Parental Responsibility

[Socrates]

This question is for all the parents out there. What age do you think you should begin educating your children about marijuana and other drugs?

[djexct]

look man, im not a parent. Im 23,my gf is 21, and basically we are ready for a child.
But i am fearfull of raising a child in this generation. When i was growing up pot was relatively available. Now this country is infested with meth, called tik here, and its fukn our youth up one time. It is easier now to get meth or coke from a nigerian on every second suburb corner.
They dont have morals to who they sell, and the cops dont give a fuck.
So what do you do in these times man. Thinking back at my childhood makes me think what if all these killers were available easily then.
It sounds paranoid man, but this is too realistic here

[blackxs]

I think its naive to assume those street peddlers are anything new, they were probably always around when you are a kid, but your parents didnt take you to the bad parts of town and you didnt give them a second thought.

Personally I will teach my kids about drugs when I feel they are ready. Some kids are mature at 12, some at 21. At the latest I will talk to them about drugs around 15-16.

[weedguru_animal]

a 23 year old and 21 year old believing they are ready to have children??? I have met very few people in that age group who knows themselves anything close to truly, its a generally, and i emphasize GENERALLY formative period, when a man child and woman girl move towards, becoming the individuals they will be for the rest of their lives...The only ones who break the trend are those who have suffered quite extreme trauma, hardship, trouble...and been forced, through circumstance, to grow up quick than is more common in others who have not suffered similarly...So, I cannot really comment on the major content of this thread, without first mentioning, my concerns for anyone in such a formative, larval state, to be even broaching the idea of readiness to have children...

[Weedguru_Fire_Inside]

a 23 year old and 21 year old believing they are ready to have children??? I have met very few people in that age group who knows themselves anything close to truly, its a generally, and i emphasize GENERALLY formative period, when a man child and woman girl move towards, becoming the individuals they will be for the rest of their lives...The only ones who break the trend are those who have suffered quite extreme trauma, hardship, trouble...and been forced, through circumstance, to grow up quick than is more common in others who have not suffered similarly...So, I cannot really comment on the major content of this thread, without first mentioning, my concerns for anyone in such a formative, larval state, to be even broaching the idea of readiness to have children...

I must say that, regardless of the fact that some people are different to others, i wouldn't dream of bringing a child into the world at this time (I'm 23 also), especially with a 21 year old girl. At this age, there may be some who are more mature than me, but unless you've had a very privileged upbringing, i would leave it untill i can support a child, a wife and myself comfortably.

Now, in todays society, i'd start teaching my kids about drugs when they hit like 10 or 11. I'm not so comfortable with this, but if not then they may be approached by drug dealers of some kind who want to sell them something harmful. I feel it'd be my responsibility to make sure this doesn't happen.

Luckily, in my region, it's rare to find such a person who disregards the morality of shifting cocaine onto children.

[WeedGuru_Flow]

The thing is children seem to come into contact with drugs at much younger ages then when we grew up, I honestly can't remember any drugs in my life up until I was fourteen, that's when I took my first toke but didn't really get stoned, I started smoking frequently when I was sixteen because by that time I knew what it was and me and my friends experimented with it.


So as AFI said perhaps by the age of ten,eleven it might be good to start informing your kid about the dangers of certain substances.

[djexct]

do admit, i did take socrates post a bit out of context.
Its hard to tell when is the right time, as mentioned, people and their maturity level differs extremely

[Socrates]

I am 18 years old and have a 6 month old child, I did not undergo any extreme hardships in life or anything like that but i understand my responsibilities, my head is filled with questions because im trying to do the best i can. I think where i live its very common for children to be introduced to drugs and alcohol at a very young age, i know from experiencing it myself. Parents have to be prepared to educate there children very young or they could end up as victims, but i also i think of it as two different types of education. For example i will teach my young adolescent child the dangers of alcohol and harsh drugs. Also the dangers he may encounter due to peer pressure and hanging with the wrong crowd, But i will teach my teenage child the medicinal benefit and recreational enjoyment of marijuana and occasionally mushrooms. We have to be true to ourselves and realize we live in a changing world and connot predict when our child will encounter these things, therefor i believe its necessary to begin educating at a fairly young age.

[andriaSRH]

I don't plan on having kids. The world is too fucked up...the media nowadays is pretty much telling kids being a teenage whore is cool. Sex, drugs and violence are on the tv everyday. I'd be liar if I said I would be okay with controlling every aspect of my "kids" life up until they turned of age. Give kids too much freedom and they walk all over you. Give them no freedom and they hunger for it. Being a parent would stress me the fuck out.

It'd be easier to just look out and worry about myself.

[Weedguru Higher]

My daughter is 12 and in a canadian highschool. She's already been taught about drugs at information sessions in school

[andriaSRH]

^ You shouldn't leave up to the school system man. Weren't you the one who was going to have a talk with one of your kids about weed or whatever? How did they go?

They had a D.A.R.E cop come to my school when I was like..in 4th or 5th grade to teach about about the dangers of drugs and alcohol
.... I think their main mistake was all the "scare tactics" they used to not get us to drink or smoke drugs. Plus the cop they had come in and teach us was a total moron.

Idk...maybe there's something twisted in my head but when someone tells me not to do something but won't give me facts I tend to not find the person so believeable.

I wish my mom would have given me the drug talk instead of leaving it up to television and catholic school teachers.

[AbbyRoad]

ya you cant really leave it up to the schools. they have a biased view.

i suggest talking to your kids shortly after the school has done their part

[weedguru_animal]

I don't plan on having kids. The world is too fucked up...the media nowadays is pretty much telling kids being a teenage whore is cool. Sex, drugs and violence are on the tv everyday. I'd be liar if I said I would be okay with controlling every aspect of my "kids" life up until they turned of age. Give kids too much freedom and they walk all over you. Give them no freedom and they hunger for it. Being a parent would stress me the fuck out.

It'd be easier to just look out and worry about myself.

for the part I put into bold...you have hugely increased my respect for you, andria...wicked line

[Weedguru_Fire_Inside]

There's nothing i want more than a child, when the time is right. I want to raise a Man/Lady to be able to not only cope with the pressures and injustices of this world, but to overcome and overthrow them.

[Weedguru Higher]

^ You shouldn't leave up to the school system man. Weren't you the one who was going to have a talk with one of your kids about weed or whatever? How did they go?

I didn't mean that you should leave it up to the school system. I guess I should have elaborated a bit more..I meant that just to give the guy an idea about the appropriate age to have the discussion. Schools do it at 12 so right around that age is good is what I meant.

But then again in some cases you might need to give the speech sooner...some kids start real young nowadays. It would depend on each individual kid, the environment, maturity, lifestyle etc.

My kid like never went out alone aside from the neighbours house before this year so it really wasn't ever necessary before. But now that she's spreading her wings and becoming more independant it's the right time. She's got a social life that no longer involves me now...

But if your 10 year old in hanging out at parks in a drug infested area with older kids, and is a then that kid would need the speech long before..