Teen death at Whitman?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The parents left a house in the hands of a teenager who in turn had a party and it resulted indirectly in a death. Yet those parents will get off free and so will the child who thru the party. How can parents be so stupid?

I'm not ready to go on a witch hunt against the parents if they weren't home. You have no clue what the details are. They may have arranged for their kid(s) to stay with friends if they were away. Or they may not have had reason to expect their kid would throw a party or get into trouble based on past behavior.

[Anonymous]

In Austria beer/wine is legal 16 and up. The parent of the kid who threw this party was an Austrian diplomat with diplomatic immunity it sounds like.

[Anonymous]

It’s entirely possible, maybe even likely, that none of the parents of any of the party attendees knew where their children were or what they were doing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It’s entirely possible, maybe even likely, that none of the parents of any of the party attendees knew where their children were or what they were doing.

Which is sort of sad and scary....

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s entirely possible, maybe even likely, that none of the parents of any of the party attendees knew where their children were or what they were doing.

Which is sort of sad and scary....

How old are your children?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I drank in high school and never once did my or anyone else’s parents buy me booze. You are crazy if you think “cool parents” are throwing keg parties for high school kids. We bought the vast majority of the alcohol consumed ourselves at stores that didn’t GAF. The rich kids had parents who went out of town and left the kids home alone. THAT is when the big parties happened.

This was my HS experience as well. I drank a lot in HS but never from alcohol purchased for me by parents.... that would be weird. If a parent had wanted to do that for us I assure you we would have thought it was weird. Really weird. And been very suspicious.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s entirely possible, maybe even likely, that none of the parents of any of the party attendees knew where their children were or what they were doing.

Which is sort of sad and scary....

How old are your children?

They are similar ages to the kids at this party. I'll also point out, that the statistics indicate that most 16/17 year old kids do not go to these types of parties.

The people who say - teens ARE going to drink, they WILL smoke pot, etc....because that's what kids do....are rationalizing this behavior in their own minds. Fact is, the majority of HS kids don't do this.

Now if you are one of the parent who has accepted that ALL kids do this and you believe that you are making things safer for your kid by giving them their teenage drinking "training wheels" before they graduate and head off to college....that is your viewpoint. It doesn't mean that most parents embrace that approach.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I drank in high school and never once did my or anyone else’s parents buy me booze. You are crazy if you think “cool parents” are throwing keg parties for high school kids. We bought the vast majority of the alcohol consumed ourselves at stores that didn’t GAF. The rich kids had parents who went out of town and left the kids home alone. THAT is when the big parties happened.

This was my HS experience as well. I drank a lot in HS but never from alcohol purchased for me by parents.... that would be weird. If a parent had wanted to do that for us I assure you we would have thought it was weird. Really weird. And been very suspicious.

But were you a teen when the drinking age was 18 or 21?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I drank in high school and never once did my or anyone else’s parents buy me booze. You are crazy if you think “cool parents” are throwing keg parties for high school kids. We bought the vast majority of the alcohol consumed ourselves at stores that didn’t GAF. The rich kids had parents who went out of town and left the kids home alone. THAT is when the big parties happened.

This was my HS experience as well. I drank a lot in HS but never from alcohol purchased for me by parents.... that would be weird. If a parent had wanted to do that for us I assure you we would have thought it was weird. Really weird. And been very suspicious.

But were you a teen when the drinking age was 18 or 21?

I was a teen when the drinking age was 18/19. I never drank in HS. My parents would have seen a hangover from a mile away. They would have smelled alcohol on my breath and that would have been the end to my freedom. No way would I ever have driven the family car drunk. No way.

Once I got to college, I did drink and go to parties but I was also legal age to do so. I never, ever drove drunk.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s entirely possible, maybe even likely, that none of the parents of any of the party attendees knew where their children were or what they were doing.

Which is sort of sad and scary....

How old are your children?

