Why I'll Let My Kid Get A Speeding Ticket

I recently heard of a teen who received and deserved a speeding ticket. 

Yet his Dad went and contested it for him and the kid never had to deal with the consequences of his choice to push the speed limit. 

Made me wonder what kind of childhood this kid had, but more, what kind of adult this teen would grow to become.

I don't want my son to have to be pulled over, handed a written fine, and getting a blemish on his driving record, but I do want my son to take complete ownership for his choices and actions. So if he deserves the speeding ticket, he will be paying the speeding ticket. 

But I'm not waiting for the teen years to instill this concept, that's too little too late to raise good adults. 

My kids are required to take ownership now, even Madison at 1 1/2, for their choices. 

A mark of true man or woman of honor is to show accountability and integrity. These are hard characteristics to explain and teach to young children but we start at the very basic level of apologizing. 

We don't just say, "I'm sorry," when an offense is committed. My kids go to the person and look them in the eye. They say, "I'm sorry for (fill in the blank), please forgive me." 

Having to verbalize exactly what they did towards the other person establishes taking ownership for their poor choice and acknowledges to the offended party they understand what severed the relationship momentarily. 

My hope and prayer for these future adults is they will begin acting like them sooner than later. For their own good, we don't want a house full of teens still acting like children. These crazy, wild, funny kids we've been blessed with will be grown before we know it. And I hope they're learning now to think through their actions as they take responsibility for them...and hopefully avoid speeding tickets.