Natural Consequences

I received many comments on my post about C2's car accident. Several readers asked what consequences or discipline did we impose on him. Before I discuss that, I'd like to talk about the natural consequences that he has endured as a result of this incident.

First, when his dad and I got home from work that evening and asked how he was doing, he broke down and cried. He was very much aware of how lucky he and his friend were. He was upset with himself for putting the two of them (especially his friend) in an unsafe situation.

Second, he had to depend on his sister to take him to school because he didn't want to take the bus in the mornings.

Third, he had to take the late bus home from school after weight room in the afternoon when he didn't have to work. We live about 15 to 20 minutes from the school. It takes at least an hour to get to our street when he takes the late bus.

Fourth, he had to find a ride to work after school.

For his parental consequences, his dad and I found a young driver contract on line. We made it our own, the three of us discussed it and signed it. If any of you are interested, you can e-mail me and I'll send you a copy of the one we used or you can google young driver contract. I couldn't believe how many of them there are on the web. Next, his driving privileges consist of going to work and home and going to school and home. There is no social driving for now. In addition, he must call one of us when he arrives at work or school and he must call when he leaves. Finally, we've told him that he has to pay the $1,000 deductible. I'm in the process of working out the details based on his pay and the number of hours he works.

I sit next to a young mom at work who has two toddler girls. Every morning she comes to work complaining of how difficult it is to be a working mom of toddlers. The other day I said to her, "Just wait. Little kids, little issues. Big kids, big issues.