I was trying to explain this to our 17 year old son, who I have been referring to in my own mind as "the lump" this summer because he has done absolutely as little as possible. He refused to get a job, basically got fired from volunteering, and was told he needed to help around the house to earn electronics -- so he sat and did absolutely nothing for hours, refusing to earn the electronics and thus having nothing he could think of to do.
Right now he is sitting in the front seat of our old, completely ruined in every way except the engine, van pretending to drive.
He passed driver's ed training in July, but failed his permit test. He hasn't been able to retake it because he has been gone.
Here's the clincher that I tried to explain to him today:
In order to get a license, you have to have insurance. Since our family policy is not to let kids get their license until they have enough money to pay their insurance, he can't get his license (not to mention not yet having a permit at 17 because he couldn't either get good grades or earn enough money to pay for Driver's Ed until this summer). At any rate, all week long I have been trying to get him to apply for a job and he is refusing.
So, even though he knows all this, he is still picturing driving in a few months, alone, probably in a car that he is planning to purchase.
I am both highly amused and fairly alarmed by his absolute denial. I suppose it is similar to me envisioning myself in a size 14 (OK, now you skinny folks, now would NOT be the time to laugh) as I munch on a box of crackers.
I don't know how to motivate him. I guess I will just let him live in his fantasy land. But sometimes living with someone who is living in a fantasy world is stinkin annoying.
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