- Where's Gloria?
- Hi, Steve.
(audience applauds)
I have this 21-year-old that's my baby.
- [Steve] Okay.
- She thinks I'm overbearing, but I'm a protective mom.
When she leaves to go out,
I have to have a telephone number where she's going.
Who she's going with, I have to have their telephone number.
And let's not even talking about dating.
The boy has to give me his phone number, his email.
I have to meet his parents.
How do you feel about this, Steve?
It's so much stuff going on
in the world today. - You're absolutely right.
It's so much stuff.
Now you are a loving mother.
- [Gloria] Thank you.
- But you are overbearing.
- [Gloria] Oh. (audience laughing)
- You know, you can be both things at once.
This is your baby. I got that.
I have a 21-year-old daughter.
But my wife's philosophy with all our kids is very smart.
She taught this to me.
Their wings work.
Your children's wings work.
You have to let 'em use them.
You can't monitor her like that.
At one point in time, you have to believe
that something you've taught her sunk in.
You've just gotta trust them.
These kids, all these kids ain't crazy.
(audience applauds)
These young people now,
they're very connected, technology and everything.
So, you know, they can get around all this you doing.
They got ways of knowing everything.
But you're just being a bit much right now.
You gotta give her the space.
Is that your daughter?
- Yes.
- Let me ask you something, but stand up.
What's your name?
- Elise.
- Elise? - Yeah.
- How you feel about this?
- I've been dealing with it for so many years.
- [Steve] Yeah, 21.
- Yeah. It's a long time, though.
You don't understand. - Yeah, if you in prison.
Yeah. - No, but she...
(audience laughing) No, but look.
(audience applauding)
No.
- Yeah, 21 years on Earth is nothing. (laughs)
(audience laughing)
- But no, but she made it sound like...
- Give me an example. - Okay.
- Something crazy she's done.
- All right, so let's see.
Recently, I get off from my job at 12:30, midnight, right?
So when I go to my house,
sometimes there's not parking right in front of the house
so you have to go a little bit further down the street.
So she's like, "Elise, call me when you get home
so I can know that you're here."
So one night I'm like, "You know what,
let me just do what she says.
Let me call her."
So I called.
She said, "Okay, wait. Wait right there.
I'm gonna come get you."
(audience laughing)
So she wakes up out the bed,
wakes my cousin up out of her sleep
to get in the car with her to come not even a block down
to drive to come get me.
(audience laughing)
Right. (laughing)
Right.
Right. (laughs)
- You too much. (audience laughing)
You too much. (audience applauds)
- Can I say I'm in love with her?
I love her, Steve.
- You love her?
- I love her.
- You love her Like a hostage.
(audience laughing)
That little girl.
Man.
I parked four doors down, my daddy come get me? (laughs)
All right, all right.
You know what, you're gonna have to give her some space.
You've raised her well.
You've taught her everything.
She remembers the lessons,
but she gotta go out there and put 'em to practical use.
If you never allow your child to put it to practice,
you can't lean on...
My 21-year-old moved out.
(Gloria sighs) She moved out.
(audience laughing)
My daughter has her own apartment.
She 21. (Gloria sighs)
My 21-year-old boy, he got his own apartment.
I want him out.
(audience laughing)
Get out.
Get your own place.
(audience applauds)
You gotta let her fly.
Okay? Thank you.
- I have 18 to 19-year-old boys.
I want them to get a job and do what they need to do
to move out and get on their own.
But I'm afraid.
I don't want them to take public transportation
or to get their driver's license
because of all the crazy things that we hear going on.
What type of balance can I come to
where I can have a peace of mind and relax,
but yet he can also do what they need to do?
- Wait, okay.
This your husband?
- Yes.
- [Steve] How you feel about what she's saying, sir?
- We've been married for nine years, Steve,
and I feel I'm the opposite with how she feels
about the situation.
I'm gonna go out there and work.
