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Wednesday, February 13, 2013

10 most dangerous teen fads- I have 'Good Kids', and I know for a fact mine have tried atleast two of these


Here is a link to an article I read this morning on MSN. My kids always, and I mean ALWAYS make fun of me for quoting articles that I read. Mostly parenting articles. But oh well, too bad, sooooo sad!!
10 most dangerous teen fads

I remember when my son decided to move to Orange County with my ex husband. He was sixteen and wanted to try living with dad. Orange County is made up of a bit more money than what we have. So I immediately imagined my son at high school parties snorting Pure Cut Cocaine off of a $1,000,000 antique mirror, through a platinum and diamond encrusted blow straw. I mean, he was going to be hanging out with Rich Kids, while their parents were away jet setting around the world.
Then I read about 'Punch Bowl Parties'!! I immediately called him on the phone, and preached to him the dangers of digesting any colorful pill from a punch bowl.

The phone went dead

~Silence~

"C, you there? Did  you hear me? Be careful at parties, and stay away from pills in a punch bowl"

"Crap mom, seriously, you need to not read parenting articles off of the internet, and you especially need to trust me! In fact, mostly you just need to trust me! Pills out of a punch bowl?? I've never even heard of that. Maybe the people who write those articles are going to Pill Parties, huh?! Love ya mom, I gotta go! I'm gonna go smoke some crack............Kidding! Love ya Ma!"

So I laid off of the whole process of reading an article about some crazy teen party fad, and then instantly assuming my children were partaking. I stopped my obsession with the fact that my girls were going to go to slumber parties and 'choke each other till they passed out', or my son would be high fiving his buddies, after digesting a rainbow of pills belonging to some teen boys pill popping mom.

I have good kids. My son is right, I just need to trust them.

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh I can breathe!

But you know what?

Even good kids make stupid mistakes.
Even good kids can have a lapse in judgment from time to time.
Even good kids can choose to make a 'not good' choice.

So if you click on the link 10 most dangerous teen fads and read through them, I will tell you this.

My 'Good Kids'? They have tried a couple of these.

The Ice Cube Salt trick? - My son. Thank god it didn't get infected, or worse.
The Cinnamon Challenge? -  My daughters friends post their videos on Facebook. Hacking, coughing, almost throwing up. My daughter (The one with the Straight A's, and in 2 Honors classes)  was grossed out and thought they were stupid. 3 months later she changed her mind. Had a sore throat and a cough for a while, and finally wondered out loud to me "I wonder if there is still Cinnamon in my throat?"  WTF was my first thought! Followed by a very long talk.
Passing out game? (not on this list, but....) -  Heard from a friend of a friend, of a friend that my daughter had tried this at a slumber party 2 years ago. My frail, skinny, tiny little daughter? All I imagined was her passing out, and never waking up.I approached her on the subject, and she admitted that her and her friend actually were the ones who did not want to really do it, so they teamed up and really only pretended to do it. I called the friends mom, and in the end we believe our daughters that they faked the choking. But as you are reading this, aren't you asking yourself - "FAKE CHOKING?? IS THIS EVEN A 'THING'? WTF" - Yeah, WTF, get's asked a lot around here. Sorry!
Synthetic Marijuana - My son who is now 19, and not so stupid,but every kid is stupid at some time, so I guess he is kinda stupid,  admitted to trying this once. His buddy had some, and he tried it. Didn't like it, end of story.

The list has quite a few that I am praying my children have not, and will never try.

Car surfing?? - Guess what, my husband has a scar on his chin, and  a piece of asphalt still imbedded into his knee from truck surfing as a teen.


I am not sure exactly what my point was when writing this post, but I think I can summarize a thought.

Every parent thinks they have good kids. (unless you obviously gave birth to the son of Satan,and you knew this because of the horns and tail), and most of us do have good kids.

My children really are 'good', even though they are teenagers. And I guess that brings me to my point.

TEENAGERS

They are thrown into a giant pool of pressure. Maybe not the peer pressure that exists in an after school special; remember those programs?
In fact, my kids laugh at me when I use the phrase 'peer pressure'. They say nobody acts like they do in the movies. There isn't a group that surrounds you, shoving a joint in your face, strong arming you and saying "Come on, all the cool kids are doing it! Don't you want to be cool too?"

So that kind of peer pressure may not be happening, but there is a stealth, hidden pressure that I think just exists. Teens are inundated every single second of their day by social media, and of course the friends that are soaking in the social media, and it just keeps going.

