[ShepherdsDog]

$1:

I think you missed the "information session for parents" on Wednesday night

By the sounds of it, so did most of the parents

[Thanos]

Parents were all too shitfaced to attend.

[Strutz]

Brenda Brenda:

Wait, so informing (the) parents about what their children might do on weekends when they are "hanging out with their friends", is cracking down on weekend parties?

Educating the kids about alcohol and drug use is seen as the same, I take it?

It is done here on a regular basis, info about drugs and drinking is in the school newsletter, there are tips for parents about what to watch for.

It is a topic of discussion in my household on a regular basis. Communication is key.

Good for you Brenda. Hopefully that will be a major factor in keeping your girls safe.

[Thanos]

ShepherdsDog ShepherdsDog:

you've been posting sober??

Unfortunately, yes. I actually originated a online "bar" about ten years ago on myTelus when they had forums. The whole gimmick was just to have everyone sit down with their favourite drink and post as they got hammered. It was awesome. We hit about a thousand pages in two years. No politics or fighting, just Random Thoughts whilst pissed. Good times it was.

[coaster_dot]

I do feel that my drinking has increased since I started living in the college neighborhood. Yet going from 2 years of social bar life, to now house party scenes (were most people are 2-3 years younger then you) kind of sucks. I miss what I don't even want anymore.

But its like...walk down the block and find a few house parties, and drink with fellow students, take a cab somewhere to pay for $3-5 a drink.

[Thanos]

Do the George Thoroughgood and start drinking alone. I used to do it all the time and look at me now. I turned out wicked!

[Strutz]

Thanos Thanos:

ShepherdsDog ShepherdsDog:

you've been posting sober??

Unfortunately, yes. I actually originated a online "bar" about ten years ago on myTelus when they had forums. The whole gimmick was just to have everyone sit down with their favourite drink and post as they got hammered. It was awesome. We hit about a thousand pages in two years. No politics or fighting, just Random Thoughts whilst pissed. Good times it was.

Sounds like an idea for a new thread...

[coaster_dot]

I force myself not to drink alone...I mean yeah Ive done it, but I usually feel bad about it afterward.

I'll skype drink if I am really desperate, but I guess thats the same thing

[ShepherdsDog]

Thanos Thanos:

ShepherdsDog ShepherdsDog:

you've been posting sober??

Unfortunately, yes. I actually originated a online "bar" about ten years ago on myTelus when they had forums. The whole gimmick was just to have everyone sit down with their favourite drink and post as they got hammered. It was awesome. We hit about a thousand pages in two years. No politics or fighting, just Random Thoughts whilst pissed. Good times it was.

So when there was a random pile of letters you knew somebody had just passed out and face planted on their keyboard

[Strutz]

coaster_dot coaster_dot:

I force myself not to drink alone...I mean yeah Ive done it, but I usually feel bad about it afterward.

I'll skype drink if I am really desperate, but I guess thats the same thing

Why would you feel bad about it?

[ShepherdsDog]

There's a difference between having a drink or two by yourself...most people do that. getting shit faced alone means there's a problem.

[Public_Domain]

Brenda Brenda:

I never listened to my mother. What did she know?
So, I guess your personal experience takes away mine. Which puts us straight back to where we were. At 0.

I say EVERYTHING helps. If you can change one kids mind, either by informing the parents at an information session so they can talk to their kids, or by an ER nurse/doctor, who speaks at an assembly about how he lost another OD-ed 14 year-old, I'd say it was a good evening/day.

Sure, try everything, ultimately, what else CAN you do than just that? It's all there is for options, mind as well use them.

All I'm saying is I remember sitting in those assemblies. I remember not one kid giving a shit, not even the kids who didn't do drugs, like me. Again, I say this as a personal thing, I don't mean to anger you or over-bear on your argument, or say you're wrong. Because you aren't. This is just a factor I'm bringing up.

It was an hour we didn't have to sit in class. We could stretch are legs, sit back, maybe even pop in our MP3 players secretly, and undermine the purpose entirely. I never heard a person really take anything from it. What I did hear is kids being affected by their parents and loved ones' concern. Sure, not everyone, I absolutely agree.

But those who ignore their parents are probably more likely to remember those warnings than the Rolodex of scare tactics schools have destroyed teenage trust with.

My mother never lied to me, not even with some guise to protect me. If I had a question, she didn't resent me enough to mislead me. I feel like I grew up with a much more grounded and solid understanding of drugs and social vices than if I had only school to rely on. It's why I never started smoking cigarettes, despite everyone doing it, including my mother.

All the things school throws at you about drugs, it tends to be highly ineffective. Falls on deaf ears. Or even worse, ignorant ears. Who are these tools, the same tools who preach abstinence, the same tools who blatantly lie about marijuana, the same tools who enjoy their power role, the same tools who just want me to do what they want and shuffle along, what makes them think they know anything about our lives? That's the mentality. And of course, it's the mentality of every generation. And those kids, they cast that opinion on all sorts of power roles in their lives. School, police officers, and often their parents.

I have just always felt that parents are in the best position for the whole "you don't understand me" conversation. The school has nothing there, and all words come back with rolling eyes. I'm scared to ever have kids and face such a struggle, but I'd hope my kid wouldn't hate me. Of course, no parent would ever want that. I would almost certainly home school them.

I love that saying:
Raising kids is as easy as nailing jello to a tree.

The day the current generation can completely control the next is the day the next generation fails to innovate and create.

The solution though, and what I feel will save far more lives and minds, is to encourage a culture of parent-child conversation and trust. I am very willing to bet far more kids trust their parents than they'll ever trust a school. Schools depersonalize you, and exaggerate, and their motive never seems to be for health. To the student mind, it's about submission and order. Forced indoctrination subjected by power-trippers on a payroll, a fascinating introduction to real life. Birthplace of cynics. For a parent, it's much more personal. One can be far more able to control a child than a student. More lives will be saved by loving parents than monotone assemblies ever will.

[OnTheIce]

I'm ashamed for the parents that are looking to the Principal to take action.

No, parents....YOU take action. They're your children, take responsibility for them.

[Thanos]

Kids, you gotta fight. For your right. To Par-tay.

[Brenda]

OnTheIce OnTheIce:

I'm ashamed for the parents that are looking to the Principal to take action.

No, parents....YOU take action. They're your children, take responsibility for them.

It takes a village to raise a child.