Thanks for your posts. Glad you made it through all that!
What a wonderful story that is of a father's concern and protectiveness toward his precious daughter! What a special memory to treasure ... and what a good example and encouragement to dads and moms to stay involved, and to keep saying "NO, I love you too much."
Thanks for your kind comments...yes indeed, often saying NO to your child can be the hardest thing in the world...
When my younger son turned 16, he was eligible to get his drivers license, if I or my husband would sign for him..he had the drivers ed in school, and he was a good driver, as I let him drive, when I was with him(and he was using his drivers permit)...Neither my husband or I would sign for him...we thought 16 was too young for him to be driving on his own...He was not exactly happy with our decision, but he accepted it, as he knew we thought him driving at 16 was too young...
But the day he turned 18, he had a friend take him to the DMV, and he got his license...I remember when he came home, he grinned and flashed his license in front of my eyes...He was so happy that he passed on the first try...I was happy too...
What he did not know, was that my husband and I had decided that if he could go the two years from age 16-18, without complaining or whining that he did not have a drivers license, that we would buy him a second hand car...since he respected our wishes and never brought it up ever during those two years, that he was the only guy in his group who did not have a drivers license, we got him the second hand Camarro, that he had his eye on...
So it all worked out...but raising children can be difficult, especially when they are teens and think that they 'know' everything...and saying NO, is part of being a parents, and hearing and accepting that NO, is part of being a child...