Love Him to Death

“I want a full refund,” said a client’s mother, who was removing her son from TLC because of how he was being treated. She had dropped him off the previous day after driving him from Washington to Arizona to enter our program.

It seems the son had called the mother and lied about being charged for meals, something we don’t do. He also was unhappy because he was housed with clients who were on probation. And he told her he “didn’t like” his room.

We agreed to refund the mother the service fees she wanted refunded. But when we checked his account we found he’d paid nothing when he was accepted into the program. In fact, he owed us money for the day he’d spent with us.

We often see parents like this mother who won’t let their children be responsible for their own recovery. Parents think they’re helping their children by running interference, cushioning them from the consequences of their addictions. Until we feel pain from our bad choices we aren’t going to change. Sometimes parents love their children to death.

When the mother picked up the son we referred them to other programs that might suit him better. And they left without paying his bill.