This is exactly the hope that we, parents, are looking for. Thank you. I am inspired and encouraged by this.

Our son — very intelligent, very talented, yet had a hard time “taking hold.” He returned from military service with highly valuable skills, but couldn’t hold a job. To help him out for a limited time, several family members set him up with minimal living, enough to enable him to get a job without worrying about all those initial deposits, setting up services, etc. This went on for a year.

This didn’t work. My son hardly looked for a job, hardly did anything for himself, and even lost his car due to not keeping license plates current and carrying insurance.

My son is a good kid otherwise. No partying, no drinking, no drugs, and so on. Everyone likes him that meets him. We like him.

We sought advice from a highly trusted therapist. She knows us and our son very well. Her advice–the gravy train stops here and now. We followed the advice, which was the hardest thing for us to do (embarrassing to admit). We did it in a loving manner that maintained the relationship but not the assistance as you mentioned.

Within days, my son’s friend invited my son to stay with them for a while. There were lots of jobs. That didn’t work out for the job, but my son was on his own. During this time, a lot of life’s puzzle pieces fell into place for him.

All on his own, he found a special program that assisted military veterans in his situation. He signed up, moved himself, and jumped through lots of hoops to get accepted to the program — no small feat. Now he is back in school, highly motivated, working hard at a part time job he previously would have snubbed, and so on. All this on his own.

We are very proud of him, and even more so now. He is doing well, and that of his own doing.

“Nothing stunts maturation more than parents who are unwilling to let their children experience the natural consequences of their own actions”