LOL...I did thrown him an 8th grade graduation party. I even arranged for it to be held at a family member's cottage on a lake. Boats, fishing, family, and friends...he and his friends had a lot of fun and he made out with a few hundred bucks in cash.

_________________

Now teach him a real life lesson and take him to hooters and make him tip his fav waitress really well

_________________
the world will always the world. your entire existence is defined by your response.

i am in the same situation as delaney and will be dealing with this in the next year or two. we live in a small town within a mile-and-a-half of the high school and everything in this town is easily reachable by foot or bike. Him getting a car is not a foregone conclusion in my house. He will be working for the first time this summer, and he knows if he wants a car he has a responsibility to earn and save money (which he continually has not done in the past) and be ready to pay his fair share. If he can do that, he will probably inherit my car and pay us for it monthly based on his income (we aren't going to wipe him out with car payments, but it will be a set amount monthly), and he will be responsible for insurance and registration, gas and maintenance. i am already taking care of the major maintenance items now so that he won't have to deal with it, tires, brakes, that kind of thing. the money he pays us will be set aside and presented to him for a down payment for when he is ready to purchase his next car, which will at that time be all on him.

i agree that owning a car is not some kind of right that he just gets handed to him. this is how my folks handled it with me and it worked great. if he wants to save his money and ride his bike, thats great (and smart) and he can borrow my car for times he needs one.