Anonymous
Post 09/21/2016 19:05     Subject: Caught my child drinking at a Parent sanctioned party… WYD
Anonymous wrote:we allowed our child to attend a party last weekend after being assured by the parents they would be home to have keep an "eye on things", which i took at face value. I decided to drop in and say hello to the parents and was shocked to find that it was essentially a "free-for-all" with alchohol and marijuana being consumed by the children in the basement and outside while the parents where hanging-out like it was just another friday night.

i made a mistake in thinking "keeping an eye on things" meant the same thing to me as it did to them. I now see their feeling is that that they are providing a safe environment for these teenagers to experiment . While I understand high school aged children are dipping there toes in when it comes to consuming alcohol I am not comfortable with binge drinking. these kids were stumbling, slurring, Emotional and in some cases puking. There is no doubt to me that in their minds, This party was a success because nobody was arrested/cited and there were no injuries.

There are clearly a lot of parents that share this same sentiment. I am not one of them. There is a part of me that wants to alert the schools (without naming any children/parent) so it can be addressed as a "Community". The other part of me wants to stick to parenting/policing our own child and to just stay out of it.

I am now very curious as to what the parents of other high school age children feel when it comes to :

a) Parent sanctioned parties
b) 14-17 year old alcohol and light drug use
c) alerting the schools when these parties occur
d) if you and your spouse are on the same page when it comes to Your philosophy.



Here are my answers:

a) Parent sanctioned parties-Nope, nope, nope
b) 14-17 year old alcohol and light drug use-Nope, nope, nope
c) alerting the schools when these parties occur-Yes
d) if you and your spouse are on the same page when it comes to Your philosophy.-Yes
Anonymous
Post 09/21/2016 14:42     Subject: Re:Caught my child drinking at a Parent sanctioned party… WYD
Anonymous wrote:A private home during non-school hours. Why in hell does the school need to be involved? Unless it was during school hours, on school property or during a school function, the school has NOTHING to do with this incident.


Although I understand where you are coming from in some ways, this is a limited view... after school/off school premises activities often impact school -- if there is a fatal accident involving members of a school class it impacts the school, counselors are called in and the school culture/community is definitely impacted.

Schools are now able to intervene in Bullying situations when there is an impact on school, even if the bullying doesn't occur on school grounds. We are beginning to see things don't have to happen AT school to impact school.

Telling schools helps them understand the community in which their students live and particpate in, it could help them pinpoint areas of discussion. It could also help inform community events and outreach. Telling the school may not lead to "punishment" of a student/family, but could lead to awareness and educating other students/parents about ways to handle such situations.
Anonymous
Post 09/21/2016 12:26     Subject: Caught my child drinking at a Parent sanctioned party… WYD
It doesn't matter what YOU think about YOUR kids drinking. It is morally wrong to let other people's children drink in your presence. You have an obligation as an adult member of society to do aid and protect the children in your community. You DO NOT have the right to make that choice for someone else's kids. I don't care what your motivations are. It is wrong , plain and simple. Let your kids drink all you want but leave other people's children out of it. Be a grown up!