Parents and Boys

If you read my bio, you know I am a teacher. This last week my school had parent conferencing. Once again, my heart went out to parents of boys. I see and hear about how these parents are angry, sometimes cry at the conferences. Teachers who have had these parents at the conference table speak about feeling so badly for the family and also feel at a loss to help. They want advice and we would love to give it if the answers were simple to give.

It is a shame really. These boys will some day want to be head of their own households and they will work to make their dreams come true. But some will permanently be a burden to their parents. And their parents will most likely feel guilty for the rest of their lives for what they will feel is their fault. When you think of the joy once felt by the family unit at the birth of these boys and now the sadness and frustration they are causing each other, it is sad....mournful. It just shouldn't have to be.

A spiral seems to start early. I am not sure when. Sometimes in elementary school, when the paretns realize their progeny will not meet their standards or their expectations. It may be because their son is not smart as they would like or may have a learning disability that rears its head and not caught in time to cause a delay in his learning.

It also may start at the middle school level when peers, girls and hormones become distractions and the discipline that was established is rebelled against or the discipline that wasn't needed now becomes necessary.

It is hard to forget the little boy who hugged his mommy, wrapping his chubby arms and legs around her at every turn. It is hard to not to yearn for those times when this new baggy-pant or smelly or strange haired or quiet, sullen boy was little.

It is hard for the dad who wanted his son to be the football (baseball, basketball,etc)
hero, the success he never was. it is hard for a dad to give up the idea that his son will not make the same mistakes he did.

It is hard to put all that aside and let this boy earn his own embarrassment of his adolescent years, wonder why he screwed up, and burn his teenage pictures.

It is hard to do the right things for this boy, to figure out the right combination of choices to help this boy be pulled through to his version of successful manhood. But I do know that you need to hang in there and use the strength of your love that you felt on that first day of his life to do whatever it takes to pull him through.

Five invitations a day

I have a gmail address. Like everyone else I receive so much spam that it would choke the
system if I did not on a weekly basis dump the junk mail.

I decided about three weeks ago to check the junk for prescription drug offers. In three weeks I have
recieved over 100 offers of saving money on drugs that need no doctor script.

Check your spam. If you are getting the spam for drugs, so are your kids.

Syracuse creative kids

Kids sure are creative when they want something and this article from Syracruse demonstrates this.
Teens are actually going to strangers' homes and asking to use their bathroom. While they
are in those strangers' homes, they rifle through these good hearted people's medicine
cabinets for prescription drugs. A new twist this nervy practice is teens will go to a realtor's
open house and tell the representative that their parents are soon to follow them and again to ask
to use the bathroom. You got it. They rummage and walk away with whatever drugs the owners
have in their medicine cabinet.

Syracuse law enforcement are still finding cocaine and marijuana use down. But kids as young
as 12-13 are abusing Prescription drugs. If they don't get them at home, they get them from relatives.
Plus in deals better than Krogers, they can also obtain pills for $3 to $5 from peers.

They still don't get these pills can hurt them.

Something good in the Economic Bail Out Plan!

A discussion in the Washington Post this week revealed something I missed in the bail out plan . It included a passage of a new law “that would require parity or equal coverage for mental health and addiction services, usually limited under most insurance policies.” Hey this is good news for people who have insurance! The most generous insurance coverage to date for opiate addiction inpatient 30 days, 90 extended care and another six months of transitional living with multiple detox treatments for relapses.

According to Michael Gimbel, an addiction specialist, the economic bail out bill contained a parity bill for addictions and mental health. He said that what that means is that insurance has to treat addictions and mental health problems the same as medical problems.

If you have read the Rabbit Trap, Lexie's mom decided she did not need further help because their insurance had run out for Lexie's treatment. I am not sure that Lexie's mom would have had made that decision if insurance coverage was more extensive. Money issues I am sure help make decisions like this in everyone's lives.

