Reasons I’m a bad mom to 17 yr old son

Midnight curfew
Won’t call him out of school to miss an assembly
Won’t call him out of school to go home to put on missed deodorant
Wouldn’t let him stay out all night on prom (he’s a junior)
I ask too many questions
I won’t let him have lighters
Ask that he call me when he leaves one place for another
I don’t just automatically trust him
I was home and caught him skipping school (my fault for being home unexpectedly)
I’m overprotective
I nag
I make him do chores
I want him to have a responsible job this summer that could benefit his future
I’m nervous about letting him spend the night with other kids
I talk to other parents about our kids and their friends
I read his myspace/facebook

I occasionally look in his room
**things found in his room/vehicle**
Condoms
Lighters
Fireworks
Dad’s beer under his pillow—not consumed
Bedroom window screen under his bed (He didn’t sneak out….riiigghhht)
Bedroom window screen in the yard (it just BLEW out in the wind)
CO2 cartridge
T-shirts from other schools that he ‘found’ (amazingly in his size only)
Empty box of clove cigarettes
A stolen decorative eagle pipe from 14yr old brothers Indian collection

I love him so much it hurts (which makes me OVERPROTECTIVE)
I don’t ‘understand’ him
I was a goody goody as a teen (is what he thinks)
My day is made up of thinking up the BEST way to make him miserable
Or my day is made up in trying to CATCH him doing stuff
I make him study for 30 minutes each night
I make him be home by 9 on school nights
I hug him and ‘sniff’ sometimes to be SURE
I lecture about sex
I lecture about drugs
I lecture about drinking
I don’t allow him to tan (but suspect he does—his butt that shows w/ his low hanging pants looks pretty brown)
I worry about his Crest White strip use
I worry when he’s sick
I worry when he’s well
I worry when he’s sad
I question why he needs a blanket and pillow in his truck

I really think someone ought to call CPS on my bad parental behavior that is doing NOTHING but making my son miserable. I am cramping his style and his ability to ‘do his own thing’. I make unreasonable demands, and am unreasonable in my expectations of him.

Bring it on critics………..I’m a dismal parent. I know…….