Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Grand Theft Auto- Real Live Version

So recently my son completed Drivers Ed. He did very well and the mere second he graduated he wanted to drive, drive, drive. I was a bit confused I thought that since he had that certificate I could drive with him, but nope, turns out he needs an actual permit from the DMV. I know ignorance of the law is no excuse but it is my excuse. I let him drive me around the neighborhood a couple times and he did quite well but I have little patience and was freaked the entire time. Once I found out that he had to have that permit from the DMV I explained no more driving until we get that done. Problem is the pesky DMV office closes at 5p each day and that schedule just does not work for me. So although he hounded me daily to get the permit it was put on a to-do list.
School was closed for 3 days. Damn teacher workdays. And I thought two teens at home for 3 days alone would equal trouble so I sent them to their dads. Monday night (day two) Dad calls me at 10p. He is pissed. He informs me he is on the way to my home with the boys. I was confused because I thought I had one more day. He then informs me that while he was at work our son (which is my son apparently when he does wrong) had driven dads car while he was at work. He was livid. I was mad too but I kinda found it funny because I too would steal my moms car all the time at that age. And for all the times I called dad to complain that I needed help with them and more support as they reached their teen years. He could never help out, but he always made sure to inform me that they would not do "those things" if they lived with him. He was ranting and raving mostly about his car and the gas that was used. Not about the fact that Michael had only driven a grand total of 3 hours in drivers ed and was not only a danger to himself but others as well. The story they gave him was that they drove around the neighborhood a few times. Dad demanded that I punish him. Nope sorry dude that happened at your house you should have punished him. His idea of punishing him was to return him home and put it in my lap. I thought that was a huge cop-out since he pays $35 a week in child support per child and is currently a month behind. 
A lil side note about that child support- we agreed on that amount when the boys were tots because he would get them every weekend and also paid half of their clothing costs and chipped in on  field trips, and pictures etc. At the time it was more important that he remain active in their lives to me then provide money for their care. I could do it by myself so I mostly did. But he has since had two wives and two more kids plus one more kid that showed up from his past prior to me so lets just say the visitation is shaky at best. Not to mention that the cost of a 2 year old compared to a 16 year old is way different. I mean that boy can eat up a weeks worth of his child support in one day. 


Anyways back to the story. 
He dropped off the boys and left. Then I sat down with them and asked what the hell were they thinking?? They made light of the situation. "No big deal" as my son put it. "We didn't wreck and no one got hurt." After I explained all the things that could have gone wrong. An accident, running over and killing a child, getting caught by the police, etc. My son still did not see the "big deal". It was very frustrating. At that point I informed the lad that should he ever steal a car at my home I would definitely have him arrested for grand theft auto. He looked at me and said "and I knew that, which is why I stole dads car and not yours." 
So I am curious, Did you ever steal your parents car or did your kids ever steal yours?

7 comments:

  1. I never did and as far as I know they never did. My son didn't even bother with a drivers licence until he was 17. He had his friends drive him around.

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  2. Nope never did it nor did my sons.
    However, you might want to check the driving laws in your state. I know in my state if he got caught driving with only a permit (vs having a full fledged driver's licenses) he would LOOSE that permit and the privileges that goes with it for a long period of time.

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  3. No and no. I have to agree to Mamma. You might want to double check your state laws.

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  4. I didn't ever take the car, had no desire. I didn't even learn to drive until I was 20. But, I was with a friend when she "borrowed" her parents' car. We were in high school, seniors, I think. And they had two. They went out to dinner and told us not to touch the other car (she didn't even have a learner's permit). On our way back from the party (yup!) going uphill, they're coming downhill. We ducked down (b/c cars are phantomly driven all the time). They never said anything to us. Even 5 years later she asked her mother why she didn't scold us. They didn't see their own damn car drive by them.

    I really don't know what to suggest you say to your son to get him to see that anything "could have" happened.

    And $35/week, huh? Wow.

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  5. I "stole" my own car once. It wasn't quite legal for driving and had my parents found out I'd be dead. My parents never left their cars behind so no stealing there and when I did take the car my mother wrote down the mileage to see how far I'd gone and whether or not I was lying.

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  6. No, I never stole a car of my parents. They'd be furious! At least he knew better than to mess with yours. He knows you would discipline him!

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