Two New York Times articles this weekend conveniently book-ended the gamut of parental nightmares — child abuse and drug abuse.
In the hallowed halls of elite Horace Mann School, unabashed pedophilia survived through willful blindness for decades. Just another reminder for me to listen closely to my child’s discomfort and fears, if G-d forbid, there was some problem. And any man who takes an active interest in SOS and engages in “horseplay” is suspect.
When SOS was young, we thought to have a manny (male nanny) to give him daily contact with a male (something missing in a two-mom household). But the logistics got complicated when I realized that if we had a manny (who might just be a pedophile), we would also need a nanny to watch the manny watching SOS. POB gave up on the idea rather than try to unravel my paranoid (and correct) logic.
The second story was about high school kids buying prescription drugs used to treat Attention Deficit Disorder and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. These drugs, when used properly, help certain kids function with the “appropriate” level of attention and focus in classrooms and other venues. The drugs’ effects on kids who don’t need the drug are laser-focus on task and rapid recall. Like steroids, these drugs are now seen as performance enhancing aids so that kids can perform better on class tests and college entrance exams.
It is shocking how easy it seems to get a prescription or buy a few pills from a classmate.
(My high school alma mater was singled out as one place where there is a real problem. The person who said any publicity is good publicity is, um, wrong.)
So, POB and I were talking about this and we both scratched our heads. We as a society are pushing our kids into drugs “to make us proud”. It made getting high and playing frisbee seem like something out of Mayberry. You know, the stuff you did to rebel and make your parents fret about your future.
And now my new view is:
SOS, if you must try drugs, please smoke A LITTLE dope (and then make sure it was a bad experience). And promise me (pinky-swear and everything) that you won’t ever, ever, snort Adderall for performance enhancement.
I love you just the way you are.
