The newspapers are full of articles showing the horrific decisions kids can make when parents are absent from the picture. Not to say that children of responsible parents can’t make mistakes, but let’s understand that parental influence is important, and that presence is better than absence. Unfortunately, many parents are more concerned with their children’s popularity (and their own status) within their provincial community than they are concerned with the possible downside of free reign. The 10/13/14 article in the NY Post by Naomi Schaefer Riley on the Sayreville football tragedy makes some spot-on observations about an absence of parental presence, and a teen culture that is oversexed and unsupervised.
But you don’t have to go that far to find an example of clueless parenting. This Saturday, a group of Clarkstown parents trying to be cool (and who want their kids to be cool I guess), will rent ”party buses” so that their 16-yr old kids can leave at midnight and go to Brooklyn, where they will get on a boat to cruise the harbor. All unchaperoned, all unsupervised. In previous years this tradition has resulted in side trips by the buses home to hospitals for alcohol consumption, and of course a plethora of pictures circulated on phones of their sons and daughters in various stages of debasement. But hey, we see there’s no problem with a teen culture that’s oversexed and unsupervised. So let’s give them an excellent opportunity to consume alcohol and hook up by putting them on a bus that looks like a strip club and driving them to Brooklyn. Then add water. Awesome dude.
Get a clue.
