16 year old son making poor choices
Our oldest son has followed the Lord since he was 4, attended a christian school K-8, then entered the public high school. Cliquey group of boys at the highschool really wouldn't accept my son into their group. He was liked by everyone at his christian school and is kind to all and very fun-loving--just not a star athlete by any means. Therefore, in highschool he became friends with those kids who pursued him (he isn't good at reaching out to new people). Those kids tend to be the ones with "iffy" character. We open our home to all our kids' friends and are friendly with every one of them--some have attended church and youth group with our son--though they never continue. This summer he has encountered legal trouble on 3 separate occasions--this led us to look at his facebook (which we were unaware he had an account). His facebook is full of slang (rap song) lyrics that are horrible. He seems to be trying to be so different from others as a way to stand out and finally gain acceptance into the popular crowd--even though they all like him and say he is the nicest guy they know; yet they don't include him in social outings--just talk with him at school in class. He is extremely bright and was just diagnosed with ADD last year. He is on holiday from his medication and will begin taking it again before school begins--he makes impulsive (poor) choices when not on meds. His last run-in with the law was due to the fact that he and a handful of boys have been stealing lawn gnomes all summer. His prior run-in was because he was with 6 boys who were drinking alcohol--the sheriff told me that he and one other boy were the only two who had not been drinking. We do know that he has never drank or used drugs. He seems pretty committed to not using; yet he is on a slippery slope with the type kids he is friends with. My question is, what type punishment would get the message across that he has messed up by stealing and keeping company with kids who drink. He views many christians as hypocrits, yet remains faithful to church and occasionally reads his bible.
