On Sat, 30 Jun 2012 15:24:09 -0400, Oscar wrote:

On 6/30/2012 12:02 PM, Frogwatch wrote:
I had to do something today I didn't like. I would not allow my 21 yr old son to borrow my 20' Tolman Skiff to go wakeboarding with his friends. He's a good kid but like many young guys, he always wants to drive too fast and do things of "questionable judgement" and you just know that with a couple of guys and girls, alcohol will be involved.
I'd allow my 25 yr old daughter to borrow it because I trust her judgement and she also seems to know how to handle the boat better than he does. So, I invented an excuse about my insurance lapsing.
How would you handle such a request?


He's your son. You know what's best for him.

===

There's no doubt and it's your boat of course. When I was of that age
or even a few years younger it was not uncommon for friends to
"borrow" their parent's boat for a little fun in the sun. That
avoided the messy "asking for permission" details. Many of us had
already been using the family boat since our early teens however. As
soon as I'd earned some loose cash, I bought my own at about age 22.

If you're not comfortable with your son taking the boat out, how about
inviting yourself along as a designated driver and turning a blind eye
to everything else? You might become known as a cool parent with any
luck.

On the other hand I'd assume that at age 21 your son has already been
driving the family car for a while. Based on my own experiences
there are probably a lot more potential hazzards involved with that,
and you know a lot less about where they are and what they're doing.