Reply to 16 year old and his friend

Forum Index » Tweens and Teens

Reply to "16 year old and his friend - should I intervene?"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]So my 16 YO DS has known his 16 YO friend since they were 7. They have gone to the same school since 3rd grade (now Juniors in High School).

Throughout elementary and middle school they were pretty much inseporable, and we lived two blocks from the friend's house so it was easy.

In 9th grade not only did both of them change schools, but the friend's family moved a 15 minute drive away. At first things stayed mostly the same, but towards the end of the school year they seemed to be drifting apart.

Apparently the friend was reunited with a couple of other friends from outside of school that are more popular then my son and who DS doesn't really get along with.

Since there, honestly DS and his friend have been drifting apart. Aparently the friend is becoming one of the popular kids, and making decisions my DS knows are stupid (stuff like drinking, drugs, sex etc).

Anyway, DS is still hanging out with his friend weekly.

Well, DS came to me today and told me that on Saturday when he claimed he was going to the movies with his friend and then sleep over, his friend actually had invited him to a party where there was a lot of drinking and drug use. DS claims he didn't drink or do anything - and I trust him, he is a smart and mature teen - but that he was worried his friend was getting into some dangerous stuff and wanted to help his friend.

I am torn because I feel like I should be pushing him to end this friendship. But I also don't really know if it's really appropriate for me, as a parent, to try to intervene in a friendship that is obviously very important to DS. At the same time, I worry about the amount of effort DS is putting into this friendship, and that DS seems to feel like it is his responsibility to 'save his friend' and stop him from drinking and all that. I don't think that is a healthy relationship for either kid.
[/quote]

Are you close to the other boy’s parents? Do you think they are aware of the behavioral changes? If you have a relationship with them and your son is worried anough to ask for help “saving” his friend, I think it warrants a conversation with the other parents. I know I’d want to know. [/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics