My son, the repeat offender

Thu, 24 Jan 2013 18:16:00 +0000

In the summer of 2011, I was driving my youngest son and his friend to swim in a lake when I got the call that Zachary, my oldest son, was on his way to the county jail to turn himself in. I can’t say that I didn’t expect this, but my body shook at the news. I had stopped in a parking lot and gotten out of the car to take the call. I felt like throwing up. But I had to keep going. I had promised his little brother we’d go swimming, and there was nothing I could do anyway.

Zachary had recently turned 21, had been a volunteer firefighter for two years, and had been going to college. He had also just completed training to be an EMT. Apparently, in his spare time, he was hanging out in a trailer park south of town with a group of kids. He had always been emotionally immature, so it made sense he would gravitate to people younger than himself. One night, one of them texted him, asked him to bring them some alcohol. She said a girl wanted to meet him. He went. The girl jumped in his truck. They rode off.

Giving in to Ritalin

Tue, 30 Nov 1999 17:00:00 +0000

Recent headlines say everything about the epidemic of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder: "Ritalin: A cure for brattiness?" and "Johnny Get Your Pills." Then there are the buzz words: "drugged children," "overworked parents," "frequently absent parents." The insinuation in all of this is that ADHD is a figment of our national imagination. These kids are simply unruly and their parents so career-oriented that they'd rather their kids pop pills than spend time with them. One teacher suggests that these children are unruly because "they don't have anything inside. They are so used to being entertained."

Then there is the specter of a Brave New World in which children are subjected to "cosmetic psychopharmacology," for no other reason than to simply "narrow the gap between I.Q. and performance." These parents want to give their children an edge and are willing to give the kids drugs so they get higher scores on their spelling tests.

Salon.com > Karen Shoemaker

My son, the repeat offender

Giving in to Ritalin