Teens

Booze Bash

by Cheryl on February 22, 2012

I don’t drink alcohol. It’s a personal decision I made many many years ago and I’m proud of that. Yes, I know what it tastes like and that’s one of the reasons I don’t drink it. I am not against other people drinking if that’s what they want to do. I think it’s important that I say that right out of the gate. With that being said, I am biased when I discuss the consumption of alcoholic beverages, especially the overindulgence of alcohol by young people.

I saw a story about underage drinking that made me take notice. It had my attention from the first few seconds. Not because it was shocking that it happened, but captivating due to the level of stupidity and irresponsibility surrounding the incidents. It was outright ludicrous.

A CBS Washington, D.C., News affiliate did a weeklong report on underage drinking in the suburbs and there was huge fallout from the teenagers involved and their parents. People took to the Facebook page of the news station and to Twitter to express their outrage at being exposed for engaging in this illegal activity. Andrea McCarren, the reporter who covered the story, was forced off the air after she and her family were threatened.

The news report exposed minors purchasing alcohol, no identification necessary, at a market in Northwest Washington. The storeowner was confronted about breaking the law two months prior and D.C. police were notified, but neither took any action.

The messages on social networking got worse after McCarren reported on a police raid of an underage drinking party hosted by some parents. The parents arriving to pick up their kids seemed to be upset with the police, but okay with their kids consuming alcohol. You could hear a woman asking, “Why are there cameras following these kids?” A police officer replied, “Because they are with us, ma’am.” The parent responded, “I was told they were with the news.” The outrage that followed wasn’t misdirected if you consider that most of those parents knew exactly what their kids were up to when they allowed them to attend the party. Contrary to the parents’ concerns about the cameras, the teenagers were not identified in the news piece.

A father that arrived for his son asked the teen right in front of the police, “Why didn’t he run?” Can this be called parenting, seriously? I wonder if these parents are just so messed up from some traumatic experience in their early years they don’t completely understand responsibility or if they think breaking the law is okay for them and their families. The teens are behaving like brats and posting hateful and threatening messages online to a reporter and news organization for everyone to read because they think it’s appropriate. The parents have set no limitations. If this doesn’t reek of a sense of entitlement gone off the deep end I don’t know what does.

How does the conversation start between parents with teens about having an adult supervised illegal drinking party? Do they have a drinking party themselves and pull straws, shortest straw wins? Are they so dense that they think this is the road that leads to being best friends with the teens they are supposed to be parenting? Do they seriously believe that the teens are only going to drink in supervised situations because they allow them to go to a “supervised” illegal drinking party? Do the parents believe they are being responsible by driving their teens to and from the party? If so, they couldn’t be more wrong because the entire process is negligent. I’m not sure what they are thinking, but doing some research about underage drinking would do them a lot of good. They would know that a report from The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse finds that half of college students binge drink and abuse prescription and illegal drugs. Nancy Kaufman, vice president of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation states, “Nearly half of all teen automobile crashes are a result of drinking. It also contributes to suicides, homicides and fatal injuries, and is a factor in sexual assaults and date rapes.” Maybe this kind of information would make them think twice about giving their teenage children a head start down a path that could be disastrous.

Parents that allow their teens to attend illegal drinking parties say they are doing it to teach the teens about responsible drinking. I would like to know their definition of responsible drinking. The law states the legal drinking age in the United States is 21 years old. Also, how responsible is it to say you are teaching teens about responsible drinking while at the same time you are teaching them that laws don’t matter, at least for them. What’s next? Where do you draw the line, introduction to weed or sex, or is that the same party?

I’ve heard about stories of parent-sponsored booze fests before and they all end with parents denying they are doing anything wrong. After all, it’s their child and they know what’s best, even if it means turning away from responsibility and leaving their kids to make adult decisions. People under the age of 21 have dramatically impaired judgment and lack physical and psychological maturity. So, when parents take this approach it is a copout and lack of moral backbone.

The good part of this story is the majority of feedback was supportive of the reporter exposing the underage drinking and the facilitating parents in their area. So all is not lost on society.

Why do you think parents feel it’s acceptable to allow teens to drink?

