DW might finally be getting it. We, as parents, are responsible for raising children to be good people, not athletes. You might wonder why I say this...well, let me clue you in.

SS13 has called his mother a bitch to her face, left the house without permission, lied about where he was, consistently aggravated everyone in the house, taken things from other people, destroyed a trampoline with a knife, shouted that he hates his family and his life.

This is how horrible his life is - he goes to school, cleans his room and has to clean out the litter box daily. On select weekends, he needs to dust his room. For this he gets to participate in school sports like volleyball and track and outside of school, baseball. Until he started getting himself in trouble, he also got to play Xbox, hang out with friends, etc.

I have found his behavior to be so abhorrent that I've told DW that he should not be in sports. We've turned off his phone (yes, he had a phone, but not anymore) and he doesn't get to play Xbox. None of these are driving improvement in his behavior. However, last night might have done it. He determined that it wasn't his fault he wasn't prepared for baseball despite being told to prepare the night before and ignoring that warning. He also felt that he could try to pin it on his his mother.

Well, DW decided after this that maybe he shouldn't be in baseball, which I wholeheartedly support. But he likes to use guilt and he said his baseball career is going to be ruined. I'll just say it - his "career" will end in high school cuz he ain't that good. But for whatever reason DW thinks that participating in sports is not a privilege, which makes it an entitlement.

I hope she doesn't bend. I told her that when I was his age, I was bumped up a level in basketball, but because of grades, I had to quit. My parents forced me to go tell the coach why I had to quit. Talk about your character builders. I told her that we should have SS13 tell the coach he is quitting and why he is quitting, right in front of us so he doesn't lie. DW loves to change her mind and go all soft...so we'll see.