Tomorrow is my youngest's 18th birthday. We're thinking of kicking him out of the house. He won't go to school, won't/can't hold a job and trying to get him to help around the house is like pulling teeth.
As far as school, this is his 4th year of high school, but he has flunked so many classes that it would still take him another year to complete (assuming that he passed those classes). We have offered to home school him, but so far he has an excuse for every situation when asked to work independently on something. We both work full time, but my wife works at home some days, so there is an opportunity for a little bit of supervision. As much as he hates school, I've always admired the fact that at least he went and put in the time. The last couple of months it has gotten to where he just won't go.
He has a checking account that I am closing today. It is linked to our account. Every time he over drafts, the bank automatically transfers money from our account to cover his debit. He (me) has lost so much money over the last year because of the overdraft fees. Come tomorrow, he can open his own independent account. Part of the problem is the loan he took out for two hundred and some odd dollars. He tells me that he still owes over three hundred dollars. Legally, we could probably get rid of this debt since he can't legally enter into a contract until he turns 18.
His car is yet another point of fun. It's his dream car. He bought it without a clean title. We did have proper bills of sale, etc. So far it's in me and my wife's name. It's been probably almost two years since he's had it and I don't think that it's driven more than a few miles under its own power. It still hasn't been titled or registered as he never seems to have the money. Our intent was to turn the title over on his 18th birthday. We may just give him another bill of sale and hand him all of the paperwork and let him deal with the registration and late fees.
He car has been sitting in our driveway off and on for most of the time that it's been in our possession. I'm surprised I haven't gotten any nasty grams from our home owners association. I would love to rent a trailer and just haul it off to a storage lot. It would be worth $25/month to not have to look at it and have it taking up space in our driveway.
He has no plan for the future other than to not work. I just spoke with one of his prior employers. It's a small local auto body shop - he did detail work and shuttled customers. The office manager was happy with his work when he showed up. She was extremely flexible and even offered to have him come back to work if he could improve on his attendance problems. She was very flexible and has even picked him up for work and bought gas for him, but he just couldn't always communicate if and when he was going to work. My belief is that he was short of gas money and couldn't get to work. He spends most of his money (when he gets some) on junk food and accessories for the car (none of these accessories will make the car run, pass inspection or get it titled and registered).
We've provided a vehicle for him. It was with the understanding that he has to have a job to pay for gas and insurance. If he doesn't want to work, he doesn't have to - but there will be no vehicle to use at his whim. So far, he is far in debt to us for car insurance and for money that we've spent trying to get his car running. Within the last couple of weeks, we've taken the keys to our vehicle away from him and only allow him to drive to a job or interviews.
When we confront him about school or job, it just turns into a fight because he cannot/will not accept any responsibility for the current situation with either school or work.
He has a friend that owns a house. There are other friends living with this friend. My son believes that he would be welcome to live there rent free because he would be sleeping on the couch instead of in a private bedroom.
He is a wheeler/dealer. He's pretty good at buying/selling online. He's even gone so far as to sell some of our possessions (our generator is the first thing that comes to mind). We have had theft problems with him. Of course, he doesn't consider it theft. In his mind, if he needs gas money to get to work, it is perfectly OK to take cash out of his mothers purse to buy gas with.
We're at our wits end and not sure where to go...
As far as school, this is his 4th year of high school, but he has flunked so many classes that it would still take him another year to complete (assuming that he passed those classes). We have offered to home school him, but so far he has an excuse for every situation when asked to work independently on something. We both work full time, but my wife works at home some days, so there is an opportunity for a little bit of supervision. As much as he hates school, I've always admired the fact that at least he went and put in the time. The last couple of months it has gotten to where he just won't go.
He has a checking account that I am closing today. It is linked to our account. Every time he over drafts, the bank automatically transfers money from our account to cover his debit. He (me) has lost so much money over the last year because of the overdraft fees. Come tomorrow, he can open his own independent account. Part of the problem is the loan he took out for two hundred and some odd dollars. He tells me that he still owes over three hundred dollars. Legally, we could probably get rid of this debt since he can't legally enter into a contract until he turns 18.
His car is yet another point of fun. It's his dream car. He bought it without a clean title. We did have proper bills of sale, etc. So far it's in me and my wife's name. It's been probably almost two years since he's had it and I don't think that it's driven more than a few miles under its own power. It still hasn't been titled or registered as he never seems to have the money. Our intent was to turn the title over on his 18th birthday. We may just give him another bill of sale and hand him all of the paperwork and let him deal with the registration and late fees.
He car has been sitting in our driveway off and on for most of the time that it's been in our possession. I'm surprised I haven't gotten any nasty grams from our home owners association. I would love to rent a trailer and just haul it off to a storage lot. It would be worth $25/month to not have to look at it and have it taking up space in our driveway.
He has no plan for the future other than to not work. I just spoke with one of his prior employers. It's a small local auto body shop - he did detail work and shuttled customers. The office manager was happy with his work when he showed up. She was extremely flexible and even offered to have him come back to work if he could improve on his attendance problems. She was very flexible and has even picked him up for work and bought gas for him, but he just couldn't always communicate if and when he was going to work. My belief is that he was short of gas money and couldn't get to work. He spends most of his money (when he gets some) on junk food and accessories for the car (none of these accessories will make the car run, pass inspection or get it titled and registered).
We've provided a vehicle for him. It was with the understanding that he has to have a job to pay for gas and insurance. If he doesn't want to work, he doesn't have to - but there will be no vehicle to use at his whim. So far, he is far in debt to us for car insurance and for money that we've spent trying to get his car running. Within the last couple of weeks, we've taken the keys to our vehicle away from him and only allow him to drive to a job or interviews.
When we confront him about school or job, it just turns into a fight because he cannot/will not accept any responsibility for the current situation with either school or work.
He has a friend that owns a house. There are other friends living with this friend. My son believes that he would be welcome to live there rent free because he would be sleeping on the couch instead of in a private bedroom.
He is a wheeler/dealer. He's pretty good at buying/selling online. He's even gone so far as to sell some of our possessions (our generator is the first thing that comes to mind). We have had theft problems with him. Of course, he doesn't consider it theft. In his mind, if he needs gas money to get to work, it is perfectly OK to take cash out of his mothers purse to buy gas with.
We're at our wits end and not sure where to go...