Brat Camps And Colleges

While parents have every intention of preparing their teens for college, their irresponsibility and lack of judgment may very well end up with their teens attending a brat camp or some specialty school dealing with addictions and behavioral problems. “Too many parents are either naive or delusional — or they’re buying the keg so they can “supervise” the drinking, said Olmer, whose daughters went to Miramonte High School. Add in the secrecy and frequency of unsupervised parties and the time constraints of curfews and you’ve got a recipe for disaster. “Even the best kids make stupid decisions,” Olmer said. “The circumstances are conducive to being drunk. It’s not an excuse, but I see how it leads to their doing that. They’re knocking them down to get drunk as fast as possible.” The solution has to come from not just one home, Olmer said, but all of them.” Parents have to wake up to the fact that, unlike, even twenty years ago when teens with drug and alcohol problems tended to be shunned, the same kid today has peer approval.

Contd..

“Teen drinking is not just glamorized, she said, “it’s accepted. It’s expected. Now, if you’re not going to (drink), you hold a beer so people think you are.” That approval is reinforced by the media. But it is really driven home by adults who preach one thing and do another “There’s a lot of drinking and partying going on in the parents’ lives too, and no one’s talking about that,” she said. “There’s media influence, but we don’t have to look that far. It’s in our communities. That’s the reality.” (unknown source) By Ann Walker