THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH! 
You have all given such great advice...
as always!
I need to clear up a few things though since I was not...
as always 
too clear.
#1 ~My knucklehead nephew
is not forced to go to youth group. It is totally his decision to go or not...I will, at times, restrict him from it as punishment since he likes it so much...not often do I use this punishment though.
#2 ~ My children or nephew....ages 26 - 23 -20 were never forced to go to church after around the age of 16. They were all brought up in our church and school from birth until 9th grade. I believe that their, as well as my,
relationship with Christ is personal. I believe, as a christian father, it was my duty and
privelege to be able to take them to church and youth groups, bible studies, be able to put them through school from pre-school through 8th grade and take them to confirmation classes. They were all confirmed around the age of 13, around the age of 16 I felt they were very capable of making their own
personal decisions on wether or not our church was for them. I thank God daily that I had that opportunity.
Being selfish....
I
encourage them to be with me for Christmas Eve service....I
demand that they be in my pew, with their spouses and boyfriends/friends on Good Friday and Easter and Easter Breakfast....after that...they are totally on their own. They all know Angie and I are there almost every week...they do sneak in from time to time....
#3 ~ I have
NO PROBLEM with knucklehead skateboarding. However....he
KNOWS he is not to do it while Aunt Angie and I are at work...and can't get him to the hospital in case of an emergency...several of his friends have been hurt badly and one has died from head injuries....no helmet. He
WAS boarding while we were at work.
#4 ~Some of his skater friends went to church with him on Monday for our big youth group...400 people...event. I took several home.
#5 ~Knucklehead goes to church with me because he wants to...he loves to usher! Maybe he has his hand in the "cookie jar"
...kidding!
#6 ~It never crossed my mind that he was doing anything wrong...other than being a nuisance...at the Dollar Store parking lot. I may not know all of his friends, but several do hang out around here...other than drinking and eating me out of house and home I think they are pretty good kids.
#7 ~Yes he is still in tennis....try-outs start this coming week...several of his tennis friends are skaters too.
BOTTOM LINE ~He knowingly deceived me by
NOT telling me what he was doing because he
knew I
assumed he was going right from school to youth group....to hang out at church. He has admitted as much.
He said that he liked hanging out at church on youth group days...but, he liked skating with his buddies MORE for the 4 hours before youth group after school. He knows youth group is totally his choice and that he saw a way to do something that was deceiving since he knew I assumed he went right to church.
His
PUNISHMENT for now is ~ He cannot go anywhere without adult supervision since he is a minor child and
NOW cannot be trusted. I have told him that Aunt Angie and I will be glad to go with him anywhere he wants....if we
feel like it ....so far he has wanted to go to his friends house to play video games...we didn't feel like supervising
....he wanted to go to the tennis courts...we didn't feel like supervising
....he wanted to go to the movies with friends...again...we didn't feel like supervising...
He is
in his room....nice and quiet around here for
DATE NIGHT
I hope I made things a little clearer...
But seriously
TECHWIFE don't you think watching hockey is just a little harsh?
Oh and believe it or not....this kid plans to join the
UNITED STATES NAVY in a few months...
pray for us...all of us....
My DHs cousin is a JAG officer (US Marines)- he is a high end lawyer who is currently stationed in Iraq for 16 months to help lecture to the US boys on how to legally and ethically fight. I pray every day that he is safe and that he will come home to his wife and kids in Tennessee.
