A New York father refused to let his 21-year-old son back into their home after the Springfield College student traveled to South Padre Island, Texas for spring break.
Peter Levine, 51, told the New York Post that he tried to get his 21-year-old son Matt to return from his vacation early.
"I spoke with him every day and told him that maybe they should come home. I was aggravated. The news here was getting worse and worse," the elder Levine said, adding, that Matt sent "pictures of him and his friends congregating outdoors and listening to live music."
According to the 51-year-old, he finally told his son that he and his friends couldn't stay at the family home in Nanuet, New York after their trip as previously planned. "His grandparents live here and there is no need to expose them to god knows what he had been exposed to," Levine said.
Once Matt and his friends returned from South Padre Island, Levine told his son there was "no chance" that he'd be coming to pick them up from the airport, and that they'd have to make their way back to the Nanuet home via a car service.
"They got out of the car near our driveway and I said, 'Stay right there! Do not go any further!'" the 51-year-old said of the group's return to Nanuet to pick up Matt's car. The group then faced a two-and-a-half-hour drive back to their on-campus apartments in Massachusetts, but Peter Levine still wouldn't allow them inside the home.
"I love my son, but they were not sleeping here," he told the Post. "I said, 'If any of you have to pee, we have some bushes.' Two of them took me up on it."
Luckily for Matt, his father had already filled the trunk of his car with bags of groceries and even placed an envelope with $300 on the driver's seat.
But it seems unlikely that Matt will be able to return home anytime soon. "Their lease ends in June and none of the parents want them home. It's too risky," Peter told the Post.
Decision.
The father still gave him groceries and cash in addition to the cash he likely blew on Spring Break.
in times of crisis, we can do them with love of family but also make the more difficult choices too and still care.
Good for the dad for sticking to his guns. It sounds like the kid came home expecting him to back down (or to get his mom to intervene).
Blame has to be put somewhere. i'm sure the local politician will be blamed for not shutting down the beaches. God forbid the kid thinks for himself.