OT - old tanker... rules for life

old tanker,

Just looking back on the Advise on GF's son discussion. LOVE YOUR 4-AIN'T RULES for life!!

Quoting old tanker here...in case some did not read that post.
"I came up with my "4 ain't" program for over 18.
If you ain't in school...
Or if you ain't working...
Or you ain't following the rules of my house...
YOU AIN'T LIVING HERE!"

Our son turns 18 soon - still a senior, is working hard at school and part time job and does weekly workouts to prep for Marines (he is enlisted to ship out after graduation next spring)... only problem is because he is already enlisted - he thinks he is 40 and does not really want to do any chores around home and thinks he should not need to ask our permission to come and go as he pleases.

We "kindly" explained that he is still a senior in high school...so YES we will know his whereabouts. And that YES he will help out around the house and yard - like it or not... just as we all do work around home because we are a family and we ALL LIVE HERE.

So since he will be 18 soon, he himself may choose to invoke AIN'T #4... due to his lack of wanting to follow AIN'T #3. Hope he does choose to remain living at home... but has a loser girlfriend beckoning him toward a shipwreck.

Love our boy dearly - but he's a tad headstrong. Some Marine drill instructor is going to have fun next year at bootcamp is all we are thinking.

4Aints...love it!Our son enlisted in the navy while still in high school.You would not believe the change in maturity in him!He has just blossomed.that boy was so shy/bashful-no more.I highly recomend the service for young people,He will make you proud!Tell him "Thank You" for his service.

Those drill instructors will straighten him out very quickly. They will only tell him once. I think you'll see a big difference in him when he completes his boot training. Hal

Those rules worked well for my kids. And I did inforce them. My oldest daughter moved out shortly after she turned 18 because she didn't like rules 1-3. She was gone about 2 months and moved back home and folowed those rules until she went to college.

Today military service can be a 2 edged sword. For a lot, most young people it will make them mature and teach them self discipline. But some just don't get it and never will. They have made it so easy to kick a problem member out that many youngsters get sent home within the first 180 days. Others will do what they have to do, resenting it every step, until they complete their enlistment. Party animals hanging out with their buds drinking their pay checks and return home to do the same thing. 3 of mine have served. Yes there were some differences but nothing to write home about.

Sweet, tell you son thank you for carrying on for us has been old pharts. I wish him well in the Marines. Makes sure he knows a couple of things. (You mariens out there don't get upset with this, I was told these by SSG Davis, an instructor on the Marine training team when I was an Armor Tactics Instructor and worked with him)

1. Your son will not be a jar head......he will be a pin head. You can put something in a jar.

2.

M.....uscles

A.....re

R.....equired

I.....ntelegence

N.....ot

E.....xpected

Anyway wish him well for me.

Rick

Dad always said it was a two way house.... His WAY or the highWAY....

Hello sweetfeet,
The first day he comes back for a visit form the marines, you will hear him say yes Mam! and yes sir, I garontee!.
He'll be just another recruit for the sarge to dump on. He will have to earn his place.
Guido.

LOL My dad, a retired SMG got me the day I came home from basic.....in my Class A's. I got out of the car and he bellows "pick it up".......so I started doing ploice call......

Rick

I can still remember being a "know it all" teenager. Didn't like the rules at home, so I enlisted in the Army. OMG I couldn't back out of that, and it was probably the best thing that ever happened to me. I'll turn 67 the 1st of Nov. and wouldn't trade the experience for anything on earth.

old tanker,
That's funny. Will have to remember that.

GUIDO,
It will be interesting to see him from a boy to a man. Love him dearly. He just wants to be an adult - not quite there yet, but soon. As you said, we expect that metamorphosis will take place at boot camp.

Dave2,
That's funny.
On reflection, my mom kind of ran a two way house (dad, not so much).
Wow, had to edit - brain cannot spell in early a.m.

old tanker,
Will share all with son. Thanks for the advice. Will wish him well and thank him too, when the day comes. Hoping to get Mr. Sweet to travel to CA for his graduation from bootcamp (but it will take a lot of convincing - he's not much for travel).

Hal,
We are thinking we will see a big difference too. Though we are pretty consistent, he just bucks us all the way... always has, from little on - stubborn as a mule. Husband says it comes from my gene pool - I say it comes from his. LOL.

Delta Red,
Will do at graduation. And yes, we are looking forward to the maturity part... basically a good young man, just wants to get on with his life - so seems annoyed to be still stuck in a 17 year old body. I have no doubt, someday he will wish these days back, and wish he'd done some things differently.

Old Popper,
I too, do remember being a teen and thinking I had the world by the tail.
I hope his military service will be a positive experience in the ways you mention.