<p>NCDad, three more hours. Hang in there!</p>
<p>Curious what’s going to happen with his insurance rate. It was expensive to add my 16 yr old son. I can only imagine after a DWI.</p>
<p>
Two hours. ;)</p>
<p>Oops, Niquii11, you are right. I am in the Midwest. I am sure NCDad does not want to wait even a minute longer :).</p>
<p>NCDad, so glad to hear he will be home shortly. I hope that this experience will turn out to have a positive effect on him in the long run, and on your relationship.</p>
<p>The countdown begins!</p>
<p>T-10 minutes.</p>
<p>Congrats on making your way through this tough time. Give your S an extra hug from all of us!</p>
<p>I have been praying for your son. I am glad he is out, and I will continue to pray that he be able to recover and move on from this experience.</p>
<p>OP - happy your son has made it through this experience - hope you are all doing well. Thanks for sharing this journey with us - it has been very informative.</p>
<p>riprorin - the son lost his driver’s license for a year - so no issues with auto insurance to be dealt with any time soon.</p>
<p>As many have said, thank you for sharing your and your son’s experience, it is a good reminder that the quiet kids, the good kids, screw up too and we have to parent knowing that.</p>
<p>I have been following this as the parent of a 19 year old young man who is a good kid but capable, like so many of them at this age, of some poor decision making. I am grateful for OP sharing this experience and wish the whole family all the best as they move forward.</p>
<p>OP … congrats on having your son back home!</p>
<p>One thing to consider down the road is seeing if this can be expunged from your S’s record with the help of an attorney as a “youthful indiscretion” that your S has learned his lesson from. The attorney who represented him should be able to explain what will be required and the likelihood of having it succeed (useful for future employment and more).</p>
<p>Congratulations. You’re on the other side.</p>
<p>Idea - Maybe Hollywood should do a movie that includes side plot of similar situation. It’s helpful for parents to read this thread. It would be helpful for teens to have more reminders about how easy it is for a bad decision to have lifetime impact.</p>
<p>Maybe in will become an TEDx speaker…this year we had a TEDx at our school and a young man - alumni of HS talked about his drug addition - and how he turned his life around.</p>
<p>onlyonemom brings up a nice idea. I believe you said, NorthCarolinaDad that he will speaking to local schools? Perhaps, he inspires a teen to start a local program which in turn helps even more teens. The possibilities are endless.</p>
<p>NorthCarolinaDad thanks for sharing your story with us.</p>
<p>NCDad - I know I am anxiously awaiting an update/conclusion to this story. </p>
<p>How is your S doing since he’s been back home? I hope that jail continued to be “boring”. What is your S’s focus for the remainder of summer?</p>
<p>I hope that the lessons learned will continue to stay with your S, but that he can put the experience itself, behind him.</p>
<p>Best wishes.</p>
<p>just wanted to share that I talked with my 17 yr old s about your son’s situation and we got to talking about what it’s really like for teens. He acknowledged that he was out recently with friends and one of them had a beer, and my s told him he wouldn’t drive with him and instead drove the friend’s car home. I didn’t love that he drove someone else’s car, but I was pleased he understood you don’t get into a car with a driver who’s been drinking. </p>
<p>He’s my third, so he has seen his older bro and sis make good choices throughout college and has seen us discuss things openly.</p>
<p>we also discussed how when adults go out and anticipate having a drink they determine who will be the designated driver, but that often teens do not plan like this, in part because they are more spontaneous, but also because since they aren’t supposed to be drinking at all they don’t consciously think it through. My s agreed. It’s challenging stuff because we certainly don’t want to encourage underage drinking but we need to give them clear and workable tools IF they find themselves in that situation. He pointed out that he’s comfortable expressing himself and not worrying what others may think. My d, an introvert, was less comfortable with this as she felt too awkward to open her mouth. She needed to know to just stay put where she was, ie. call me for a ride, or sleep over. So I think this is an important factor in helping our kids find what will work for them. </p>
<p>thank you NCDad for sharing your story, it definitely has helped me to discuss how even one simple bad choice can have such a challenging outcome. I believe your son will find his way through this, and learn from his experience, probably gain maturity as well. I have respect and empathy for your parenting through all of it…</p>