Rachel Canning, an 18-year-old from New Jersey, has sued her parents, saying they need to pay for her private-school tuition, her college tuition and her living expenses after she claims they threw her out of the house. Her parents say they did not throw her out of the house and they shouldn't have to pay for any of that.
Rachel's parents say that she was an "incredibly rebellious teen" who ran away from home a lot and often got in trouble at school, twice suspended for bullying her sister, according to the Daily Record. Plus, she refused to end her relationship with her boyfriend, who they felt was a bad influence on her, so they gave her an ultimatum: Dump him or get out.
This is Rachel in court. Does she think she's in the movie Cruel intentions? is she kidding?
Thank God this judge shot her down and ruled in the parents favor. Imagine if she had won, parents all over the land would be afraid to crack down and enforce rules on their kids for fear they would be sued!!!
Obviously these parents lost control long, long ago. I cannot imagine this happening with my kids. I subscribe to the Bill Cosby school of parenting. In fact I plan on using some of the exact lines that Clair and Cliff Huxtable used on the Cosby Show when my kids act out.
If my kids sneak out and their caught I am moving the couch towards the door and waiting up.
And if my kids want some beyond expensive shirt I will enact the Gordon Gartrell episode.
"No 14-year-old boy should have a $95 shirt unless he's on stage with his 4 brothers." ( I love a Jackson Five reference!)
I can remember when Denise wanted to take all her money out of the bank in high school, and buy a crappy car. Claire said NO. Denise was so mad. She screamed: It's my money! Isn't this a free country? Aren't we in America!?
Claire told her the only reason she had money was because her Father and her made her keep it in the bank no matter how many times she wanted to spend it on some stupid stuff. Then she added:
"And if you ever take this attitude with us again, you can take whatever is in that bank account of yours and go discover America!"
Children need to be put in their place sometimes. Especially when they are teenagers.
What would you do if your teen tried to pull the stunt Rachel Canning did?
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6 comments:
AGREED! And yes, I've thought the same Cruel Intentions thought myself.
oh girl - I'm with you!! Sofia once came home all up in arms that she only got 2 books from the monthly book order at school and supposedly "everyone" else got more than here. I went off in an extremely over dramatic way and said "oh really? Really? You counted "everyone's" books and they ALL got more than you? Well, let me do you a favor and save you some time, next book order, you won't have to count theirs, because you will get ZERO books. So yes, next month "everyone" will have more than you!
LOL - I'm never going to tolerate entitlement!
I'm with you. We had this discussion at the dinner table last night with Adi (she's 12 now) & explained to her in no uncertain terms that everything she had is because of our hard work & while she lives under our roof she follows our rules. I think things went wrong in the Canning household way before she turned 18. We aren't doing our kids any favors by letting them feel entitled.
You are awesome! Couldn't agree more! Entitlement is so unattractive in children AND adults!
But more importantly, it makes happiness/contentedness impossible!
I found this story interesting. There are always two sides to every story. I came from very abusively controling family. They showed extreme favoritisim to my younger sister. They also, 'suggested strongly' that at the age of 18, I leave the house. As a young, angry, rejected girl I didn't understand the that they were abnormal and I wanted to be right. Perhaps, I would have done the same thing. When I read this, I was reading between the lines. Maybe this case was different, but not all familys are as wonderful as yours. I never felt entitled, just insecure from years of hearing how horrible I was. It took me years to recover my self and realize that they were damaged and had passed it on. Perhaps, there was some of that in this story....the media always loves a sensational story.
P.S. I put myself through college, have a career in healthcare and have been happily married to a doctor for many years. Happy endings can happen. I do not have any contact with my family to this day. Often I wish.....but sometimes it's best to leave the past where it is.
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