I can't be with them every single second of their day.
I can't follow them to every slumber party, or get together.
I can only keep talking to them, opening up conversation, and yes,
I can keep bringing up the articles I read.
Because maybe out of the twenty crazy things that I read about that teens all over the world are trying, 
my 'good kids' may be getting ready to try one. Or they already did, and they'd like to get it off of their chest.
For every bad choice they may make, they are making 50 more good choices, and for that I will praise my kids........but boy will I lecture or punish the hell out of them for that one bad choice.

Parenting is hard.
My parents worried that I would do drugs, drink and have sex.

Not that I would digest a spoonful of cinnamon while being choked, after digesting pills from a punch bowl, before going car surfing and downing a Robitussin concoction. 


A toast to parents, and just trying to make it through the teen years!

And a toast to the teens, because they really do have a lot comin at them from all directions. They are just trying to make it through as well.
Am I actually old enough to say "I miss the good ol' days"?







11 comments:

  1. The worse thing I did at school, was rubbing vapour rub directly onto the eyeball. It was a fad that last about 3 weeks, until we were told of the damage we could be doing to our sight.

    That top 10 is truly horrifying.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Vapor Rub in the EYE??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????
      LILY, I am in pain thinking of it!!!! What for? WHY? Can you get drunk or high from it?? I am intrigued.

      OWWWW, MY EYE STINGS THINKING OF IT!

      O.K. I stapled my finger in 3rd grade because the boy I liked dared me to.Enough said!

      Delete
  2. I have never understood the cinnamon thing...it's only going to harm you. What fun is there in that?
    We barely survived the teen years with our boys. Two out of three came out unscathed...I think.
    Be warned, they don't lose that teenage mentality until about 26. LOL I don't think my husband ever did!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You are right about the whole teenage mentality thing. It certainly does not magically disappear at 18. Dam!
      Ugghhhh, yeah, the cinnamon thing is weird.
      My daughter has told me that kids at her school are crushing up sweet tarts and SNORTING THEM!!!!!
      WHAT THE F?????

      Delete
  3. You know I was just about to go to bed, right? I'm going to be UP ALL NIGHT NOW.

    Googling "Military Schools" in 5..4..3...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Just like my kids tell me not to read any more parenting articles, your boys will start telling you NOT to read J.R.s blog, especially if you send them to Military Academy.
      I can hear it now
      "Come on boys, pack your bags. You are off to military school. J.R. has informed me about what goes on with teenagers."
      "WHO IN THE HELL IS J.R. MOM? AND WHY IS SHE RUINING OUR LIFE?"

      Delete
  4. OMG I've tried most of these myself...what was I thinking..this is for kids!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh yeah, I know of a few things I have done in my past, that I am sure are on some list somewhere. Thank god there was no internet for my parents to learn of these 'list's. I got in trouble the old fashioned way......I had to get caught in the act. ;)

      Delete
  5. I am scared! Hopefully my daughter won't mind if her mother goes to everything with her...gah! I am going to be the worst parent of a teenage girl.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Lillian- I hate to break it to ya, but she might mind ;)

    Right now mine is freaking out because she was invited to go to the zoo with a boy and his family and I want to meet them when they come to pick her up. She is already coaching me on what to say and what not to say. Literally this instant this is going on.
    I don't know if there can be a 'worst parent to a teenage girl' because teenage girls are just hard. If there is a 'best parent' out there, I want their secret.
    I will say this though. The 'bad moments' are much more entertaining to write about. The good moments definitely outweigh the bad..........they just aren't as funny.
    Like I couldn't put a funny entertaining spin on the fact that my 14 year old saved up her money,and took me out to dinner on Friday night for a late Birthday Dinner. She paid everything, tip and all, and she even hugged me in front of other restaurant patrons. That just isn't funny ;), but it sure made me happy. :)

    ReplyDelete
  7. Wow. I don't know how I missed this post but it's a great one. I have good kids too, 29-19 yrs. and a couple of them have done that choking game when they were teens and a couple have done the weed and at least one has car surfed - ugh.. That being said, they are good kids and have grown into awesome, responsible, college educated, parents, home owners, business owners, etc. Now.. I worry about what my grandsons face.. I have never even heard of the punch bowl pills.. That's crazy.. Good for you for staying on top of things. Your kids will thank you one day.. They really will. :)

    ReplyDelete

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