Teenage parents, beware

You think you are so great!  You thinking your parenting skills are so good, you have no worries…

We all do…

We pour our hearts and souls into our kids.  We make sacrifices that put our children first.  Therefore….they should react accordingly.

….. they SHOULD….

But when they are TEENAGERS…. Everything changes….

….the term teenager in and of itself should send shivers down your spine.

When you are a parent, you judge other parents…harshly.  You make judgements so fast it would hurt the necks of the people around you with the speed of dispertion ….

But when you are a parent of a teenager… everything changes…..

You start seeing things through a different light.  That previous dispersion effect of harsh judgement starts to slow to an almost Matrix speed with your vision slowly getting clearer from every angle…

I have two teenagers.  Not JUST teenagers…but GIRL TEENAGERS… Yes, thank you, all prayers accepted.

For the most part my girls are pretty forthcoming, but despite their best efforts, I do know there is a dark world in which they live… one I am not privy to.

But be that as it may, they still find reason to let me, on occasion, to the darker world that belies them…

Tonight I saw a snapchat of a girl (that I do not know) who was with her friend, in her car, while she was driving…and they were guzzling vodka as they road.

This snapchat was recorded by another teen and shared amongst her friends.

(for those of you who don’t know Snapchat; it’s an app that records images or recordings that ‘disappear’ after a short period of time.  They are not meant to be saved.  It’s the mode by which most teens communicate in today’s world. )

When my daughter shared this snapchat story with me, I was absolutely devastated for the parents.  The parents who, I’m certain were thinking their daughter was just out with a friend, harmlessly, and would be home soon.

It’s the same thought I think of both my girls on a daily basis.

My daughter disclosed that she wasn’t sure if this girl would be turned in.  I prayed to GOD that someone would have the courage to speak up, as this girl could claim the life of another, even my own child.

We live in a different time, people.  Social media prevails.  A snapchat can make or break your child, and you will likely never know, until it’s too late which is true.

I used to think talking to my kids would make me a good parent and that they would trust me and appreciate our rules and follow suit.

But this snapchat that I saw tonight was “ANY GIRL USA”.

I don’t know who this girl is, nor does my daughter.  But the horror is real. I guarantee you that if those parents knew what was going on, some consequences would be made.

But as a parent of two teenage girls, I have a few questions;

What’s going on with that girl, that she thinks drinking vodka while driving, and underage, is okay?

Where did the vodka come from?

Will her parents know when (and if) she gets home that something was amiss?

Do her parents think their child is just out having fun, innocently?

I pray, down on my hands and knees, that God will bring her home safely and that she won’t kill anyone on this, or any other day.

I pray, that her parents find out what she has done.

I pray that she will see the err of her ways and change.

I pray, that my children will never be so brazen as to make the mistakes this girl has made.

But I’m not a stupid parent.  I know that the teenage years are all about spreading wings and testing the waters.  So, I go deeper in faith…and I ask God to help me be aware and realize that I was once a teenager too.  And by the grace of God, I got to live to be a parent.  And either by the grace or by the trickery of God, I got to be the parent of teenagers… to be able to see that I was once a foolish, careless, crazy kid, who made bad decisions and scared the hell out of my parents and disappointed them to no end.

And with that… I can only ask God, to watch over my kids, like he once watched over me and let me live to see another day, and let me live to see the horror of what could have been if he wasn’t protecting me.

To that end… to the parents… don’t be foolish.  Be aware.  Pray a lot!  Talk to your kids as much as possible and don’t condemn your children…guide them.

We cannot dictate the outcomes, but maybe, just maybe, we can be the voice in their heads that let them know their decisions can contribute to, or contaminate the lives of others.

I will not be forgetting what I saw today.  It will likely haunt me for a long time to come.  This child could be anyone’s child.  Don’t be so glib to think it wasn’t yours.