Teen son given second citation for underage smoking, NEED PR

[Anonymous]

My teen son is 16 and twice this month, he has been given citations by the police for underage smoking. I NEED SOMEONE TO GIVE ME IDEAS ON APPROPRIATE PROGAMS TO SUIT HIS PROBLEM.                                                                                                                            Nancy, Palm Beach Florida.

[Anonymous]

You should tell him not to smoke in front of cops.  And you should buy the smokes for him, so he doesn't get busted for trying to buy them.  Seriously.  I got sent to a "program" and bought a pack of smokes the same day I got out, three years later.  I wanted to smoke.  I didn't quit until I just a few months ago.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that if your goal is for him to not get in trouble, then buy him the smokes and tell him to smoke in private.  If your goal is to make him stop smoking, you'll just have to wait until he wants to quit.  There's nothing like being nagged and threatened to make a lifelong smoker out of someone.

[Antigen]

WARNING: The Surgeon General has determined that nagging me about smoking cigarettes can be hazardous to your health.

"...In general, it's just an overall sign in America that there doesn't seem to be as much respect for authority figures, and that's a bad trend. It just strikes me that people can say whatever they want to and get away with it, and that's not good."

--But David Murrell, exec. dir. of the Florida Police Benevolent Association

[Deborah]

This may just seem too simple, but how about having him pay any fines associated with the offense. Totally natural consequence. No money? Then offer him jobs he could do to earn it... and not jobs that he should do anyway as his contribution to the household. Perhaps a neighbor needs someone to pull crabgrass or mow or rake. I'm sure there are unlimited opportunities right in your neighborhood. Contact with the neighbors would be a good thing.

Shipping him to a program seems a rather extreme reaction to me. The 'punishment' doesn't match the 'crime', so to speak. Not even realted. Unnatural consequence. Breeds resentment. What 'real life' lesson would be learned from that?

What he needs to learn, imo, is that there are consequences for breaking the law, no matter how ignorant the law is. He may have to bang his head against that wall a few times to decide fighting it isn't worth it. Don't rob him of that opportunity by isolating him from the 'real world' of valuable lessons. For all intents and purposes, you would be 'rescuing him'.

And if you are thinking that him living in a program bubble is going to keep him away from tobacco and/or drugs, best think again. Ask some of the survivors here. He might not smoke as often, but where there's a will, there's a way. My son gained access to tobacco in a program with high security, 10 miles to the nearest podunk, red neck town. Turns out, staff were trading tobacco for favors or cash. They'd leave them on the seat of their car with the door unlocked or the window down.

Grin and bear it. Life is messy sometimes. Let your son have his lessons and support him in the process.

[Anonymous]

Send your troll-child to Europe.

[Perrigaud]

Even if this is a troll (I'm sure it is) there are actually parents who send their kids to programs for such miniscule reasons. In the end they are the ones that are lazy and incompetent.

[Nihilanthic]

I heard of a girl going to TB for a love letter to another girl in her diary.

Madness takes its toll.  Please have exact change.
--Anonymous

[Fr. Cassian]

On 2005-03-28 16:42:00, Anonymous wrote:

"My teen son is 16 and twice this month, he has been given citations by the police for underage smoking. I NEED SOMEONE TO GIVE ME IDEAS ON APPROPRIATE PROGAMS TO SUIT HIS PROBLEM.                                                                                                                            Nancy, Palm Beach Florida.   "

On 2005-03-29 13:36:00, Nihilanthic wrote:

"I heard of a girl going to TB for a love letter to another girl in her diary.

Madness takes its toll.  Please have exact change.
--Anonymous

"

These are exactly the kind of cases that need to be treated at the new, improved, all-ages, faith-based Straight, Inc.-by-the-Sea (formerly Straight, Inc. v2.0)!  WE can "nip the problem in the bud" where YOU have failed as a parent.....we have a 95% success rate to prove it!  Whether the problem is sniffing glue, smoking cigarettes, or unnatural affections, our Staff can take your no-good, rebellious, smartmouth, ingrate little whelps and turn them into smiling little Straightlings! Just PM me with your name, VISA, Mastercard, or American Express card number and expiration date, and I'll send the Goon Squad(TM) out in the Straightmobile(TM) and we'll do your little druggie brat's Intake(TM) and have them writing MIs(TM) on appreciation for their family quicker than you can say "9 to 9(TM)"!

Love ya! Now let's have a song!

[Anonymous]

Cigarettes, alcohol, sex: a lot of kids seem to end up in these programs for behavior that suddenly becomes acceptable once they are adults.

[Anonymous]

The Commodification of Teens

[Antigen]

On 2005-03-30 00:41:00, Anonymous wrote:

"Cigarettes, alcohol, sex: a lot of kids seem to end up in these programs for behavior that suddenly becomes acceptable once they are adults."

There's a lot to be said for that. Look at the way they market. They seem to be pitching to people who are still grieving the passing of the Victorian era (or maybe the `50's that never happened).

Did you check out Debora's thread on the history of the Brown Schools? I was shocked to find that "Brown", in that case, seems to refer to the Brown, Herriman, Walker mob. And it all makes sense. These freaks for eugenics and totalitarianism have taken their vision of a better, more perfect world right out of the philosophy of the Third Reich. In it, all people are subordinate tools of the State. The general idea is to NOT allow kids to grow and mature into whole, functioning, independed adults, but to maim them mentally and emotionally so that they remain concrete manipulatable objects.

Now, make no mistake about it. These folks tolerate sex, drinking, smoking and other vices among adults only because they have not yet achieved a level of control adequate to control the chronological adults. But they don't like it a bit.

The object of persecution is persecution. The object of torture
is torture. The object of power is power. Now do you begin
to understand me?

--O'Brien to Winston Smith

[Deborah]

***Now, make no mistake about it. These folks tolerate sex, drinking, smoking and other vices among adults only because they have not yet achieved a level of control adequate to control the chronological adults. But they don't like it a bit.

Could be, but I've always believed that they didn't really give a shit about kids or adults, except to the extent that they fed the economy- cancer/heart disease 'treatment', law enforcement (for sometimes ridiculous laws), prisons, rehab, BM industry, psych hospitals, etc. There is tons of money to be made off a sickly (mentally/physically) people. Once heard that a cure for cancer would 'crash the economy'. Why do you think they're in the mental/health/drug industries?  Drug use appears not to be a problem, provided people buy them from a pharmaceutical company, which they're all invested in. Puts money in their pockets and out of street dealers pockets.
I really believe that they don't want excesses in population- not enough employement- drain on the system. Bush may be acting with a simple solution... just eliminate all social aid. That will take care of the 'least' desirable. Withhold OUR tax dollars from ourselves, friends, relatives who are in need, and put them in the pockets of big business (corporate welfare). Joe Q Taxpayer is getting ripped from every angle.... in case s/he hasn't noticed.

[Antigen]

Here's a story that gives excellent insight into how the illegal drug trade pays off.

http://www.drugwar.com/solaristory.shtm

I don't think it's so much that they make more profit from the pharms. I think it's more a matter of social control. If you're overwhelmed w/ the state of society, don't do anything about it. Just take these pills and it won't bother you anymore. Bored way past distraction? We call that ADD. Take these other pills and you can dedicate your life to the mundane and inane and it won't bother you.

When people take illegal drugs, most of the time they're a lot more critical of the effect. If it does soemthing they like, the persist. If it doesn't then they don't. When the doctor writes a scip, though, they just go on taking the damned stuff and let him/her decide for them whether or not it's worth it.

I think animal testing is a terrible idea;  they get all nervous and give the wrong answers.    
-- A Bit of Fry and Laurie