Sarah - a real life story

This entry is dedicated to the parents out there who are so self absorbed in their own pasts and selves that they do not see that if they allow their children to continue to experiment with drugs “because they did when they were teens and it didn’t hurt us” that this attutude will not only hurt them but also could potentially destroy the world that their teenage drug fun supposedly did not hurt. Okay, enough ranting.

Sarah here told her story to the Burlington Free Press on Oct . 5. She tells how at 11 she started using her dad’s prescribed drugs. She is now 19 but her world and the world of her family had changed in the last 8 years. She says “she is through with abusing drugs and wants to become a substance abuse councilor to help other kids get off drugs.”

Both she and her brother were hooked on drugs in their early teens. Their drug use was partly responsible for their father’s teaching career ending and the break up of their parents’ marriage.

So parents- this drug use or any other drug use that your children could be involved in will affect them and if that is not important - it could adversely affect you.

I am checking the authenticity on this one.

Incident has been confirmed. In Katy , TX


A man came over and offered his services as a painter to a female putting gas in her car and left his card. She said no ,but accepted his card out of kindness and got in the car. The man then got into a car driven by another gentleman. As the lady left the service station, she saw the men following her out of the station at the same time. Almost immediately, she started to feel dizzy and could not catch her breath. She tried to open the window and realized that the odor was on her hand; the same hand which accepted the card from the gentleman at the gas station.

She then noticed the men were immediately behind her and she felt she needed to do something
at that moment. She drove into the first driveway and began to honk her horn repeatedly to ask for help. The men drove away but the lady still felt pretty bad for several minutes after she could finally catch her breath. Apparently, there was a substance on the card that could have seriously injured her.
This drug is called 'BURUNDANGA' and it is used by people who wish to incapacitate a victim in order to steal from or take advantage of them.

This drug is four times more dangerous than the date rape drug and is transferable on simple cards.
So take heed and make sure you don't accept cards at any given time alone or from someone on the streets. This applies to those making house calls and slipping you a card when they offer their services .
PLEASE SEND THIS E-MAIL ALERT TO EVERY FEMALE YOU KNOW

Federal Regulations for Prescription Drugs

Who knew the president's executive committee would have time to regulate this?

Office of National Drug Control Policy
ONDCP, Washington, D.C. 20503
p (202) 395-6618 f (202) 395-6730
Proper Disposal of Prescription Drugs
Office of Nati onal Drug Control Pol i cy February 2007
www.WhiteHouseDrugPolicy.gov
Federal Guidelines:
Take unused, unneeded, or expired prescription drugs out of their original
containers and throw them in the trash.
Mixing prescription drugs with an undesirable substance, such as used coffee
grounds or kitty litter, and putting them in impermeable, non-descript containers,
such as empty cans or sealable bags, will further ensure the drugs are not diverted.
Flush prescription drugs down the
toilet only if the label or accompanying

patient information specifically instructs
doing so (see below).
Take advantage of community
pharmaceutical take-back programs
that allow the public to bring unused
drugs to a central location for proper

disposal. Some communities have
pharmaceutical take-back programs
or community solid-waste programs
that allow the public to bring unused
drugs to a central location for proper
disposal. Where these exist, they are
a good way to dispose of unused
pharmaceuticals.

The FDA advises that the following drugs be
flushed down the toilet instead of thrown in
the trash:
Actiq (fentanyl citrate)
Daytrana Transdermal Patch (methylphenidate)
Duragesic Transdermal System (fentanyl)
OxyContin Tablets (oxycodone)
Avinza Capsules (morphine sulfate)
Baraclude Tablets (entecavir)
Reyataz Capsules (atazanavir sulfate)
Tequin Tablets (gatifloxacin)
Zerit for Oral Solution (stavudine)
Meperidine HCl Tablets
Percocet (Oxycodone and Acetaminophen)
Xyrem (Sodium Oxybate)
Fentora (fentanyl buccal tablet)
Note: Patients should always refer to printed material
accompanying their medication for specific instructions.