The Boy has new friends from a camp he attended a few weeks ago. The kids in his cabin connected via group text messages and social media. They all live reasonably close to each other, and they made plans to get together. I talked to Jack about it.
"I don't have a problem with him hanging out with these kids. They are all intelligent, curious, risk-taking kids who have time and money," I said "but..."
"They sound like..." he said. "...a decent group of kids."
"...a group of kids likely to experiment with smoking pot," I said at the same time.
"Oh," he said. "I can see that." At one of the middle school parent meetings, the Drug and Alcohol Use Prevention Manager came and spoke to us. The more affluent the high school, the more likely the kids were to drink and try drugs. These kids have time and money, and also stressful, pressured lives. An article in The Atlantic by Caitlin Flanagan recently said that kids of helicopter parents were more likely to binge drink to reduce the pressures from school.
This doesn't apply to all kids or all parents. Claire Adele said the only reason she doesn't drink or smoke is because she doesn't want to ruin her chances to get into her first choice school. What happens after she gets in? Are all bets off?
This blog is about the little and big thoughts that pop into my head. I once read that when Flannery O'Connor walked into a bookstore, she would want to edit her published works with a red pen. In the digital world, we have the luxury of tweaking things up after we've hit the publish button. I can be a perfectionist/procrastinator, where waiting for the ideal means little gets done. Here I will share what is not--and likely will never be--perfect.
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