On 2006-01-18 08:09:00, Anonymous wrote:
Most parents, I would suspect, dont desire to send their kids away and pay all that expense. Its not a desire, it is a need. I agree with you that most kids dont need to be there.
Then why the hell are they there? That would suggest that the programs take in kids that don't need their "help". Why would they do that? Hmmmm, let's rack our brain trying to figure
that one out.
But all parents are not looking at web sites to send their kids away. How amny people really look at them? By the time a parent starts to research this they already have a problem? I have to believe that a very small number of parents are cruising the web, come across a programs web site and say "Hey my kid acts out a little, maybe we should spend $7,000 a month and pull him out of prep school and send him to this unaccredited place". I just find it hard to believe but I am sure there are some so I wont argue that point.
Once you are looking for solutions to a known problem then yes, each web site will be selling their unique program strengths.
The attitude towards teens today makes it so easy to prey on vulnerable, scared parents. Its not just the websites, its places like DFAF, programs like DARE, the hype and propoganda about drugs in the first place.
I have to disagree, turning your back and ignoring a problem will not make it go away, this would be irresponible parenting. (you dont sound like you have kids)"
I didn't say ignore the problem. What I'm saying is view and approach it realistically. I do have kids. If you've read much of anything I've written in these forums you'd find that I've posted about the nightmarish couple of years I had with one of mine (they're 20 & 18 now). I understand all too well the sleepless nights, the waiting for 'the phone call', the rage in the house. I watched this sweet kid turn into a smart-mouthed, hard partying, wreckless soul. She went to live with dad for a bit adn he tried to clamp down on her, thinking if he could just get a little more control over her things would change. He sent her to a bootcamp for a day and then held it over her head for about 6 months after that. Tried to force her to AA/NA meetings. The more he tried to
force change on her, the harder she resisted. She came back home to live with me after being threatened with being sent off. We still had some rough times but I set realistic expectations for her. I didn't freak out and panic at every poor decision. I gave her room enough to figure out her place in the world. It took a while but the more she ran headlong into the brick wall of natural consequences, the more she learned. The hardest thing in the world for me to do was to stand back and let her fall.
Most[/b] kids survive teenhood relatively intact despite scaring the crap out of their parents.
Ministers say that they teach charity. That is natural. They live on hand-outs. All beggars teach that others should give.
--Robert G. Ingersoll, American politician and lecturer