Drinking and Driving
I remember this as if it was just yesterday. :)
This is for all of you parents who have kids soon to be teens. From the time Jamie was old enough to drive, he was told that under no circumstances was he to drink and drive. If he did drink, he should feel comfortable phoning home and telling us. If need be, we would go and pick him up. He would not get into trouble because he called us for help. In fact, it was the rule. I stressed this big time!!
So what happened?? He piled a lot of buddies into the car, went to a party and sure enough he had a beer or so?? (Our legal drinking age has jumped around a lot over the years, so I think he was about 18 at the time.) So, he calls home at about 2 a.m. right around his **curfew and said that he needed someone to come and get him. My husband was furious. Suddenly it was my job to calm him down. Afterall, Jamie had done what we told him to do. Luckily my husband listened and picked him and all of his buddies and drove each of them home. This was in the middle of the winter and it was freezing outside. Had to feel sorry for him getting up from a nice warm bed in the middle of the night but…
Needless to say, Jamie was lectured the next day. Not because he woke us up in the middle of the night, but because he had let his friends down. They had relied on him for a ride home and he decided that a beer or two was no big deal. But I still stick to my original rule. Your kids should always be able to call home for help… winter or summer.
**And about that curfew… I’m a Mom who is not going to sleep properly until everyone is home and in bed. Call me over protective lol… but the rule stuck until Jamie moved into his own house last year. He had to be the only 25 year old on the planet who still had a curfew.
My house… my rules ;)
Okay, I have more to say about this curfew thing…
In the summer, I was a bit more lenient. Honestly can’t you do everything you need to do by three in the morning?? When you are sitting home, the minutes go by incredibly slowly.
And during the winter when the wind is howling and you can’t see across the street for blowing snow, knowing that your “child” is out in that is frightening to say the least.
No, Jamie didn’t like having a curfew, and I can understand that. But I was always open to extensions as long as I knew where he was and that he was okay. All it would take is a phone call.
Oh, I just can’t wait for him to have kids of his own. Only then will he understand what it is like to be a parent!
Tags: drinking-and-driving, Parties, rules, teensRelated Stories
POSTED IN: Adult Children, Dad to the Rescue, Mom to the Rescue
2 opinions for Drinking and Driving
Hsien Lei
Jun 22, 2006 at 3:53 pm
What a great story! I never need a curfew because I never had the desire to go out late at night. What a dork I was. I hope my son is one too. heehee
Weary Parent
Sep 26, 2006 at 10:47 am
[…] When Jamie lived at home, he was invited to an incredible number of parties. The kid was almost too popular for his own good, but he did something that I thought was really clever. But let me back up a minute. After getting into trouble for drinking and waking up his dad for a ride home at 2 a.m., he decided that it just wasn’t worth it. However, his friends could never understand that he really didn’t want to drink and would constantly try to convince him to have another. He soon learned that it was easier to accept a bottle of beer, and then keep refilling the empty bottle with water. If his friends saw him with a beer in his hands, they left him alone. […]
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