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Tuesday, February 24, 2009

parenting poll time!

ok.. so.. HYPOTHETICALLY..................................................

your 18 year old son... we will call him Ding Dong to protect his identity for now, is ALLEGEDLY issued a speeding ticket in your SUV in December of 2008.
you are not told of this situation. your other children, several of them leaps and bounds ahead of your allegedly GUILTY son in the maturity department, also choose to keep this information from you(we'll get to them later!)

son, in his infinite wisdom, who knows he's leaving the state for an extended period of time...and knows when he's leaving -CHOOSES not to pay alleged said ticket.

fast forward 8 weeks or so:

a registered letter arrives at your door step. Mailman Bob allows you to sign, since your son is away(even though hes over 18) and snickers and chuckles to the point of spit spray as he hands you the pen. you allegedly belt him in the back of his noggin with the screen door as he exits.(see if that dink gets any of my home made Valentine chocolates next year!)


letter is from local district court and states that if a $360.00 check is not mailed before March 17th, an arrest warrant will be issued for Ding Dong and his drivers license will be revoked with warning.


the kid allegedly has money in his account, which you have online access to.

HYPOTHETICALLY, if this situation was presented to you, would you choose to:

A.) do NOTHING. let him dig his own social suicide grave. he doesnt have a vehicle anyway, and you sure arent dumb enough to let him go 65 in a 30 with YOUR truck again! he made his choice. he did NOTHING. you will do NOTHING. sink or swim, smart ass!

B.) jump on the computer, quickly transfer the funds needed to your account, write a check, find a stamp and envelope and mail the check to the correct address. The United States Army frowns upon arrest warrants! Ding Dong needs a driver's license to get a job, keep a job and have a life outside your dark basement. he also needs to find housing. ALLEGEDLY of course!

C.) following a much heated -yet calm and collected- discussion, you come to a compromise with your "problem solver" (coddling, hand holding, bail- out professional WIMP) of a spouse and agree to mail the letter to Ding Dong on base and let him take care of things himself, with a cashier's check, if & when he so chooses. think of it as a "hand up" instead of a "hand out".

D.) "submit" to your spouse and tell him "Whatever you think is best, Darling." make sure you smile when you say it. then go retrieve his slippers and pipe. make him a nice dinner. wear something sexy.

i'm excited to hear your input, i really am. answer in the comments!

11 comments:

Erin said...

I am a sucker and would do the second one but make him sweat it out. have him send the money to me... I wouldnt want to put a ding in his military record from the get go... but I WOULD BE PISSED beyond belief... and I would be PISSED at the others as well...

Alyssa's Mom said...

I hate to say this, but I agree with hubby. Mail the letter to him and let him take care of it.

I would also put all other secret keepers on lock down!

Georgia said...

Do the hard thing and let Big Boy be a big boy. Them's the breaks.

Mothering4Money said...

I would send him the letter and let him take care of it. I may even make copies of the letter and mail one each day. If by the 16th of March he hasn't paid the bill, then I would take his money out of his account and get a money order to pay the ticket. I wouldn't use my own check with my own name. If he doesn't have the money or doesn't seem to give two shits, then I would let him deal with the repercussions. Not only will he get in trouble in the civi world, but also in the military world ... twice the wake up call. And the only way I'm taking anyone their pipe and slippers is if I intend to shove them up his arse as I kick him to the curb. Hypothetically, of course. ;)

Torina said...

Yep, I agree that sending it to him would be the best thing to do....BUT does he get mail regularly? If he is in training, they may hold mail a week at a time and he may not make the deadline.

Leslie said...

I'd go with B... I know, I'm a pushover...

Cindy said...

I don't have a suggestion, but can't wait to see how you handle it :-)

Mike and Katie said...

Yeah, that's a tough one.

You can't go wrong by honoring your husband's wishes. Your relationship with him is more important than anything else.

But I am one of those kind of people. I would totally bring him his slippers and greet him at the door with a kiss, too.

Best wishes,

Katie

Brenda said...

D

Angel The Alien said...

I agree that you should mail the letter to him and let him take responsibility for it. You should probably also let him know that you found out about it, that you're disappointed he didn't take care of it sooner, and what the consequences may end up being if he doesn't take care of it now!

Shea said...

C.