Friday, March 30, 2007

Maybe the Bratz Dolls Can Sport Sobriety Bracelets, Too

... or, things that make me mental.

In a world where Lindsay and Britney are in and out of rehab (with breaks to shop at Robertson's, natch) -- who greenlights products like this? Do we not have enough of a problem with underage, and I mean pre-teenage, drinking that we have to egg them on with a product marketed just to them?

My husband and I were at the coffee shop recently and overheard a conversation with the barrista (high school senior) and a friend who'd come in to get some joe.

Barrista: Did you see so and so at the party last night?
Friend: No, they left pretty early.
Barrista: Did you stay over?

Stay over? When you were in high school, dear readers, was it an option to "stay over," at a coed party, alcohol or no alcohol? Come to think of it, were there any coed parties that (a) didn't serve alcohol or (b) were on the approved list of any sane parent?

I suppose we should be glad that our Barrista and her friend have the option to stay, rather than drive home after drinking. That's one answer, and clearly the agreement they have with their parents. I'd submit that, longer term, the old-fashioned, "Call me if you need a ride home" would provide an ounce more protection, if not from embarassment, for these girls, and would at least be consistent with a "Hey, we really don't think 'sleeping over' with a bunch of hormonal teenagers is a great idea" philosophy. But it still doesn't address the drinking part. Do these girls' parents accept that they're drinking? Is that just a given?

The other crazy factor here is how parents know anymore where their kids are calling from. I know several parents who, G-d bless them, are still fighting the good fight. Their kids have to call in from a land line. No cell phones. Because you could be, well, anywhere and checking in by cell.

I have a few years to sort this out before my son is out and about. And by then, I'll have a GPS chip implanted under the inside of his temple...

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