Car Consequences

I’m sure some of the more experienced moms (sly look in Janette’s general direction) will think we totally botched this, but I still think there have to be consequences for not following the rules.

Readers will remember that Calvin let his car run out of oil and destroyed the engine. The consequence of that has been I DON’T HAVE A CAR!! Calvin has completely taken over my Roadmaster station wagon. Now, that’s okay. I don’t really mind that he use the car for work, going to swim practice, and school. I don’t even mind if he uses it once a week or so to visit his girl friend. I DO MIND when he takes the car to swim practice and then doesn’t come home but instead goes to visit his girlfriend on a school night not coming home until almost 1:00 a.m.! (Yea, we called him at 10:00 and asked him where he was and how come he hadn’t brought the car back. Apparently that translated in his mind to “stay out another three hours!”)

So he gets in at 1:00 a.m., makes it to swimming by 6:00 a.m. and then drove over to school by 8:15. He was meeting all of his own obligations, and yet ,he defied our request to come home immediately after taking the car without our permission in the first place.

This morning Mr. Pete drove me over to Calvin’s downtown school. We found the car and then I drove it home. When Calvin got out at 11:00 he was a little freaked out not to find the car! I think he waited about 20 minutes before he found the nerve to call his dad to tell him he thought the car had been towed or stolen! I’m not sure if it was a relief of not to find out that WE had gotten our car back! I’m sure he wasn’t happy to know that he was going to have to walk home.

Sometimes this parenting stuff is hard, but I think we just decided that if Calvin claims that he is an adult, we are going to treat him like one, and getting control of the car back was step one.

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