Broken Promises

How many times do you have to have a promise broken before you quit expecting a child to finally keep a promise?

Our family has endured broken promises to quit drugs, stay in school, not lie, not steal, be part of the family and to be responsible and not be selfish. All of these promises have eventually been broken and still I was stupid enough to hold out hope that maybe this time things would be different.

My son found himself stuck in Reno without a way home and without money to get home. So after much deliberation and research I bought him a bus ticket. All I expected in return was to be kept in the loop and to let me know when he got back home, basically keep in touch with me. Well the bus came in yesterday afternoon and I am still waiting on a call to let me know that he got home safe and sound. Now it isnt that I didnt try to call him to see if he made it back, I have sent several text messages and left several messages. My contact goes ignored.

Now, I keep thinking to myself this is it, I am not going to help anymore! On the flip side I feel like a bad parent if I dont help. So what makes us a bad parent? Does not helping our child constitute being a bad parent?