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Do you know who your child is visiting?
By Darren Wright
How many different homes
does your child visit? Do you know the rules and values of those homes? Are
they supervised by an adult? You may be surprised by the answers to these questions,
but we are not. You shouldn’t be either if you are ensuring that you know the
parents or a least meet the parents of the homes your child visits. You know
what is allowed or not in your home. You enforce those rules to keep your
children safe, but if you do not extend that protection to the homes they
visit, the chances of experimentation with drugs, alcohol or other
inappropriate behavior increases significantly.
When teenagers or even
grade school children are allowed to be unsupervised, the behavior is likely to
foster peer pressure to break rules. Think back to your own childhood. When I
was young, if we could find a friend’s home with no supervision, we could “do
whatever we wanted”. There is an ongoing battle against pressure to break the rules.
If we take away the opportunity to be unsupervised the peer pressure is
reduced. Knowing your child is in a safe environment is your duty at home as
well as when they visit other homes.
Before our child is
allowed to visit the home of a friend, we must either already know the family,
or we will meet the parents ahead of time. Questions like “Will an adult be
home at all times?” are standard information required before approval. When
visiting someone else’s home, even homes of friends we know, we must speak to a
parent before they visit to assure an adult will be there each time. With so
many kids having cell phones, we like to have the home phone number available.
If we call to check on them, they could be anywhere with a cell phone. The risk
of not taking the time to check on the locations your child visits is an
invitation to disaster. It only takes one experience to become addicted to
certain drugs. It is unfortunate to hear that there are parents that will
provide drugs or alcohol to their children and their friends.
It is not about how much
money they have, or how big their home is. The question to ask yourself is
“Will they be appropriately supervised to the extent you would.” Before your children visit the home of a
friend, please call before each visit. We feel better when we know the parents
of the children that visit our home call and check if we will be there. There
is no obligation to allow your children to visit friends. The only obligation
we have is that they are safe.
Darren Wright is President
of the Morgan Middle School Parent Group and a trooper with the WA State Patrol.
The
Kittitas County Community Network/Drug Free Communities Coalition and the
Community Network agency, through a federal Drug Free Communities grant, are
implementing the “Start Talking Before They Start
Drinking” campaign as a community service for parents. For more information go to
www.kccn-dfc.com.
