And What If They Are Experimenting With Drugs…
The worst drugs are as bad as anybody’s told you.
It’s just a dumb trip, which I can’t condemn people if they get into it,
because one gets into it for one’s own personal, social, emotional reasons.
It’s something to be avoided if one can help it.
~John Lennon
Just last weekend while in the midst of all that warm and fuzzy gratitude…
“Uhm, Mr. V- can you come downstairs,” the young man talking sounds desperate, a teen all arms and legs and acne, his voice wobbles between boy and man, “Tyler and Kevin were doing ecstasy and Kevin isn’t doing so well.”
Mr. V was watching a “Bobby Flay Throwdown,” his daughter all curls and freshly showered cuddled next to him. This is his custodial weekend.
Mr. V races downstairs to his 15-year-old son’s bedroom and sees his son’s friend breathing heavily, his hand to his heart, which was racing when he placed his palm on the boy’s chest, his legs shaking.
It was supposed to be a sleepover, three guys, a movie, burgers and fries; these were good boys, the honor students, the geeks. And there was Kevin, shaking, sweating.
Single parents have it hard when there’s no drama, day-to-day can sometimes break you down, but when something like this happens…
Mr. V and I are friends and he called late that night, wondering how he missed the signs, how his son could break his trust, what should he do now? I didn’t have the answers but I listened.
I also went over to the American Academy of Pediatrics to see what they had to say, here it goes:
- Tell your son or daughter you LOVE him/her and that you are worried that he/she might be using drugs or alcohol.
- Say that: You KNOW that drugs may seem like the thing to do, but doing drugs can have serious consequences;
- It makes you FEEL worried and concerned about them when they do drugs;
- You are there to LISTEN to them;
- You WANT them to be a part of the solution;
- What you will do to HELP them.
While those suggestions are a good start I had some thoughts.
To be continued.
- Aunt B
