I'm not sure where to start, but here it goes. I have a 15-year-old son that a freshman. He was diagnosed with ADD about three years ago and takes 50mg of Vyvanse. My son has a good heart. More specifically, he is a good person and his day-to-day behavior is good. He's very good with his younger sister (age 6) and is generally pleasant to be around.

One of the biggest problems I have with him is getting him to do things without being told. This applies to school work and chores. It seems that I have to tell him almost every day to do the dishes or take out the garbage. I had him start doing his own laundry a couple years ago.

School work is the same way. His grades right now range from an A to a C-. He attends a Catholic High School and doesn't seem to get it that it's a privilege for him to go there. I've talked ad nausem to him about the importance of doing school work and turning things in on time. Frankly, I'm tired of it. He has service hours due on Thursday and has only completed five of the 10 needed. I'm told him that I am NOT going to help him find a way to complete the hours. I've made it clear that I'll take him to a place to complete the hours. He needs to do the let work here.

See, I want my son to learn to be self-reliant as time goes on. I do NOT want to be one of these parents that is constantly on his case to do things. It makes me feel like an enabler. I've come to the realization that this may just be who he is. We sometimes try so hard to get people to change their behavior and just end up smacking our heads against the wall.

I've tried taking things away and grounding him. It doesn't even seem to faze him. That's why I'm just taking a wait-and-see approach with the service hours. So far, I'm getting what I expected: he's made zero effort to get these completed on time (i.e. looking on his own as to what can be done).

I'll admit that I'm lazy, too. In fact, I refer to myself as being like a drop of water in that I look for the path of least resistance (to the ground, that is). In spite of that, we're all in control of our lives. I refuse to coddle him for the next 3.5 years of school. He is old enough to know what should be done. I'd appreciate feedback, comments, and suggestions on this. Thank you.