OT Busted windows update

Just thought I'd post an update on the car windows at shop. Later the day I met with parents, The one dad had both boys at shop picking up hundreds of rocks they had thrown .He had lawn chair in back of his pick up supervising . They also picked up any trash , great job ! He called glass co. ,and windows are to be placed this wed . The mom of one of the boys had one boy AND his brother at shop bright and early this sat , the brother had nothing to do with the vandalism , but wanted to help , and see what all we did at shop. They vacuumed out all the glass from cars, racked yard in front of shop, stacked load of timber slabs on trailer. Asked what else I wanted them to do I asked if they knew how to drive a 4 wheeler ? Eyes lite up . Hooked trailer up and told them to pick up all old tires they could find , stack and sort them by size . They did awsome job . Got done and asked what else? Well I have close to 6 dump truck loads of wood to split and stack and they said no problem ! Fire up splitter, then blew a hyd hose, so called it a day . The boys did great job , never complained about it . Asked when they could come back ? I had my doubts about this whole deal , but all in all I think it has worke dout so far. May even have them on the payroll at some time .

Good Job Counseling. I enjoyed reading about the solution to the original problem. You have made an positive impression on impressional young people.

Sounds like parents still know what it means to discipline up in Iowa. Some would just ignore it and go the other way. The blessing here is the kids learned what your shop is for and even what a little hard work is like.

good job, you deserve a pat on the back. actions like this are a very positive influence on our younger generation. this country needs more people like you.
larry cook

Ya know Bryan, I think you not only earned their respect but you made some friends out of some boys who had nothing to do and got off on the wrong side of things. The 4 wheeler thing was a great touch by you and yes, I believe those boys respect you and will never cause anyone grief again. They could become some great employees

It worked out well for you and them.

Way better then sending them to the some detension center for 3 months.

Several years ago I saw a real case on TV news, (not some BS tv show) That 2 boys, 16 and 17 broke into a barn and killed 23 cats, yes killed 23 of these kittens. (owner bred cats I guess) $6000 in damage to the barn. The boys had to pay for the damages and spend 23 days in state run detention for boys. 1 day for each cat they killed. In my opinion the judge was a bit lenient on them. I would have given them more lock up time.

Good for you!!

Not only did you make friends with the boys and their family, but you probably changed those boys lifestyle. And for that, you get a 5 star rating.

Personally I think you did a fine job of handling the situation. I'm not so sure I would have been as open minded. You may have just made a difference in these boys lives.

God bless you. You probably just helped change some young punks into maybe becoming young men. And blessings on the parents too, they did the right thing.

Nice to hear of something positive these days.

The boys' parents did the right thing, too. There are too many parents who go look the other way.

My wife used to drive a school bus, and there was one kid she kicked off the bus regularly, with good cause. Every time the kid's father would see my wife, he would flip her off. And if the father, and other parents, met with the school administrators they'd insist their little darlings couldn't possibly do anything like what they were accused of.

The district finally put a video camera on my wife's bus. That stopped a lot of parents in their tracks and opened a lot of eyes.

Glad you got satisfaction out of them. We had square bales in a barn in an isolated location one time. Some neighborhood kids went in and cut every string they could get to. We knew who did it and they even admitted to it. Got no help physically of monitarily out of them or the parents when it came to pitching all that loose hay back into the baler.

Restores faith. JimN

Bryan, you did a good thing. Sounds like you might have made some new friends in the process. I'm pretty sure it's Biblical that when someone steals, or does something wrong like that that God says they are to repay 7 fold. Sounds to me like you may have made a difference that we may never know just how big it actually is.

Good job handling the situation, Bryan. Yes, we do have a lot of good youth here in Iowa. The parents did a good job too and it probably wasn't easy for them.

Now I have a little story from the parent's side. When my son was a senior in high school he blew his cool and beat up a kid. My son's a big kid,6'3" and somewhere around 210. Of course I didn't know anything about it until the kid's dad called me and was all puffed up about it. I talked to my son, got some facts and then made him call the dad to appologize. It was one of the hardest things I've ever done in my life, to make my son do such a humiliating thing. I was close to tears over it, but he had been getting a little cocky so I siezed the moment to do some tough love parenting.

He called the dad, and about a half hour later the dad called back praising my son for being big enough to appologize. This whole event was very tough to go through for both my son and me but a couple of months later my son told me he knew he had better be good because I won't back him up if he gets in trouble, and this did change his attitude. We were best friends after evreything calmed down and we still are.

Sticking up for your child when he/she gets in trouble is the easy way out. Making them own up to their misdeeds is a lot harder to do but much more rewarding in the end. Now I'll get off my soap box! Jim

Had a young man here in town accidentally break a big plate gas window, he called the cops and admitted it. The owner said he would not ask for any payment from the young man.