Gone
I'm bringing the teenager to the island and dropping her the hell off. For many, many, many weeks. I hope.
She hasn't arranged for a job yet. I hope she actually finds one at this late a date.
It's not that I won't miss her. She's my daughter, of course I will. It's just that. Well. She's a teenager. A hellaciously rude one. I need a break. And a margarita. I'll have to settle for the break.
The kids her age are drinking. A lot. Some of the parents are aware (although they think it's happening a lot less than it is) and some of the parents are so deep in denial that it's scary. Here in this city, under-aged drinking is treated a little more severely. I'm glad about that. First of all, it's not okay. It's illegal. It's breaking the law. (Yeah, I've always been concerned about that, right?) It is a punishable crime and that in and of itself stands for something. I'm not talking about 19 year olds having beers on the beach people. I'm talking about 13 and 14 year olds drinking to the point of almost alcohol poisoning on the breakwall and using piss poor judgement on top of that piss poor judgement. The national average of the age of most people's first drinking experience is 13. 13!!! Why is that okay? I don't think it is. I don't think it's harmless. My teenager already has a teenagers screwed up judgement. I'm trying hard not to send the message that it's okay to break the law - I've tried to be honest about my own past and how much I regret certain actions and destructive habits. Here, there aren't too many kids on the drinking track yet. The ones who are are considered the losers. But when she gets on Block Island and is hanging out with the "everybody's doing it" kids, do I think she can withstand the pressure? How many people do you know that hang out with drinkers, smokers and/or tokers and manage to not to absorb the same habits themselves.
Then again. I need a frickin' break. Maybe a drink. I'm old enough. And stupid enough.
posted by The Warbler | 6/18/2006 10:03:00 AM
4 Comments:
If it's any consolation to you, it's a new regime on the island now and critical issues such as underage drinking are dealt with a lot differently, along with many other issues that were once swept under the rug. We all know that kids are kids and staying even a half step ahead of them is always a challenge...
But I'm old enough and discerning enough (I think) - I'd like a mudslide!
Hi Paula, If "The teenager" thinks that it might be easy to partake of the fobidden fruits as it was before she left, as the above writer noted, things are A LOT different now. There is no more looking the other way as regards the D.A.R.E. fiasco that used to be run here. Now it has some bite too it. Ask the Grullon boys. Just the other day Chief Carlone's crew caught a guy doping young ladies drinks for them! He is in the jug too I think. Most people go through the booze faze. Some go through it pretty quickly and others get stuck in it's grasp forever. All you can do is keep reminding them of the pitfalls and consequences and point out a few examples, like Rocket and Hacksaw. As well a few of the so-called 'upstanding' figures in the community. Booze had it's hook in me too for a long time till I got 'less dumb' that I had been previously. Hang in there kiddo, it does get better eventually, in about twenty years!!! Love ya
MMM.....mudslides...
I'm glad you're not falling into the idiotic "hypocrite" trap that many parents fall into.
"Hypocrite" is not the word for people who teach their kids not to make the same mistakes they did. The word for those people is "parent".
If you had a car accident, should you let your kids have one just because "you got to do it"? No. You learned from the experience and want to pass the lessons of it on to them, so they can bypass a potentially damaging scenario.
It's common sense. And you have it (in most situations)
irish
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