I agree with Donna - get both sides first. Once my husband and son had a TERIBLE fight. He ran out of the house --- we had NO clue where he went. We called EVERYONE, except the one person who he went to. He told them that dad tossed him out! NO WE DID NOT! My son wanted pity and wanted someone to pat him on the back and tell him everything would be all right. Thats the exact last thing he needed, and he learned that the hard way because that fight was over maintaining grades, and now my son is heading to college TOMORROW because he is only accepted as a provisional student and needs to do summer session.

Anyhoo... my son went teary eyed and told the person how miserably he was treated (oh dear god, we expected him to do homework and proofread his term paper!! Shocking!) and totally forgot to mention all the stuff that made HIM look bad in the story. Oh yes, my son painted himself as a saint.

My son is an awesome kid, and everyone in town knows it. We'd NEVER kick him out. I would hope everyone in town would know we'd never kick him out (The people he ran to were suspicious of the tale my son told).

I know no parent that WOULD kick their kid out, unless it was a form of tough love. And even then, the kicking out part would be told ahead of time - as in "If you don't pull yourself together, then we'll have to toss you out. You have three weeks." I do know my SIL did that withher son. He pulled himself together before the deadline because he knew they were serious.