They are similar ages to the kids at this party. I'll also point out, that the statistics indicate that most 16/17 year old kids do not go to these types of parties.

The people who say - teens ARE going to drink, they WILL smoke pot, etc....because that's what kids do....are rationalizing this behavior in their own minds. Fact is, the majority of HS kids don't do this.

Now if you are one of the parent who has accepted that ALL kids do this and you believe that you are making things safer for your kid by giving them their teenage drinking "training wheels" before they graduate and head off to college....that is your viewpoint. It doesn't mean that most parents embrace that approach.

+1

I have two kids through high school and 1 there now. They have active social lives and went out a lot, but none of them drink or smoke (anything), and we pretty much know where they are, who they're with and when they'll be home. And no, we aren't naive. We talk about this stuff all the time, they've shared stories of who's doing what, what parties they've left, who's in trouble, etc. This crowd of "good kids" is bigger than you think.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The parents left a house in the hands of a teenager who in turn had a party and it resulted indirectly in a death. Yet those parents will get off free and so will the child who thru the party. How can parents be so stupid?

I'm not ready to go on a witch hunt against the parents if they weren't home. You have no clue what the details are. They may have arranged for their kid(s) to stay with friends if they were away. Or they may not have had reason to expect their kid would throw a party or get into trouble based on past behavior.

And, of course, the kid whose house it is could have invited 5 friends over, one of whom posted the location on social media--preso rager. Kids need to know they should call the cops themselves if that ever happens to them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Parents should be installing cameras like the ring doorbell or other cameras on their front and back doors, also in basement or rec room. This will keep them informed as to what is going on, who is entering their house and also might dissuade their kids from doing things they shouldn't be doing.

+ 1,000,000

I grew up in the Rockville/Potomac area. There was generally a party every weekend. If it wasn't at a home, it was in some random field. Where there's a will, there's a way.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s entirely possible, maybe even likely, that none of the parents of any of the party attendees knew where their children were or what they were doing.

Which is sort of sad and scary....

How old are your children?

They are similar ages to the kids at this party. I'll also point out, that the statistics indicate that most 16/17 year old kids do not go to these types of parties.

The people who say - teens ARE going to drink, they WILL smoke pot, etc....because that's what kids do....are rationalizing this behavior in their own minds. Fact is, the majority of HS kids don't do this.

Now if you are one of the parent who has accepted that ALL kids do this and you believe that you are making things safer for your kid by giving them their teenage drinking "training wheels" before they graduate and head off to college....that is your viewpoint. It doesn't mean that most parents embrace that approach.

And you always know where your children are and what they are doing? Would your children agree with your answer? That's the point, not whether or not all high school students drink.

[Anonymous]

This is such an awful story. I hope they investigate what happened fully. It is likely just a tragic set of circumstances that unfolded, but if this were my child I would want to know exactly how he wound up alone in the woods.

I grew up in a small town where HS kids often had unauthorized keg parties either at homes or in the woods. It wasn't unusual for the cops to break these up and for kids to flee. Still, I can't imagine leaving a friend who was drunk or worse alone in the woods on a cold night.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Party with drinking was broken up by parents or cops. Kids fled. This teen never made it home. SO tragic. Many teens drink...almost none end up fleeing a party and freezing in the woods. This is tragic for this family. Just an accident.

Wow so sad for the family. Makes me angry with the party house parents that allowed the drinking to happen in their home -- either directly knowing about it or indirectly by turning a blind eye.

They may not have known. Sometimes the parents aren't even home when parties happen.

Then they should have known what their kid was up to, it's their job as parents. There are no longer excuses for these parties, especially in this area where they have been screamed about for years. You would have to be deaf, dumb and blind to not know if your kid were capable of hosting something like this.

I wouldn't necessarily blame the parents without additional information. I could very easily imagine the following scenario: Parents go out of town and kid is sent to stay at a friend's house; the kid tells the host family he is going out and then goes back to his empty home and throws the party. This is how it was done back in my day.