Re: poll
Well, I love the kid, don't get me wrong...but the kid isn't exactly responsible. Responsibilities around the house = cleaning up their bathroom (we have a separate bath for us that we keep clean) clean their room, and take out trash. The kid doesn't even think he needs to do that!!! We will be like "the trash is full" and we get rolled eyes and the kid even says "Why don't you do it?" My husband will be like "hey the bathroom's dirty" and the kids like "you don't use it so does it matter?" Not to mention he ran into a tree with the lawnmower not too long ago when we were living in a rural area.
I have also gotten the "you're not my mom" which, I nipped in the bud when he wanted to go to the mall for something and I said "I'd take you but...I'm not your mom" and my husband backed me up.
We stay in a major city with mass transportation - there's a bus stop right outside our apartment door for crying out loud. A bus pass is like $40 a month or something (pretty cheap when you consider gas prices)...also, school bus picks kids up right at the apartment office...so...it's not like a car is pertinent to the child's getting around...they could get a job, get to and from work, SAFELY and much more economically.
Also, I have been driving for 9 years, never an at-fault accident and I used to drive 200 miles each day back and forth to work (100 miles each way) - and I have been rear ended twice in this city - There are lots of accidents in this city and a lot of uninsured drivers.
What I don't get is the sense of entitlement. The kid thinks that just because they were born, they are entitled to everything that they want. Doesn't think they need to work for it, or anything. I guess it would be different if they were more responsible, but I don't seeing dropping $14,000 per year on increases in insurance (That's the increase in our car, plus extra insurance on a car based on a 1995 Chevy Lumina with 200,000 miles on it - my first set of wheels)
Hubby had a savings accoutn set up for the kid, but his bio mom wiped it out -
Me, personally, if I ever have a kid I am going to put back $500 per month from birth until age 18. Things like car, car insurance, school trips (expensive ones like my trip to Japan when I was in 10th grade - not cheap ones like a kindergarden field trip to the planetarium), and college will come out of that. $500 with no interest each month grows to $60,000 by age 10. Add interest, and that is a lot of money. What the kid doesn't use for car, etc will go to college - and if they don't go to college then we keep the money (no sense in giving kids money if they aren't going to better themselves with it).
I just feel guilty if we don't do it, but at the same time don't see how financially it would work to our benefit. We have some goals that would be set back about 3 years if we were to fund this car thing.
Another thing is the whole drivers training thing and my husband says he's not driving with the kid and he's not touching my car either and I don't think that part of parenting is my responsibility. (my responsibility = roof over head, food in belly, nice to kid)
I just don't want the kid to think it's my fault he's not driving...
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