Let your Conscience be your guide…
I woke up early Sunday morning and after about an hour of the morning routine I received a call from my sister. She asked if I was awake and I said yes and she proceeded to tell me that she had a situation at her house involving my daughter and her daughter. (A little background, my daughter was at my mom and sisters house visiting her cousin as a mini vacation before they had to go back to school) My first thought regarding my sisters comment was what happened, did they get in a fight about ignoring each other or some other silly disagreement they would frequently get in when they were together. It turned out to be more serious than originally thought.
My sister told me that the girls had snuck out of the the house three nights in a row. They supposedly were going to someones house named Jessie. The only reason they got caught on the third night is because Mario went to have his daughters friend call his family as to not worry them. When he went downstairs ALL the kids were gone. My sister went driving around at 1:00 AM trying to find the kids and calling Darcy’s cell which wasn’t being answered. When Darcy finally answered her phone my sister picked up the kids at the community center and took them home which then began the interrogation.
She then found out that they not only snuck out the night they got caught but they had done it the previous two nights. They were going someplace known as “The Shack” according to the local teens. It turned out to be just that… a shack. It was a building (if something so small could be considered a building) about 8′x12′ that had window openings but no actual windows. The window opening was coverd by a plastic flap and the doors didn’t lock. It was a single room with no bathroom or electricity in an overgrown lot with beer cans and alcohol bottles thrown about, two beds and three recliners were inside. We were told that they were watching TV and listening to the stereo on the nights they were there. We found out that they had an extension cord running over the fence to the house behind this shack which provided the power to the TV and stereo. We also found out that there was alcohol and drugs on the premises of which our children took part in the alcohol but not the drugs according to them. My daughter had been making out with one of the boys and she said she didn’t know what the other girls were doing.
We got the police involved when we found out that the boys who were staying in this shack were 18 and they were serving alcohol to 14 year olds. The police said there were places like this all over town and that these guys were bad news and into drugs. The police talked to the girls and hopefully scared them enough to think twice about doing something so irresponsible and stupid again. Needless to say the girls were restricted and under surveillance for the rest of the week. They had many chores that were assigned by drill sergeant Chris of which they completed without any complaints. Cortney is still completing tasks now that she is home and we don’t know when she will get any privileges back.
I told Cortney that I talked to my friends about the situation to get their perspective since I had no personal experience in doing things like this. I told her that I needed to understand what drove teens to do things that they know they shouldn’t be doing and how to decide on a punishment without alienating my daughter. Once Cortney heard why I talked to them she understood things better from my point of view.
A lot of the people told me that it was exciting and an adrenaline rush to try to get away with something. People also told me that Cortney is testing the waters with how far she can go and what she can get away with. We focused on the dangers involved in what she did instead of the actual act itself.
She is still under restriction and we told her that the discussions will lessen but they won’t completely go away regarding this whole situation.
Now it’s time to move forward and hope for the best and pray that what we have told her sinks in and she asks her self some very important questions before attempting something like this again. Is it against the law? Would my parents approve? Could I be harmed or in danger? What is my conscience saying? Ask yourself the questions and let your conscience be your guide!