DS given melatonin gummies as prank by “friends at sleepover

[Anonymous]

If my kid was involved in this, I'd absolutely want to know. This time it was melatonin, maybe next time it's alcohol. The risks of taking large quantities of melatonin are largely unknown, but it can be dangerous. I'm glad your son is okay. Maybe next time they try something like this, the consequences are hospitalization or even death. The boys involved need to be educated about how risky and stupid this behavior is. The coach and parents need to know so this doesn't happen again to your kid or to someone else's kid

[Anonymous]

I'd be so livid and would start by talking to the family whose house this happened at. I agree the coach should be informed. Every child there must be talked to by their parents. I pray they didn't molest him. At least one of these kids has a conscience (hopefully) and will be able to account for anything that happened to your son while he was unconscious. You are much calmer than I am, I'm pretty sure I'd go on a rampage if it were my son it happened to or if my son did something like that. I'd probably go to the police, as well.

[Anonymous]

I would actually contact the parents to confirm that it was “just” melatonin. He was given drug laced gummies and later told it was melatonin but how do you actually know it wasn’t something else.

[Anonymous]

I’m so sorry OP. Agree you have to tell. My first call would be to the parents who hosted.

[Anonymous]

OP—this is the rare unicorn of DCUM consensus. Please listen to it. It’s not an easy task, but one that you need to do. Doing the right thing is never easy. Your son will be upset. And that’s okay. You can manage that. And he’ll be okay in the long run and will see why you need to do this.

[Anonymous]

OP, does he know what brand of gummies?

I have horrible sleep issues and take a brand called Olly and it also has some botanical additives. Including L-theanine. You are going to want to make sure it was melatonin only.

I would call and try to figure out what was given to him exactly (dosage too).

[Anonymous]

Your kid needs to understand that he should not be friends with these kids, so it doesn’t matter if you telling makes them not like him. They ALREADY don’t like him.

Their parents need to to be told. Don’t be surprised if the boys stick together and come up with a different story and the parents believe their own sons.

[Anonymous]

Wow! My son is the same age. This is a crime. Those boys are lucky that there wasn’t a more serious outcome. As it is, they made your son sick. This is beyond a prank and I’d be absolutely livid. I understand why your son is worried because this is a group of boys who are likely to retaliate. I’m not sure what you should do but I’d be inclined to report it at least to the parents who hosted because someone could be seriously harmed the next time they come up with such a scheme. Bullies often become empowered and ratchet it up when there are no consequences. I would immediately remove my son from the soccer team. These kids aren’t friends. This is just mean.

[Anonymous]

Thank God your son is ok.

Agree that you should tell the parents.

Have a serious conversation with your son about preparing his own food and eating what others are eating. It’s a good opportunity to teach self responsibility. I’m afraid this can happen to my kids. I warn them about these things, but you never know if they’ll listen.

It’s sad that he desperately wants to fit in, and being uncool chases you. He will be attracted to those cool kids, because he puts his self worth in their acceptance. Hindsight is 20 20, but he doesn’t have that yet.

I would not make him feel bad or guilty for chasing after them. I would not encourage it, but telling him the entire team is not your friend will crush him.

He got bullied and put in a dangerous situation. He wants to pretend it was cool. He wants to save face. Provide opportunities for him to save face: new team, other activities, vacation.

BUT DO TELL THE PARENTS.

As per the coach, not sure if the coach will do much, especially if it’s a voulenteer coach. You can tell them, but this was not a team activity, so I wouldn’t expect much.

[Anonymous]

There is still hope for these boys and you, OP, have the opportunity to potentially make a major impact in their lives. Regardless of what the drug was (drug, supplement, safe, unsafe) your kid was given a substance he did not consent to as the victim of a prank. This is absolutely not ok and every single kid involved needs to understand that.

If you don’t step in and if there are no consequences for these kids this is exactly the kind of thing that escalates.

‘Remember that time Jimmy ate those gummies last year? Let’s do it again on the new kid but this time let’s use thc gummies, heheheh.’

It’s moments like this that help kids not become date rapists or hapless bystanders so you need to do something.

[Anonymous]

You need to tell the parents that hosted. They need to know for liability reasons when this happens to the next kid. Frankly you should tell them about your medical bills to stress the seriousness of it. And I would pull my kid from this team. There is a hazing culture that can quickly get out of hand.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:He doesn’t want you to say anything, but his relationship with them is already ruined because he can’t hang out with them anymore. It’s not safe. Those knuckleheads weren’t smart enough to realize drugging him could endanger him. It’s not like he can attend another sleepover even if you don’t say anything. There’s no much to lose by notifying the parents.

This. He can play it different ways socially ("My mom thought I'd been drinking!") but he's not going to hang out with them except soccer and school, and maybe not even soccer. So explain to him the friendship is toast anyway.

And escalate with the other adults, because this was cruel as well as dangerous. I would tell the coach as well as the parents: sportsmanship and team trust are within his sphere, he could justifiably cut them for this (unlikely maybe, but not impossible).

This. OP let yourself be the bad guy who forced him to go to the doctor because you thought he'd been drinking.

This. Tell the parents your kid was out of it when you picked him up and you thought he'd been drinking so you took him to the doctor.

Report it. New soccer team.

[Anonymous]

You have gotten lots of supportive advice but wanted to chime in to say I am so sorry this was done to your son - it is awful, and yes technically a crime.

Lot of issues here-

What if your son was allergic? Or had a bad reaction? (which he did) Or who knows what a large quantity of melatonin does.

These boys did not act in a way they would to a friend. This is bullying at worst and at least disrespectful to your son.

The next step for this kind of behavior if unchecked is … trick someone into taking drugs? Trick a girl into this and taking off her clothes? I could go on.

It was bad and I’d contact all of the parents. That having been said, 15 year olds boys especially can have poor judgment and act poorly in group settings. Not defending the behavior AT ALL but just to say I’d keep this to the parents and maybe the coach vs police even though it really was a crime (and I am surprised that Urgent Care didn’t feel the need to report it).

Most importantly, reassure your son he did NOTHING wrong and that these kids acted like jerks and in a dangerous way, and he should value himself enough to not hang out with them (sigh, I know so easy to say as a parent, so hard for teens to absorb).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Tell parents.
Find another soccer team.
Depending on parents reaction, share with current soccer team coach why you are leaving.

This

If the boys don't have his back, at least let his mom have his back

[Anonymous]

Melatonin today and drugs tomorrow. Tell the parents. Those kids are scary and unsafe.