening fast. One starts college in the fall, and the other in 2007. It wasn't that long ago that 2007 was a lifetime away. Now it feels like weeks. Sometimes like minutes.

More and more, I understand the temptation to consult with fortune tellers.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I had my son voluntarily give up his driver's license.

at 18, he had never had a job and my car insurance went up by $150 a month.

Then...

Well, let's just say that he wasn't gong to touch my steering wheel until he paid to fix the last time he touched my steering wheel.

Kevin Knox said...

Nice to see you, Ellen.

My daughter had a wreck back in October - totaled both cars. I had her in an old, cheap, diesel mercedes, so she and her passenger were not hurt. The person she cut off had air bags, so she was not hurt either. My insurance covered the other driver's expenses, so it was a hardship for them but survivable.

The decision how to handle it was not easy. In the end, her confidence was the key decision point, followed closely by the fact of her school life. My ex and I have agreed to send her to an alternative school that requires her to do off-site work twice a week.

We had her pay for as much of the cost of replacement as possible, and put her in another old tank. That's a lot easier to do as a former mechanic.

It is really, really hard to know whether I guessed right. I cannot read her character. She has closed herself to me, even though she lives here just over 50% of the time. I know she has a predisposition to laziness, but all of her teachers consider her a bang-up student and one of the most responsible kids in the school. I see bursts of it, and enjoy her when she enjoys herself around me, so I keep hoping.

In her "new" car she seems a lot more confident, and she seems to be doing well in it.

We'll see.

My sister totaled 3 or 4 cars before she was 25.

Anonymous said...

Keep me posted on how you guys deal. My son is twelve. He comes out of his room foe homework, food, To watch t.v. with us(golden moments) and when he just wants to make sure we are in need of his love. (all the time)