I had a friend whose underage son got into a car with some older teenagers. They decided to play mailbox baseball. Caught, they found themselves jailed. Because he was underage the boy was released to my friend.

As punishment the boy had to pay for damages and repair the mailboxes. He was also grounded for two weeks. After that my friend never said anything about it. He didn’t mention it again. 

The boy felt badly about what he did. The deed had been done. Talking about it would not have helped. Silent trust is much better than lengthy lectures.

Almost all teenagers make stupid, stupid, stupid mistakes. Punish them appropriately (not too harshly). Move on. Forget it. 

The hardest thing about parenting is to let go and allow teenagers to make mistakes. Sometimes the mistake is punishment enough. At other times enforced appropriate punishment becomes necessary. Mistake making is a learning process. Appropriate punishment reinforces what has been learned. If we fail to learn from our mistakes, we will keep making them.

We all make mistakes. We are human beings. We aren’t perfect. The best we can do is to forgive ourselves, forgive others, pray and move on. 

Guide me in your truth oh LORD, teach me your ways because you are God my savior and my hope is in you all the day long.