I hear ya P-Jet. Thats the other biggest hangup I have. Need to confirm these kids ages.

Thats the part we struggle with. The honesty. I would not have such a problem  if I could believe a lot more of what he says. Or not be left with the feeling that he didn't lie, but did not tell me the whole story. Trust me, we don't have him on the nipple. After my wifes surgery 2 weeks ago, he drove my crewcab F350 pulling a 26' trailer with the rest of my family to central cal at night. He can totally handle himself.
It is the fact that at times he doesnt seem to be able to be himself and not follow the crowd.

There comes a time when we must "believe and have faith" in OURSELVES as parents.
All too often we doubt and don't give ourselves enough credit for
the time and energy spent raising our young adults. We often doubt our young adults
and do not have enough trust or faith in them...regardless if they are leaders or followers.

YES he will party, YES he will drink, YES he will have fun...but such is life.
We as parents need to remind ourselves that WE HAVE DONE A GOOD JOB!
That we have given our young adults the tools to be successful and responsible.
YES they will mess up and make many mistakes...but as long as they
have the ability and learn from those mistakes, then WE have been successful
at parenting.

Tio: I say have a little faith and let him go. Let him see that "you are trusting him"
with this. I'm sure that he'll be thankful and will enjoy himself.

BTW: kids lie to us because they want nothing more than to please their parents.
In their eyes, we are Greek Gods and Goddesses.
It's normal. Heck I'm 40 and I still lie to my mom  HAHAHAHHA!

If I had an 18 year old son, I would let him go and learn the lessons of life.
Well, I have a 10 year old daughter..and when she turns 18, she'll ask
me to go to the river with her friends. I'll say HELL TO THE EEFING NO!! 

HAHAHAHHAHAHA!!!

Happy Parenting,
Sam

This is an awesome question.  I never really thought about it until right now as I look back over my boating years.  I bought my first boat at 19 and that was the first time I went out without my parents around.  I know my parents trusted/trust me majorly, even to this day and I guess being on a boat since I was born helps.  Along with being taught everything about boats and safety.  Kind of like when I was taught to shoot a gun/hunt at such a young age.  Have to respect what you are doing which helps you be a little safer.  It also helped I never had a drop of alcohol while I was driving any of my boats.  Great question though.

At 23 or so we went with no parents AND A KEG !    5 or 6 couples just going out of control for most of a week, camped just downriver from Water Wheel.   At some point we came back from a ski run and beached (or maybe not) the boat, and proceeded to party.   Some hours later someone notices the boat is gone.  After a quick headcount we send a guy on a stand up jetski to find it.   He did -- over 3 miles downstream halfway to Red Rooster.

Live and learn at all ages I guess.

I was a Freshman in high school my buddy Jimmy Leblanc  and Jimmy Hurtubise built a 9 ft pram put a Evevrude on it. Still have a picture with Jim driving it, we used to share. Jim went driving race car and I went race boats.

My 1st solo trip with a friend was at 17. My friend and I took our stand up Jet Ski's to Havasu for the weekend. I started pulling my dad water skiing at 12 years old so I had quite a bit of experience being on the water. I am pretty sure thats why my parents let me go.

So my son and I had a talk last night about responsibilities and maturity. Even used a sketch pad to make my point. It went very well and I am going to let him go.

I think from now on I am going to use powerpoint and graphs when we need to talk about stuff!a

My first solo trip was when I bought my 71 hondo flat w/ a 400 SBC in it...Went out there, broke the boat, fixed the boat, broke the boat, fixed the boat...you get the idea.  I was 19 at the time.  I sold the boat when I got home.

My folks used to give me more and more responsibility as the years went on...first it was sitting on dad's lap steering, then he'd let me drive out of the no wake zones, then drive the boat at speed, then pull skiers...I eventually, I think at 12 or so would take the boat to and from the ramp solo.  That was with the old 16' regatta w/ a 100hp evinrude on it.  Once pop's bought the Nordic w/ a 200hp merc, I only drove that boat once, and it died on me.  I think it's a POS, and I'm scared of it...mostly becuase I don't want to pay to fix a blowed up Merc...

Then I got my Mako and started doing trips with the better half last year after 10 years of being away from the river....It's too much fun to give up again. 

In our discussion/presentation last night, I think that Brandon finally understood where I am coming from. Like I said before, I could let him pull a boat by himself to the river and handle the boat no problem. Thats not the issue. Its the social aspect and being able to stand your ground when you know that either something is not right and speak up, or when you know you shouldn't be doing something.

I know we all dealt with the last one as younguns, but that is his kryponite.

I grew up about 3 miles from the Allegheny River and I was disobeying my Mothers rule of "Never go near that dirty death trap of a river" as soon as I was able to ride a bicycle that 3 miles, I'm guessing around 8 y/o. We use to build rafts and docks with forts next to them on the shore. Fished for carp and catfish the only fish that could live in the polluted water back then.

My Father took me boating there before that, that's how I knew how to get there by 8 y/o. My dad let me use his boat when I was old enough to drive/tow it there at 16 but I was going to the river with older buddies before that in there or there fathers boats, Around 13 or 14 I'm thinking.

 Bought my own first boat in the 80's.

Hey Ray take the engine out of Moo and tell RJ when he's able to put it back in and get it running on his own and old enough to legally tow it to the water he can. That's what my Dad did.   Roy.

Well its playing out right now, and it seems to be going well.
In my conversation with the other kids dad, he told me that the only reason that his son is being allowed to go is because my son is going. He said that he can see that Brandon is responsible and can handle himself. Its nice to hear that from someone else. I guess sometimes I cant see the forrest for the trees.

Update - We are doing well so far. He has called me a couple of times to say everything is cool. Right now he is BBQing. Damn, I should have gone too!