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| Dr. Michael J. Bradley |
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Dear Reader, As I write I'm flying home from Boise, Idaho, where I participated in a seminar for parents and teachers of adolescents. The turnout was wonderful, with a gymnasium packed with parents who were searching, just like all of us, for any clues that might help us get through these teen years more safely, calmly, and lovingly. First, I want to tell you about the very brave woman who sponsored this event--the first in a series of parent education seminars. She became a parenting activist while suffering through a nightmare with her own child. What makes her so brave? She refused to be silenced by shame or to deny the problems of her child. This silence often causes other struggling parents to "hide out," and stifles any chance a community might have of responding effectively to a problem that threatens many lives Just the day before, on the other side of the country another parent gathering was held by a high school in Scarsdale after several hundred high school students showed up drunk for the homecoming event. Many kids were so alcohol poisoned that they required hospitalization. The principal said the school halls had literally been filled with drunken, vomiting students. He went on to say that without the help of the community there was little anyone could do to stop these nightmares. He also mentioned that the teen risk awareness programs that had been offered locally for years had been sparsely attended--until now. That woman in Boise can teach all of us a powerful lesson about one person's power to mobilize a community before the hospital is overwhelmed with poisoned kids. Because the things kids do are often nuts, but when parents remain silent about the problems--that's even crazier. To ignore insanity is to approve it and encourage it to flourish. And to abdicate our parental responsibilities regarding use of a deadly drug like alcohol is insanity of the worst kind. The cops and the teachers at the Scarsdale gathering made it very clear: without the involvement of parents there is little they can do to stop the madness. It takes a community. But the parents in Boise already know all about that. And thanks to the incredible courage of one remarkable woman, those Idaho kids are much safer. Doesn't it make you wonder how things might be for our kids if we all had the courage of this woman from Boise? Doesn't it make you think about the power of one courageous person with one idea to touch the lives of so many? I think about that a lot. What are you thinking about? I'd like to hear all about it in my parenting forums: join_a_forum.html I'll see you there. Be well. |
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 Editor’s Note: To share your parenting issues, or to get Dr. Bradley's professional advice, please click here to visit Dr. Bradley’s Online Parenting Forum. |