Watch the story courtesy of CBS News:

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Cowboys Fan, Not

by Cheryl on October 3, 2011

in Rants

I grew up loving the Dallas Cowboys. They were known then as America’s team and I liked their uniforms. What can I say? My brother has been a Cowboys fan since the day he was born. Through all of the ups and downs he has never wavered. I, on the other hand, gave up on the Cowboys years ago. It came after so many disappointing losses to the Pittsburgh Steelers. I’m what many would call a fair weathered fan I guess.

I have a son (known as S for this post) that is almost identical to my brother in his commitment to the Dallas Cowboys. He is a true Texan, born in Austin. He loves the University of Texas football team and can’t wait to apply to UT. This is in no way an endorsement of Texas and its politics just facts. He is also one of the most dedicated fans I have ever known. Each week he watches the game and posts status updates to Facebook throughout the game. And each week obnoxious New York Giants fans make rude, dumb, and stupid comments. Yes, these are teenagers I’m referring to.

The majority of Cowboys fans and Giants fans are insufferable. They make the weakest excuses for why their teams lose games. Adults right along with the teens get caught up in this too. But the dumbest taunt I’ve seen so far is when the Cowboys/Giants fans attack fans of other teams that won their games. The accusations start flying about who is a true fan of a team all the way down to why others aren’t bragging after their teams’ loss. That just doesn’t make any sense. What are you supposed to be thumping your chest for exactly, losing?

For some reason people think that when your team loses a game that’s the time you need to do a lot of trash talking and bragging and reaffirming that you are a Cowboys/Giants fan till death. Whatever. When my favorite team [New Orleans Saints] loses a game that’s the point where I get mad at the team, talk about how they threw the game away, wait for next week, and hope for a better outcome. That’s also the way S has chosen to handle his frustration with the Cowboys.

I’ve started to root for the Cowboys to support my son. I’m still not a fan. I think Jerry Jones is misguided, bullheaded, and his teams’ worst enemy. But because of the vile nature of the comments from Giants fan I will always be on the side of the Cowboys when they play every team except the Saints. The people masquerading as adults and setting examples for foulmouthed teenagers need to think about what they are criticizing other fans for. Don’t say it’s all in fun, because no one is buying it. You just look petty. Your team lost a game or barely won, there’s always next week. Suck it up and for God’s sake grow up.

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Your Kids on Facebook

by Cheryl on May 3, 2011

in Rants

On occasion when I am ending the night watching Fox network programming, right before the news starts, a standard announcement is played; It’s 10:00 PM, do you know where your children are? That is a similar question I have “Do you know what your children are writing?” when I read comments written by teens on Facebook.

I have a rule I try to live by. Never write something that you wouldn’t want the person you most respected to read. I’ve talked to my kids about this personal standard and they often exercise it, most of the time without having to be reminded.

I scan through my teenagers’ Facebook timeline and I am appalled at some of the comments I read, ranging from direct insults to profanity-laced phrases. I wonder why the teens feel so free to write hurtful things about their friends in such a public forum. Teens also feel very comfortable vehemently disagreeing with others even if it means ruining someone’s happiness. Could it be they are not really friends? That’s a topic for another day.

My teen regularly posts statuses on Facebook. Usually about a sports team or occasionally just some random thought. Recently he posted a positive status about our President. One of the first comments posted under that status by another teen was “f@*# Obama”. I wasn’t as shocked by the actual comment as I was shocked by the attitude. It was a time when the country was rejoicing. It just seemed odd. Soon after, another comment was posted using a hypothetical situation and other fact free statements. All right, now I’m ticked off. How can I get involved in this without actually getting involved? I decided that I would make a declarative comment so my presence would be known. Maybe if these teens know that an adult is reading what they are writing they will tone it down. The tone did change after my older son and I made comments, of which he totally got involved and stated facts and then there was nothing the teens could do except retreat. Be aware that many people on Facebook have family as friends. My teen has a mom, a brother, a grandmother, several aunts and uncles, and lots of cousins that read his statuses and the comments made on those statuses. And we just might make a comment.

We have to take responsibility for our children. Ultimately, the things they say come back to us. Teens have to learn to respect the opinions of others even if they disagree with those opinions 100%. We have to learn to accept our neighbors. Could this boldness that so many teens seem to possess be detrimental to their relationships with adults and authority figures? So many teens seem to have zero tolerance for people who are different than they are and Facebook seems to be the place where they feel free to express it. This is exactly the wrong place to make those types of disagreements known. Writing anything in a public forum means it is public forever. Friend your teens on Facebook, read what they’re writing, they will get over it. Trust me.

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