Meanest Mom sells car...

Magick1 · #1 01-09-2008, 10:55 AM

The Associated Press: Mom Sells Rule-Breaking Son's Car

I love it!

**pippadaisy**[$] · #2 01-09-2008, 11:31 AM

I want to shake this lady's hand.

*emeleel* · #3 01-09-2008, 11:40 AM

**Prepoia**[$] · #4 01-09-2008, 11:45 AM

I didn't and wish I had!
Good for her (and her child).

**lynnzop**[$] · #5 01-09-2008, 12:08 PM

Love it.

**mjfrombuffalo**[$] · #6 01-09-2008, 12:42 PM

**hadassahchana**[$] · #7 01-09-2008, 01:04 PM

I love this lady! I wish more parents were like her- she's my hero!

**jgibson2**[$] · #8 01-09-2008, 01:27 PM

Quote:

The car has been sold, but Hambleton says she will continue the ad for another week — just for the feedback.

She may even give some other parent the support they need to make a similar choice. I'm not sure she's the meanest mom. I'd have made my kids surrender their license, too. I made that quite clear when they started driving. And my kids tell me that one of my sisters is actually meaner than I am.

frazzledspice · #9 01-10-2008, 01:16 AM

To be perfectly accurate, she sold her own car.

Even if she bought it for her son's use, the title was obviously in her name.

There are lots of parents out there who make their kids put some sweat equity into buying their own cars from the git-go. Maybe if he had had a little sweat equity invested in the car, he would have handled it more responsibly.

Parents are behind the 8 ball a lot of the time....

If they live in an area without good public transportation (as I do) the choice lies between chauffeuring your child to school and work at great personal inconvenience, or getting him/her a car.

Punishing your child can be as punishing to yourself as it is to him/her....

**jgibson2**[$] · #10 01-10-2008, 03:32 AM

Quote:

frazzledspice said

Punishing your child can be as punishing to yourself as it is to him/her....

I just know too many people whose kids totaled the car - and sometimes killed themselves and/or a sibling in the process. I also had a brother who was permitted to drive my parents' car after multiple DUI's for the reason you give. He very nearly ended up in jail -- and was very fortunate never to injure anyone.

BTW, there really are other options than chauffeuring your kids - even in the absence of public transportation. You can chat with my 2 older kids if you doubt that. They don't HAVE to go nearly as many places as they think they do. They can walk a lot further than you (or perhaps they) think, too. One of mine got to make a 7 mile hike after refusing to sit anywhere but the front seat of my car. It would have been 12 miles, but I got worried. OTOH, he was really happy to see me and we had no more crap about who was sitting where EVER again.

frazzledspice · #11 01-10-2008, 09:13 AM

Well, I did say, Judy, that kids who put some of their own hard-earned money into their cars are usually more responsible drivers (that goes for insurance, too.)

And kids don't have to go as many places as they want to, but even getting them to school and work can be a huge hassle, and if both of these are seven miles away, you can't expect them to walk both ways all the time.

I did walk a lot more than my kids when I was growing up--probably walked about two miles a day in high school. A certain amount of walking is healthy.

My daughter loved living in Germany as a summer exchange student, even though the German kids always walked and used public transportation (when the German kids visited us, they couldn't believe we had multiple cars.)

*emeleel* · #12 01-10-2008, 09:15 AM

Maybe if that family in Canada had taken the car away from their son about 7 or 8 speeding tickets in the past, they wouldn't have gotten a $100K+ insurance bill!

**pippadaisy**[$] · #13 01-10-2008, 09:23 AM

I agree.

I don't agree with what Frazz said about sweat equity. It has to do with your parenting. The crowd I ran with in high school all bought their own cars. With their own money. And paid their own insurance. And rebuilt their own engines. And to a one, every last one of them drove after partying.

I learned to drive standard after a friend's boyfriend got concerned when a guy I was dating totaled his car. Drunk. Had I been IN the car, I'd have been dead, because the entire passenger side was pretty much ON the driver's side.

Kids in general are stupid. Teenaged boys seem to be especially so. I applaud this mother for doing the right thing, the smart thing, even if it was "inconvenient" for her.

Magick1 · #14 01-10-2008, 09:51 AM

My hubby and I have a saying when we hear kids squeal their tires when taking off at a light or stop sign
"you can tell they don't buy their own tires".

