I read a great article in our local paper about kids and alcohol. The message was this:

Parents are telling their kids not to drink and drive,BUT they are not telling them not to drink.

Dotsie,

Sadly, this doesn't surprise me. As a counselor I know of the negative impact and consequences such an attitude can have on teens. This is a sad commentary on the state of our world today. The point isn't that kids are going to drink, the point is that if you don't want your kids drinking then say so! And enforce rules around that! I really like those commercials that talk about how parents are the anti-drug because that's so true in my opinion.

Children and adolescents need rules and consequences for breaking those rules. When the rules are blurry then kids start making their own decisions based on inadequate and immature judgements. No fault of their own-- it's a developmental thing. My opinion is that as adults it is up to us to lead the way-- if we don't want kids drinking then we need to show them how to live life sober. We cannot expect youngsters to live according to rules that the adults aren't even willing to follow.

Kelly

I read an article tonight that said, don't worry what their drinking, worry what they're wearing. As if parents don't have enough to worry about.

WHAT!???!!!

Give me a break -- I'm just trying to get my kids out of their teen years alive.

What they wear doesn't impact that (much)!

d.

I beg to differ my dear, some of these girls barely wear enough to cover there unmentionables and the same with some of the boys, pants down to their knees. If they are allowed to dress like they are looking for trouble theres a good chance they'll find it. I have to say I feel sorry for the young men because these young women flaunt all they have then wonder why they get date raped. I am not sticking up for the boys, not hardly there is NO excuse for rape PERIOD...I merely said you usually get what you ask for even in your style of (un)dress. Thats what the article was referring to.

Well, this is certainly a controversy. My husband is a restaurant manager. One of the servers finished his shift, and changed into his street clothes. Then this young kid was in the restaurant ordering his meal while wearing a tee shirt with **** you on the back of it! My husband asked him to leave, and never wear that shirt in the restaurant again, even tho it was the kid's time off. I think the kid crossed the line. Another thing is the hostessess that come to work with too small tee shirt and low riding pants with their pierced navals on display. I don't understand this type of dressing, nor do I understand the "goth" look. But, since when does what they are wearing have more of an impact than what they are drinking? That does not make sense! LLL

I don't think what they wear has more of an impact necessarily, but it has an impact just the same. If you have several problems, they will have LARGE impacts on your life, and SMALL impacts on your life. Their still problems. Same with the

1) Wearing clothes that are revealing
2) Drinking/GETTING DRUNK and driving

Both things have caused some problems with our youth. What's the greatest issue? I suppose that would answered best by the youth that has been date raped, or the one who is going to prison for killing an innocent baby in the other car the drinking/drunk kid hit. You see the point I'm making?

If you want to know what has the greatest impact, ask the victim. You don't have to go far. Ask Natalie Holloways Mom.

JJ

Having been broad sided by a 19 yr old drunk driver who killed a 20 yr old riding with him, endangered my children, and nearly killed me, I think the difference between drinking and Driving Drunk is that the the drunk driver endangers not only himself, but others.

I never met the guy who hit me, and he barely knew the guy who was killed. I was barely conscious when I learned that the young man had died, but it certainly affected me and still does. I wonder if the drunk driver even cared. He was never prosecuted because it was in a small town and his parents knew the right people and I was certainly in no condition to pursue charges.

Drinking and dressing seductively is inviting trouble, but driving drunk is a CRIME.
smile

As I said, the difference belongs to the victim.

I'm so sorry Smiles honey, you didn't deserve that.

Love ya, JJ

Smile, I'm so sorry to hear your story. And that's not the only bad accident you've been involved in, is it?

My son got a moving violation ticket for making an illegal right turn. He had to pay the ticket, but got no points. Since he's a new driver he had to take a driver''s rehab course on a Saturday.

I can't believe what he witnessed. And nothing was done about it either. There was a mad he guessed to be in his mid-thirties in the class. My son said he acted out, spoke out, and disrespected the teacher and other kids in the class. On the break, he carried his little cooler outside and popped open a cold beer, drank it, then went back to being his disrespectful self in class. Can you imagine that? This was the middle of a Saturday.

Just think. If he can't make it through a driver's rehab class without a beer, can you imagine him behind the wheel of a car with his little cooler sitting right next to him?