Comments on: Damned if you do, damned if you don’t – keeping stupid teens less stupid

By: David

David — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 01:00:55 +0000

Okay, what are you doing? Purposely creating your kids so they are the unpopular dorks who are gay and teacher’s pets? Part of high school is this experience and to learn.

By: Thrifty Karen

Thrifty Karen — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 17:55:55 +0000

Homeschooling is sounding so good right now!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! My little girl is in kindergarten at a public school. We’ll probably have to pull her out to homeschool or put her in a private Christian school within the next few years.

By: Michelle S

Michelle S — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 17:23:10 +0000

I have already had to deal with this situation. I said, get it out of your phone, do not send anything you would not want your gma to see on that phone, because it WILL be passed around. In our case, it was not x-rated, but it was embarrassing enough. It won’t happen again. I am certain of that – she is horrified.

I would figure out a way to let the parents know. I think kids don’t think ahead, they don’t think about who else is going to see something. They have no concept of the future and the further consequences down the line. Parents who believe their kids DO get it, either don’t know teenagers, have teenagers who are good at faking it, or are fooling themselves. Teens brains just aren’t finished developing yet – they WILL get it eventually. In the meantime, we have to protect them.

The medication, I’m not sure about. I think anti-depressants are a short term situation, right? The kids take them to get help, then when things are “fixed,” they stop? My daughter has found it necessary to take anti-depressants off and on. Currently she is beginning a new one. I’m more worried about her hurting herself or feeling hopeless than I am about her hormonal urges right now. She won’t need this medicine forever. I hope.

Good luck. This kind of thing is much tougher than what I went through as a teen back in the 80s.

By: Michelle Hartz

Michelle Hartz — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 16:55:31 +0000

Oh shoot, my soon-to-be 16 year old little sister lives in Michiana and is very connected to her cellphone. Time to have a nice big-sisterly talk. Because I’m “Sis” not “Mom” or “Dad,” I think she listens to me more.

As for #2, that’s something I’ve debated for a while. I think my sister has ADHD, but her parents (she’s actually a half-sister) don’t believe in ADHD, they think she just needs to try harder. She’s got great potential, she just has a hard time staying on one track of anything at a time. I do believe that if she got a little treatment, she would do so much better.

By: marye

marye — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 14:29:24 +0000

1. My kids don;t have and wont have cell phones.
2. Yes. Because eventually they will have to deal with it all.

See, I can be succinct.