Things do change some when you have to purchase your own items (insurance, maintenance, tires, etc). I think the driving the vehicles after drinking even though the students bought, fixed up, paid their own insurance is the theory that "it won't happend to me" attitude.

I think everyone thinks that way at times, but some people get caught or some hurt others. It's like toddlers, until they get hurt, they are invincible, jumping off trees, stairs, etc. But, when they get hurt doing something, they are a bit more inclined not to do that. (Just my humble thoughts).

**lynnzop**[$] · #15 01-10-2008, 10:15 AM

Interesting twist on this story this a.m. - I was listening to the local college radio station on the way in to work and the (college-aged) DJ's were discussing it. They both supported mom on her decision, but the guy DJ thought the mom was a bit over the top to continue the ad and be on Good Morning America and the Today show (I guess she was on one today?) He felt she was being a bit of a pub hog.

IMO, maybe she is. But it's for a good reason. If her kid learns his lesson through humilation, and more parents have the guts to stand up to their adult children living at home (or even NOT) for what's right because they saw her on national TV, I'm more than willing to give her the 15 minutes.

Hey....maybe that publishing house who is not putting out Lynn Spears' parenting book should give this gal a call.

*emeleel* · #16 01-10-2008, 10:24 AM

Amen, Lynn!

Quote:

and more parents have the guts to stand up to their adult children living at home (or even NOT)

And that's what made me smile even bigger about this story - this wasn't a 16 or 17 year old MINOR. The guy's *19*, and Mom still pulled the rug out from under him.

**mjfrombuffalo**[$] · #17 01-10-2008, 10:50 AM

Quote:

seven miles away

Your district doesn't have buses?

Magick1 · #18 01-10-2008, 11:32 AM

From what I understand, she's a dj at a local radio station herself, so possibly, she's hoping to draw in some publicity.

But, if it inspires other families to act like this with their children, it might not be all bad.

**pippadaisy**[$] · #19 01-10-2008, 12:38 PM

I applaud her going on national TV with it. Shoot, I think they should give her the darn Nobel Prize!!!

How many times will we have the parents of kids who shoot up a school or drink and drive and kill someone say "Not my preshuss angel." Children living in their parents' house, even as "adults" in college are still children. He's underage, and whether it was his alcohol or not, it was in his car. That should be the end of discussion. Someone should send a YouTube video of her appearances to the Hogan family.

**Prepoia**[$] · #20 01-10-2008, 02:40 PM

First of all, I'd like to ask that no one "belittle" convenience as a viable reason that parents need to consider. Those with more than one child will understand that in "real life" not the "ideal" life, convenience is VERY important and makes life either easier or very burdensome. Where I live there are no buses, no taxis, no public transportation at all either. Many places are like that. If people around here lose their licences for any reason, they drive anyway or else they lose their jobs and means of support for themselves and their families. And I can never claim that there weren't times when I ignored or was inconsistent when my kids were small to keep my sanity at times when it would have been burdensome to make an issue of a situation. Bad mom me but sometimes it happened.

I admire the grit this woman had to do something very hard knowing that her own life would change because of what she did. I took my child's licence one time for a few months and found it totally life changing to have to be driving her everywhere she needed to go (college...job...home....meetings...etc.) PLUS drive myself to my job and duties and also have time to do all I needed to do inside and outside the home with my extended family (parents who couldn't drive because of their age.) So please be kind to and acknowledge the facts of the difficulty of the decisions parents must make.

Just saying...

**pippadaisy**[$] · #21 01-10-2008, 03:54 PM

Sandy, I'm sorry, but I find "convenience" to be a lousy excuse. We are talking about people's lives at stake. If they lose their license, then sorry, but I don't have much sympathy for them losing their jobs.

Driving is a responsibility and a privilege, not a right. Maybe I come at it from a different perspective because I DID have the kind of parents that this woman is. I was expected to have a MINIMUM GPA every single semester in high school AND college. I was expected to be responsible, to not break the law, and to pull my own weight. My sister and I both started working at 14. And if we lost the privilege of driving the car we had to share, then we had to figure out our own way to get where we needed to be. If we had to bum rides from friends and pay them for gas, then sucks to be us. The inconvenience was dumped on US, because we were the responsible parties. If we couldn't figure out a way to get to work, then we had to deal. Same thing with classes. My parents didn't bat an eye at me walking 3 miles to work when I lost the car.

phoenixx · #22 01-10-2008, 05:16 PM

7 miles is nothing, especially for the young. Take the car, save a life, possibly their own.