A tip for the future!

There’s no Story Storks this week so I thought I’d share a story from a book I’m reading on oppositional children and teenagers (basically kids who were born to say no!). It’s written by an American Psychologist who specialises in difficult kids.

A teenage girl who he was seeing with her parents on a weekly basis was especially fond of taking her parents car without permission. She would wait until her parents were asleep and then sneak out, take the car, pick up her mates, drive around, drop her mates off and sneak back into the house. Her parents told her off, reasoning that she was too young and uninsured. Two nights later she’d take the car again.

After a while her mum bought a new car which had all the latest gadgetry including revolutionary front wheel drive (I don’t know why it was revolutionary but you just need to know the car had it). The daughter lasted a whole week before she took the car out – and pranged the back wheel big time! However because of the revolutionary front wheel drive she was able to get the car back to the house. In the morning, when accused of taking the car, the daughter told her mother that the mum must have done it when she was out last but the revolutionary front wheel drive is so good that the mum didn’t notice that she’d pranged it! The daughter was so convincing that the mum started to believe she had herself pranged the car.

During their counselling session that week the mum brought up the story of her pranging the car without noticing. The Counsellor started to howl with laughter. All the while the daughter is in the background gesturing to the Counsellor to shut up as he’s giving the game away. The Mum works it out and is furious!

They all go home. The girl has every item of any value taken away from her. She lasts a week!

This time the parents have a plan. They listen to her take the car and are still lying in bed awake when she comes home. They wait until the daughter is asleep, then go into her bedroom and cut off her fringe! Her pride and joy new hairstyle!

In the morning, slightly jaded, the parents wait for their daughter to come down to breakfast. They hear a scream and 20 mins later she appears wearing a beanie. They didn’t mention the car, she didn’t mention the hair but she never took the car again!