- Oh, I got what it is. - So, but I think
that an 18-year-old- - So these are your sons
from a previous relationship. - Correct.
- [Steve] Y'all been married nine years.
- [Both] Yes.
- [Steve] Oh, you probably can't even believe this here.
- Um, see... (audience laughing)
- You know... (audience laughing)
- No, I'm not...
Quit hitting him.
I saw that.
He tried to say something, she went.
- I do take the 18-year-old out to work with me sometimes
so he could get a feel of society's jobs, works.
He just graduated last year.
I just wanted to come out here and put this out there
so she could, the way you put it.
- You gotta let this man right here-
- [Male audience member] Be a man.
- You gotta let this man show them how to be a man.
Listen to me.
(audience applauds)
Women, single mothers do amazing job with boys.
Your a single mother. I applaud you.
You can turn him into a good student,
a good citizen, God-fearing.
You can make him a law-abiding citizen.
You can make him patriotic.
You can make him hardworking, trustworthy, loyal.
You can't make him a man.
- [Female audience member] No, we can't.
I don't care how hard you try. (audience applauds)
You cannot make him a man.
He will only learn manhood from another man.
They gotta get a male mentor in their life,
and you have one living in the home.
(audience applauds)
You should let him do that.
You gotta let go.
- I got a new job working at a college,
and it's about two hours away from my original city.
I have a 17-year-old son
who's living with his dad right now
while I'm away at this new college.
He's there because I didn't want him to miss his friends
and to miss his school during the last year of school.
- Right.
- But come this fall,
he got accepted into the college where I worked at.
Now, Steve, I'm a very overprotective parent.
And since he's been with his dad,
I've been monitoring his social media.
I've been checking in.
I've been texting his dad to find out what he's doing.
And although his marks are okay,
I know that if I was around,
they would've been so much better.
So what I think is gonna happen is that when he comes
to school with me and he starts to live with me again,
I think I wanna talk to some of the professors
because I know most of them.
I wanna talk to the president of the college.
I think I still wanna monitor social media when he's out.
Steve, do you think I'm doing a little too much?
I just want him to succeed.
(audience murmuring)
(audience laughing)
- Well, Steve didn't get a chance
to answer you. - He's my baby!
'Cause the audience done took over.
(audience applauding) (audience laughing)
Yes, you're doing too much.
I don't- - But I want him
to succeed, Steve.
Because I think that when he is with his dad,
his dad doesn't push him, and I push him to do better.
- [Steve] What do you mean his dad doesn't push him?
- They're almost having a vacation there.
- No, he got- - I've done a couple of, like-
- No, listen to me.
Your son got accepted into college.
- Yeah, he got- - While living with his dad.
(audience applauds)
- And I didn't help with the acceptance.
He did get accepted on his own.
- Your son is fine.
As a young man, he gotta know some more stuff.
- [Participant] Yes.
- You can't just be book smart and make it in this world.
- [Participant] Right.
- There are a lot of book smart people who are just stupid.
(audience murmuring)
- [Participant] That's true.
(audience applauding)
- Let me tell you what you're gonna do.
You're gonna over-parent this boy.
He going to resent it.
Don't push him away.
Is he gonna live on campus?
- He wants to live on campus.
- And you should let him live on campus.
- [Participant] Okay. (audience applauding)
All right, I'll do that. - Because listen to me.
Can I tell you the truth?
- Yep.
- What college taught me was people skills.
How to socialize, how to deal with other cultures.
I went to all Black elementary,
all Black junior high, all Black high school.
I went to college and had three white roommates.
It was culture shock for them.
(audience laughing)
(audience applauds)
Your son is going to be fine.
Leave that boy alone.
Let his father handle him like he been handling him.
He gonna be fine.
Let him live on campus so he can grow up.
He gonna be fine.
(audience applauds) Thank you.
Hey, you made it to the end of this video.
I got a lot more that you're gonna enjoy,
so just click to watch the next one.
And make sure you subscribe to always know what's happening.