The Kids Teens Hang Out With

My sixteen-year-old hangs out with a bunch of different kids. I can’t classify them by just one category. They are anywhere from emo to wanna-be rapper to video game addict. I’ve always thought it was great he was friends with so many different kinds of people. But then things started to happen and now I’m not so sure.

First, one friend’s mom left and was gone all night when my son was spending the night. I was very angry the next morning when I found out and we no longer allow our son to spend the night at this friend’s house. Then we found out this friend not only drinks alcohol and smokes pot, but he drinks and smokes with his mom. Plus this year he isn’t going to school. His mom was going to homeschool him, but that didn’t work out. Go figure. He will go back to school next year, but he will be a year behind. Luckily, since he hasn’t been in school this year our son hasn’t hung out with him much.

And now we are having a problem with another friend.

Last weekend we had a big birthday party for my son’s sixteenth birthday. Including our two teens, we had eleven teenage boys spending the night at our house. I thought it went well. The boys pretty much played video games all night and we had very few problems. Not bad for an all night party with so many teen boys.

Then a few days later I asked my young teen where his cell phone was. He said “[His brother's] friends were playing with it and now I can’t find it.” I figured they had just hidden it somewhere. We searched the whole house but couldn’t find it anywhere. We called it several times but never heard it ring. I was pretty ticked off.

Then the boys told me a boy we will call “the troublemaker” was the person who was playing with it. Yesterday they called “the troublemaker” and asked him about it. He had it. He said he “accidentally” put it in his pocket and didn’t realize he had it until laundry day yesterday. [Who knows why he didn't discover it on last Sunday's laundry day.]

When we got the phone back all of the calls had been cleared. We assumed this meant “the troublemaker” didn’t just discover the phone the day before, but actually had been using the phone for the last week. I didn’t want to call his mom yet though because I couldn’t prove it. Then today a few of “the troublemakers” friends called the phone looking for “the troublemaker.” There was our proof. There is no reason “the troublemaker’s” friends would be calling an 8th graders phone unless “the troublemaker” had called them from it previously. I can’t check our minutes online because we are mid-cycle and they are printing this month’s bill. As soon as I can view the bill I plan to print it, highlight all of the calls “the troublemaker” made and call his mom.

Plus I just found out “the troublemaker” also is not going to school. And he will be going to another school next year. So we are thinking he got kicked out, but our son says he doesn’t know why “the troublemaker” isn’t going to school.

It’s really sad because I really liked this kid in the beginning. His mom called me the first time he spent the night to talk to me and make sure we’d be home. I just assumed it was because she was a little more protective (like me), but now I’m thinking it’s because he’s tried to pull fast ones on her in the past so she can’t trust him. He also seemed so polite. When we are in the room he is so proper. The first time we met him he shook our hands. I guess you really can’t tell a book by it’s cover.