Friday Night Madness
The rain was pouring out of the sky like a giant pitcher of water being poured into a shot glass. Roads were flooded and the little island just below the water fall had disappeared from sight. Tornadoes had been spotted earlier and the weather service warned against being out on the road due to power lines down and low visibility.
This was the scene when I discovered my teenager had snuck out in the car.
My 16 year old son had asked if he and a friend could go somewhere in the car. I said no and explained the weather situation to him. He had a friend over whose parents had given him the same warning. Stay put they were told.
The rain had let up and they asked if they could walk over to another friend's house who lived in the neighborhood. I said that was okay...just do not take a car.
They took the car.
I decided to call and check on them and let them know it was getting late and I wanted them to come home. (I was sleepy and needed my beauty rest) He told me okay and would be right home. 15 minutes had passed and I called him back. "Why is it taking you so long to get home?", I asked. Then I heard it.
Road noise.
They were in the car riding down the road in the rain trying to make it home without me realizing the car was gone. He started with some bull sh_ _ story, then quickly figured out that I knew. Too late, they were caught. He started apologizing and saying they just got hungry and wanted to go to Chick fila and it would never happen again and he was so sorry....blah blah...
I told him to hang up the phone and get his ass home.
His ass arrived home about 5 minutes later. I told him to sit his ass down in that chair right there. I told his friend to sit his ass in the other chair. I got a "yes ma'am" from both of them.
I asked them; "What part of DO NOT DRIVE THE CAR did you not understand?" Heads were hung low and a barely audible mumbling of "I don't know" came out of their mouths. YOU DON'T KNOW???? WELL LET ME EXPLAIN IT TO YOU! *@!#*&!@ (I'll spare all of you the specifics of my explanation to them) I sent them to bed and told his friend I'll talk to his parents tomorrow and I will dole out the punishment to my own son tomorrow as well.
Two hours later......
Police arrive at my house and began questioning Jeff (my fiance') about the white truck parked outside our house. He was leaving to go home because it was after midnight and I had gone to bed. Two more squad cars pull up, police radios blaring in my cul-de-sac and cops taking down tag numbers. I guess my neighbors now think I own a crack house.
Apparently there had been some reports of a white pick up truck with teenagers in it vandalizing the neighborhood and they needed to talk to the boys. Middle of night 3 cops in my house questioning my son and his friend, running their drivers license numbers and car tags to check for warrants. Turns out it wasn't my boys at all. It wasn't the same truck that had been reported and it had happened within the last hour and the boys had been home for 2 hours. All of this going on under my roof, all while I was sleeping.
YES THAT'S WHAT I SAID. I was asleep during the whole police interrogation. Thank God Jeff was here to handle it and he didn't want to wake me up. He came over this morning to tell me about the rest of the night. He said it was perfect because it scared the bejesus out of the boys and he doesn't think my son will be sneaking out again any time soon. I guess they got what they deserved in the end. However, my son is grounded for a week from use of his car and going out with any friends.
Do you think that's enough punishment? If you have any ideas or advice you can offer me about these teen years, please let me know! This is going to be a hard bumpy road. I don't think I'm ready.
This was the scene when I discovered my teenager had snuck out in the car.
My 16 year old son had asked if he and a friend could go somewhere in the car. I said no and explained the weather situation to him. He had a friend over whose parents had given him the same warning. Stay put they were told.
The rain had let up and they asked if they could walk over to another friend's house who lived in the neighborhood. I said that was okay...just do not take a car.
They took the car.
I decided to call and check on them and let them know it was getting late and I wanted them to come home. (I was sleepy and needed my beauty rest) He told me okay and would be right home. 15 minutes had passed and I called him back. "Why is it taking you so long to get home?", I asked. Then I heard it.
Road noise.
They were in the car riding down the road in the rain trying to make it home without me realizing the car was gone. He started with some bull sh_ _ story, then quickly figured out that I knew. Too late, they were caught. He started apologizing and saying they just got hungry and wanted to go to Chick fila and it would never happen again and he was so sorry....blah blah...
I told him to hang up the phone and get his ass home.
His ass arrived home about 5 minutes later. I told him to sit his ass down in that chair right there. I told his friend to sit his ass in the other chair. I got a "yes ma'am" from both of them.
I asked them; "What part of DO NOT DRIVE THE CAR did you not understand?" Heads were hung low and a barely audible mumbling of "I don't know" came out of their mouths. YOU DON'T KNOW???? WELL LET ME EXPLAIN IT TO YOU! *@!#*&!@ (I'll spare all of you the specifics of my explanation to them) I sent them to bed and told his friend I'll talk to his parents tomorrow and I will dole out the punishment to my own son tomorrow as well.
Two hours later......
Police arrive at my house and began questioning Jeff (my fiance') about the white truck parked outside our house. He was leaving to go home because it was after midnight and I had gone to bed. Two more squad cars pull up, police radios blaring in my cul-de-sac and cops taking down tag numbers. I guess my neighbors now think I own a crack house.
Apparently there had been some reports of a white pick up truck with teenagers in it vandalizing the neighborhood and they needed to talk to the boys. Middle of night 3 cops in my house questioning my son and his friend, running their drivers license numbers and car tags to check for warrants. Turns out it wasn't my boys at all. It wasn't the same truck that had been reported and it had happened within the last hour and the boys had been home for 2 hours. All of this going on under my roof, all while I was sleeping.
YES THAT'S WHAT I SAID. I was asleep during the whole police interrogation. Thank God Jeff was here to handle it and he didn't want to wake me up. He came over this morning to tell me about the rest of the night. He said it was perfect because it scared the bejesus out of the boys and he doesn't think my son will be sneaking out again any time soon. I guess they got what they deserved in the end. However, my son is grounded for a week from use of his car and going out with any friends.
Do you think that's enough punishment? If you have any ideas or advice you can offer me about these teen years, please let me know! This is going to be a hard bumpy road. I don't think I'm ready.
Comments
here's a punishment that my father used on me once (for you in the future because you will have to punish for something again later). I NEVER did anything wrong. I'm not just saying that. My father was a teacher and I was absolutely terrified that he would eat me or something if I let him down. However, once I went into school late, there was no reason for it, I simply didn't get dressed and to school on time. When I saw that I was going to be a little late, I chose to just go ahead and sleep in and go in late. And, the very reason I never did anything wrong was because when I walked in the door that afternoon, my father said "why were you late for school" and I lied.
So, anyway now that I told that long story for no reason, the punishment. Instead of taking my car keys for good which would have caused him as much anguish as me because of athletic practices and games and such, the punishment was "for a month, you must be home by 9 pm, Friday's and Saturday's included".
So, on the weekends, when I was out cruising the strip (not beach strip, just our strip), just as the first movie was letting out and everyone was really starting to get out and about in town....I had to go home. The worst part was the explaining of why I had to go home. If it had been one weekend, I could have pretended I was sick, or went to stay with granny or whatever. But, for a month, every time things started "happening", I had to go home. The WORST.PUNISHMENT.OF.MY.LIFE.
I won't to cap that off by saying the last 20 years of my life, I have been hell bent on breaking every rule, law, etc that has ever been inacted upon me. Don't know why, I hope the next 20 are more like those first 20 because I can ill afford any more hardships even if they are self-imposed.
Don't let him out until he is 21.
I've had 4 kids. If I had to do it over again. This would be my aproach!
I used to set my house alarm at night, not to keep bad guys out but to keep my daughter in. She knew if she cracked a door, window or whatever, she was doomed.
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