First of all - BodyPoet, you are an aweseome mother for being so reasonable about it.
It sounds like he’s a responsible, mature guy. Unless you’ve got major warning bells going off, why not?
So, you’re in Bloomington…his friends, do they like to ride bikes? Does your son obsess over everything Italian? Do the college snobs call his friends cutters?
ok enough with the bad movie stuff.
I’d be leery of doing it before high school. What’s he got left, 3 or 4 months? Surely he can wait that long. Plus, if he does well at school, he should go to college. Real college. Junior college or tech school is fine for a couple of years, but the days of getting good jobs without a degree are all but over.
Personally, when my kids leave home, I’m gonna have to go with them. I say that because they’re 6, 3 and 3 weeks old. Once they’re teenagers, I’ll probably be slipping apartment brochures under their doors.
Just a couple of responses I didn’t want to miss…
DMark, re: his “major”. I don’t know if they call it a major or not. When I was in high school, seems like we called it something different, but for the life of me I can’t remember what (I think it was “academic prep” or something similar). However, he has taken at 2-4 classes per year that are music-related–jazz band, symphonic band, theory, composing, that sort of thing. This year, he has three or four. So of his credits, the majority (and basically ALL of the non-requireds) are band/music classes.
Heh. And I am SO going to show up with clean undies.
Basic living skills: He can cook a basic meal, do his own laundry, and buy his own clothes, and in fact does most of those things most of the time now. (Although he just learned the hard way, after buying a size 38 pair of pants for his size 32 frame, that trying clothes on is wise.) He recently figured out that if he buys inexpensive groceries to keep at home, he won’t spend so much at McD’s, so he’s been keeping a stash in his room. Cracks me up.
Sponging offa momma: Oh, my. This boy is all too aware that there is just NO sponging off his mother, because I simply don’t have it to hand out. In addition, he’s one of those kids (I was the same way, and remember the agony!) who truly believes that he should support himself, and HATES to take money from me for any reason. I spend far more time convincing him that it’s okay for your parents to help you sometimes than telling him no, because he doesn’t want to accept “help.” I pay for his car insurance only because he chauffers his brother to and from school, and I figure I’d have to pay anyone else more to do it for me, so it’s well worth the cost. Everything else, including band trips, excurricular, etc–he pays at least half, or 1/3 if his dad chips in.
My, I’m making a convincing argument even to myself. If he finds this thread he’ll have all sorts of good rationale to use on me!