Surely your son wouldn’t get caught up in something as foolish as coke use.
Teaching Elder posted:Surely your son wouldn’t get caught up in something as foolish as coke use.
He won’t. But I know people who he goes to school with and seem like very nice kids are. That scares me. But I’m the parent who has never so much as tried pot, so all drugs scare me.
I know how important school and athletics are to my son so I have used many examples (to supplement our discussions) over the last several years of kids and adults not being able to go to school, getting kicked out of school or damaging/ruining their careers over drugs and alcohol.
I’m not a parent who puts anything past my kids because I know kids whose parents wouldn’t have thought their kids would have done half of what they did. It’s not that I wouldn’t be surprised if they did certain things but I know that people (especially kids) sometimes make bad choices.
So now, I just pray and trust that what we’ve instilled in them, they take with them when they leave the home.
There but for the grace of God go I. I thought that a lot when my boys were younger and seeing older boys "throw" great opportunities away with their partying. I also was pretty judgemental and thought about how bad the boys were or how lousy their parents must be.
Sadly, as a parent, you can do all the "right" things and you just never know. One taste is all it takes sometimes.
Reading this thread is heartbreaking to me. Drugs and alcohol have taken a horrific toll on our family. I would never have thought so a decade ago.
HS Parents... Praying and trusting are all good. However, stay involved, know that they are kids and kids make bad decisions. Senior year for us was a challenge. NLI signed, academics in order, school acceptance done. All the pressure getting to that point behind him. New girlfriend, parties at the beach, graduation ahead. Luckily, we made it through without too much drama. But we never expected some of the minor surprises.
College Parents... Freshman year challenges. Team full of high school studs. Upperclassman teammates well entrenched in the college lifestyle, parties abundant, hard choices to be made. In PO Jr's case, teams lived in an off campus adjacent athletic village. Thankful that he was scared of making bad choices, although I'm sure there were a few. One story that stands out. A recent high draft alum returned to campus to party with his old teammates. At some point they ran out of libations and needed a sober driver to ferry them for replenishments. They found my sober freshman son and asked to be driven to the liquor store. He had no car, so this now current MLB star tossed the keys to his new $125,000 car and said let's go. My son tells this story with pride because of who this player is and the fact that he drove him to the liquor store, but I tell it because at least on this night my son was the one responsible player available.
Know that there will be partying at college. Be hopeful that those upperclassman keep the younger players in check. Our experience, other than freshman initiation, was just that. They become a family early on and a brotherhood that look out for each other. Far better than freshman thrown into the fraternities and other on and off campus stuff.
Our ultimate goal was getting to the 25 year old mark. Where it is said that the frontal lobe is fully developed. We're still working to get there.
Branson Baseball posted:There but for the grace of God go I. I thought that a lot when my boys were younger and seeing older boys "throw" great opportunities away with their partying. I also was pretty judgemental and thought about how bad the boys were or how lousy their parents must be.
Sadly, as a parent, you can do all the "right" things and you just never know. One taste is all it takes sometimes.
Reading this thread is heartbreaking to me. Drugs and alcohol have taken a horrific toll on our family. I would never have thought so a decade ago.
Thanks for sharing BB. Prayers to you and your family!
Picked Off posted:Branson Baseball posted:There but for the grace of God go I. I thought that a lot when my boys were younger and seeing older boys "throw" great opportunities away with their partying. I also was pretty judgemental and thought about how bad the boys were or how lousy their parents must be.
Sadly, as a parent, you can do all the "right" things and you just never know. One taste is all it takes sometimes.
Reading this thread is heartbreaking to me. Drugs and alcohol have taken a horrific toll on our family. I would never have thought so a decade ago.
Thanks for sharing BB. Prayers to you and your family!
+1
I have seen the kids of loving supportive parents go left in a big way and have also seen kids with no support and every excuse to go left not do so.
Picked Off posted:other than freshman initiation
Why is this allowed? Greek houses are getting shut down for that kind of behavior. Why should athletes, who SHOULD be more aware of their health and well being, continue it??
Iowamom23 posted:Picked Off posted:other than freshman initiation
Why is this allowed? Greek houses are getting shut down for that kind of behavior. Why should athletes, who SHOULD be more aware of their health and well being, continue it??
Like I said, they're kids. Coaches turn their heads and hope for the best. I know of one case where the coaches kid was a freshman and that didn't change the initiation.
I'm just saying that the reality is that there is a lot of partying going on at all campuses. Athletes just do it less than regular students.
I know of another school where at a baseball house party gone bad, shots fired when the wrong kids showed up and were asked to leave. That coach made those players vacate that house and they were still on the hook for rent. They had to find other living arrangements and were put on probation. The entire team was warned of a no tolarence policy for the rest of the season. I'm told that policy went out the window when they won their conference.