Sins of the past

Well it seems that my behavior as a teen has come back to haunt me. LOL. We live in a different world now, things that we did as teens in the 1980's (yeah, I am that old)have total different consequences in 2008. It is not OK to let your teen get away with something, just because you did the same exact behavior 20-some years ago. It is easier to understand them, knowing what is thrown at them and hopefully as good parents we can help them learn by our/their mistakes. I cannot understand that in today's world, that there are still parents out there that believe that kids drinking in their home is ok. Not only do they allow the behavior, they provide the alcohol and encourage the behavior; going as far as giving more wine to already drunk teens. The consequences for that behavior (the adults)is criminal now. When we were growing up, the parents that allowed parties at their home would never get in trouble for anything that ocurred at the event....now the parents are LEGALLY responsible. Why risk that? to be a cool parent? My definition of the cool parent is the one who was standing outside with the police waiting for his child to come out, the one that got out of bed when the police called at 2am, the ONE that showed up. My husband was that parent last night. It is sad, but no matter how "good" your child is, the peer pressure is out there. No matter how trust-worthy your child is, one bad decision usually snowballs into a bunch of bad decisions. This is what happened to us. She made one bad decision followed by another, by another then another....then ended up arrested at 17yrs old...for one bad night. I am furious at the "parents" that allowed this behavior in their home and have some pleasure in knowing that they were arrested too. They now have 14 counts of contributing to the delinquency of minors charges, hopefully other charges as well. Serves them right. We are THANKING GOD that the 2am phonecall was about this and not that our child had been in an accident. Thank God she had the sense not to even attempt to drive. That 2am phone call does make ones heart stop...I never want the phone to ring at that time again.

Oh yeah.....In 13yrs I will have another 17yr old....cant wait. ;)