OH THE DREARY LIFE OF A BOOTBLACK

If you have read this blog AT ALL you know that we have a teenage son.

A teenage son that got his drivers license in October.(He had been driving for a year with his learners)

A teenage son that got a ticket in December while driving home from work.

He disclosed this info on myspace so I feel okay to share this with ya'll~and truth be known most of you probably know by now anyway.

My sweet hubby and I discussed what punishment he would receive. Of course, without question, he would pay for the ticket out of his pocket. He will go to traffic school on Monday.

We also felt he should have some kind of consequence from us.

This is what we came up with:

1. he was not allowed to work more over Christmas break.(He only works 2 days a week, Fri and Sat but they are almost 12 hour days.)
2. he was not allowed to drive for recreation for one month.

He was not happy but later came back and said he was just mad at himself for getting the ticket in the first place. He took his punishment like a man and this Thursday he broke his month long restriction from driving for pleasure by taking his girlfriend, Jessie, on a date.

Don't you love it when your penance is paid and you are free.

Along this thought, we have tried to keep away from being "fair" parents.

Trevor will tell you that my favorite come back for the phrase "That's not fair" is "Do you think it was fair that Jesus had to die on the cross for YOUR sins?"

That usually shuts the offended child down right away.

We don't think that if one child gets ______ (insert toy, food, present, money, praise for something specific, etc.) that the other kids are entitled to get the same.

Entitled is pretty much a dirty word in our family.

I can't stand it.

So, sometimes just for fun one child gets a cookie and the others don't. Or, one gets to go to a party or an outing and the others don't.

Why? Because life doesn't work that way. Just because So&So down the street gets _____(again, insert new bike, scooter, new car, cruise, a big atta boy, etc.) doesn't mean you get one too.

I've heard that in some families when a child has a birthday all the kids in that family HAVE to get a gift.

WHAT!!!! I don't think so! Why? Because someone might get their little feelings hurt that the birthday child got a gift and they didn't.

Give me a break. Can we say "I am trying to raise brats"?

Okay, I'm done now. I think I'll go get a cookie and dare my kids to ask for one.