Re:17 year olds are not children (Score 1)

17 year olds are not children. They may act like children because that's all that's been expected of them. They act impulsively without regard for consequences because in most cases, there are no consequences. Tomorrow, I have to go to court with my 16 year old son for two traffic infractions he received when he rummaged through my bedroom and found my hidden spare set of keys, drove my 4wd pickup truck with a manual transmission into another truck in an intersection. He did not have permission to drive my truck, in fact, he has never taken drivers education nor does he have a drivers license. In short, he stole my truck and totaled it and found out the hard way that driving is a little more complicated than it looks. Besides the obvious liability nightmare I had to go through, he was cited for failure to avoid a collision and driving without a license. Regardless of what the court says, he has blown his opportunity to drive, at least until he is 18 and can get a license on his own. He is also going to reimburse me for all costs incurred by his disregard for safety. This includes my insurance deductable, time spent on dozens of phone calls, trips to the courthouse, impound yard and insurance company. Even the full tank of gas that was in the truck when he wrecked it. I am going to see to it that he suffers personally, socially, and financially from the decision that he made to drive with no training or permission. Am I being too harsh on him? I don't think so. He is going to learn that actions have consequences, good and bad. I lost my truck, he lost his opportunity to obtain a driver's license on my dime. This is my point - I am going to hold his feet to the fire on this, he is not going to get a break from me.