On Thu, 19 Nov 2009 10:35:29 -0800 (PST), Frogwatch
wrote:

Someone here mentioned doing offshore oil work and I worked on drill
rigs in Wyoming when I was younger so thought it might be just what my
19 yr old son needs to get his head screwed on straight. Make some
money, see what real work is, see how rough people can really be and
THEN go to college.
So, found him the ideal job, no experience needed, 20 days on 10 off,
they pay for room and board while on, reasonable pay, work on rear
deck of boats setting anchors for drill rigs. They actually need
people. Went home and told my son to go online and apply.
"NO WAY, I dont want to do that", he says. "You just want to get rid
of me". To which I say, "Yeah, and so what, it's good money and you
are hardly earning anything right now".
He resists saying he's taking classes at community college and does
earn some money but I say 6 hours a semester is BS. I tell my wife
about this job and she sides with him saying "if he goes off on one of
those boats he'll lose his gf, you know how hard it was when you did
that stuff". I think, being only 19, he needs to lose the gf so I am
going to apply more pressure.

Why not pay for him to go to school full time? Otherwise charge him
rent for living at home.

Our situation was slightly different but when my sons came back after
graduating college and wanting to live home, I made some rules:

They would have to pay a reasonable amount of rent and follow house
rules. I told them that I would hold the rent as a deposit against
graduate school expenses but they would lose it otherwise. That went
over like a lead baloon but my wife backed me up because of the
graduate school provision. They both moved out and got places of
their own within a short time and that was fine with me.