Photo by swren

My oldest daughter (17) will be graduating high school in a few months and going out on her own to start her own life. That’s her choice, I think its the wrong choice and I’m doing a lot of lip biting here, trying to keep my mouth shut. I think she should live at home and attend a community college while working PART time. That’s the extent of my financial package to her right now, that’s really all I can afford. Room and board is worth at least $600 a month minimum, that’s $7,200 a year financial aid package from Mom and Dad. I really DO NOT regulate constantly on her either, I pretty much let her come and go, within reason, as long as she respects my very basic ground rules. She’s a good student, mostly “A’s” but has an occasional “D” here and there, so far she hasn’t received any scholarships. Overall she’s a very responsible teenager and has held down the same part time job over a year and a half, she’s involved with the student council, was a cheerleader all four years and involved in various clubs. She pays for her own gas and insurance. With her plan to move out on her own and pay her own bills, she’s going to pay for her schooling and living expenses and while working FULL time. I think she could probably do it but I think her stress levels are going to be extremely high. I also think my daughter has WAY TOO much “PARTY” in her and it worries me.

Yesterday evening she asked me if her and a few of her friends could go to a bonfire party that one of her friends was having. I know the kids mother so I said, “Sure”.

Remember my husband, her father, is out of town. It’s pretty key in the next part of the story.

It’s starting to get late, I know the bonfire is about 20-30 minutes from home so at 11:15 pm, I sent her a text message, “It’s getting late, you need to think about getting ready to come home.” She sent me back a text stating that she isn’t driving, her friends are. Okay, so I’m thinking (and texting), “That sounds like YOUR problem not mine and maybe YOU should have drove your own car???”

At 12:30 am the same sort of text messages go out and come in again, and repeat again at 1:30 am. Finally at 2:30 am I sent her a little text, “I can’t wait to tell Daddy about this!” That got her attention. She decided to start looking for a ride home. She ended up showing up at 3:00 AM!

I’m so mad at her I haven’t decided what her punishment is going to be yet but I can tell you she’s going to be hearing a whole lot of the word “NO” in the future.