Back in my day, poor teens who couldn’t afford butts, booze and illegal drugs got off their lazy duffs and went out and stole stuff.
(shakes a skinny fist) Damn teenagers today, no gumption!
My Mom once said to me: “Well, teenagers today - I am glad that drug business didn’t exist when YOU were in high school.” FTR - my high school was known as the “druggies hangout” and all of the drug dealers went to my class, too. Drove new Mercedeses, the bunch of them. Kinda hard to miss.
I’d never have thought my Mom was so clueless. When she added: “And you didn’t have any peer pressure.” I almost fell off my chair. Maybe a study would have helped clue her in or at least make her pay more attention to obvious details. Boy, was she lucky I was more interested in the chess club than drugs 
[Mrs. Lovejoy] Won’t somebody please think of the affluent? [/ML]
Once again, demonstrating that bored, affluent teenagers will use drugs.
Hmmm. So they’re stressed, are they?
Is their employer shutting down or being downsized?
Do they have a “new arrival” that they hadn’t planned on?
Has their investment portfolio tanked in the last 12-18 months?
For Chrissake, what has happened to involved parents who will give you stress if it’s lacking? My folks tolerated a little beer now and then, but would have kicked my teen ass ten ways for Topeka had I done anything else.
I’m glad of that, love and respect Mom and Dad for their position.
I don’t know where they did their studies, but almost all teenagers will try booze or some type of drug at some point. I don’t care how involved you are with them, or how many activities they are involved in. It is natural curiousity that drives them. Grant you, there are a few that you think didn’t, but trust me, they just never got caught! If there are any parents out there that think their kid is a perfect angel, then they are mistaken. And the people who run these studies are the ones who are clueless as to what their kids are doing or have done. The important thing is to have an open line of communication with your kids and to try to steer them into making the right decisions, but when they do faulter, let them know what the consequences of their actions will entail, and lead them on the right path.
Umm, they have school, stupid. School is stressful. More than it was when you went if you’re old.
But…but…I thought all of them were “just say(ing) ‘No’”. After all, that was the government program, wasn’t it?
Actually, my parents were the exact opposite and I love them for it. I had bongs laying all around my room and my mom barely batted an eye. One time, though, she found a trash bag half-filled with beer cans in my closet. She freaked out. She was slightly placated when I explained (truthfully) that they had accumulated over the course of a couple of months and that most of them were consumed by my friend, not me.
FWIW, my parents claim to have never tried any illegal drug (or even cigarettes) in their lives and drink socially only a couple of times a year. Mom is a nurse.
Holy Christ in a sidecar, I never realized that learning would be so stressful, unless you’re paying for those credit hours. When I went to school, the greatest stress was keeping your chisel sharp such that the notes taken on stone tablets were legible.
Forgive me for offering a perspective which offended you, Mr. Trouserspank. :rolleyes:
Er, I was a perfect little angel, as far as substances were concerned. Then I went to college and had a beer and a shot of vodka (not at the same time).
[Slight OT]
I like the NEW government ads, where the kid is like “My brother smoked pot all his life. He never went to jail. He never got arrested. He never did any of that.” And they show the guy in the basement watching cartoons…
My reaction? “So they’re admitting their other ads are BS?”
I have to ask this, but were you ever a teenager?
Despite being in my thirties now, I’d need four bazillion roll eyes smilies to do this justice. One will have to do
:rolleyes: