I'm a sucky parent!

All I want to do is put my head on my desk at work and cry.

Last night I discovered that Max has stolen $50 from our household money. We use the Dave Ramsey envelope system, and have money in envelopes in the cabinet for car insurance, weekly tithe, gas, food, kid's commission, etc. Max took all but $3 from the commission envelope. I found out at bedtime, and only had a short conversation - let him know he'll be paying it back for sure, and his dad and I need to calm down and discuss what an appropriate consequence would be.

Only today do I begin to wonder, what on earth he used $50 for? Tim said that when he got out his tithe money for church last Sunday, he had the commission envelope in his hand and it felt full. So, $50 in one week . . . . . for what? Buying a paper for a class, drugs, WHAT???????????????????

Also, I notice that he is emailing the neighborhood girl we don't like. In the old days we'd have called her "fast and loose." I think Sarah, who we do like, is distancing herself from Max. He is going off campus, even though we forbid it and she wouldn't do that. He also goes up to the third floor before the bell rings, a no-no that she won't do, and I think he might have teased her about it or something once. So basically she's seeing behaviors that she doesn't like, so she's not going to be hanging out with him. I hate to see this because she had the potential to be a really good influence on him and they did have a lot of their geeky qualities in common - not an easy thing to find ;)

time will tell, in the meantime, I'll just put my head on my desk and cry again, no, it doesn't seem to be helping, but it's just a shade better then doing nothing.