To all you parents of under 10's..........
just wait!!!!!!!!!

My son - who lost his wallet with ID 4 days before leaving on a school trip to Rome, luckily I had a passport made for him last year.
So he managed to get off.

2 nights before he left, he said he wanted to go out at midnight to see jack, neighbour, who was on holiday for 2 weeks (in Holland the schools have cancelled Easter vacation, only get friday and monday off, and have made it 2 weeks end april - Queen's day, 30th, and Liberation Day thanks to you wonderful US and Canadians!!!!!, 5th May).....

anyway, me thinking he's only going out the back (kids playground), but hey,no, why at midnight? wait till tomorrow. told him so.
I was tired and went to sleep at 12.30 (early for me, it's usually 2-ish).

Next morning, he wakes me up...........Mum, gotta tell you something..............ohoh.........in my dreary, sleep-drunk state I DO register - him showing me - he's got an enormous swollen up black eye!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I was awake immediately.

well, he defied me and went out anyway, at 01.00 ish. And not even out the back!!! They went into town!!!!!!!!!! (didn't get there tho).
Walking down the road into town - this is a street with shops, boutiques, cafés, restaurants, so busy - with Jack and Karim, his mates, Karim is listening to his PSP. Two guys pass them, one of them he knows, and is already a liability.......only 16!!!!!!!!
(I had his mum on the phone last summer after midnight, looking for him).

The unknown one says something to karim about his psp, who is too sweet and innocent to think otherwise, and takes it out of his pocket and shows it to him. The guy grabs it. And walks off, at a pace.
My son after him, jumps in front and demands it back. An argument ensues, cos he won't give it back.
Then lands a fist in my son's eye..................

AAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!! All this while I am asleep!!!!!!!!! **** NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!
(so now, feeling a terrible failure for going to sleep before my son...........)

the weird thing is, it happened right outside a cafe terrace, which was pretty full, being hot weather and all that, and NO-ONE did anything!!!!!!!! (makes me think of the good samaritan parable). Everyone a mobile but no-one phones 112 (911 here).....
unbeleivable. I guess no-one wants to be involved......

So, that day, they went to the police and made a statement. How dumb that kid is to get into a scrape with people he knows .
Of course they told the police, turns out the other guy is already in the police computer!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So they've got him.
My son even had photos taken by the police of his eye.

Well, the moral of it all is that my son learned a very good, if hard, lesson that night. He really was pensive the next day.....
1. Don't defy your mother!!!!
2. It could've been much worse. There's people walking around with knives, even guns, tho they are meant to be against the law.I mean, he could've been dead...................!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
3. Not everyone is nice and to be trusted. Even people you know..........(sad, but true).
4. Well, this contains a myriad of other reasons I can't think of now.

Luckily, it has been healing pretty quickly (he phoned the doctor, who helped him with symptoms to watch out for, like dizzyness, etc). He's been using Dr. Bach's Rescue Remedy cream on it. (We have that, and the drops as a staple in the house, excellent stuff).

So, there he went, off to Rome, looking the part, suitably suave, after me giving him my sunglasses . His eye by the time he left, the swollen part had relaxed, and he looked like he was wearing a streak of purple make-up under his eye.

> sigh < teenagers...........don't you wish you could just lock 'm up??!!

The lesson for me in this, is that he WILL make his own way, WILL make mistakes, and WILL solve them too of his own accord.

Him as a baby, toddler and onwards, was a doddle compared to this time...............

All's well that ends well, thank God!! Like I told him, his angels were watching over him that night.

quote:

Originally posted by Marielle:

> sigh < teenagers...........don't you wish you could just lock 'm up??!!

:

Yikes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Reading back on this, I realise what I've written, in light of the scandal in Austria.....
(sicko father locks up 18 year old daughter for 24 years and has 7 children with her).
That is just so unbelievable, I just shudder at the thought............

I take it all back!!!!!!

I do NOT want to lock up my kid!!! Let him get out there in the world and make his own way....

Life is stranger than fiction.

Wow, scary story, Marielle!

But it does sound as if your son has learned a good lesson from this. Hopefully, the memories of this night will help him as he makes choices in the future.

You guys are going to be here for me when Binta puts me through this ****, right?

OMG! This stuff is so tough!

Hang in there!

Yep, teenagers.....you gotta love them......cause if we didn't we'd probably just knock them out ourselves sometimes

On the bright side Marielle, depending on how he spins this tale, your son could gain some major cool points at school (then again...) well, at least he learned a lesson

quote:

Originally posted by Marielle:
To all you parents of under 10's..........
just wait!!!!!!!!!

Nooooo! My nine year old girl is going to be 9 years old forever! (closes eyes and plugs ears singing lalalalalalala) denial is so sweeeet

Ok so I just saw this story on the net, thought this was a good place to post it. Ah... boys will be boys!
http://www.money.co.uk/article/1000390-13-year-old-stea...d-to-buy-hookers.htm

Wow, I see some seriously wrong things with that article, beginning with the father is still going to take him on a surprise trip to Disneyland? WTF?

And funny things too, like the girls knew something was wrong when the boys were too busy with the xbox to get down to business

I thought the funny part was them telling her they were circus performers. Real life is much funnier than fiction!

"Ralph's ambition is to one day become a politician"

......WOW, sounds like he is already headed in the right direction!!

quote:

Originally posted by captmatrix:
Wow, scary story, Marielle!

But it does sound as if your son has learned a good lesson from this. Hopefully, the memories of this night will help him as he makes choices in the future.

You guys are going to be here for me when Binta puts me through this ****, right?

Well, of course!!
When are you 2 coming over anyway....?!

We have a connection (african).....

quote:

Originally posted by Mashell:
"Ralph's ambition is to one day become a politician"

......WOW, sounds like he is already headed in the right direction!!

I haven't read that article yet.....

but just wanted to say,..............
LOVE that foto!!! (seen it since coming on here)
what beautiful kids you have!!!!

Thanks Marielle. I know what you are going thru....having 2 teenage daughters myself. Good luck!

quote:

Originally posted by Marielle:

When are you 2 coming over anyway....?!

We have a connection (african).....

Marielle, we would have SUCH fun together! I'll cook Mafay for you. Just the challenge of coming up with money for those plane tickets!

Teenagers Mine is driving me crazy.

What I dislike the most about parenting teens is the part about letting them make mistakes and being supportive when it happens (should have listened to his mother.... )

The best advice I got from a parent about teens was to keep my mouth closed when I told him once. Keep one eye on what he's doing so he doesn't get hurt (or consequence too great). Then comment on what you thought after he did it. "Almost well done." "I would have done this." "Seems like you could have handled that better."

He said it cured "ignorant, spurr of the moment decisions" the best.

What I don't like is my teen saying... "mom, if you cared enough, you would have told me." grrrrr... I did... you chose not to listen.. hope your bum isn't hurt to bad when you fell... should have taken my words more seriously when I said them.... write them down next time.... :P