I was so proud of my son on Friday night. What teen boy who will be turning 18 next month would want to take his three younger brothers to a movie? I couldn’t believe that he offered to do it. His younger brothers were ecstatic about going with him, even though they had already seen the Transformers movie. They were just happy to be spending an evening with their big brother whom they idolize.

They loaded up in his car and off they went. I waited up long enough to be sure that they were home. They had a great time, enjoyed the popcorn and the movie, so I headed off to bed.

About half-an-hour had passed when I started hearing strange noises coming from downstairs. I tried to ignore the noise for a few minutes. I figured they were getting ready for bed and I was really tired. However, the noise persisted and sounded a little like furniture falling so I headed down the stairs to check it out.

My 14-year-old son met me on the stairway. He was breathing heavily, appeared to be a little sweaty, close to tears, and very upset. His brother had punched him, held him in a headlock, and crushed his hand.

While there is only three years between the boy’s ages, there is a big difference in their sizes. Lane finally broke a hundred pounds a couple of months ago, his big brother is around 230. Therefore, even though Lane is all muscle, he doesn’t stand a chance against his big brother.

When I asked my older son what had happened, I received the “nothing.” Then I got the, “I don’t know what he is talking about” story. It was quite obvious that something had happened.

I told him how proud I was of him for taking his brothers out on a Friday night. Then I asked him why he would want to undo all of that good, by hurting his little brother when they got home. Of course, he didn’t know. He did go apologize to Lane.

Lane just yelled at him and told him that he was only apologizing because mom made him do it so he should go back to bed. I guess I can’t really make him do anything, as he is quite a bit bigger than I am.

What do you do when your child turns 18, has a real job, automobiles in his own name, and he outweighs you by almost a hundred pounds? Is there a form of discipline that you can use, or do you just try to reason with him as you would any other adult?

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