lAmBoY said:
Sid - What have you decided to do with your 16 yr old in light of this thread?
a) Promoted weed use. (after all those yobs that drink all end up kicking the crap out of each other, not like stoners eh)
b) Tried to stop his use (after all he is only a child)
c) Nothing, let it run its course.
d) Tried it yourself.
Youve had the gamut of advice, it will be interesting to see how you approach it
I'm not in a huge tail spin about it, i.e. I don't think his world is going to come crashing to an end if i don't do something immediately. It could be a whole lot worse, it could be lighter fuel, petrol, Toluene, evo stick, etc... for this i thank my lucky stars that it is only a bit of hash - i really would have
major cause for concern if it was anything else....
Basically this week
was gonna be the week when i started to take some active steps regarding 'the situation' and then mother nature came along at the weekend and kicked the sh!t out of me with a nasty virus/bug/germ of some kind that has knocked me for six, I've been feeling under the weather all week and just haven't had the energy to give the problem ( because i
do see it as a problem ..) my full attention.
I've written this post a few times now and then wiped it as it got too long winded, and i was opening up to too much personal info, however, Here are a few of my......observations and thoughts , we'll call them, probably in random order too, so ignore my bullets , they help me think whilst constructing a post...
i) I know some , but not all, of my lads current crop of friends, aquantencies and cronies, and something of some of their families and backgrounds. I have no doubt whatsoever that although some of them are just what i would class 'naughty' at the moment, petty crime for most is only just around the corner. Most have been suspended from school on a few occasions ( including my boy !)
( e.g. What would you think of a father who took his [truanting, known bully} teenage daughter upto a school bus stop in his car, so she could have a scrap with another kid- you get the picture = scum)
ii) Of the handfull that i know of quite well, my lad is the only one who is still living in a typical british 'atomic family' , with Mum & Dad ( both working and actually give a sh!t), siblings, dog, nice home, no crime...
iii) My boy will not be sharing the odd joint with acedemic friends during their gap year. He hangs about with NED's.
iv) Why let him hang about with NED's ? simple, You can't choose your kids friends, what you can do is give them love, care and support, hopefully demonstrating right from wrong, acceptable behaviour , from unacceptable behaviour by example.
What you do need to do though is keep your eyes and ears open, and monitor the situation, stepping in when needed, without cramping too much style and being too invasive. but you also need to do it while you still can. I like to keep
my problems firmly on my (passive) Radar, where i can
unobtrusively see them...
v) Encouraging their children to dabble in criminal activity by the use of illegal drugs is something that no sane parent with even the smallest levels of intelligence or common sense would do.
vii) The stuff my lad has been caught with is the resin stuff ( eg Red Leb, **** black, etc...) rather than the Herb variety ( Grass, Green, Bush, etc).
vi) My Lad started his college course in Sept. He had a 100% attendance record and one of the lecturers even phoned me for a progress report to say how well he was settling in and how pleased they were with him . ( we had a lot of problems at school....)
ix) 2 - 3 weeks later the same collecge lecturer phoned me to ask if there where any problems that they need to know about at home as his attendance had dropped noticably recently. I've since found out that two of his cronies who went to a different college , but live locally have 'dropped out', funnily enough about 2 - 3 weeks before my lads attendance went down.
Did i say he was easliy led....
x) My missus said she was worried about the amount of time he was spending moping in his room. I told her that's what teenagers do ? She thinks he may be depressed.
xi) Now i really am worried...
xiii) He smokes it with his pals I'm sure, but he also smokes it on his own , maybe it chills him out if he is a bit down for whatever reason. I think doctors and shrinks have a much better idea of what to do for kids who are feeling down , rather than leaving them to their own devices and street drugs....
See this is what happens when you are on your jack jones at stupid o'clock in the morning with a computer, you talk too much....
BTW, if anything i've said offends, don't take it personally, they're just thoughts and not aimed at anybody in particular at all. This thread is getting so long now that I'll need to re-read to see who said what again
Later...
Edited to add:
[non judgemental and completely passive mode - ON]
I'm a little surprised at the number of folk who actually take drugs.
Musicians being stoners, wow, what a concept. How about primary teachers and bus drivers? Maybe they would be the wealthiest people everyone knew if they smoked loads of weed.
:MILD: 
:SLEEP:
