JohnnyU
Footballguy
First let me say that we raised our granddaughter from age 4 to 18. I won't go into the failings of her mother and to why we raised her. We've always tried explain to her the importance of bettering yourself after high school, whether that's college, or some other educational training to prepare her for her future. Unfortunately she is lacking in the intelligence department on most things, but not all. She is a hard worker. After graduating from high school (barely), she moved in with her boyfriend. That lasted a year, then she got bored with him and moved in with some losers / trashy kids her age. Well, they had a falling out and was kicked out. Rather than come back home she moved out of state to her mother. I guess she had this fantasy of it being some euphoric experienced she missed out on because we raised her. That lasted 5 months after a huge falling out with her mother that got physical. Now she is 20 and we told her that she could move back with us as long as she is serious about doing something with her life and quit hanging around those that will not only lose in life, but will drag her down with them. She said she wanted to attend cosmetology school in February when she moved back in early December. I thought to myself, perhaps she is maturing some. She reconnected with a very nice boy she used to date in high school and is the only one that wasn't trash. Fast forward a couple of months and she's now befriending the same loser she moved in with after leaving her previous boyfriend. None of them (the girl, or her live in boyfriend have jobs and my granddaughter only works a couple days a week. I can see what's going to happen. She's going to make the same mistakes again, throwing away the opportunities we are giving her to succeed in life. I told my wife there comes a time when you just have to not let it bother you anymore. Let her make her mistakes and don't give her the ammunition to blame us for trying to control her life as the reason she moves out. I will tell her however, that if she makes the same mistakes she made before, while we will always want to have a relationship with her, she would not be welcome to live with us again. Now I'm not saying this is going to happen again, but I see the writing on the wall. If she was smart she would live here and take advantage of the opportunities we are giving her to better her life. I feel we've tried our best, but sometimes that isn't good enough. I don't think she can think more than a day into the future. There, I'm done venting.