My teenager came up to me last night while I’m at my desk. Lurking next to me. She hovers. Eventually I turn.
I know you won’t let me go anyway she sighs.
Where?
To this party. Saturday night. Everyone was going. But now they aren’t.
Why not?
Because the HIV gang are going.
What? Who are they?
Well, it’s a gang that go to parties with syringes full of HIV infected blood. They stick them into people and infect them. So now nobody is going to the party. Everyone at school is talking about it.
You are kidding.
No, really, mum, it happens. Everyone knows about it. She rolls her eyes.
I’m not really a party person. I prefer to stay home, read books and drink tea on a Saturday night, says my 14 year old airily.
Then, with certainty and perhaps the faintest glimmer of relief, she shrugs:
You wouldn’t have let me go anyway.
corbin
November 19, 2008 at 12:11 pmGrifola frondosa check it out
corbin
November 19, 2008 at 1:45 pmtaking your child seriously, or solemnly at her word, is the only advice I would give any parent.
Every child, teen or otherwise, deserves the respect of a visiting dignitary .
Letting them know were there boundary's are respectfully, and with the quiet dignity of visiting heads of state .
Mixed with a good sense of humor and the ability to play .
the anarchist parent as it were
corbin
November 19, 2008 at 1:56 pmGrifola frondosa hen of the woods the only thing shown so far to stop the advance of aids .
In triple blind tests at Bethesda medical hospital 80% of subjects with full blown dieing in the bed aids showing an increase in t cell count
The other 20% showing a leveling off when they are expected to die in 5 to 14 days.
This at a 5.5 gram dry fruit body dose.
I can easily eat a pound of fresh hen of the woods at a sitting they are delicious.
Mainframeguy
November 19, 2008 at 2:54 pmI sort of heard of this – but assumed it was gay guys and did not involve syringes… The even more strange behaviour is of those that seek to become infected with HIV… No idea what the term is for them, you could impress your daughter by finding out, perhaps? Presumably they seek out these parties? The mind boggles!
Canal Explorer
November 19, 2008 at 3:10 pmWell, would you have let her go?
marmitelover
November 19, 2008 at 4:03 pmWhat is funny is that yes I would have let her go. She wants me to stop her.
My only conditions are that I know the address, and how she is getting home or I pick her up. Apparently those conditions are unreasonable!
Ben Emlyn-Jones
November 19, 2008 at 6:58 pmSince when has any condition been reasonable to a teenager!? My 13-year-old is on about us getting a dog and she got angry when I raised a note of concern that we live in a three-bed ex-council house and… we already have four cats!