Teenagers

I would like to comment on the last two posts I blogged. I personally went to myspace without having to sign in. I read vulgarity in language and saw nude pictures of girls on the main page. To enter a chatroom I would have had to register and give full name etc. I didn't! To give credit to myspace, they didn't seem to be trying to hide anything ... it is there for you to see. I can only imagine what goes on in the chatrooms. I don't think the predator percentage is high but I believe the percentage that can influence a teen towards drugs, alcohol and sex ranks higher.

Most parents of today do not want to control their children as they say. I don't consider being a parent one of a controlling nature ... I see the role as parental guidance. I raised three teenaged daughters in the late 70's and their father and I were right there with them all the way. Did they hate us? Probably! Did they get in trouble? You bet! All three were born in the 60's when it was the "in" thing to "Let It All Hang Out" so we weren't ignorant to the fact that we might have some difficulties raising them. The saving grace was that the good times outweighed the bad times. Today they have a family of their own and they are doing exactly what we did.

My last daughter was born in 1971 ..... we knew we had an angel this time! We thought since she will be a teenager in the 80's that all would be well. She made excellent grades in school, was fun to be around and had a totally different outlook on life. Most importantly she thought her Dad and I were really "cool" to spend time with. But ..... we found out once again that all teenagers because of just being teenagers can goof at least one time. She was 15 at the time. We worked in Gulfport and commuted an hour each way and we would alternate between vehicles. The daughter, can you believe it, would ride the school bus home. I told you she was an angel didn't I? At the time, I had a 78 Thunderbird and her Dad had a F150 pickup. Since we alternated between vehicles ... it happened the day my car stayed home. I am the one who took the call at work to hear a stranger say, "Your daughter had a fender bender but she is okay." I said, " You have the wrong number." She then said are you Mrs. so and so. Still not believing I asked, "What make of car and what color?" She gave the correct answers and then I completely lost it. All the way home I kept crying, "George she's dead don't you see, the caller knew we would panic and didn't want to tell us." When we neared our home we turned on a road that has pasture land on both sides. On the left I saw my car that had literally jumped the fence and landed all crumbled in the pasture. My saying over and over increased. "She's dead, she's dead!" I wouldn't get out of the car when we arrived home. My husband signaled that it was okay. I entered the house and my beloved daughter was sitting on the sofa with a girlfriend beside her. I asked, "Are you okay?" When she answered "Yes" I hit her on the top of her head. "Were you drinking?" "No" For some reason, I thought that deserved another light tap on her head. I was out of my mind at the time, consumed with the love that I had for this child and that because of her foolish choice she could have died. That's a parent! The majority of parents love their children but please remember that they can do foolish things and the incident I spoke of happened twenty yrs. ago. Today the kids have some really bad situations to contend with. Stay by their sides for the long haul. Would I do it again? Raise children? Of course I would!