Drugs...

This week my 15yo daughter called home needing a ride after school. Apparently she was hanging out with some friends after school on campus and they decided they were going to smoke pot and asked her to come along. Her really good friend wanted to go with them and didn't want to go alone. My daughter didn't want to go along, but she also didn't want to leave her friend alone either. Not knowing what to do she called her boyfriend who promptly hung up on her and called his father. He called her back and told her she better call her mom right away, which she did.

Words can't really express how proud I am of our daughter for making a good choice. We are also extremely proud of her boyfriend for his decision making process. That night we took the kids out for ice cream to talk about what had happened and open the air for anything else they might want to say. It only reinforces the knowledge that being involved in your child's life is extremely important. You might think you know what's going on in their life but they're pretty good at keeping things to themselves if you're not asking the right questions.

There are many reasons why this is an extremely important thing that has happened; but this really stands out for us because our daughter has been struggling academically this year. She's at a new school in a new school district and it's hard work to fit in and be accepted. Her decision to call her mom was a pretty big one on so many levels. I'm sure this won't be the last tough decision she will be faced with, but hopefully our reaction to this one will help her feel comfortable in the future. She was grounded for most of the school year and we recently gave her most of her privileges back and she has really stepped up and started working hard not only in school, but at home as well. Just when we were starting to worry about a situation coming up like this going the wrong way, she comes through and really makes us proud.